merry christmas!

too all of you!

first day off school

We celebrated our first day of Christmas vacation (I am now off with my kids too ....yea!) by making our gingerbread house of the year.  

My daughter and I usually make one every year.

Here is this years creation!

the pickle!

The tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped.  Its time for the pickle to get unpacked...

On christmas eve, after the kids go to bed, while the kids are sleeping, we hide the pickle in the tree.  

The pickle is an old german tradition.  You hide the pickle in the tree.  The person that finds the pickle in the tree gets a little extra present that year. 

Of course, I never know who will find the pickle, so I have to buy an extra present for everyone, or sometimes I make it a present that the whole family can enjoy!

A couple years ago, when I was I in Germany, I bought both my kids a set of pickles, or Weihnachtsgurke, for when they are old enough to have their own trees.  

This set has three different sizes of pickles.  

As the children get older, the pickle gets smaller - so it is harder to find in the tree!  

It always happens the same way every year....  The presents get torn apart.  They play with those toys.  

....Then they remember they have stockings! 

Then there is another pause after the stockings are emptied!   

....Then they remember the pickle!!  Oh what fun they have trying to be the first to find the pickle!

I haven't decided what this years gift will be yet....hmmmmmm....

new batch of jewelry

Here is a new batch of jewelry that I made last week.
I find sweet words in old books that have special meaning.  
I put the words on pretty papers and put the papers between two pieces of cut glass.
I then wrap the glass with copper tape.  I paint the copper tape with flux.  
This helps the solder to go where you want it.  I solder silver around the edges of the glass to seal the tiles together.  
It takes a while to get the hang of it.  
When I started making these, I botched quite a few charms before I got one to look good!  
You top it off by soldering a jump ring on the top (for me this is the hardest part!). 
They are a really sweet gift for a friend or family member! 

all that glitters...

Today I found a wonderful gentleman selling beautiful jewelry.  
Off to the side he had a pile of "junk" jewelry.....to me the very best kind!
Jewelry that is broken, missing parts and pieces, the lone earring missing its partner...the necklace that is missing some stones or clasp....
I love this stuff!  I break the backs off the earrings or cut the necklaces up into parts.

They make wonderful rings, magnets or additions to other jewelry.
Here are some shots of my beautiful "junk jewels"!

snowmen multiplying like bunnies!

We sold out of these little guys at the sale!  I have had a lot of requests for more of them, so we  made a new batch this weekend.   They are a happy bunch!  
We will be making a few more this weekend too!

stenciling

I love taking old metal and tin containers and stenciling on them.  I get my stencils at  Maison de Stencils stencilstudio.vpweb.com      
here is a picture of a few of the old tins I have stenciled.
This is an old german breadbox and an old lift top tin.  
Stenciling is really easy.  Just make sure you tape your stencil down and i use acrylic paint and dab it on to the stencil.
Stack them together and you get some nice storage in a great new look!

the tree

The kids put up the christmas tree last night.  We got our tree the day after thanksgiving.  
It was a cheapie tree for 9.99. 
But once it is decorated -  it's priceless! 
I really enjoy pulling out the box of ornaments and looking at them every year.  
They are a story of our lives together.

Some of the ornaments are vintage glass ornaments from the 50's and 60's- from my childhood  (yes I am dating myself)  
My mom gave them to me when I moved out on my own for my first tree. 

Then, every year, I look for a special ornament for that year.  It has to be special, because it is 'that years ornament'. It can be something cute, something I had never seen before - but it has to catch my eye and is annointed 'that years ornament".
  

Early in my career I made ornaments at Christmas and sold them so I could have spending money at Christmas. Some of those from each year are in the box too.

As I had my children, they got or made an ornament every year too.  They range from dinosaurs when my son was small to handprints, santas, decorated balls, 
to my favorite - a post it note on a paper clip that says "we love you jesus, happy birthday"

I also have ornaments that friends have made and given me.  They too, have special meaning.
This is why I like bringing out the box of ornaments every year and remembering when and where each ornament has come from through our lives :)

my favorite christmas cookies

My favorite christmas cookies are what I call Snowballs.  Some people call them Russian Teacakes or Pecan balls.  I call them wonderful!
My mom always made these, and now my sister has taken on the honors of being the baker every Christmas.  She makes cookies, candies, cakes and all kinds of good, fattening things!
When my mom wrote out the recipe card for this cookie, up in the corner it says
"(this is the cookie you love - little white balls)"!
So here is the recipe for those wonderful little white balls!
Snowballs
1 cup soft butter
1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
mix thoroughly
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
sift together and stir into above
3/4 cups finely chopped nuts
mix into the above
chill dough - roll into 1" balls.  place on ungreased baking sheet.  bake at 400 until set, but not brown. (about 10-12 mins - but watch carefully because they burn fast)
while still warm, roll in confectioners sugar.  cool.  roll in sugar again.


pour a glass of milk.
enjoy!
ahhhh!




