Minnie millery

Meet the two newest additions to my Etsy shop...

green monster softie

bunny softie

Fireplace Candleholder

Before we moved in, our house suffered a chimney fire. According to the home inspector, some of the tiles were damaged, making it dangerous to have a fire in the fireplace. It's now two and a half years later and we have yet to make any effort to repair it. Adding to our lack of motivation is the fact that we live in central Texas, and on this mid December day it's a sunny 70 degrees.

However, I was getting a little tired of the gaping black hole under our mantle and dreamt up a cheap and easy solution. Easy meaning my 24-hour on-call handyman Zach was there to assist me. (You can view our first fireplace project here)

We went on a post-Thansgiving walk in a wooded area near my mom's house, looking for logs to use for our project.

Zach cut the logs down to size using a miter saw, then screwed them together to form the base of the candleholder. We decided to use a variety of candles, including tapers and tealights. Using forstner drill bits, Zach drilled holes into the wood to hold the candles.

Howdy Doody!

I came across a Howdy Doody doll in an old trunk at my mom's house. It was a toy my siblings and I had as a child, and which my brother Ryan was particularly fond off. Ryan has special needs and has always loved playing with toy cars and trucks, and any toy having to do with Hulk Hogan! He was crazy about his Hulk Hogan wrestling doll. Hulk Rules.

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When I found Howdy Doody, his clothes were nowhere to be found. So I took him home with me and gave him a brand new shirt and pair of pants...although I confess I didn't stay true to his original attire.

This will be a Christmas gift for Ryan; I'm sure he'll be excited to see his familiar toy!

12 Days of Handmade Holidays Giveaway

Visit Think Liz for a chance to win one of my handmade needle-felted ornaments!

Giveaway ends Tuesday, December 14th at 10pm.

Holiday Tea

Each year our church holds a holiday tea. This year I helped host a table with my friends Kelli and Kristin.  The hostesses are responsible for decorating their table with a holiday theme and providing party favors for their guests.

For the table linens, I made a burlap table cloth with fringed edges and cloth napkins in a purple snowflake pattern. We used shank buttons and purple ribbon for the napkin rings, wrapping the ribbon around the napkin and pulling it through either side of the loop in the back of the button.

For the table centerpiece, we used silver candlestick holders, topped with purple and gold ornaments. We placed the candlesticks on a silver tray and decorated it with holiday picks and gold buttons, like those used for the napkin rings. These are some of the same items I use for our dining room table centerpiece at home:

For party favors we filled small spice jars with different shades of purple M&Ms, complete with embroidered jar covers to serve as placecards.

I invited my friend Weihua from work- here we are in front of our table:

There was a choral performance and Speaker Tammy Maltby shared about "Christmas Kitchen Traditions" and provided a cooking demonstration, which we got to sample, yum!

Faccia di Vecchia

Faccia di vecchia, or sfinciuni, which means old woman's face, is an Italian bread made with anchovies. It's a family tradition to have sfinciuni at holiday meals, and this year I tried making it for the first time for Thanksgiving. I followed the "recipe" given to me by my uncle over the phone. Although sfinciuni is traditionally made with anchovies, you can top it with anything you like. I used italian sausage, anchovies, black olives, and mushrooms. I think it turned out pretty well!

Rockwell 22 pc SoniCrafter Holiday Giveaway

The carpenter extraordinaire and top notch blogger, Robert Robillard, is hosting a giveaway for two Rockwell SoniCrafters. These little tools are amazing at simple cuts, polishing, and sanding. Plus they can get into spots at angles you can't really achieve with any other tool.
Check out his giveaway here at his blog, A Concord Carpenter. I've followed his blog for about a year now and I enjoy it because his posts run the gamut of tool reviews, remodeling, house repairs, and solid advice on construction matters.