Why Couldn't I Just Buy Them a Gift Card!

My apologies that it has been a while since I have blogged. To be honest, the holidays pretty much kicked my butt. For one thing I was busy baking. My aunt asked me to make decorated sugar cookies for her to give to her customers, which I was happy to do but it became more of a game of beat the clock to be sure that they were baked, decorated and packed in time to meet the USPS shipping deadlines. Then I went into my normal holiday baking. I always make homemade stromboli or pepperoni bread and am known, along with my mom for my cookie tray. The tray is pictured below and it has chocolate chip cookies, spritz cookies, sugar cookies, devil's food cookies, and cake balls! All of the cookies were delicious and for one that does not have a sweet tooth I have been eating my fair share of them!


In addition to all of the baking I decided to make some of my Christmas gifts. Big shocker there right! I always do this and think it is a way of saving money and showing off a little. My idea for the handmade gift came from a failed project I was working on. I was trying to make a bracelet out of tiny cover buttons. I am going to try again with that project but I was looking at the leftover cover buttons and thought about making tacks out of them and giving them as gifts. then I said, well I would want to put them on something. I was walking around Target and found a 4 pack of cork board so then I needed something to put the cork board in. I ended up finding great frames at Michaels and decided to decoupage scrapbook paper on the frames that coordinated with the buttons. And the finished project is below.


I know a lot of us crafty people prefer the DIY crafty gifts but I have to say, while the reaction to the gift is worth it, forgoing the crafty give and buying the traditional gift card would alleviate some of the holiday stress...but where is the fun in that??? Stay tuned because these little frames will be showing up in my Etsy Shop soon! 'Tis the Season!

What is Wrong with This World???

I honestly don't watch the news at night because I just can't comprehend some of the stories that I hear about. I just don't understand what goes on in people minds and what causes them to hurt innocent people. It is one thing to hear about these stories and it is quite another when you know the person in the story. As I type this, an amazing woman is fighting for her life. This woman belongs to my Sorority chapter from South Carolina. She came into the sorority one year after I graduated but I did have the pleasure of meeting her at a wedding. She was also the president of the chapter for a year and did some amazing things with it. She is in the hospital because her husband attacked her with a hammer while she was sleeping. She is currently stable but still has a big fight ahead of her. A battle that I know she will face head on and like all of the other Tri Sigma's I know, she will fight with all she has to beat this and get better. I know I am praying for her and her family while they are dealing with his during the holiday season. One of our alum was kind enough to start a website in her name and set it up to accept donations to help her family with travel and medical expenses for Erin. On this page you can also find more information about Erin and the story. I know it is the holidays, but if you can, please donate to help Erin and her family get throught this very tragic situation.
http://www.erinprince.com

So I Finally Got to See It

The movie Twilight that is. I woke up early yesterday to get Bella ready for school and began my daily unemployed routine. Drink coffee, eat breakfast, check etsy, log into facebook, and post for jobs. Well unfortunately I didn't have any esty orders to fill. I had christmas cards to do but was just not in the mood. I went to check my myspace and saw an ad for Twilight and said to myself, "That is what I am going to do today". Now I have never in my 31 years been to a movie by myself but I really didn't care. If I didn't take myself I would never go! I did not anticipate also being the ONLY one in the movie theater. But I guess at 12:40 on a Wednesday that could be expected! I will say that some of the previews for other movies were really scary, and I was a bit freaked out being in the theater all alone!

Before I get into my thoughts on the movie, let me talk about my feelings on the Twilight Saga. I was first introduced to the series this summer when my brother's fiance told me about these books. I had no idea what she was talking about but she said she was obsessed with it and that I should read it. She handed me the first book and I read the back of the book, read those three lines, and got goosebumps. It was not long before I was reading Twilight and like everyone else could not put it down. I remember going on my lunch break to Target to buy the next three books because I didn't want to have to wait to continue reading. I absolutely LOVED the series. So much so that I read the entire saga 3 times. What I love about the series is the ultimate love that Edward and Bella have for each other and despite all of the odds their love only stregthens. It is a story of true love perservering against all odds.

