It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Our house is decorated for the most part. Our tree is up and beautifully trimmed. Stockings are hung. Unfortunately we do not have a hearth so we hang ours from our TV cabinet..lol Garland is strung around the house and soon I will start the holiday cookie making. My grandmother passed on to me the holiday cookie cutters from my childhood. Every holiday she would make a huge platter of sugary treats and it would sit for days on the table as we would pass by and grab one here and there. She would make several different types of cookies, fudge, and divenity. The house always smelled so good. I used to make Russian Teacakes every year but have not done it since we've had the girls. This year C and I will be baking up a storm, using the passed on cookie cutters, keeping the tradition going. The other day we made rice krispy treats, her first time, she had a blast. However the treats only lasted the day in our house, their just too yummy to let sit all by themselves!

I love traditions. One of the memories that always stands out the most of tradition growing up is on Christmas Eve. We would always have a big Christmas Eve dinner. Grandparents, uncles, friends and neighbors would come over for a wonderful feast. For dessert my mom and grams would go into the kitchen and prepare the pudding. Spooned into beautiful pedestal cups they would place a almond into the center of the pudding in only one cup. Then mix around the cups as to try to fool themselves as well. Then the pudding cups would be brought out and served to the table. Now here is the fun part, the part I always was excited for hoping and dreaming it would be me! Whom ever had the almond in their pudding got to open one present of their choosing that night, Christmas Eve. This to me was the most exciting part of dinner of course, what kid doesn't want to open a present early? This is a tradition I will be passing down to the girls when they are a little bigger to understand the rules and I know they will love it as much as I did.


What traditions from your childhood did you always look forward to?

 

 

 

You Can Make This Giveaway

With the holidays just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to showcase some quick and easy gift ideas you can give to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and oh yes…even your family! You can enter to win eBooks from  www.YouCanMakeThis.com and learn some fun new techniques, tips, and ideas not only for the people on your list, but also creative ways to decorate your home!

You Can Make This has created a free download for some fun gift tags. Each of them coordinate with ideas found as part of the DIY Gift Giving Series videos that can be found at www.youcanmakethis.com/blog , as well as designs and patterns found at www.SWAKembroidery.com and www.YouCanMakeThis.com.

You can also enter to win hundreds of dollars in gift certificates just for watching the videos that are part of the DIY Gift Giving Series and answering a question on the You Can Make This blog!

Besides the awesome giveaways going on over at YCMT they are offering 2 of my readers the chance to win two bundle packs. The bundle pack will include instructions for making the Kimber Kids 24" Doll and the “Gift-Giver” Patterns. These are the perfect toys to make every little ones eyes light up on Christmas morning.  

How To Enter:

Mandatory Entry: Visit YCMT, come back and leave a comment telling what other patterns piqued your interest. Please make sure if you do not have a valid email address on your blog or profile, add it to your comment so I can contact you easily.
NOTE: If you skip the mandatory entry, none of your entries will count for the giveaway.

Extra Entries: (leave separate comments for each entry)


* Follow Me

* Becaome a Fan of YCMT Facebook Page!

* Grab my Blog Button or Sew Fierce badge and Blog about the party. (Gain 4 extra entries, leave separate comment for each)



* Follow me on Twitter and RT this: (please leave status link in your comment)

APFOB Blog - YCMT Giveaway. Win 2 eBook Bundle Packs!  2 Winners will be picked @YouCanMakeThis  http://apocketfullofbuttons.blogspot.com


Giveaway closes Dec 18th @ 11:59pm (PST) Winner will be picked Dec 19th by Random.org and notified by email, a post will follow. Winner has 72 hours to reply to my email otherwise a new winner will be picked.

Open to anyone with a valid email address!

Thank You and Christmas Etsy Finds

This is a two part post. Thank you to my SITSta's for stopping by and visiting yesterday. I am blown away by all the comments left. A lot of them made me laugh and all made me smile which is just what I needed yesterday. I am still responding to the comments so if I haven't visited your site to say thank you yet, I will :)

This is one reason why I love SITS. Besides Heather and Tiffany being fabulous, all the members are so caring and generous with their time to pop in sometimes just because they saw you in roll call and wanted to say hello. So sweet.


