Christmas Day.
Day after Christmas.
That's kind of how you feel after Christmas too. All the planning and excitement and then it's over.
That's when you start rooting through your Christmas gifts. I got a pair of short LL Bean boots and
a Woolrich Buffalo plaid shirt. I'm all set for the outdoors in 2016. Time to get outside.
For my handmade gifts this year, I made my peeps kitchen chalkboards from upcycled cutting boards. I made myself a prototype earlier this fall. I also burned myself making it but I was extra careful making these.
I visited 11 thrift stores to find enough cutting boards. I can tell you where every Goodwill, Salvation Army and Savers is in the Rochester Area.
Tina's chalkboard (lower right) is actually a pizza peel which works out because she loves pizza.
Each board has the shape outlined with the wood burning tool and then the chalkboard paint inside the lines. I included a stick of chalk rolled up in craft paper with each chalkboard. This one was photographed in my friend, Paulette's, kitchen. I hope all my friends enjoy them!
Today was our Eleventh Anniversary and Aaron gave me a turquoise bracelet and necklace since that is the stone for eleven years. He also got me this graphic novel called Soppy, that reminds me of us!
There were beautiful flowers too.
For dinner we ate outside at Richardson's Canal House. These pomme frites were a highlight. Afterwards we went to see San Andreas.
Now back to the gifts.The traditonal gift for eleven years is steel. That is lucky for Aaron because he loves knives and other steel items. I got him this pocket knife from Benchmade. My friend Patricia told me I had to give him a penny with the knife. I had never heard of this tradition before.
It is believed that if you give someone a knife as a gift, it will "sever" the relationship. To remedy this, you give them a penny with the knife which they give back to you as payment, which preserves the relationship.
I think traditions like this are fun so of course I taped a shiny penny to the box. I can't help but think of how many knive have been gifted in my pocket knife collecting family!
I've been looking at my goodies from Christmas...
How cute is this birdfeeder? It's made especially for sunflowers seeds. I told Aaron "The squirrels will love it!" and he shook his fist.
Aaron always gets me a calendar for Christmas and I fell off my chair when I saw this year's was a Tuna calendar! I didn't even know the little guy had his own calendar.
I have been talking about the Haws Bosmere watering can ever since I found out it was reviewed as THE best watering can. I guess I'm pretty serious about watering my plants. Haws has been making English watering cans since 1886. They are not in the UK as I thought there were but are Glennville, Georgia! Not only did I get my dream watering can but I got a mini-version for watering my inside plants too.
My mom and dad got me a snowman gourd which I am pretty excited about leaving out all winter. He lights up and light glows through his face and snowflake. I'm transfixed by the glass Christmas tree on the right. It lights up, spins, changes color and glitter swirls around. I could pretty much sit and watch it all day.
My mom also got me this amazing vintage Viewmaster. It came with reels and it's own special case.
Speaking of vintage, Aaron got me a Baltimore Printing Press! Gah! I can't wait to start printing!
One of my favorite holiday traditions is our Christmas brunch with our closest friends. I love setting the table and making the house look festive. I think I need a bigger dining room table though!
And I love brunch.
The last couple of years, I've found the menu items on Pinterest. This year we had two more winners. Hashbrown egg cups... the only difference is I used fresh potatoes instead of boxed hash browns. I was worried they might taste bland and be a Pintastrophe but they turned out great.
They paired perfectly with pumpkin maple pancakes topped with maple cinnammon whipped cream.
Tina also made us mini-crack pies. So good. There is bacon in there too.
Then it was on to gift opening. Lauren seemed pretty happy with her presents.
Charlie and Tina.
Joel and Aprille.
It was chaos opening gifts with four furballs running around trampling everything.
"Say what?!"
Aaron and Oscar.
"My paper!"
I got some pretty sweet Birthday Week gifts from Aaron this week!
A foodie graphic novel!
An apron for morning juicing.
Very excited for this! I love learning new things! Aaron got one too so we can take it together! I am a lucky gal!
It's not even Christmas yet and we are already getting a lot of gifties!
There was a surprise delivery to the house from my parents... they got us a deep freezer for Christmas! Time to stock up on frozen pizzas and ice cream. Stewie thinks it's just for him to sit on.
I love handmade gifts... Tina is on a finger knitting rampage and gave me this finger knit scarf.
Tina was beside herself with joy to give Aaron these Moldy Donut plates. There is a story behind this.
THE MOLDY DONUT STORY
Back when Aaron was stationed on an aircraft carrier, he worked in the dark a lot. You know those guys that sit in front of a screen and watch the *boop boop* and track things? That was him. One day he got a pack of powdered mini-donuts out of the vending machine and proceed to eat them... in the dark. He though they tasted funny. Kinda... dusty. He stepped out into the hall and discovered they were completely covered in mold.
Bwah - hah - hah! Moldy donuts!
Now you know.
Aprille - Queen of Upcycling, gave me this upcycled t-shirt headband...
... and a jar of my holiday addiction... sugared cranberries.
Paulette. made me this beautiful stained glass candle holder. Speechless. I think she needs to join our table at craft fairs don't you?!
In case you still have people on your Christmas list and are doing some last minute shopping here are few great gift ideas right here in Rochester, NY.
Cat Clay has some really cute ceramic gifts... ornaments, jewelry, mugs and more. I love my Rochster necklace and vintage camera hair pins.
This Good World Holiday Gift Pack comes with two posters, two stickers and two buttons. Good idea for a good gift.
Joe Bean Roasters Gift Boxes for the coffee fan in your life. They have a gift box in store that comes with adorable coffee cups handmade by Vicki Hartman. You could even get someone their home brewing classes.
Fahsye really has something for everyone... cute jewelry, bags, candles, scarves and ties for the guys.
Some of the goodies I got for Valentine's Day... a Rochester Public Market cookbook and cute spatulas. I am very excited to try something from the cook book.
I also hear rumors that there will be a food truck rodeo at the Public Market! I'll keep you apprised of that development.
For flowers I got this amazing heart orchid. Gah! So cool! I am trying my Grandma's trick of watering it by placing ice cubes in the pot to melt. It might seem like a bad idea knowing that orchids like warm conditions, but my Grandma's orchids are amazing. They look like they could walk out to the kitchen and fix themselves a snack... so I'm giving it a go!
I had decided that 2011 would be the year of the Glitter Christmas. I started off by glittering some plastic deer. That went pretty well.
This was my first plan for Glitter Christmas Handmade Craft Gift... it was based on this idea on Pinterest. I ordered the little deer online, glued them to jar lids and glittered the entire thing. Turns out glue and glitter doesn't adhere well to plastic jar lids. One twist to get to the candy and entire slabs of glitter would slough off. I tried sandpapering a lid before glittering it and that seemed to help but I was miffed and ready to try something else.
So I had lots of little plastic deer and lots of glitter. I was pretty excited when I saw these clothespin toppers on Pinterest! The glue and glitter stuck to the wood much better.
I glittered different kinds of deer in different colors and then clipped them to stamped gift tags. Tah-dah!
Glitter Christmas was saved.
Glitter spilled over to my gift wrapping too. I used stencils, glue and glitter to add gift recipients initials to their packages.
I also glittered some letter cutouts to tie to packages.
There is now a fine coat of glitter covering pretty much everything in the house now. Even the pugs. I believe this will be the last glitter holiday. Well, maybe just Easter. Glitter EGGS!