So much fun at Sweet Woodruff Acres

  

I had the grand kids a few hours early on Christmas Eve-Eve (we celebrated Christmas Eve two nights in a row!).  While we were in the kitchen baking, we somehow got way off track when I taught them how to make a blow up balloon squeal loudly!  Then we three got rowdy and ended up rolling on the kitchen floor in laughter.   I think we were all super excited about Christmas (and maybe had too many sweet by then, too!)

Jessica & Craig had wrapped all their gifts in brown craft paper.  For the tags they had sepia photos of the recipients. The kids absolutely loved this, they didn't have to look for names, but their own faces.  These gifts were so pretty! 

I made plates of gingerbread cookies, Tex-Mex Snack Mix, bags of candies, mini-gingerbread houses and more to give out to neighbors and friends.  

 This is one of the small wood cutting boards I made to give out as gifts.  I took my Scottie Dog cookie cutter and enlarged the pattern.  I cut them out of wood from myrtlewood trees that grow on our property.  Did you know myrtlewood only grows in two places on earth?  Yes, here in Oregon and in Israel.  How cool is that?  I wanted to make more of these, but ran out of time, as well our wood wasn't dry enough yet. It takes at least 6 months to really season it well.



This Oregon state shape cutting board was made the same way as the Scottie Dog one above.  I have an Oregon state shape cookie cutter  that I traced and just enlarged the pattern to the size I wanted.  These cutting boards were one of my favorite crafts this year, right up there with my gingerbread house decorating party!  More on that next post!

Have a great weekend.

May you have 2012 blessing this year!

Hugs, Heidi

(Linked with Cindy's My Romantic Home Show & Tell Friday here.)

No Rhyme or Reason--Review of the Season!

Just some photo reviews of the past month or two!   Life was moving at a fast pace-->
Grandchildren; cookies; Thanksgiving; gratitude; family; friends; Bible; outdoor adventures; food; chocolate; meals; gifts; creating; painting; cutting and pasting (my favorite!); photography; warm fires in the wood stove; gingerbread house making party; and SO MUCH MORE!

Mark has been cutting little wood crafts for the children's church. 

These were wood star ornaments the kids decorated with a verse and  glitter.

Mark and I spent many evenings trying to photograph the moon.  It was a ton of fun wandering out in the dark nights!  This is what the front of our home looked like dressed in the Christmas lights Mark put out.  He loves doing this, and I so enjoy the lights. 

My cookie angel watching over the making of Russian Tea Cakes.

She (my cookie angel) reminded me to roll the cookies in powdered sugar!  I made so many cookies this year, for various events, etc.  I loved and sampled every single one.  I need to run...I slacked on that durring the freeze, and need to not let this rain stop me now!

The Christmas dish is from a set my mother-in-law gave me the first year we were marred (31 years ago this year!  I'm always on the lookout for these at the thrift stores, to increase my set from a set for 4 to a set for 10 or 12, to fit our family now!  I have found 3 plates so far, and a few bowls!)

For the last two years I've held a Gingerbread House Decorating party here at our home.  I invite our grandchildren, of course!, and other children with their moms.  This year our daughter, Melissa, did the same at her house with friends and family from her town.  I went over early to help her finish up her assembly of 21 houses!  Can you imagine how much work she put into making that many gingerbread houses from scratch?  It's a labor of love.   The photo above are a collection of just some of the houses they decorated.  I held my party here the next week.  I'll post photos of that soon.

Melissa and I, after the gingerbread decorating party.  The moms/children bring all the candy, sharing everything they bring.  Melissa made all the frosting tubes for them to use to attach and decorate the gingerbread houses.  She made all the houses with a pattern I drew out a few years ago.

I have a real estate salesperson friend who, every time she closes on a home sale, orders a custom sign for her client!  How cool is that?  The date of the "est." is the date of the home closing.  This is just one of the many signs I've painted.

Guess that's enough photos for this round...more soon,  hope!

May you have 2012 reasons this year to be thankful!

Hugs, Heidi