christmas collection

our decorations are pretty localized, mostly just peppered along the mantel, but i did enjoy arranging this small collection of weird and/or old christmas bits among the glowing vintage flower lights.  this year we added the deer quadruplets and a festive space-man.

happy holidays, friends!

polly, puff & powder

just had to show you the cutest cat puzzle ever.  i found this little gem on etsy and gave it to david for christmas.  it's a delightfully furry addition to our collection of vintage tuco mini-puzzles (almost all of the others are landscapes).  perfect for a puzzle challenge!

outside and in

best bits from these snowy days...

the view from our dining room window and a bright stop on our snowy walk (before it got super-cold).



back inside i take a break to knit a row while david does a puzzle challenge:

winter into spring

some recently developed diana mini film photos.

branch shadows, a place to sit, david jumps even higher and my tiny feet.

birthday branch

yesterday was david's birthday!  i like making him work (play) for his gifts, so this year i made a birthday branch decorated with bits of paper.  on each paper was a typewritten clue which he had to decipher to find a hidden piece of candy.  if the candy had a fuzzy little dinosaur sticker on the back he received a gift, if there was no dino he just got the chocolate.

last year's game was a birthday ball bounce and the year before was birthday beans (yup, those are the same beans in the birthday branch jar below).











in between searching for chocolates we worked on this jigsaw puzzle.

photo of a photo

when i have my diana mini film developed i get the photos printed 4x4", so it was a nice treat to get some re-printed 8x8".  this is one of my favorites from a few years back: david in the woods on his birthday.  i hung it on the wall in my sewing area so this nature man can peer across my forest of fabrics.

(have a better look at this diana mini photo here).

koala cookies

well, really just the funny valentine and yummy cookies i made for david yesterday... 

more memory

our handmade memory set just keeps growing...  we cut squares out of black mat board and paste on all kinds of images.  sometimes the matches are exact, but more often they are two relating images or different sections of the same picture.  (in these photos the pairs are stacked, so you can only see one of each). 

we have names for almost all of the tiles...  it may or may not help you remember the placement by saying the name when you turn it over.  (it does add to the fun though).  can you find "mister fox", "jelly fish", "fiddlin' cricket", "frog hospital", "eclair repair" and "ouch, i cut myself"?

pictured here is about 2/3 of our game...  we have almost 100 pairs now!

bread terrain

a tiny friend exploring the bubbly bread i made yesterday. 

the recipe (from this book) says this super-thin and crispy flat bread is called "carta da musica" because of the sound it makes when broken...  we're not sure of the musical qualities, but it is very tasty and fun to eat.

carrot soup...

made for dinner last night from this recipe.  seriously delicious, especially with the roasted chickpeas and tahini sauce.  i upped the spice level a bit and used cilantro instead of parsley, but other than that pretty much stuck to the recipe.  i froze the leftovers, but kinda wish we were having it again tonight.

here's a deer to say...

fun in progress

lately we've been enjoying some evening scrabble games.  i knit a bit and rearrange my letters while awaiting my turn.

our holiday

hope everyone had a delightful christmas! 

we had a lovely day...  starting out with coffee and chocolate croissants, we finished the puzzle (no pieces missing).



some last minute gift wrapping...

using washi tape on bright envelopes & vintage trim to tie up brown paper packages:



our camel stamp and paper-punched star-flakes:



the no-tape wrapping:



one of our coasters tied to the top...  it just looked pretty:



my favorite...  a little dab of glue and some mini white pompoms (not marshmallows) make for a funny package:





i love how david hand-letters his gifts:



loot:




we made pizzelles for the first time...   could use some practice, but they are still pretty (and tasty):



little friends on our christmas tree:

decorations

just the other day i got out our box of christmas doodads and decorated the mantle.  we don't have many decorations, but the ones we choose are pretty special (they make us laugh).

it's always a treat to plug in the vintage flower twinkle lights...  i hope they never die.