Another favorite at Christmas is Thumbprint Cookies


1 cup soft shortening (part margarine, part butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
mix thoroughly
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
sift together and stir into above
Roll into 1" balls,  dip in slightly beaten egg whites.  Roll in finely chopped nuts.
Place about 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet and press thumb into the center of each. then my mom writes..."(usually when they are about half baked I press my thumb into them again because they kinda loose the indentation as they bake - but do it quick so you don't burn your finger!)"
Bake at 375 until set (about 10- 12 mins). 
cool
Fill the indent with confectioners icing colored with food coloring:
to make icing - start with a half stick of butter or margarin, add confectioners sugar, add a little milk stir until it is consistency of icing.  add about 1/2 tsp vanilla
divide the icing into how ever many colors you want  -usually pink, green, yellow.


Enjoy!

and a couple more shots

 we had a great crowd... here is a shot from inside the window.  thank you to all who came out!

 the girls like to get dressed up in their party clothes...crinolines, pine skirts, frenched...

 even Bessie dresses up.  She put on her santa hat and an evergreen wreath....

These were some pine cones we collected at my husbands dads house this summer.  
Funny story.  As we worked our way down the longest yard sale, I bought some of these pinecones. 
I thought they were amazing!  So big!  What a statement they would make!!
When we got to my father in laws and unloaded all our goodies we had purchased along the way...he looked at what all I bought he laughed when he saw these pinecones.  
He said "We burn those as trash..."  I looked around me and I was surrounded by trees full of these wonderful huge pine cones! 
I went out every morning before it got too warm and collected them to bring them back up north!

 We were able to find some more hands!  And we did up some more ironstone plates with fun holiday words.  These are so much fun!!

a few more pictures from the sale

 here are a few more shots from the sale...

Many Thanks to all who came!!

Wow!!  What a great day we had!  Many, many thanks to all who came yesterday!  
It was a lovely day!
I got to meet so many wonderful people!  And so many of my blogger friends!!
Thank you to all who introduced yourselves to us! 
We so love meeting everyone and have made some wonderful friends through the sales.
Thanks to everyone who waited in the long lines.  We have outgrown our barn already and are thinking of ways to improve for our next sales.


I want to share a few pictures from yesterdays sale...

and a very special thanks to our family and friends...we couldn't do these sales without your help....XO 

BARN SALE TODAY!

Here are a few sneak peaks...
Hope to see you all there!

tomorrow's the big day!

The snowmen are all abuzz about the big sale tomorrow!
They are putting on their best snow outfits so they can hopefully be taken home with you for the holidays!


Forecast - a light snow all day - perfect for a winter shopping outing with friends!
Hope to see you tomorrow!!

iced hydrangeas

 I had a lot of dried hydrangeas left from the fall and wanted to use them in my Holiday decorating.  
I got out my glue and my crystal snow glitter.
I watered down the glue and gently painted the petals of the flower with the glue.  I sprinkled on the crystal snow glitter and gently shook of the excess.
It looks like fresh snow on the flowers. 
You could do this on silk flowers too.  I can imagine roses and peonies with this frosty look.
Very pretty!

a blue christmas

One of the color stories in the holiday sale is this pretty aqua blue.  It is so pretty mixed with cream and silver.  One thing I like about doing the sales is I can decorate in colors that I might not decorate in my house with.  I get to experiment!

deck the halls!

Countdown to Saturday!!  The wreath is hung, the crafts are made, most things are set, but I still have to price everything! Ugh!
That's the part that I like least.  I love the antiquing, love the crafting, love growing things, especially love the twirling it all up and making it look pretty, but don't like the pricing part . 
...A lot to do in a few short days!  Hope we can get it all done!! 


I have included some other things to do in Marysville if you can make it to the Sale.  We have quite a few cute shops in town and a lot of nice places to have lunch.
For those who need directions.  From Dublin take 33/161 towards Marysville- get off on Rt 42 make a left.  Make a right at the first light - Industrial Parkway.  Go about 3 miles to the water tower make a left on Fladt Rd we are the big red barn on the right.  Look for signs along the way!