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My friend, Steph, had a cookie decorating party yesterday. I got pretty stoked about this because I LOVE DECORATING COOKIES — as long as I’m not baking them or making the frosting.

I brought my sprinkles and my gel food coloring and we got down to business with some mulled apple cider. Oh, and Mr. Barnabus Stinson also joined us for some fun. He was pretty entertaining in his adorable holiday sweater.

And, of course, the first cookie I finished ever-so-meticulously was absolutely perfect.

Here’s a collection of the rest of our cookies. I really like Elizabeth (Steph’s sister-in-law)’s tie-die ornament. Very cool!

I ended up with a whole plate of snowflakes. And the broken cookies were decorated like they were maimed … as you can see with the reindeer and gingerbread man.

And my gluten-free cookies weren’t roll-outs, but they were delicious. They were pretty sad looking, but tasty nonetheless.

This reminds me that I didn’t ever blog about the cookies I decorated a few Christmases back. I think this was a blog only for running at that point. Here are the awesome cookies I decorated with the random frostings I whipped up (there was sour cream, cream cheese and anything that was available in the fridge in that frosting).

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The Craft Saturday Holiday 2011 show is THIS SATURDAY from noon-6 at the Fourth Street Theatre in Des Moines.

I will be there. And so will my new wallets. And all my old stuff will be on SALE. Major sale. Clearance. I want to get rid of it to make way for new stuff. So that means awesomely cheap holiday gifts for you!

[new wallets for $30 each — $35 on etsy]

Besides that, there are going to be a TON of awesome vendors there. Check out the vendor preview page. I know I am planning on getting some things from these fabulous vendors. Bean and the Sprout will be there, so will JuneCraft and Florence Oliver.

I hope to see you there!

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I wasn’t planning on doing a holiday-themed post. I’m not Irish in any way shape or form. And I’m not Catholic either. And I really don’t drink. For me this holiday is usually just an excuse to wear a LOT of green.

Anywho, my friend Kelly posted this fabulous picture of her kitteh.

So Happy St. Cat-rick’s day!

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WARNING: making a gingerbread house may sound like fun. IT IS NOT.

My beau somehow talked me into making a gingerbread house with him — although, he still claims it was MY idea. We spent the better part of last Sunday making this monstrosity from baking to assembling, to frosting.

Did I mention he’s an engineer and I’m a designer? So this house was going to be a really cool house. Or so the plans laid it out that way.

He didn’t want just a plain house — it had to have an addition.  I also wanted to go gung ho and do all sorts of cool piping, but that didn’t happen as I was exhausted by the time we got the damn thing to hold together.

Also — if you bake things, they change form. Something I didn’t think about going into this.

Regardless, here is our house. And I’ve got a template for the pieces here for you for FREE. If you dare.

The backside of our house was kind of sad-looking.

The side of the house refused to stay put. It collapsed 3-4 times before I finally just put a bunch of empty bottles around it to hold it up.

And here is the side. Kind of cute, but frustrating!

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Don’t worry — she’s 2. She’s not going to read my blog. If she does, then I’m more than proud of her.

I had cut up my prom dress from my senior year of high school a couple months back for my birthday party, but had failed pretty miserably. So I had a TON of tulle lying around. And what could I do with tulle? Make my niece into a little fairy princess for Christmas.

This was my original dress, BTW. I don’t have a photo of the monstrosity that it turned into, unfortunately (well fortunately for me).

I found a great tutorial on instructables and went to work. Here’s what I came up with. I think I need to put together a few more things and give her the whole fairy princess package.

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I realized I’ve not blogged lately.  Which is weird. But I have been SUPER busy.

1. I’ve been crafting up Christmas presents — for my friends and for those who’ve purchased crafty items from my etsy store for the holidays.  I’ve been spending the past several days filling a pretty large order of tattoo mugs that I’ve had for a while.  And I’ve got another oversized mug to finish and some other items.
   
