inspiredfriend: Cindy Baugh

My friend, Cindy Baugh, is my latest inspiredfriend. I think you'll love learning about her fun spirit and seeing all the fabulous things she's made to share with you.

Click here to see...

And there are some fun projects in this issue of the magazine. My favorite? Make your own just-add-water paintings! Great project with the kiddos!

Click here for the latest issue of inspiredideas...

happy new year!

Hello friends...thanks so much for all your condolences on Grandma Harper's passing. We leave bright and early tomorrow for the funeral.

I'm going to publish the Jan. 1 update, inspiredfriend and inspiredideas, a bit early. Look for new content at about 5:00 pm EST today.

Grandma Harper

Rich's grandmother passed away this morning. She was 92 and has been suffering from dementia for years. It was so sad to see her...she was always so confused.

But my favorite story about Grandma was when she got a new roommate at the nursing home a few years ago. The newbie liked to watch television. Grandma did not. There was a tussle...Grandma would turn off the tv. Newbie would turn it back on. Finally, without a word, Grandma took out her scissors and cut the cord to the then "on" television. Needless to say, gutsy Grandma enjoyed a single room from then on.

We don't have details yet about the funeral but we'll be travelling to Michigan later this week. Meanwhile, I'm hustling to get the next update in place and ready to publish before we leave. The sun refuses to shine today so I'm hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.

and the winner is...

Linda Sonia! Hip hip hooray!

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas Day. Mine was wonderful...can't wait to show you all my presents. We had to go home early because Rich is now sick with what I had last week...the poor dear.

(Linda Sonia, send me your address and I'll send it on its way to you!)

{merry merry christmas}

Merry Christmas, my friends. May you be touched by the magic of the season. Enjoy the last minute preparation...the wrapping and baking and tagging and oh-no-I-forgot-to-get-a-present-for...'s. Don't forget to have a cup of eggnog, sing along with the carols, talk about Christmases past and make great memories for everyone around you. And most importantly of all the preparations, make your heart ready. That's all that's really important.

Here are photos of my contribution for this round of Club Little House. Leave a comment here and you could win a set for your little garden. (Winner announced Saturday December 27)

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Amy

on the mend...

So far so good today...I'm still blowing my nose a million times and I'm coughing a lot. But I'm not so achy and I feel a bit of my energy returning.

I did not venture out, as you probably guessed, on Friday. For one thing, I'm not sure a sick person out shopping is the nicest gift for Christmas. I'm all for quarrentining the sick, including me.

Saturday morning, however, Rich and I headed out for the quickest shopping trip ever. In less than an hour, and in only two stores, we knocked out 90% of the gifts on the list.

Yesterday, while perched on the sofa taking in all sorts of television programming, I decided to make huge pom-poms to go on top of all the gifts. It turned out to be a great recovery project, requiring little concentration or effort yet offering the happiest of results. I used a clover pom-pom maker, which makes it ever so easy. I only made white ones, to resemble snowballs. I think I made about 25.
I even had enough energy to wrap the gifts. (the rag doll is for Shelby!)

Hope you have a great day.

under the weather...

On our way home from NYC, I felt a burning sensation in the back of my throat. I slept all the way home, with my head in my mom's lap while she combed my hair with her fingers (which, by the way, made me feel deliciously like I was 8 years old again). The next day I woke up a bit sick...then through the day it got worse. Yesterday, I spent the whole day lounging around, trying to get enough energy to do the things that had to be done. I managed to get all the orders out that came in yesterday, in record time.

I woke up this morning feeling like the bones in my face were broken. All my muscles are achy and I just feel terrible.

But, here's the thing...I still have shopping to do! Lots of shopping! I'm wondering if I'll feel well enough after a shower to go out just to one store to get some of it done. Maybe?

Well, anyway, that's my story for today. Poor pitiful me, smelling of vick's vapor rub and surrounded by a sea of used kleenexes.

charm bracelets! and sale!

Just in time for some last minute shopping...charm bracelets! Click here to grab one. I'll ship it out as soon as I get the order...







And guess what...there's a sale on Bari J's section. Click here to see!

i ♥ ny

Oh my goodness gracious but did we have a fabulous time in New York! It was a long drive there and a long drive home, but in between, we really had fun.

We arrived with enough time to walk around, see the tree at Rockefeller Center and the ice skaters. And on cue, big fat fluffy flakes of snow fell on us. It was just magical to look up in the sky, embraced by buildings that stretch so far up there, and have such beautiful snow drifting around.

The show was amazing...my parents eyes sparkled just like a child's. And my mom kept saying "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

After the show, we decided to just walk around a bit and take in the sites. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was just so beautiful (and packed!) And then we made our way to FAO Schwartz (even more packed!)