Now for my Esty Finds. It's been awhile since I've posted one but I have been inspired by my Christmas tree. I love the mix of Burgundy and Gold so that is my theme for this week.





Schemata - Hand painted Glass Ornaments






Wildhare - Hand painted Superwash Merino





Gemma Beads - GILT CRANBERRY Scrabble Tile & Washi Paper Earrings





















A and V Designs - AandV Pleated Hobo Bag Autumn





My Mandy's Crafts - Poinsettia Napkin Rings






Mary McNulty Designs - Custom Order -Tennessee Waltz Asian Influenced Batik Fabrics Quilt

Welcome SITS Friends!

Welcome lovely's to my little piece of quiet...sometimes. When Heather contacted me about being featured I couldn't believe it. I have met so many wonderful bloggers through SITS roll call and featured bloggers and I am honored to be one today.

If you've read my "about me" on the right side bar that pretty much says it all. I am married to a wonderful man who makes me laugh and gives me support and encouragement every day. We have two amazing girls. C is 4 1/2 (can not forget the 1/2 part) and M is 2 yrs. Not only do they keep me on my toes, but inspire me to no end. We are a proud military family. Hubby is a United States Marine and has been in for 18 yrs so far. I do not have time for many hobbies but when I can finally sit down I love to sew. I opened a online boutique called Sew Fierce in June of 2008. My favorite things to make are clothing for my girls, they are the best models ever.

My blog started out to be a way for people to get to know me and my label Sew Fierce. However as everything else it has taken on another life I never expected. Besides my day to day stuff I post Etsy finds, recipes and write reviews and hold giveaways for various companies large and small. I can not remember exactly how I started down this path it just kinda happened and I have so much fun with it.


Here are a few of my favorite posts. Mostly about my family with other stuff mixed in.

Can't Help But Laugh

Any Given Sunday

Chorizo Lovin

Google Your Name


Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to meet many more of you and visit your blogs as well.

P.S. Until Dec 18th all in stock items in my store www.sewfierce.com is 20%-40% off. So stop by and take a peak you might find something interesting.

eBeanstalk.com Review

Would you buy from an online site that catered to your child, their age and developmental phases? Would it make you feel good to purchase a toy knowing all the information about that toy? Of course you would, I would too. That's why I was excited to learn about eBeanstalk.com. Not only are their toys listed by age group, featured categories and more, but you can get expert advice if your not sure which toy would be best for your child and learning stage.

The experts at eBeanstalk.com hand picked a wonderful toy for my daughters to try free of charge. All they asked me was the gender and ages of my girls and they did the rest. A few days later our box arrived. What was in it? "Play Foam, Remoldable Sculpting Beads". Did the girls like it? They loved it and still love it. They had so much fun squishing it together, making animals, submarines, airplanes and more. I even got in on it and made a multi colored car.

With each toy the experts at eBeanstalk.com pick for you comes with a Instruction Card. When I found mine in the box I was very impressed. Never seen anything like it before and loved the concept. Toy description, why that toy was picked, primary skills the toy develops and ideas to get the most learning and play from that toy are all on this card. That's a lot of information you wouldn't find anywhere else.

A little about ebeanstalk.com Mission:

"It’s our mission to help parents select the best learning toys and baby gifts based on the age of the child. We offer a unique way to select the right learning toys for your child at every stage of development from birth to five years old. Toys are categorized to allow you to shop by age or further refine the search by category.

The baby toys and kids’ toys on our website have been selected by our team of specialists. The team includes experts in clinical psychology, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, pediatric occupational therapy and education, as well as over 700 mothers from across the country. They looked at over ten thousand toys to select the best development toys for babies and toddlers according to age."

Right now for the holiday spend over $65 and get FREE shipping. See website for more details.

Disclosure: I received complimentary review products from eBeanstalk.com. No payment was received for this blog post.

December Holiday Meal Giveaway

This is for San Diego Residents only.

Do you know about San Diego Mommy's Spot? Michelle from Her Cup Overflowth runs San Diego Mommy Spot. It's a great place for San Diego mommy's to meet, chat and more. Come on by and join us!

