Bows, Ribbons, and Other Gifts

I am in such a better place today than I’ve been in a few days. This is in large part because we found a church (our Christmas miracle) and something else called: "letting go" As of two days ago not a single present was under the tree.
Pressies_1

Look at it now! I decided if I wasn’t going to go for my normal over the top gifts then I’d wrap well, really well:
Wrapping

Normally my gifts include months of planning, searching, sweat, tears, and a dozen eBay transactions, but this year it’s store bought baby. I did "put things together" as is my way, but I still have this whole loss of control feeling. It’s okay because next year I’m married! Our own Christmas! In our own house! No travel! Ahh can’t wait. So back to that wedding planning for a minuet. See those twirly sticks on the presents? The goldish colored ones are what I’m collecting to decorate with at the ceremony and reception. I want to do something like this on the pews:
Test

It’s quite handy to have one’s own church pew to demonstrate things on. These things are from Kmart’s Christmas center and I’ve scoured three stores to come up with about thirty bunches. I figure I need at least fifty, but I have Katie looking in Corvallis and Angela is checking out the Albany store. Sciarrino’s going to check the Kmarts around her holiday destinations, and Bj and might be able to hit a few stores on our drive up to the tri-cities today. Ceara is even getting some for us in Vermont, which we’ll pick up on our trip out there in February. I hope with all that I’ll get enough. I would have my lovely readers look for me, but I’m afraid that these wouldn’t pack well, plus it’s hard to describe the color, they are not the bright gold ones, but almost brown/gold. And yes I usually like silver things, but this will go better in the spaces we are using. Oh, but if you are near a kmart you should get some for yourself, I mean how sweet do they look on gifts!

And the church. The church is First Baptist, but because they only have an interim pastor we are able to bring in our own if we like, and I’m really hoping my childhood pastor will be able to officiate. Here are some pictures:
The_one

That little thing will be moved for steps. We are only having about 20 guests at the actual ceremony (hence the decorations on the benches) and they will all be able to sit on the front pews I think. Love the details of this place:
Detail_2

Lots of amazing stained glass, the huge organ, art deco exit signs, and my favorite:
Detail_1

The girls getting ready room. I’m going to have a hair and makeup person come to the hotel (we just reserved a suite to get ready in, so exciting!), but we can change and touch up  here. Check out that sick ill mirror. It’s from the old bridal department and Meier and Frank. It’s awesome!

Next up: travel up north. I’ll be in the tri-cites then back here for Christmas festivities. The week after that it’s all about relaxing!

At the Christmas Party Hop!

Crew_girls
My crew girls, love them! I think we make such a jolly happy group. Wednesday night we all got together at my place for our first annual event: gift swap and gingerbread house decorating. Yes first and I’m already calling it an annual thing because we (from left: Kathy, Kristin, Katie, Tracy, Lauren, Sciarrino, and Karen) had so much fun we vowed to do it again next year.

Steps to a great Christmas themed party:
1) Bulk candy, mass amounts of graham crackers and home made industrial strength frosting.
2) Add and extra leaf in the middle of the table and gather round.
3) Cheap cider made "fancy" by cinnamon sticks and cloves.
4) A twenty dollar limit and two swaps per gift.
5) A toasty fireplace.
6) Good conversation.
7) And the "Dick in a Box" skit saved on the TiVo (oh my god is this side splittingly funny or what?!?!!) *that’s the uncensored version – not for the little kiddies!

