video: Get Beatrix and Fey Ready With Me!

Greetings, loved ones. (I really like saying that, because... Snoop Dogg.)

I finally got to work on a video, so here it is, if you like those. I kinda piled on the dolls in this video. I had to show off Aury!!


(I made that last shot into a Christmas card. Now I have to email it to my mom.)

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Whatever happened to Willa Ford? ("Gimme Gimme Gimme")

I've posted my rando Christmas lists a few times in the past, so here's this year's:

Wow, 2 and 3: books! I don't often ask for those. I've done the KonMari method this year without even reading the book, just having learned about it from videos and blog posts. It's been extremely effective for me even though I've just done my own spin on it, and I'd like to read the actual book. I bet it will be inspiring! I've also been very slowly studying Tarot, and this was a recommended book.

There's always some thing I don't really think I'll get, but you never know. This year it's a geode (5). All I can really find are Smash Your Own Geode kits, or whatever, which makes me nervous because I can't tell what I'm going to get. I'm just a smidge too anxious to want to take a random chance and to have to break it myself. What if I completely ruined it??

So that's my Christmas list! What's on yours? You can tell me. Geodes and books about cleaning = no judgment here!!

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It's the holiday season.

Yup, holiday delights and stressors are definitely popping up in equal measure. Music, decor, baking, socializing... shopping, wrapping, shipping, worrying about packages arriving, feeling a lack of control over things and fretting about pleasing people...

I'm really 'bout our mantel this year. I only made those "noel" letters last year and we've never put those little conical angels there either. It looks happy!

Here are some snaps of our tree (plus Smokey underneath it; it's his favorite hideout).

You have no idea how many Santa mugs there are in this house. (I'm talking... 70, at least.)

I feel beyond scatterbrained... so much on my plate, not just for the holidays, but in general! I'm wavering between optimism and anxiety. I for sure need to take a chill pill.

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warez

My family takes on a lot during the holidays! As if general prepping for Christmas with shopping and decor isn't enough already, we usually have a pile of projects at this time of year... sewing, baking, parties (I didn't ever blog about the ornament party for church kids we threw that took up a huge amount of time last year!), and almost always ornament-making. What kind of creativity masochism?

Every year my mom's church has a holiday marketplace where people sell things, and boyo, does my mom do a crazy amount of creative stuff. She wrangled my sisters and I on board, so one sister has made a big batch of apple butter and the other has meticulously hand-painted gift tags and distressed and painted leather for ornaments.

I personally donated some felt ornaments. 'Cause nothing says "Christmas!!!" like smiling clouds and pastel cupcakes.

I really can't bake, nor can I sew fabric, but if there's one thing I can do, it's blanket-stitch felt. Boy, after putting together hundreds of antlers for little Blythe hats, can I do that.

These will probably be priced insanely cheaply at the holiday market -- priced to sell, rather than priced by the time it took me to make all of them -- and I don't mind that. I just hope someone out there likes it cutesy. I think it's nice to have alternatives to your more traditional reds and greens.

I've definitely been in the mood to embroider, but now I've got to finish up my 2015 ripple!

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my own little tree-dition

Hope any Americans out there had a good Thanksgiving. It's my least favorite holiday (more accurately, I hate it to the point of being intolerable on the day), so my family graciously allows me to do my own thing, understanding that I still love them and am grateful and thankful for them.

This year I spent Turkey Day cooking my own little meal, playing with the kitten, and decorating my little mini-trees!

I'm finding some pleasure in changing it up a little bit every year. Last year, the pink tree had a lot of red, brown, and rust tones to the ornaments, and I also got my little $5 white mini tree to go with it. The first year I had it, I was just tickled to have some pastel going on! I called it "earthy pastel."

This year, a strong return to the "earthy" theme, but entirely in neutrals. I apparently got a package of these little burlap bows last year, but it wasn't opened, since I guess my tree was a little more fiery last year. How delighted I was to add a few this year! I've never had anything for the top of the tree and think a bow looks pretty cute on top.

