25 Days of Christmas~ Day 13 (yes, I may not catch up)!!

I'll admit to being behind on (or downright oblivious to) the trend of Ugly Christmas Sweater parties and such. But I support the idea. Kind of.
I'm at least willing to admire the sheer overdone insanity of some of these masterpieces.

I even think these three are classy. So there.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 11!!

OK. So it's not Day 11. It's day 15, which happens to be National Cupcake Day!

I made the above Vegan/Booze-free Tiramisu cupcakes for a holiday party & they were quite a sensation.



Cupcakes Take the Cake is always an amazing resource for cupcake porn. Check out the Abominable Cupcakes. How rad would those be on Chrismas?

Metalcakes, one of my local baking crushes, features the Danzig: Twist of Candy Cane Cakes today. SWOON. Follow all the Merciless Instructions and whip them up for your own minions!

Another local baking crush of mine, Natalie of Bake & Destroy, has some relentlessly adorable flickr pics of her Candy Cane Cupcakes with a Happy Peppermint Man by Cage Tomato.

Don't miss Bake & Destroy's Holiday Guide and Etsy Shop. I bought Monster Cupcake Picks for my boyfriend's birthday cupcakes this year and love them SO HARD.

Speaking of adorable last-minute xmas gifts, I just put everything in my etsy shop on sale!
Holla!

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 9!!

Our actual Christmas tree!
I've had countless fake trees, but this is the first real tree of my adult life.
Pret-ty exciting and like most things, makes me want to cry.

I was resigned to not having a tree this year when my darling boyfriend said, "we should get a tree, right? It smells good."

20 fussy reasons to not get a real tree and my Sweetie breaks it down to a simple truth: It smells good.

Our gorgeous little tree from outside the grocery store smells GREAT. And I can't stop staring at it. I may make some other decorations, but I'm perfectly content with big lights, popcorn garland, candy canes and Alfred E. for our topper.
Aww.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 6!!

Yeah, yeah, I'm still backed up on the Xmas blog posts. It's a busy year!

Here's a clip of my all-time favorite, Heat Miser, from The Year Without a Santa Claus.
He's Mr. Heat Blister (gross!), he's Mr. 101!

He's toooo much!

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 5!!

(I know it's actually day 7, still catching up!)

I finally visited my first Paper Source shop in Oak Park a couple months ago.
That's how I know I'm a hopeless aging nerd, the paper store gets me hot.
The Gingerpaper House Kit above is too awesome.

The gifts at the Paper Source are cute out of control.
I really love the Pigtail Kit:

AND the Jailbird Penguin:

For those of you who like to donate toys and gifts during the holiday season, my friend, Jessie, wrote a great article on where to donate in Chicago.

25 Days of Christmas~ Day 2!!

I super love peppermint and I super love Etsy, especially at Christmas.

I searched around today on Etsy and found some amazing peppermint-y/candy cane-ish items, perfect for the holidays. Like the Elf Gift Tags above, by paperheartpress.


And this peppermint stick and mistletoe soap set, courtesy of sunbasilgarden.


These peppermint christmas cards by thecraftypantry.


Delicious homemade peppermint bark from DoubleDippedSweets.



Lonely Peppermint Tree print


Peppermint Striped Twine, by littlepinkstudio


oh deer stickers by PaperPumpkin (with peppermint tree, it's a stretch, but I LOVE)


Candy Cane hand-embroidered onesie by Beetastic

Stockins Stockins Stockins!

I made stacks of these today. Not sure exactly how I will finish them off. Contrasting fabric cuff and loop? Rick rack? Bells? Fur? All of the above? None of the above?

Last year's versions were cut from a vintage baby quilt and had gold wings attached.


This year's models are recycled from vintage tablecloths. Some may make it to the shop, but most are gonna hold the cookies and goodies I'll be handing out for Christmas.
I'm considering putting together some stocking and bib sets.


We'll see. I'm running out of time!