Gift Tags

By the time you read this it will be Christmas day (or after) and you won't care anymore about putting tags on gifts, but... here's one way we got SB involved with gift-giving this year.  She and her daddy sat down with a pen and lined paper (cringe!!!)  to make gift tags for everyone.  He drew circles and labeled each one while she drew in the faces of each recipient.  I backed them with scrapbook paper and they were later attached to gifts.  They could be prettier, but at this point I don't really care.  The drawings are awesome enough. 

I hope some of these end up as refrigerator art.  They should.

Baby Pictures

 Today was the first day I've seen Remy in person.  He's my other sister Crystal's baby.  I've only gotten a few snapshot sent to me here and there over the phone since they live in Florida.  It's always a joy to take a few photos of new babies who normally put up less resistance than toddlers.   I was glad to snap a few while they were here.   He's a cutie!

A photo tip:
These pictures were taken in a small bathroom where the walls were close to each other.  I used a bounce flash since I don't own studio lights anymore.  (A bounce flash is just an added camera flash turned toward a wall instead of directly on the subject.)  It produces a more modeled effect rather than a flat, bright flash on the face and cast shadow. 

Smile

It's nice to have family over especially when you don't see them much.  My dad's side of the family came for a visit this weekend for Christmas.  We exchanged gifts, ate a big meal and spent time together which is always a pleasure.  I wish my whole family lived within a few miles of each other. 

My step mom makes great desserts and brought over an entire dessert for each person since we all like different things.  Cupcakes for the girls, pecan pie for me, cherry pie for my sister Katee, and brownies for the men since they're not as keen on sweets.

Katee likes pictures, so we took a few of Mary Ellen and Lilly Mae and SB. 

Unfortunately SB's patience for picture-taking runs thin.   This is what we get when we ask for a smile.  I guess I'm happy for at least a look in the direction of the camera.  Actually, I really like this picture.  Her resistance was probably waning due to the fact that we had cousin Lilly Mae over.  Lilly Mae enjoys the occasional snap in her direction and doesn't immediately run the other way.   I wish some of the enthusiasm would rub off.

Smile! Please?!!! PLEASE Smile!

Like this, Mommy?!!!




I'm 8 weeks old and you don't see me complaining about taking a picture.







About Christmas

This picture is worth a thousand words.  Todd and I want so much to translate what's here into our girl's heart.  There are a lot of tv shows, music, stores, well-meaning adults, other kids, and whatever else I've left off trying to tell SB that Christmas is about getting lots of presents and that there is an old guy in a red suit who's gonna creep into our house at night and drop them off to her. 

We've come to realize that we have to be vigilant in teaching her about Immanuel - God with us.  Christmas is about Jesus coming to earth as Immanuel.  He was and is our ultimate gift.  That's enough.

I'm SEW Awesome

Made with Glossy ModPodge and fusible web.

Yep, I hand stitched these letters.

She likes the shirt!

A cheap, 30 minute, AWESOME Christmas present for a good friend.   (I say cheap, because I had all these things on hand except the shirt.)

Ingredients:
$6.00 Hanes t-shirt from Wal Mart
Barbasol shaving cream
Temporary Spray adhesive
Black screen printing ink or acrylic paint
ModPodge (Glossy)
Image (Sewing Machine) printed from a color (or black and white) inkjet printer
Small piece of white scrap fabric
Wonder Under or fusible web
Iron
Sponge Brush
Scissors
Embroidery Floss if you're in the mood to sew by hand.

If you'd like to see a tutorial, comment.

Christmas Dress

The Photo:
In the past, I've prided myself on my Christmas dresses for Sarah Beth.  Not this year.  I have way too many projects going on right now to fuss over cute Christmas pictures.  I had invisioned dressing her up as an angel with real feathered wings and doing a very overexposed angelic portrait of her.  These days I'm lucky to get her to look my way when I have a camera in hand much less expect her to cooperate.

It's already December and I have yet to get my Christmas cards printed and in the mail.  One of these two will have to do.

The Dress:
I did make this dress one night out of some fabric I found at the Fabric Krazy Quilt Shop which I love because of its subtle festive qualities.  The applique file comes from Planet Applique which is my one of my favorite online shops.  It happens to be the first thing I've ever made for her with zipper.  An invisable zipper.