Allhouses

Wedding vs. Christmas

If it was a competition the wedding would be winning. I still have zero presents ready to go for Christmas, you read that right ZERO. Instead I have been working on wedding related stuff. The church we originally wanted fell through, so I’ve been busy looking into other ones, and have a bunch to check out tomorrow, so I have to head up to Portland again. Our save the dates are almost all done, I mailed out a huge batch yesterday:
Save_the_date_stack

People (who shall remain nameless) have questioned whether people will open them because they might be mistaken for junk mail. All I have to say about that is: I know where you sleep mom! The actual cards are designed by Sciarrino and are beautiful, but to save money I printed them all on my laser, and then Sciarrino and I cut all the pieces out. And there are a lot of pieces:
Save

Not only that, but of course being me, I had to type the return address and our wedding website on the back of each envelope. Then I also typed addresses on a separate sheet (that I also had to cut) to stick in the envelope and show through the little window. And on top of all of that as soon as they went out I had to do something else:
Upclose_1

Note the updates ticket. So I had to design a quickie blog (it’s here, though we haven’t done much). I did make a header for the site:
Topper

Which Bj hasn’t had time to put up. Which brings me to another problem. I have begun a transformation much like that of a caterpillar to a butterfly, only instead of a butterfly I’m turning into a nasty ass moth who is going to eat all your yarn (and maybe your sole). That’s right I’m becoming bitchy bride Amber. I have been working non stop on this thing and it’s starting to get to me. Bj said he didn’t have time to do anything and I flipped, and I mean FLIPPED out on him. I freaking stayed up until 3:45 AM to work on these things, that’s not exactly what I would call good quality free time. He still hasn’t given me any addresses, but whatever dude, I am getting my side out because I’m stressing out. And yes he reads this blog, but honestly I think he only looks at the pictures, I guess we will see.

More happy fun times

So I dropped the kiddos off earlier today, then I took a nice long shower. I never know when to shower when I’m baby-sitting. I’m always so paranoid the kids will get into major trouble. Yesterday I kept them over at my house until after dinner. Hogan was a bit jealous that Karsen got to come over everyday and wanted to play with my super cool things:
Typist

Like this typewriter I have on loan from my dad’s office. I have been in love with this honkin’ humming beauty for like 20 years now. I need to get a sharpie and write on the back "when no longer needed Amber gets dibs" To keep them occupied while I cooked my "weird" (according to Hogan) soup I made up a big bowl of oobleck:
Oobleck

Hogan dove right in. Sissy only wanted to play for a few minuets before she looked up at me and said,  "messy, yucky, clean peas, PLEASE!" I "cleaned" her pants by turning them inside out, ha, fooled you! Actually this is messy and not messy at the same time. See it does get everywhere, but the thing is if you just wait to clean it up, the water evaporates and then you’re just cleaning up cornstarch again. I really recommend this project as it is dirt cheap, totally easy and kept the above mentioned five year old content for almost two hours. This morning the kids woke me up so early I was actually startled. Karsen then had a fit when I got her dress. Apparently putting tights on her is the equivalent of dipping her in boiling water. But all was worth it, because she was just too cute today:
Wiggly_ribbon

Ribbon on a stick, it’s a hit! So are my vintage alphabet blocks:
Blocks

I tried to get her to hold out the k block to and do little photo shoot thing, but dumping and putting back in the little wire basket was much more her style. After nap time I attempted to get a still sleepy Karsen into that baby bonnet:
Bonnet_1

Then I pulled the binky out of her mouth. Let’s hope Violet has a better reaction to handknits. So I’m off of kid duty for a while. Tonight is a little mini Christmas celebration at my dad’s since my sister will soon be leaving to spend the next couple of weeks with her dad’s family in North Carolina. Then I’ll be doing some sewing for my save the date cards! I’m also going to be putting that typewriter to good use.

Hangin with the cuties

Karsen and I are having fun in the mornings down in Ribbon Jar land while brother is at school. This first day I won out and got her to wear something super cute, but today it’s all about Dora. I so don’t get the cartoon outfit thing, but man she loves them. Some shots from the first day:
Crayons

That basket was originally an easter basket from my mom one year, she is a genius, no?
Ring_2

Karsen says, "ohhh pretty Amber, pretty pretty ring!" I agree Karsen.
Tea_towel

Finally putting to use the high chair. This is a darling tea towel Sarah gave me as a house warming gift. So cute as a bib, but you know there’s still food everywhere. Just one more night with the little munchkins, and then I am so sleeping in on Friday. I am sooooooooooo tired. I have my teeth cleaning this morning and I’m actually looking forward to it so I can zone out for a while!

