Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
This video is so funny I thought I would share.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I can't believe it but my Christmas wish came true. We are having a white Christmas! Its only the 2nd time in my life. I have never seen so much snow!!! Wishing all of you the best Holidays ever!

A Winner!

I have to make this post short because I stabbed myself in the finger with scissors last night. Its super hard to type. Crafting CAN be dangerous!
I used a random number generator and it picked melanie's all my favorite things. Congrats! Just e-mail me your address Melanie!

Joli paquet still has a give away going on so go comment if you haven’t yet. Thanks for all your comments. I now have some new Holiday movies watch thanks to y’all!

5 Blog Give Aways

Wow! Five blog give-aways!!!! Go Here

Candy, Candy, Candy

I LOVE candy! I have always wanted to make some of my own but never seem to have the time. But, then I read this lovely blog post and thought "I could do that!" So on Saturday my kiddo and I went to Michael's and bought candy kits, molds, and candy melts. Then we went to the Dollar Store and found the old fashioned peppermint sticks and the marshmallow poles. All I did was melt the candy melts in the microwave in a glass shot glass (my DH thought that was hilarious) then dipped the stick in it and rolled in the sprinkles. For the marshmallows all I did was cut in half and put in a pretty package. I think they will make perfect teacher gifts! I had so much fun with the packaging! You know how I love making special packages.

A Give-Away

This is just a peek at what I'm giving away! I want it to be a surprise. But I promise you will like it! All you have to do is comment on this post or any I make in the next week. I will anounce a winner Friday December 18th. If you want I would love to know your favorite Holiday movie. Mine is White Christmas. Its been my favorite since I was little.
Also I have a really good deal going on in my shop. I have a lot of green faux feather trees and they are just taking up too much room in my studio. I'm selling them 2 for $12.00.

Home

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who bought a kit or other goodies from me. I was overwhelmed at the response my kits got. I'm so glad you loved them. All of the purchased ones have been shipped. I only have a few left.

After all that shipping I took the time to add a little winter cheer to our home and took some photos to share with you. I just wish we would get some snow! It hardly ever snows here and I really love snow!

I will be having a blog give away soon so stay tuned. Also I will be closing shop for the holidays at the end of next week. I will re-open in January after I have thoroughly cleaned out my studio. I will be listing some REALLY good deals after that. My studio(and under my bed, closets, cabinets, store room) is just really too full of art and craft stuff. I'm only going to keep what I love and sell the rest in my shop. Don't forget about the give-away. I'm feeling super generous!

Kits Are Here!

My Winter Woodland Kit is now available. I only have so many. Don't forget to go over to Joli Paquet and see the other girls kits. I got a few myself;) I also added a few new cute items to my shop. I will be making more original Cones, cards, and wreaths and adding them soon.

Winter Woodland Kit

Well I couldn't tease you too long! Here is my Joli Paquet kit for this year. It will be available Thursday. I also have a few kits from last year in my shop now. The price has been reduced. Also I have lowered a few prices on some Holiday items. The other Joli Paquet Girls kits are available to view today and tomorrow. They are super cute! Don't forget Joli Paquet has a Flickr group! We would LOVE to see your creations. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who supports the Joli Paquet blog. We LOVE it when you pass on the info about us, leave comments, and share your pictures on Flickr.

Sneak Peek

My Joli Paquet kit will be available soon! I thought I would tease you with a little peek.

Faux Snow Greeting Card

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Well its Black Friday and if your anything like me you would rather be crafting in your pjs than fighting a stampede of shoppers. Need a project? How about a glittery Christmas card for someone special. This card highlights some new techniques I have learned and some fabulous products you just can't live without!
Go on over to the Joli Paquet Blog to see the tutorial!

For The Table

I made this center piece for Thanksgiving and had so much fun I thought I would share.
Materials:
Cheap Styrofoam pumpkin (Dollar Tree)
Ink
Stamps
Tissue Paper
Modpodge
Acorns
Mushrooms
Moss
Sticks
Paper
Leaf Punch
Ribbon

First cut a hole in the pumpkin. Then stamp fall images onto Kraft tissue paper.Tear or cut images out leaving room around them. Glue onto pumpkin. Find a stick that looks like a little tree and glue into pumpkin. Add moss. Glue or wire leaves and acorns on tree. Add a ribbon, sign,and mushrooms. You could make it pretty fall colors or even pink.And of course it would look adorable with glitter! Tiny ones would make great place cards!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thank you all soooo much on your wonderful advice and comments about our family Holiday problems. My DH and I had a very good long discussion about it. Y'all had some great ideas we are going to use! I will tell you about it soon.

Bah Humbug!

We interrupt the normal crafty goodness for a good old fashioned rant and rave!
I hate that the holidays are a big fat mess when you have a blended family. We are trying to find time to make new traditions for our family. But some of our family gets upset if we don’t do all their holiday events and traditions when they want us too. We don’t even have my step sons this year until after x-mus and barely any time in Dec. at all. I haven’t seen my extended side of the family for x-mus in years! Luckily my family tells us to just do what we need too and they try to schedule around us. I tell you one really good thing about being a single parent, you get to spend the whole holidays with your family. I hate that I now dread the holidays because we just cant make everyone happy. My Dh and I end up giving up the traditions we want to create in favor of trying to satisfy everyone. I know I hardly ever rant or give much personal stuff but this really bums me out. Christmas is NOT about what you get and where you are going. Its about love, family, and spirit. I just hate that the Holidays are now always a stressed time for us. I know some of you can relate because blended families are now more common than traditional families. How crazy is that!? I would LOVE to know how YOU deal with this!

Two Terrific Tutorials

There are two wonderful tutorials over at Joli Paquet! Thank you Lilia and Jeanne. Y'all did a great job!

Its That Time Of Year Again!

Get ready to get your craft on! Go HERE for all the fun! Feel free to add the Joli button to your own blog or web site.

Holiday Glitter

Whew! I listed half of my holiday items in my shop. More will be coming soon! I have the whole day to myself!! I think I will spend it crafting. Yay! Have a great weekend!

Shop is Open

Brandywine Boutique has reopened. I will start adding Holiday items today!

More Peeks!

Package Perfection

I LOVE packaging! This year for my holiday items I really wanted to focus on how I do my packaging. Presentation is one of my favorite ways to create. I thought I would show you a little peek at what I have so far. I think they would make perfect gifts. I plan on using them as teacher gifts myself! I'm also going above and beyond on how I ship my packages. I love shipping orders like they were gifts. There is nothing I like more than ordering something online and being pleasantly surprised when I open it. I like to make sure the packages I send out make the receiver feel special. I AM running behind but my goal is to open back up at the end of the week. That is if my family stays well. There is ALOT of icky illnesses going around.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I'm super excited. We are staying home for the first time ever! I'm having a pajama party for just us. I can't wait to show the boys (son and stepsons) all the cool stuff I got and made. There is a giant gummy snake, popcorn balls, candy apples, glow sticks, and more! They are going to love it. Can you believe I have NEVER handed out candy on Halloween? Last night I took my dress form Millie, a Styrofoam head, and Halloween lites from my swap to make this. Isn't she scary? The kids thought so. Have a safe and Happy Halloween! Watch out for spookables.

Trick Or Treat Swap

The Joli Paquet was such a blast. Can you believe it was my first official swap?! Maria my swap partner made it extra special for me! Thank you Maria. Here are pictures of what she sent me. There was candy but my family devoured it right away. She also sent a gift card. Such a sweety!

Here is what I sent her. Our goodie bags were so similar!

You can go over to the Joli Poquet site and check out links to see more! Thank you again Maria!