Happy Holidays!

Greetings to my fellow readers and bloggers! Christmas is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited! I love the holidays because they are the best time to have fun crafting, making handmade gifts, great cards or wrapping those store-bought gifts with style! I have recently gotten into online shopping, particularly on Etsy.com. I love the handmade, vintage and funky items I have found there! Someday I hope to have a shop on Etsy but for now I am content to just shop and support the artisans out there! I recently received an e-mail from the {NewNew} with loads of great links I've been checking out and my newest fave is Funky Finds which I have actually added a button to on my blog, so do click and enjoy the Daily Finds and all the great Indie Shops they showcase!

Two of my favorite ways to spread holiday cheer are making cookies and making cards! I have done both of these things with my niece these last couple of weeks! Today I made a delicious banana bread if I do say so myself! Yum! I've been snapping many photos as well since I have a new little niece who arrived on December 7th (which is why I am where I am and not in the City). My two nieces are wonderful and I am so happy to be an Auntie! The day after Thanksgiving, Alyssa (my eldest niece) and I made Turkey Hand Cookies and they were very pretty! We got the recipe and idea from NickJr. It was fun and messy but best of all, Alyssa helped and that was great for her! We had tons of fun tracing her hands, rolling out the dough, cutting out the hands from the dough and then decorating them afterward with the funky neon colored icing we'd used!

Making cards with children is one of the best ways to let them express their creativity. Alyssa and I set out to make some funky cards with several different crafty papers and embellishments. I got a lot of the embellishments we've been using from the Dollar Tree, you'd be amazed what you can find for a dollar! I like to use different types of embellishments in my card making and often reuse things I have lying around or use the most unlikely embellishments. I found a couple of cute rolls of wrapping paper with winter wonderland scenes which I used for cut-outs, got a funky pom-pom garland as well as many other things such as foam letter stickers and the like! The card stock I got at Michael's which is really one of my favorite shops. Making cards really takes very little effort when you look around and see what you've got! A shiny gum-wrapper can be cut into Christmas ball shapes and added to a card with glitter and other such embellishments. Printed/stamped ribbon also works as a great embellishment. The key to a great Christmas card is your own personal touch! That's always the best thing!

For my next post I will do a card tutorial with more photos and links to some of my favorite crafting sites! I hope that you all enjoy this special holiday season and that the love of family and friends warms your hearts! Don't forget to be on the look out for Socks For Happy People's launch in February! 'Tis the season of giving and socks are a gift that keeps giving for this company as they have plans for Buy One Give One Free! Check out their blog posts for the latest news on my dear friends!

Happy Holidays!

XOXO- Nadia Marie