Michelle is running a giveaway right now for Golden Share Foods. In a box is everything you need to make a wonderful Christmas dinner!

Click Here to read more about it!!

Sewing Again

First I want to thank everyone who stopped by and gave me their well wish's on a previous post. It means a lot to know that people I've never met face to face care about me and my family.

Second, I have been sewing again! It's been awhile, lost my passion, but making the girls Christmas dresses over the past few weeks has sparked me again. Plus it was perfect timing because we had an appointment to have our family pictures. It was awesome! Unfortunately I didn't have as festive of an outfit, but ya know how that goes :)

Both girls have their monogram on the bodice of the dresses. M's skirt part of her dress has an embroidered reindeer with lights strung around his antlers and C has Merry Christmas with a snowman and Santa holding presents and a reindeer with garland (she picked it out herself). I think they turned out adorable!

Family Together

Hi everyone, how was your Thanksgiving! Mine was wonderful. I cooked and we had my grandmother over. It has been so long since I have spent a holiday with her and actually this was the first holiday the girls have spent with a family member besides us. Another reason I am so happy to be back near our family. Now it's time to get ready for Christmas. I just started my Christmas Shopping (today) but luckily most of my gift buying will be online this year so not too much stress.

So what is THE toy your kiddos are asking for this year?

C wants everything she see's on TV of course, but she feel in love with doll house that her friend K has. So we decided to get one for her. Makes it easy for shopping too, because I emailed our family members and asked them to get the accessories for her....easy :)


A big CONGRATS to Renee G who is the winner of the Wizz-e giveaway! An email has been sent.

Sale, Sale, Sale

HOLIDAY SALE AT SEW FIERCE!!!



If your like me the economy hit you hard, and for this holiday season we are having to really budget our money. That's why starting Nov 27th until Dec 18th all in stock items and clothing will be marked down 20-40% off!!

Had your eye on a cute outfit or a bib & burp set from Sew Fierce? Now is the time to buy! Not only will you save money, but you will be buying handmade items made by a stay at home mom. Buy handmade this holiday season and help support all the wonderful crafters, artists and more.

Offer only valid at our dot com site...www.sewfierce.com, not at the Etsy Site.
Offer not valid on custom items.

Trying To Find My Way Back

It has been a long road for me the last several months and unfortunately it is not yet over. I am truly sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. I have neglected my blog and my business and I am trying to find my way back.

As you may or may not know I have a gastric ulcer with a hiatal hernia. Usually no big whop. I have bad days and good days. Days where the pain is manageable and days where it destroys me from the inside out. Lately due to on and off stress in my life my ulcer has been in full blown mode. I have had many trips to the ER and many tests ran. Every 6 months I have a scope done (endoscopy) and more tests. What fun. All of this on top of my normal motherly and wifely duties. I have put up a good front for everyone elses sake, but it's waring me thin.

Along with dealing with my ulcer, some other "illnesses" (for lack of a better word) have crept up and kept me prisoner to a daily routine I can not brake. I have become solitary. It has effected my work, my blog and probably to some point my family. My daughters are not privy to what is going on, they just know when I do not feel good. I am glad they are so young to not understand. My husband is very supportive and tries so hard to get close to me and make me smile again. Because of my ulcer and "illness" I have had to create a very strict diet for myself and has dropped me from 175 lbs in July to 139 as of today, and I do not know when it will stop. I guess some of that is up to me.

I have to thank the companies I have been working with on my reviews. You may have noticed I have posted several reviews all at once recently. These are reviews I have had for some time but have not been able to finish and the companies have been amazingly understanding of my situation.

I also have to apologize to you my readers. Since I opened this blog over a year ago you have been awesome. I have made so many bloggy friends and I am sorry for the abrupt manner in which I left my blog the last several months. I am trying to get my mind and my body healthy again. While this will take some time my goal is to get my drive back. Back for my family, back for my buisness and blog and back for my life.

Thank you to a special friend (you know who you are) for listening, caring and being their for me with no judgements when I needed someone last week. It means more than I can express.