It was getting dark by then and the snow was really falling and blowing in our faces. We decided to make our way back to the car, looking for a restaurant on our way. We asked the bellhop at Warwick to suggest a restaurant and he recommended Il Gattopardo. Really, so wonderful. My mother declared it "The best meal I've ever had!"

little delivery & big apple

Club Little House packages are on their way...woohoo! Can you believe how many boxes? They reached the ceiling. I can't wait to show you the goodies...won't that be a nice Christmas Eve treat?

I'm heading to bed early tonight because tomorrow we're taking my folks to NYC to see the Rockettes! My father overheard me telling someone that they'd never been to New York. Offended, he replied "Oh, I've been to New York...I haven't been since 1952 but I've been to New York City"

The last time he went, circa 1952, he and a friend went for New Year's Eve. His friend got a bit tanked and my father ended up having to carry him (over his shoulder) plus both of their suitcases to the hotel.

I'll tell you about our adventures in the Big Apple when we get back.

here I am!

Oh, boy...I did not mean to fall off the face of the blogworld for a whole week! Seriously.

Here's my week in review:

Monday: Club Little House sorting party...great fun and lots of work. Thanks so much Hope, Pam, Lorraine, Claudine and Leslie for being such fabulous elves! (see Pam's blog for club little house sneak peeks, but not if you want to keep it all a surprise!) Here's a picture of what my family room looked like with all the club little house submissions ready for sorting.

Tuesday: Spent most of the day wrapping gifts for the baby and packing them up to send off to California...took way more time than I thought it would. My three favorite gifts were a cat face shaped keyboard which had an option to change the notes to "meows", a chipmunk toy (we used to have a chipmunk that would come visit our front door everyday and Baby would (many times aday) go to the front door with his face pressed against the glass and say "Monk" Monk"), and a tiny digital picture viewer to which we loaded 50 pictures of us, the baby, and other fun things.

Wednesday: Worked on handmade gifts in the morning and went shopping in the afternoon, treating myself to a very nice lunch out alone.

Thursday: Had some little friends over in the morning for a crafting project. Afterwards we had gingerbread with whipped cream (lots) and egg nog served in tiny espresso cups of different colors. Went to the dr. in the afternoon and finished up handmade gifts in the evening.

Today: Met my friend Hope at Newberry's in Brunswick for their moving sale (great!) and then exchanged stockings at Beans in the Belfry! Dropped off 20 gifts for my sweet friend Irene to give to all the angels in her life, including the staff of her dr's office and the folks at the drive-thru of McD's. Stopped by for a quick visit with Ann and Linda at the Cottage. Ate a late lunch at Tuskie's.

Here are some pictures that Hope took on Monday before the sorting party of my holiday decorations...

it's beginning to look a lot like...

Today, I'm putting my Christmas trees up and getting the house festive and pretty. I'm off the sofa, heating pad safely switched off, and feeling much better, I'm happy to say. First off, I need to head out to buy more twinkling lights, a wreath for the door and a small one for my kitchen window, and two small real trees. (I'll also have a big artificial one and a pink one (hopefully!))


Before I get started with all that fun work, I thought I'd show you one of the swaps from Silver Bella. This was a one-on-one swap, making a glitter house based on this one that I shared in inspiredideas this summer.


My swap partner was Melissa Danner. I don't have a good picture of the one I gave her...but just cast your eyes on the beauty she made me...

Melissa is so sweet and I just fell in love with her cheery, saturated, candy-like palette. Look at this fabulous quilt she made for the vendor faire (as far as I know, it's still available!)

I really love these details, the bird and the super cute house!

club little house sneak peek

I hope this sneak peek doesn't spoil the surprise too much. I'm knee deep in packaging up my littles for this round of Club Little House. The sorting party is on Monday and friends are coming over to help package up littles and send them off. It's going to be so much fun.

I'm feeling a little under the weather so while I'm working on packaging all this up, I'm cozy on the sofa with a heating pad and watching the programming on PBS that they run during fundraising drives. It's always good stuff when they're asking for money, isn't it? I just watched Dr. Amen's Magnificent Mind show. I really liked what he said to do about Automatic Negative Thoughts...the last part of which is to make a statement that is the opposite of that negative thought and then ask yourself, "which of these statements is more true?" For instance, an automatic negative thought might be "I'll never get a job" when the opposite statement of "I'll get a job" is more true, surely. Anyway, if you get a chance, watch this program.

I still have lots of stuff to show you, even stuff from Silver Bella. Don't give up on me...I'll get my act together soon.

Oh, and you do know that there's a new issue of Inspired Ideas up, right? Click here to see.

inspiredfriend: bari j.

I'm so pleased to present my inspiredfriend Bari J...
Can you believe this fabulous little nest of fabric scraps...

So clever and fun!

And you won't believe your eyes when you see the fabulous wallhanging she made...layers and layers of appliqued flowers, executed beautifully. Really, a work of art!

Click here to discover more...