2. I was in a (minor) car accident in early November, and I’ve been fighting with insurance and the officer who DIDN’T WRITE A POLICE REPORT for the accident to get my car back. My car was a 2-day fix, so it was really frustrating. I drove 3 different vehicles last month. The loaner car from Toyota — which they gave me for a gracious 18 days before telling me that they were going to have to report it stolen if I didn’t return it — even though my car wasn’t fixed; my grandpa’s truck — ironically, the same make and model that ran me off the road in the first place; and a fabulous Hyundai Elantra with XM radio — the rental car I finally got for a week when I received the other guy’s insurance. WEE. However, I did discover Beyond Bollywood, an incredible XM radio station.
3. I’ve also been working out a lot more — adding in an hour after work like I used to. Trying to fit back into my pants. Getting there. But the holidays are approaching.
4. OH, and this doesn’t have anything to do with why I haven’t blogged lately, but I want to share!  I got a lovely Boheme hand-knit chunky cowl from Hey Jen Renee.
   

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Here is the last 10 things I’m thankful for this holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

1. KELLY LEAMAN (see I am thankful for you specifically)
2. Getting together with a friend I haven’t seen for years and feeling like no time has past
3. 4-wheel drive
4. friends who are okay with you staying in because you’re too old and tired.
5. The Ragstock
6. my mom’s sweet potato casserole
7. my little doggie behaving for a whole 3 hour trip home
8. getting to run my favorite hilly 6-mile route back home (though it poured, sleeted, hailed and snowed on me while doing so)
9. green tea
10. and ALL OF YOU!

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Hello bloglings!

I realized that I forgot to advertise EVERYWHERE and not just on my etsy that my deadline for Christmas commissions was September 30th. I made that policy in 2009 as I received entirely too many commission requests in November the year before.

I will be sure to advertise this a LOT more blatantly next year so you can get your requests in earlier.

Unfortunately, I cannot take any commission requests for Christmas at this point.

However, I will still be taking requests for commissions that are due after Christmas. And a VERY SMALL handful that are due between now and Christmas.

I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a jerk — but I just can’t do EVERYTHING. Crafting is not my full-time job, so unfortunately I have a limited amount of time to devote to it.

ALSO —

How do you go about getting a commission in the first place? WELL, just ask. You can e-mail me, facebook me, tweet at me, convo me on etsy or comment here on the blog.  Once I have enough details, I will create a custom listing for you on etsy.

Work will begin on your piece once you’ve completed the transaction on Etsy.  Some people do commissioned work the other way around — produce the item, then have the customer pay for it.  I’ve had too many people back out on a request once I’ve created the item or items, so to alleviate that problem, I’ve asked for payment up front. Since I have a limited amount of time to create things, this is the best policy.  Of course, there will always be special cases, but for most commisions, payment is required up front.

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My friend Molly had her annual Christmas party this year and I was lucky enough to be invited to the festivities. Molly makes the most awesome food and it’s always fun to get together with these girls — usually full-on crazy.

I was really excited to go because I finally got to introduce my fabulous beau to all my friends. Granted, he’s met most of them before — just not in boyfriend context.  We’ve been good friends for years so our circles have overlapped already a bit anyway.

Anywho — I made a giant spinach/spring mix salad and an awesome Better than Robert Redford cake. (yes, robert redford — because of the mixed bag that reads my blog!)

It was a fun time. We had a lot of wine and a lot of good food. Lots of good conversation and fun times with friends!

Here’s a few photos from the event … I’m hoping I captured the crazy as well as the cuteness of all the adorable people there! (I can haz cute friends?!)

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Check out my Cyber Monday sales on Etsy:

Birdies and Coffee Cup

Flower Fiesta Bowl (Gold)

Butterflies in Wonderland Baby or Lap Quilt

OBEY Andre the Giant Men’s Winter Set

Mention the code mrfidgets and receive FREE SHIPPING on any order until December 15.

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