Welcome!

After I took Christmas down, my front door looked so blah..so, I did a makeover.  I normally just put a wreath or a simple decoration on, but I decided to go it up big for 2011.

I put grapevine all around the door and added some green polymesh.   I have lots of fleur de lis yard art in my beds, so I went with some fleur de lis on the door.  Fads and Frames.

I wanted to see the grapevine through the mesh, so I didn't make big loops as I did with my Christmas wreath.

My shabby chic welcome sign I wanted to keep so I wired it to one of my lanterns.  On the other side of the door I have a large tin fleur de lis...no picture...will add later.

I think it screams...come on in you are welcome here!!

Smarty Pants...

The day after Christmas Rachel and Chris arrived! 

What the heck?

They are both dressed in velour outfits...now, if you are a follower of my blog you know that Chris made a tad bit of fun of me wearing matching velour outfits. 

Smarty pants...!!

Rach and Chris sporting velour..by the end of the day I can tell
you a secret....they were lovin' the comfort..ha!

What's this??
Daughter #2 and her beau arrive...yep...sportin some velour...
HATERS!

Ladd in deep purple, Sarah in black, Rach in purple, and Chris in red.

And Big Z sportin' leopard...
pretty funny practical joke.

I wonder who thought this up....need I tell you that Sarah's boyfriend fits right in with the jokes...he and Chris put their heads together for this one...I thought I was going to get a couple of new outfits out of the deal since they bought them and aren't going to wear them again...WRONG...they all are keeping them...too funny!

We had a great day!



Christmas Eve day...

 Christmas Eve!

OH....one more day!

I started the day with a pedicure and manicure...I almost fell asleep...it felt sooooo good!
Thank you Kelli!

Baking....Eggnog Bread and Pumpkin Bread.   Can't wait for Christmas morning...hot chocolate and some yummy bread.

My brother, Steve's favorite....A**hole Cookies.  Long story..! 
And chicken for dumplings for this evening.

Katy Kitty..our 20 year old cat...yes, 20!  No matter how old we get, we must look festive for the big day!

My front door wreath I made...love, love, love polymesh!

Looks so pretty and sparkly in the sunlight.

My super cute husband, Scott working in the flowerbeds...getting my flowerpots read for....

PANSIES!

Merry Christmas to my Flamingo sisters....getting in the spirit with these two!

She's mad at me!

An early Christmas present....two red Adriondack (?) chairs for the backyard...love em'!

Gracie Lou says, "Merry Christmas"

Back to work...got the Cricut out...pics to follow and then Candlelight Service at ELBC.

For the Love of Gracie...

Two days until Christmas and Gracie needs a Christmas collar.

Ribbons, pom-poms, fabric glue, elastic, sequins.

I love this basket from ThirtyOne for crafting.  I use a dowel that fits my rolls of ribbons in place of the handle.

Cut ribbon and glue baubles on the ends.

Tie them on a piece of elastic that has been fitted to your dog.

My precious puppy, Gracie Lou Grady.

All done....cuteness!

Now, for her Christmas bath..,



Gracie has a lot more fun on Scotty day at the puppy spa....oh, I miss you Ms. L'rell!



I really love my sweet girl...

Sportin' her new collar...don't know which is cuter...Gracie or the collar!

Pet me...

Oh Gracie Lou, you silly pup!  She is such a funny little dog and has stolen the heart of the Grady clan.  She needed that cute collar to look pretty for her BFF, Ollie, that's coming for Christmas.   

Velour in Action...or Day Two of BFF Candymaking...

Day Two of BFF candymaking or as my son-in-law, Chris, calls it..."Velour in Action".  Chris noticed that not only did I have on one of my matching velour outfits (which I love to wear at home to piddle around in), BUT Ms. Melissa also had on a matching velour outfit!!   You will notice that on day two I have on another velour set...and when Melissa walked in she exclaimed, "Friend, I am jealous over that outfit!"  I am a great fan of not only velour, but also of animal prints.  SO, here is day 2:  Velour in Action...

I saw these little treats on one of my favorite websites, http://www.allrecipes.com/
Holiday Pretzels, Hug, and M&Ms are all you need to make this super cute and tasty treat.

Line pan in parchment paper and put a hug on a pretzel. 

Bake at 300 for 3-4 minutes.  (This batch was with peppermint hugs)

So, while I waited, I changed the day on my Santa.  I couldn't find the chalk, so I dug out another piece. 
Only FOUR days left!

I then noticed that Santa was smoking...the missing chalk!  You gotta love living with a bunch of boys!

Remove from oven and add an M&M.   Cuteness!

My favorite Christmas saying..haha.  Picked several of these up at Marshall's one day.  A very cute way to give a gift.  In fact, I gave one to my secret pal with some treats.  BTW, Marshall's is a lot of fun to go treasure hunting in...especially the home section..  It's one of the BFFs favorite things to do...treasure hunt!

Seth got up and joined in the action...although, he owns no velour (luckily).   He loves to help out in the kitchen cooking, he does hate to clean up though. 

One of Seth's favorite thing to make....Chocolate Marshmellow Stirrers.
These are so much fun to keep on hand in the winter.  We love hot chocolate at our house and these make wonderful stirrers.  They also make a cute little gift.  I make then every year and wrap them really cute.  They make great small gifts, especially when you add a cup mug and hot cocoa mixes.

We dip both white and dark chocolate.  We drizzle them with opposite colored chocolate to make them super cute.

Seth at work...

I didn't plan the two animal prints together...my apron is zebra.  I'll be sure to not clash next time I'm blogging my cooking ideas.

I told you I love animal print.  Notice the tray...a Hobby Lobby buy...a cute polka dot stocking trimmed in leopard.  I'm not sure which I like the most...dots or animal print.!  These inexpensive trays are such a good buy and so handy to have on hand for a quick gift filled with treats and wrapped up in cellophane and tied with cute tinsel ribbon.  The trays can also be used as a cute charger with paper plates.  I did a table once at church like that and it was adorable.  Watch the Hobby Lobby sale and get them half off...$1.50!

So, Melissa decided against velour today, but notice the Christmas spirit she is boasting...peppermint earrings and a giant jingle bell that almost drove me over the edge!  These two put their heads together and created a couple of snowmen out of the leftovers.

Drizzling chocolate over the marshmellow. Use a quick back and forth motion to get a fine whispy lline.

Look at all the goodies.  This is only a portion of my HALF! 

Another pic of the BFF and Seth working hard...

The other half of my treats.  Just imagine how easy and quick it will be to produce a quick treat.  I plan on putting a tray together for Scott's office, one for Triumph on Friday evening, one for a friend recooperating, and some for my neighbors...and that still leaves plenty for Christmas Eve treats.

So, that's it for BFF candymaking...not only do we have lots of treats for gifting and sharing...but, we made more great memories.  Melissa is truly a great friend to hang with...we always have so much fun doing stuff...it's great to have such a creative and fun friend.    It's also something fun that Seth and I do together...after this Melissa and I kidnapped him for lunch and shopping...I think after Stage, Lowe's, Nichol's, Walmart AND the washateria (another great memory for later) he was tired of bonding!

Enjoy!

Zandra

PS...someone that knows how to add a cute signature line...(Karen & Coleen) help me out!