Glitz and glam? Sign me up!

This is my FIRST ever link up post!!  So here goes!

I recently decided to participate in a gift exchange with some other bloggers.  Who wouldn't willingly participate in a Glitz & Glam Christmas gift exchange?!?!  Seriously.

This fabulous exchange idea was created by Raven at A Momma's Desires and Pacifiers (you must read her stuff...  she is HILARIOUS) and Lindsey at The Bargain Blonde (she's got some amazing ideas and all budget friendly)!

My swap partner was Stephanie at Steph's Sweet Life... such a sweetheart and you gotta love her name
{ smile }

She did an amazing job with the things she found for me...  AMAZING!!

What girl wouldn't LOVE a super soft, warm scarf, sparkly OPI nail polish, a cute silver wristlet wallet and an S ornament!  { this Xmas tree ornament fan is in LOVE }

Here's a closeup of the nail polish...

I think the best part of OPI nail polish sometimes is the names they choose.  And this one does not disappoint!  --  How's it Snowin'? { LOVE it }

Thank you Stephanie for such wonderful gifts!  You did PERFECT and I've been enjoying all of them already!!   Not to mention that it was a lot of fun getting to open a gift BEFORE Christmas

{ smile }

Have a wonderful Monday!  On a side note...  can you believe that Christmas is only 13 days away?!  Have you got all of your shopping done?  I haven't...  I know I'm crazy, but I love doing my holiday shopping in the month of December!

Cookie exchange and Santa, oh my!

Today is a SPECIAL day...  We will be seeing Santa! { huge smile from the Prince }

We go to Nordstrom in downtown Seattle and wait in line for almost 2 hours just 

to get a picture of these two together. { precious } 

Grandma went with us last year, so you know we couldn't miss the opportunity to get a picture of all three of them together!

And last,but not least a picture of our little family with Santa...

On top of seeing Santa this afternoon, I'm also baking away in the kitchen...  making cookies for the cookie exchange tomorrow!

Here are the ingredients I'll be using...

 Can you guess what type of cookies I'm making?

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!

DIY projects to do BEFORE Christmas...

The countdown until Christmas morning is ON!!  Can you believe that in a mere 17 days it will be Christmas morning?!?!  And that means I have even fewer days to get all of my projects that I'll be gifting to loved-ones done!!

Today the Prince and I woke up an hour earlier than usual... and I've already straightened up the kitchen and have butter sitting out to get it to room temperature for the cookies I need to bake before Sunday at 11:00am for the cookie exchange; I've straightened up the dining room table { aka sewing/craft central }, and I'm now sharing some of the projects I'll be working between now and Christmas. { smile }

For some special little-ones in my life, I'll be personalizing some mugs for them.
{ kinda like these }

Photo courtesy of Design Mom.

I first saw these on Pinterest and then was taken to the great tutorial that Design Mom put together, here.

This next one is for my Prince. { shhh, don't tell him }  

Even though he may or may not have had a hand in helping me select the fabric for these bags...  and as I sit here typing this he keeps saying Carter and pointing at the picture.

  Next year I'm definitely going to have to be more sneaky if I want to surprise him, but for this year I'll just have to hope he forgets about them before Christmas...

Photo courtesy of Make it Perfect.

These storage bags will come in very handy for storing all of his choo-choos and cars.  And even better the hubby and I will be filling the one for cars with a bunch of new cars. { smile }

This cute "Peek-A-Boo Toy Sack" was created by Make it Perfect, you can get the tutorial here if you would like to make one or some, too!

Next come the ornaments I found that I thought would be great for our new tree.  And best thing is the Prince can help me make them!

Photo courtesy of Homemade Grits.

Salt-dough ornaments!  

You can do so many different things with these ornaments to personalize your tree.  They would also make wonderful gifts for family and friends, best thing is that they only take 3 ingredients...

{ water, salt and flour }  

Here's the tutorial if you would like to create some ornaments this year.

And just for fun, I'll call it a present for myself... can you believe that when I sew or create it's always for someone else.

Photo courtesy of Craftaholics Anonymous.

Some pretty appliqued ruffle pillows, I'm leaning towards doing them sans-applique.  I have some wonderful fabrics that I picked up recently that are just begging to be used for this project. 

Here's the tutorial if you should want to make some for yourself, too!

Ok now it's time that I get to work on all of these projects...  not to mention the projects I couldn't tell you about because the person/people receiving them would know what they are getting for Christmas!

What projects are your working on for the holidays?  I'd love to hear about them all!

Decorating our Christmas tree.

It's the 1st of December and what better way to start out the month than with all the happenings of our Christmas tree decorating night { smile }  

We've been doing this since our little Prince's very first Christmas.  Each year we invite the grandparents over for dinner on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend and we all work on decorating the tree whilst talking and watching the occasional holiday movie, USA Network permitting... { Did you know they don't play holiday movies all the time on Thanksgiving weekend?!  Jeesh, how dare they! } 

Seeing as how I can hardly contain my excitement about how our tree turned out this year, I'll start with showing you a picture of it...  taa daa!

Now you'll have to wait for all of the details...  On to the food and grown-up hot chocolate!

Appetizer

I ended up making the Greek layer dip I mentioned in my "And moving on to the next holiday..." post.

Quite yummy!  And sooo very simple!  

Recipe/Guidelines/Tips for making...

1 package of your favorite hummus (or you can make it from scratch if you prefer)

1 cup chopped kalamata olives 

1/3 cup of cucumber minus the seeds

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

**I used the hummus for the bottom layer, then topped it with the olives, cucumber and feta.**

{ Remember...  you can use as much or as little of the ingredients that you want and you can add whatever you please.  The original post I found for this dip included red pepper and fresh dill, I left them out to make it to my taste. }

Dinner

Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Croutons

Again, yummy!  Here's the recipe if you want to try this!

Last, but not least the Grown-up Hot Chocolate with HOMEMADE marshmallows!!

Rich and creamy, sweet-delicious hot chocolate with a touch of marshmallow vodka, topped off with a homemade Bailey's Irish Cream marshmallow!  { Both Dad and hubby approved. }

My marshmallows definitely tasted like marshmallows, but they didn't quite reach their fluffy potential and rather than making an entire second batch we used them and they were wonderful...  definitely a must try!   

Here's the recipe in case you want to try making them yourself (remember to substitute Bailey's for the beer in the recipe) and let me know how they turn out for you!  

AND FINALLY...

 all about our Christmas tree!!

Ornaments

I picked the majority of them up at Michael's on Saturday morning for a steal...

 50% off plus an additional 20% = AMAZING!

My color inspiration for our tree came from this single "ornament"...

{ I think they're meant for putting on wreaths, but Mom worked some magic and turned it into an ornament instead. }

I absolutely LOVE the brown, the orange, the blue and turquoise...  I instantly knew these would be the colors for the tree!!

I love to use glass balls { if you couldn't tell }, ribbon for the garland { this year I found some glitter encrusted ribbon to use }, and this year I just happened to have a piece of material that matched wonderfully that I used to cover the base of the tree!

Then came the time to put all of the decorations on the tree, Mommy had a special little helper/assistant...

And then came pictures of us all in front of the tree...  

The only thing left to get to make this Christmas tree perfect is the matching/coordinating wrapping paper that I saw as we were leaving Michael's { wink }

Of course I'm just kidding, I know that's a little overboard...  right?!

When do you put up your Christmas tree?  I know there are people out there who put it up on the 1st of November and then some wait until Christmas week...  where do you fall in this vast spectrum?