All Nighter

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When is the last time I pulled an all nighter? I’m sure it was college, but I can’t remember when exactly. But since I just got out the the newsletter and it’s a half an hour until I have to be baby-sitting, I think I’m going to just stay up. It should be interesting with the 2 and 5 year old, but hey, when they nap, I’ll nap! Problem solved. So ya, check out the jars, because, well, they rock.

Holiday Cheer!

Per Amber’s request, more of my holiday decorating. Sciarrino and I had a fun night a few nights ago shopping K Mart and Target for decorations (that was after 2 hours of working out, when was the last time I’ve worked out two hours in a row, I have no idea, but I was whipped). We were having so much fun in fact that we both said, "oh my gosh!" when a person came over the loud speaker at Target and said that it was 10:45 and the store would be closing. So more holiday cuteness then, first the outside, which Bj did last weekend:
Outside_2

LED, it’s almost like neon! Since I hacked down all the shrubs in my yard last summer I got these little blue things to put up, pretty festive if I do say so myself. Then we you go in the house there is a cute wreath on the inside of the front door made up of little glass bulbs. And you see my dining room straight ahead.
Dining

Ugh. I need to finish painting the cupboard doors in here! I love Martha’s line at Kmart. The little swirly sticks, the place mats, napkins, and stars. I also put a star in the kitchen:
Kitchen_star

I don’t think I showed you guys the curtain I made in here before:
Pointestta

I’ve had that vintage fabric for a while, I got a large amount of it from Goodwill years ago. I like the curtain, but I think I want to cut it so I can pull it open, and I’m not so sure about how the rod makes it stick out. Oh and do you see that tin up there? My neighbor’s mom got that for me. I pulled the lid off and planed one of my orchids in it, so cute. Then I have garland over the railing leading downstairs, where I’m working on a big release of jars for Monday:
In_process

I have been scouring the earth for these special lids so that the December jar would be extra cool, and trust me it is, super super cool. A few more things upstairs:
Nativity

The nativity (minus the wise men, their still on their way, hehehe) in my nook. I so love this nook. It was one of the main selling points for me on the house. Better than a mantel any day of the week. And finally:
Orchids

Two things I didn’t really need: the cool mosaic glass tree thing, and another set of bulbs (that won’t fit on the tree), but they make my orchids look extra happy. And can I just say, I’ve gotten more use out of these 60s estate sale TV trays than I ever though possible. When in need of furniture just get out a TV tray!

I heart Stacy

Thank you to all of those who commented and e-mailed to tell my that my humble little shop, The Ribbon Jar was featured on Stacy’s blog today as part of her 12 Days of Christmas. I think I read Nancy’s comment first, and I was all, hmm, wonder how things are going down in Ribbon Jar land. With out a doubt the number one perk of being self employed is that I can sleep in, and I do. I usually start work at about ten. So I go downstairs and oh my god I was slammed today. It’s a one woman show (you know besides the free work I get out of my mother, who keeps me sane by the way, coming over on her lunch break to help me out) and I like to get things moving. Even though it says 24-48 hours to ship I like to get orders out the same day. Well today I did at least 10 custom jars, and usually I wait a few days to ship those out because I make them up with tags and everything, but I want everything to go out quickly because I’m thinking people want it for the holidays, right? So that’s how we get to now: 1:30 am and I just finished work (well finished packing orders, the work is never done, NEVER). Tiny breaks to eat (and not clean up after myself as my kitchen can attest to) and refresh news sites hoping that James Kim has been found (no news yet, keep praying! And how awesome is Kati, breastfeeding both her children to keep them from starving, you totally rock!). Now I’m in a "I don’t know where the camera is, half my laundry is in a crumpled pile on the floor, I have 50 emails to answer, December jars to put together, wedding stuff to do, save the date cards to get out, and about a dozen holiday gifts to whip up" panic state. But it’s a good panic state, and hey maybe after today I can actually pay myself and buy one of the presents I was planning on making!