As I was sitting in the theater I felt like a teenager I was so excited to see the movie. But perhaps I set my expectations a little too high, I have seen way too many movies based on books that have been a disappointment. I thought the movie was ok. When I left the movie I was not sure what exactly was missing for me. But then in talking with some friends on facebook, I figured it out. The true love romance that is pretty much the basis of the book just wasn't portrayed well in the movie. I think the courtship between Bella and Edward that I LOVED in the book was a bit rushed in the movie. They definitely captured some of the right moments in the end but it was defintiely missing throughout the movie. The movie definitely tells the story of the book but I think a lot of the romance was taken out of it. I could feel this way because I am such a hopeless romantic that perhaps I made the books more about romance then they should have been. But maybe that is why some books should not be made into movies, that way the reader can always remember the story the way they created it in their heads. I am hoping that they take some of the feedback from the first movie and apply it to New Moon but for now, it may be time for me to read the series for a 4th time since after seeing the movie I have clearly caught the Twilight bug again!

On an accessories note! Not sure if you noticed that Bella and Jessica were pretty much always wearing headbands. I want to get a better look at what they were both wearing so I can try and duplicate and sell in my shop! So stay tuned for more on that!

Christmas Cards Made of Gold???

I thought they must have been when I did the math and realized that including postage, I had spent close to $75 on my Christmas Cards this year. I am blessed to be part of a rather large family. Every year it never ceases to amaze me when I look at the latest excel spreadsheet address list and see 77 lines. There was a point in time when I would be especially crafy and make all of my christmas cards myself. Now that I have Bella, trying to manage card making plus taking the right photo and getting all of the prints made became WAY overwhelming. So now I am of the camp that sends the photo card, it is so much easier to create and order them. I am unsure why it took this Christmas for me to realize the expense of it all but perhaps it is a couple of reasons: 1. I am currently unemployed and am cautious of every dollar I spend. 2. Lately, I equate every sum of money I spend to how many headbands it took me to make that money. 3. I noticed that I have not received many Christmas cards yet. Maybe the lack of Christmas cards is a matter of people just not getting around to it, which I can relate to since mine have not been sent yet. Or maybe it has something to do with the economy. I can tell you I would have rather spent that $75 on more gifts for Bella on Christmas. But that is being selfish, I know that every year my family and friends looks forward to the Christmas Card picture of Bella and I guess I can't really put a price tag on that. So if by any chance you are not of the 77 lucky people to receive a Christmas card from me, below is the prize winning Bella 2008 Christmas Card shot. If only everyone on the address list read my blog...it could have saves me a few bucks!!!

And by the way...you had to know it would be Phillies related! :-)

The Gingerbread House Battle

My first and last attempt to make a gingerbread house was a disaster. I think I bought the kit for a Halloween House and had these great ideas of how it would turn out and how much fun it would be to do it with Bella. I am not exactly sure where I went wrong but for the life of me I could not get the House to adhere to the icing. I remember giving up after about 30 minutes and buying one made of foam! A few weeks ago while I was at Michael's I saw that Rice Krispies was selling these awesome molds to make a holiday house out of Krispie Treats. I was so excited because I know Rice Krispie treats are more durable then gingerbread so I knew I would not be defeated by it! But at the time, it was not on sale and I did not have a Michael's coupon on me so I said, I will come back and get it with a coupon. Fortunately for me the next week they were on sale. So I headed to Michael's armed with my ad ready to buy the kit, I even bought the Krispie Treat supplies when I was at the grocery store. I am sure you know where this is going, they were sold out of the kits. So there I stood staring at about 20 of the Wilton Gingerbread House kits and I felt like I was staring right into the eye of an opponent. I decided to give it another try. My sister suggested that I make my own royal icing and I would have done that but I did not have enough meringue powder (yes I always have this on hand!). Today, I felt ready to give it another shot. I cheated a little and bought a styrofoam board to give the gingerbread a steadier foundation. I also bit the bullet and used the icing mix and worked with it until I thought it was the right consistency. Much to my surprise I was able to put it together without it falling. Adding groves to the styrofoam helped with that! Now trying to decorate the house with a 4 year old that only wants to eat the candy and the icing was challenge but I think we persevered! I pretty much went through all of the leftover Halloween Candy (thanks for the idea Nikki) to decorate the house. We used starbursts as the walkway, m&m's as lights, a tye-die fruit rollup for the windows, and other candies from the kit. As for the roof, Bella decided to put the candies on that way and it worked for me. We were about an hour into the project and I did not have the patience to make a pretty pattern with them! Finally I spread the rest of the icing onto the styrofoam and we sprinkled white glitter over it to look like snow! Next time I will definitely use my own royal icing so that I can decorate it a little better but I am still proud of myself because this one is still standing and doesn't look too bad! It is pretty safe to say that I have now evened the score! Wilton Gingerbread House Kit 1 - Marisa 1!

