This year was the first that I decide to embark on making Christmas sugar cookies. I tend to stick to pain free, simple Christmas baking. I not overly skilled in the kitchen.. as most of you probably know, so I waited till my wonderful hubby was home so he could help me NOT screw up the recipe. I used Sally's recipe, and they taste delicious. For icing we just made a very simple icing sugar icing in three colours: blue, green and white, and then I had a gel red icing tube left over from other baking quests I guess.

(note: I wouldn't use the gel in the future, as I didn't realize that the gel doesn't harden making it impossible to stack your cookies without ruining the design... yes these things occur to me always after the fact... sigh.)








As you can cookies came out well and it was really fun for me to sit down and ice them. I am a nerd for creative artsy crafts and projects. I even printed off some inspirational cookie designs from Pinterest to help me out. Now... to stop myself and Andrew from eating them all before we have our little party this weekend... hmm.

I am super excited for my sister in law, Cheryl & her mom, Ruth over at Peck Cloths. They will be having an open house on December 6th (which Kelsi and I will be attending of course!). Check out this fun little announcement I was able to make up for them to advertise the date :)

If you'd like to see more of their selection of cloths and others goods, make sure to check out peckcloths.com and definitely come check out the open house on December 6th.

I've been thinking about what to do with my Christmas greeting this year. Since we are on a new budget (as I recently resigned from Compassion to stay home full time with Emma - yay!) I decided that getting cards printed, even though I design them, is a bit more then I would like to spend this year, so I am trying to get resourceful.

I decided to do a fun little "year in review" page that I can send out to far away family in a simple letter envelope on 8.5 x 11 printer paper. I was still able to have a little fun, especially with all the hand drawn titles and little vector graphics. I can't wait to send it out to our loved ones!

Here is a little sneak preview of my design:

This year Andrew and I decided to make homemade gifts for family. I designed some "Hodgson Homemade" labels and we made Carmel Corn, Nuts & Bolts and Chocolate Almonds :) I found it hard not to keep these treats for myself, but it was lots of fun designing and package everything so pretty for our family!

For the labels, I made up the font and label shape, printed it off, drew the leaves and details, and then scanned the whole design. I then added the colours in photoshop. After a few drafts, I finally ended up with a design I loved - with a round "Hodgson Homemade" stamp look.

There are three fabulous crafts that I would love to create before Christmas!

1. Mini Wreath Garland (cute little Christmas decor item)

Hoping you and your family had a wonderful Christmas & New Year!!

While we were visiting my parents over the break, I found my very own first christmas ornament hanging on the tree. It was extra special this year to see it hanging there. Can't wait for our little ones first Christmas!

No better way to count down the days till Christmas, then with our Lindt Chocolate Advent Calendar's - what a find!
Mine is the red, and A's is the blue.

From my wonderful Husband :)