Wishes and Thanks

It's been an amazing year on so many levels ~ from learning new skills to making new friends and the projects... oh my, the projects.  So I'm just hear to say a very humble thank you to all of you for making this year so memorable and blessed. Of course it had it's share of struggles and heart-ships, don't they all, but this world we share in blogland has a way of turning mud into honey and I'm always so grateful for that gift.

image from jacquielawson.com

Life is always filled with so many possibilities so here's wishing you a New Year filled with embracing those moments and an unending supply of inspiration and love, seasoned with laughter!

Best,

Holiday Gifts - the cookie project

I've been busying myself with crafting an assortment of holiday gifts this year. It's been an especially tight one for my wallet which might mean cutting back on quantity but fortunately not quality.  This year a selection of family and friends will be receiving white boxes filled with homemade cookies.

I mentioned my cookie project a few weeks back and have since added this wonderful holiday magazine, A Taste of Home Best Loved Cookies & Candies, to my recipe repertoire.  It's been a super resource as I've worked my way through their extensive collection of tasty treats. My personal favs are the Chocolate-Tipped Butter Cookies (shown below), if you close your eyes they taste just like Milano cookies, minus the nuts, yummm!

The boxes I mentioned are now jam-packed with tasty treats and soon to be on their way.  I chose to do several layers of different cookies within each box and placed wax paper between the layers, adding in a few miniature Vanilla Butter Cookies with green and red icing for a colorful surprise.  I lined the boxes with a vinage-y printed tissue paper and finished them off with this printed announcement on the top.

Here is the actual announcement image which you're welcome to click on and save to use in your own holiday treat packs.

I have to admit I almost felt like Martha Stewart which made me laugh but in truth I'm so happy with how everything turned out.  It's amazing how a little extra work can enable us to make such a lovely and personal gift.  I think that's the best part about handmade ~ there's so much added "soul" put into everything we create. That's the fun part about sharing with other crafter/artists too, we understand what's behind the creation and appreciate it even more.

Best,

While We Wait~

Now that you've all entered my Holiday Giveaway (you have entered, haven't you??) and rummaged through the list of other fabulous holiday giveaways on my sidebar, I thought it would be fun to share this fabulous short video from my darling friend Cindy over at Whimsical Musings.

It's a brief inspirational message titled "Start a Blog: It Gives a Woman a Voice" and is based off her number one selling ebook on Amazon titled Blogging: It's a Woman Thing. The video is a perfect way to share with friends and family about blogging so feel free to pass it on to those you long to see in blogland!

Cindy also offers more fabulous goodies to inspire the creative soul in all of us such, as her free seminar "Amazing Art Adventure", as well as several other inspirational and creative books she sells through Amazon. So checkout her delightfully artistic messages over a Whimsical Musings to find out more and be sure to pass the word about my giveaway ~ ending this Sunday!

Enjoy~