Birthday gift

Next weekend is my 50th birthday. My gift to myself is to spend the weekend working on the elf workshop that has been waiting in the wings for months. I love my job but balancing work, home and hobbies is not something I've figured out yet. Giving myself a weekend for mini-ing is gonna be so good for my mental health! I hope to see you next weekend with photos.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Hello 2013!

Happy New Year blog friends! I hope that this is a year filled with joy and blessings for each of you.

I also hope that I figure out how to fit minis back into my life now that I'm working almost full time. For this next week I am working full time - doing my job and part of a former co-worker's until the school gets someone hired. I am really missing my hobby time. I still haven't figured out how to keep up with household chores, let alone adding fun time. So my new year's resolution of sorts is to get a better balance between family, home, job and minis. Our family has a lot of chronic health issues with hubby and the kids have the biggest issues. My time "playing" with dollhouses is what keeps me emotionally balanced - the dollhouse people always do just what they're told and they never get sick. ;)

Have a wonderful week!

Merry Christmas!

Baking day!

 Ever since my children were just barely able to reach the countertop we've been baking cut out sugar cookies at Christmas. It's one of my favorite traditions. My kids are now 19, 22, and 24 years old but we still have fun!

 

 Now, though, the girls do a lot of the work. K mixed up the sugar cookie dough and she and M cut all of the cookies out and baked them. We all helped with the decorating. Here are my son's creations:

M cut out and baked all of the gingerbread men after I made that dough.

 I had a lot of fun decorating them this year. We found cookie decorating frosting in bottles that look like glue bottles. Once we got the hang of using them, they were great to add creative details.

We also made chocolate no bake cookies, peanut butter cup bars, and Casey's saltine cookies. I'm gonna try not to think about the 2 1/2 pounds of butter we used making all of those wonderful treats, lol.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Merry Christmas!

I am at work so this is just a quick note to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas! I so appreciate all of the friends I've made in blogland. I have learned many new skills and I am constantly inspired by others' talents. Enjoy the holiday!

A shepherd with a lot of animals to watch over

My daughter and I had a fun afternoon looking through thrift and antique shops looking for animals for her nativity. We found the lambs and the calves that way. The donkey, ox and cow came from Tractor Supply. A doll I made many years ago that no longer had a home suddenly aged and went back in time to become a shepherd. ;) Daughter number 2's nativity is now complete.

More teapot ornaments

 I found several more tea sets this week. These three all started life as Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast. With a little work they turned into these pretty ornaments. These are the ones I will give to my sisters-in-law. I love the shape of the lid.

All three have tiny decorated silver trees inside. I left the wallpaper out this time since the back of the teapot is painted anyway. I like it better because the light can shine through the paint and light up the little tree.

I also found 2 more sets like my teapot ornament so I made a red one and a blue one for my tree. :)