Every single year, though, without fail: TOADSTOOLS.

At the base, my little silver pumpkin and my Jack Skellington Funko Pop from my bestie, E. You know how much I love "Jack's Lament," right?

Anyway, I'm going to see if Target has anything good in the way of mini-ornaments this year to put on the white tree. It's hard to find ornaments any smaller. If I don't find any, I might tie a couple of burlap bows onto it, but they're pretty huge in comparison to it! I still have plenty of holiday decorating ahead of me in the coming weeks, and I have some ornaments to talk about, too.

In other news, you guys, I'm so close to being done with my 2015 ripple, which as you know, is a gift. It's the hugest blanket I or probably anyone else has ever made, yet it still needs to be a foot longer! I can't go get my final skeins of yarn until I get my paycheck, though, or do any Christmas shopping. I would've been done by now if I wasn't so broke I can't buy yarn, so I'm having to sadly accept the blanket probably won't be delivered to its intended before November's over.

In less exciting news, I've had a sore throat the past couple of days. If I get sick, I'm going to be very upset, because I was just sick in September/October, and karmically speaking, I don't deserve it!!

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Merry Christmas Eve! (Also, a video!)

First, here's a shot of Lamb under our tree!

Okay, so you guys would simply not believe the amount of Christmas cookies made in our house the past couple of weeks. I didn't get pictures of them all, but this is only about a third. I helped pipe on these as well as the chocolate horses/teddy bears below, but mostly, these were made by my sisters for parties and friends and such.

(Oh, my little sister made these candy sleighs for her boyfriend's family's kids!)

And one last shot of Fidelia with Jack Skellington. I'm listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack right now!



Finally, a video... a vlog, I guess. This was a request. Took forever and ever, as usual. I keep thinking I've got this whole process mastered, but nope. :)

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Over the river and through the woods...

Today we decorated at my grandma's. I'm so thankful to have so much family in town. Here are those Noel letters with their elves I referred to back in my post about making our own Noel letters.

So cute! Here are some little bits from my grandma's tree, as well. I was getting some practice in with my 50mm lens (which I still suck at using).

This little red bird ornament was made by my younger sister and given to my grandma, who loves to bird-watch.

Here's my other younger sister, clutching a mug of hot apple cider. Dat bokeh though.

I always decorate the staircase with these cute stuffed things my grandma made at least thirty years ago. They have ribbons on them and we just tie them on, and they form a line marching up the stairs. They're so kitschy, and that's why I love 'em! I also haven't seen any similar decor anywhere else in my entire life! Garlands go on all the railings.

These may be boring to others, but to me, they are the height of nostalgia and instantly bring me back to lots of Christmas afternoons where I'd be camped out on the landing just behind these guys, all my loot all around me, happy as a clam...

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Santa baby, slip Oofuri under the tree for me.

Whenever I make a Christmas list (at my mom and sisters' behest) I always think of that "My Grown-Up Christmas List" song. My list -- this year, taking the form of an Amazon wish list -- always makes me look like an 11-year-old. As I grow older, the harder I find it to figure out what to ask for around my birthday and Christmas, especially since I don't really enjoy receiving clothes or jewelry as gifts unless I've already picked them out myself.

On it this year: 1) Ookiku Furikabutte!, 2) Tamagotchi P's in pink, 3) various Tamagotchi P deco pierces, 4) Madeline Hatter Ever After High doll (shush, y'all, she's so cute), 5) this super cute Danelectro Honeytone N-10 Guitar Mini Amp in Aqua, 6) Leopard Sass! Like I need another Blythe.

(Nah, I would never ask anyone for a Blythe, but it's certainly something I might buy myself, if given Christmas money... also, I sincerely doubt anyone would get me an EAH doll, either!)

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Christmas trees / room tour...

Remember my pink mini tree? It's back! I acquired another mini tree this year, this one even more mini! It's white and it was, like, $5, so. It's joined my pink tree on my sewing table.

