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.

My friend Nicole came over the other day and was sharing with me an idea of felt books made for children (find examples here), they are SO NEAT!

Nicole inspired me to make a board book for Emma, one which I was going to buy here. But WHY NOT create it myself. Its no gorgeous felt book, but its really great for her age right now. I'll work on the felt when she might appreciate it more (2 years old maybe?)

I used this post that I found via pinterest as my guide. She takes a real board book that she got for free from a Wendy's and simply covers it with her own design on card stock, so simple. So that is what I've done.

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:

Lisa-Jo Bakers wrote an amazing post 10 Things To Do Differently *Before* You Lose Your Temper on her blog Surprised by Motherhood. This is a great resource for a mom with one or many children running around her home.

Jen Wilkins wrote a wonderful post about cherishing all of the personalities and gifts that God blesses a child with in her post when your child's personality annoys you.

This adorable wrap is a MUST BUY for whenever we might be having baby #2... no I'm not pregnant. Settle down. I personally LOVE the Natural & Grey Stripe option.

We are so so happy with our latest scarf purchase (ok, our only scarf purchase) for Emma from Coral and Poppy. She loves wearing it, it keeps her cozy and its adorable. This plaid one is calling my name.. now if only I could fit it in the budget..

This year I decided to create my autumn door wreath myself (mostly because there was a huge sale on at Michael's and I didn't want to pay 40+ for a door wreath). 

Here are the supplies I started with:





And here is the result:





I was quite happy with how it turned out.. but of course, being the silly women that I am, I decided to take a look at what I pinned as wreath inspiration last year. Right away felt like my wreath didn't measure up to some of the beautiful pinned examples. Either way, these wreaths give me a goal that I can aim for next year... but we shall see.








AND.. just for the LOVE OF FALL... here are some pretty pins that make me want to wrap myself in a warm scarf or blanket, with a candle lit, a great book and some hot coffee. Happy Fall Y'all.

Emma is busy learning how to stand up and we think she will be walking by 12 months which will be so much fun this summer! I kinda missed the mark with her 8 month pictures.. but here she is at 9 months.



I have been busy learning embroidery, and LOVING it. I started with a simple hoop design for Emma's door, and now I am working on pillows for our bedroom. If spring gets here fast enough I might have to postpone this "winter" craft and finish the pillows next year, but we will see. Check out my pinterest "Embroidery Love" board for fun and inspiring ideas :)

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)

Andrew and I both had baby books. Over the years I would go and look through my book and check out the time I was born, who brought me gifts, and how much I weighed. My mom even had a lock of hair from my first hair cut (a little creepy, but also cute). We never imagine how neat these books would be when we had Emma. It was so fun to compare and we could finally relate to what our parents had gone through when we were babes.

So it became an important project for me to make Emma a Baby book. I will admit, it can be tedious, with a needy infant in your living room while trying to cut and paste pictures. Also, I am still twisting Andrew's arm to write in his pieces. But its all worth it when I know how much it will mean to her, to look back on when she gets older.

My mom and I got a chance to spend a really nice week together. We celebrated both our birthday's, had coffee with friends, and dyed some Easter Eggs together before our whole family showed up on Sunday. The whole pinterest "lace trick" worked beautifully on our eggs, although we got the idea from Mom's Better Homes and Gardens magazine.