Quick Hostess Gifts + Giveaway Winners

Where has the day gone!? I am still not packed for my 6 am{thank you Mr. Frugal Sabbe} flight and I have to be out the door in an hour for my student's final presentations.

First up, here is a quick hostess gift I put together for some ladies who are throwing Baby Sabbe a party this Sunday. We actually have two showers this weekend in Tennessee! We feel very blessed. I can't wait to get to the sweet, sweet South.

Cookies in a jar! Here is the recipe. My jars were too small so I had to add a little nut and berry bag on the side. But I think it worked out ok.

And the giveaway winners are...

Susan- Handbag {I NEED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS}

Peg Mayor- Ornaments

Liz Crowny- Stationary

Carlee- 1 yard of fabric

If you did not include your email in your comment, make sure to get that to me.

I will contact each of you shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Burp Cloths

I worked on some overdue baby gifts tonight. Sewing is my favorite thing to do when I have had one of those days at work.

 

I {heart} applique. If you are new to sewing and haven't discovered Wonder Under, go now. It's the best. Martha Stewart has some cute templates. The possibilities are endless.
Update: I'll post a wonder under tutorial this weekend. It's so easy. You will be addicted.

Gifts That Will Get a "That's So Cool" Response

Handi Sleeve via Holy Cool : because it makes me laugh

Clothbound Penguin Classics, Great Expectations via Blueprint Bliss : because they are pretty + classic

Subscription to Ready Made Magazine: because even if the never do, people like to know how to make stuff

Nomsa Headband via Etsy: because it's so much cooler than earmuffs

Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandlier: because it's my favorite of all of my cookbooks

Mini Modern Classics: because they are cute and you don't have room (or $) for all of the full size ones

p.s. If you live in Boston, Aunt Sadies carries these for much more reasonable prices ($20-$50)

Laura George's Two print via Etsy: because I think it is romantic

6 Pack Wine Rack: because girls like 6 packs too

Personalized Mini Calling Cards via Moo : because they make it so easy

 USB Skype Phone via Cool Hunter: because how funny would it be to talk on this thing while riding T!?

My Love Affair + Some Great Art

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I love the city of Chicago. I am not sure what it is, perhaps the dream of designing in a city that has produced some of the finest American architecture to date. Or maybe it's my dream of taking up improve and performing with Second City, to one day become the next Tina Fey. Either way I l-o-v-e, love it and have told Mr. Sabbe we must take up residence there at some point in our lives.

We have friends {lucky, lucky friends} who matched in Chicago for their intern year of  medical residency. They married last February, she is an ophthalmologist and he is an architect. I am really pushing the "one year" time frame, but I am finally getting around to mailing their wedding gift and I must say...I really, really what we came up with. I found Hiroshi Ariyama on Etsy and he does the most awesome Chicago screen prints. Here are a few of my favorites.

 

The one with the Blue Line is the one we got for our friends.
Ahh Chicago...we'll be together one day.

Scrapbook Quilt

The extra special holiday craft that kept me busy during the month of December was this scrapbook quilt I made for my grandmother. I finally used my Michael Miller Bootie prize fabric. I loved it because all of the fabrics that came in that bundle kind of went together, but not in a matchy-matchy way. I think it made each block look more like a sheet of scrapbooking paper. The photos are iron on transfers on white cotton fabric. If you try this use the Avery brand, the photos are more matte and less likely to crack than other brands I've tried. Also pre-wash and dry your fabric before you iron on the photos.

My grandma has 16 grandchildren! She deserved a quilt. I told her every time she uses it she can think of it as all of us giving her a big hug.

I liked the back side, but forgot to take any pictures. I made horizontal stripes out of the scrap fabric and then the main field is chocolate brown.

I wish I lived in the same town as my grandmother. She was telling me about her seniors center and how they eat dinner every Tuesday and Thursday together and do crafts...and sometimes they dance...jealous! She also told me her friend is having an addition put on to her house because she needs more craft room....more jealous! Mr. Sabbe better not wait until I'm 70 to give me a craft room.

Random Things I Would Like to Chat About

I have many different topics I would like to post and in lieu of saving them to post one by one (as I've noted is the blogger way of doing things) I want to post them all together. This is how my brain works. I am like spaghetti!

First thing of importance on my mind is my project I've been posting here and there over the past few months. It's almost done! I'm very excited and I like the way it turned out very much. I think it's like a big cup of coffee. You take a sip....then you say ahhhh.....so warm. This will be the new SunTrust Memphis Headquarters office.

From there my mind wanders over to the Old Testament (told you...I'm so spaghetti it's not even funny). As you may have noticed, I have not been posting fun books that I've read for a couple of months now. I miss my fun books, but I've put them aside because I'm currently going through a program called Downline and one of my goals of being in Downline is for me to read the entire Bible. Bah, I know...we've all tried, but who has actually finished?To date I've read Genesis-1 Samuel and I'm going to tell you...Leviticus was a struggle! But the fact that they teach us what we're reading before we read it, plus this handy dandy Zondervan Handbook to the Bible that I found over at Burkes... and low and behold...I love to Old Testament. I never thought I would say that out loud...but I do. Read it, it's good stuff. And if you have questions, ask me...it's also part of my duties of the program. Other good bible helper books I've read recently are 30 Days to Understanding the Bible (read this before you start Genesis) and The Master Plan of Evangelism.

Next up...we have this super sweet gift a rep gave me yesterday. I've mentioned before that reps give us stuff (reason #81 to be a commercial interior designer) So I get this little gift on my desk and I open it and I tear up. It's a hand painted ornament from the Mustard Seed, which after I googled I found was a center where mentally challenged adults are taught to express themselves creatively through the arts. Then they sell their crafts to help raise money for the program. I mean, I could cry again just thinking that something so wonderful exists out there. Their motto is "...if you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard see, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you" Matthew 17:20...ok, tearing up again...must move on.

To wrap it up I would like to give a shout out to Lotus Blossom Designs. I ordered some special, custom gifts from her Etsy shop last week and she was a delight to work with. I wanted to take the handmade pledge this year, but I knew what our gift to one another was going to be and I didn't want to break the pledge...I know...how Kyoto Treaty of me. Maybe next year.

Tag-Birdie Blankie

My friend Jenny just had the most beautiful baby. Her name is Addalee Corinne, isn't that the cutest name ever! So I had a couple of craft ideas working in my head and this weekend I was super craft productive. I've been wanting the try a tag blanket and then I got the idea that it would be cute to add a little birdie on the end for her to hold. I used the same pattern I used on these birdies.

And ta-da....Tag-birdie blankie!

Just ribbon and two fabrics...so easy. You really can't see it in the photos but I quilted it a little bit.

Demonstrating the intended use for Mr. Sabbe.

Rolled up and ready to go out tomorrow!

More crafts and pictures of Boston to come!