A CRAFTacular Day!

In case you haven't noticed, one of the things I have been trying to do since I got laid off is build up Purplelicious. In addition to looking for a job, I have made Purplelicious my job since I have been home. Thankfully all of the hard work I have been putting into it has been paying off this holiday season. Compared to last year and previous months, my sales trends are up! YAY! On Wednesday I was taking some time to finish up some ribbon bangle bracelets I was working on.

I had an idea to add these crystals I knew I bought during one of my many trips to Michaels! While I was in my craft room searching for them, I found them and in the same bag I came across this crystal applique of a princess crown. I immediately had an idea to make a headband with it.

I also found an envelope of fabric scraps that my sister sent me and in that contained an adorable Alexander Henry print that I knew would make a cute kids headband.

I went back downstairs to finish the ribbon bangle bracelets. Then I went upstairs where I proceeded to make two kids headbands and 9 new wristlet keychains. Craziness!!! I finally finished listing everything today, I am hoping all of that craftiness pays off! Seeing as though two of my new items have already sold, I think I am off to a good start!

What a Week!

Wow I cannot believe it has been almost a week since I have blogged. I was doing so well too! I am still trying to get caught up after the craziness that was last week. I spent the beginning of the week grieving the loss of my aunt who passed away after a month of medical issues. Even though I knew that her passing was inevitable, I still was not ready to say goodbye. I volunteered to make the photo collage because as only crafters know...there is nothing like a little craft therapy. Her funeral was a rough one, partly because she was the third sibling my father has lost in a little over a year's time and she was the matriarch of the family after her sister died last year. I know that she is with me now all of the time and I will always keep her in my heart and memories. Thankfully I had something to look forward to at the end of the week which made getting through the funeral a little easier. I made plans with my great friend and sorority sister (aka my wingman) to head to NYC and be cheesy tourists Christmas Style. I cashed in the last of my Hilton points to get us a room in the city. The night before I was completely exhausted from the funeral events during the previous days and I had 4 Purplelicious orders to finish but I took a break to plan out what we were going to do in NYC. We had a list of things we wanted to do, it was my job to make them happen. So I was little inspired by the movie Serendipity and thought both Laura and I could use a "fortunate accident" these days! After we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we headed straight to Central Park (via subway I might add) and went to the Wollman Rink. This place was awesome and not crowded at all. It took us a few laps to figure out how to ice skate but we made it an hour and didn't fall!


After we finished ice skating we headed straight to FAO Schwartz. That place is so much fun! We even got a chance to try out the Big Piano that was in the movie Big!

By this point we were pretty much starving and headed to Serendipity for lunch! They had a wait there so we killed time at Dylan's Candy Bar, which was pretty much the coolest candy store I have ever been in. We headed back to Serendipity and got seated right away. What an adorable little place and it was decorated so cute for Christmas. The food was awesome and the dessert was even better. We did not get the frozen hot chocolate but instead got this ice cream, chocolate cake, and hot fudge dessert that was sinful. My hope is that since we ate at Serendipity a little luck will come our way!


From there we walked down 5th Avenue and stopped into some stores here and there until we got to Rockefeller center and saw the big tree. So amazing, that tree is simply breathtaking.


Exhausted from all of the walking we hit the hotel for a quick nap before we went out for a late night of bar hopping. On our way to the train station we decided to hit Macy's again and check out Santaland on the 8th floor. We did not realize that this would entail a visit with Santa so we decided to make the most of it. Let me just tell you when I saw this Santa, I got goosebumps, he was the real deal. Laura and I sit on his lap to prepare for our picture and Santa's turns to me and says, "What do you want for Christmas?" I about fell off of his lap. The rest of the exchange was quite comical but I will keep that to myself and just hope that Santa gets me what I asked for!


I ended the week with a tribute to one of my high school classmates that was killed in the line of duty in Iraq this summer. I ran in a 5K that was organized in his name. It was an emotional run for me mostly because in all of the runs I have done, I have never had such a personal connection to the cause. There were so many people there, it was such a tribute to him. It was also amazing to catch up with some friends from high school I have not seen in ages. Later that evening, I attended a dinner for him and had the opportunity to toast him. After the party a group of us from high school just hung out and caught up. It was a great day in all, Greg was definitely smiling down on all of us that day.

So as you can see I have had quite a week and I have been keeping busy creating new items for Purplelicious for the holidays! In case you have missed my entertaining blogs I hope to be back on a posting routine this week!