Hey, some people on YouTube requested a room tour, so... I filmed that this week. I remember a commenter here asking me if I'd do a room tour once, too. Here it is, if you're interested.


As always, mixed feelings about this kind of thing... I don't feel happy with it (skipped over some stuff, didn't have enough lighting, hate the sound of my own voice, et cetera), but I guess I just did the best I could with what equipment I've got and I'm glad I edited the footage down from an hour to 34 minutes.

Anyway, something that wasn't in my video is that my pink tree has a string of LED lights with snowflakes on them, and they give off a blue-toned white glow. I prefer warm-toned lights so it kind of clashes with my room, but it makes this picture of my Simply Bubble Boom, named Fidelia, and my Jack Skellington Funko Pop figurine look like a scene from the iconic "What's This?" scene! 

What's this? What's this? These trees are awfully small! What's this? There's green on every wall! What's this? The teeth are smiling, what's with that, how creepy! Endless felt and rows of dolls! What's this??

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The first N-O-E-L.

My grandma has these really cute retro ceramic letters with elves on them that spell NOEL... I love seeing them every year! We've never had any at our house, though. On one of our eight thousand recent trips to the craft store (seriously) I saw one of those rows of variously-sized letters made of wood and cardboard and other mysterious materials and decided to get us some "Noel" letters!

I painted them gold, mixing two different gold acrylic paints, one called "Bright Gold" and one called "Champagne Pearl." I also got glitter paint in Champagne! So after giving them like, seven coats at least, I encrusted them with glitter paint as well, which dried clear except for the flecks of glitter. They can really catch the light and shine!

Here they are on our, um, "mantel," which is not really a mantel, but which is old and brass and has been in our house since long before we lived here. Who knows how many Christmases this thing has seen??

This may be simplistic in terms of craftiness, just hanging out painting some pre-cut letters, but I like it!

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24th

Merry Christmas Eve! Tonight, my little sisters and I had our annual Home Alone viewing. We pretty much know the movie by heart, but we can never remember all the McCallister kids' names (Buzz, Lenny... is one of them named Jeff? Yeah, I'm already tapped out, and I just watched it a couple of hours ago).

There's always last-second wrapping to do. I don't know how it happens, but I'm always doing it for someone on Christmas Eve!

I think this holiday is gonna be a good one, but wish me luck anyway!

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toadstool ornaments

It seems I've started a small collection of toadstool ornaments this year. These go on the big tree, not my pink tree. They're heavy!

Our tree is pretty much dripping with all kinds of ornaments, handmade and gifted and store-bought. My mom collects snowflakes and there are a number of them on our tree, and she also has a second smaller tree that she fills entirely with snowflakes. Before this year, I've never attempted to have my own holiday decor, as we have more than we can even really fit on our tree -- and I like our kitschy hodge-podge.

I feel like I'm gonna need a tag for toadstools on this blog!

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for all the little birds

Alert, alert! My mom, artist that she is, painted these two tiny wooden birdhouses that we found at Michael's in a scheme that would fit my pink tree. Now they look like snow-covered cabins! My Bob Ross-loving heart was pleased. And of course I asked for toadstools.

I can't believe the detail on such a small thing -- it's only two and a half or so inches tall.

Anytime anyone tells me I'm talented I just laugh, since my mom can do anything.

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marshmallow world

Last week my pink tree braved the terribly cold outdoors so I could get some pictures of it. This was much harder than it sounds, since I was so shivery-shaky, huddling down on the snow.

My weird color compulsions were given free reign on this tree, and my odd theme was earthy-pastel. It's so satisfying to me. I'm still so glad I found those little toadstools at Target!

Somehow, there's room for a few more ornaments!

We decorated at our house and at my grandmother's this weekend. Today, all the snow has melted away and it's in the 50s! So warm! We're supposed to get another cold snap soon.

I've been hauling butt on a last-minute Christmas writing project, and the holiday feels simultaneously too close yet too far!

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