Dear Santa...

I'm so excited for Christmas to get here, it feels like it is taking forever. I finally figured out what handmade gift everybody will get so I hope to start on them tomorrow!

Yesterday I told you about the number one things on the lists for the kids, today I thought I would share whats on Mama's list.....Craft storage.

Since moving I haven't been able to craft like I want to. Part because of space, part because I'm still trying to balance having to kiddos and baby girl grows so fast she wants to be into everything, and mostly because I know what I have but i have no clue where in the 4 stacked boxes and 1 suitcase it is. HIGHLY discouraging. Sometimes I feel like I would rather buy new whatever instead of attempting to dig around to find it. This year I asked Santa for a tall dresser to store all of my madness in an organized fashion. Now the thing I WISH Santa would bring me is a Workbox. What? You never heard of one? Let me introduce you to one of the greatest things ever made. The workbox by The Original Scrapbox.

Isn't this thing great? Look at all that storage, and a workspace too. It's like a little crafting sanctuary all in one little piece of furniture that looks oh so nice when tucked away. Not only does it come in white they have a few other colors/finishes to choose from. The Original Scrapbox makes a few other styles of crafting furniture that is worth going to the site and taking a look at.

If you want to see a really cool craft room that uses all of the Scrapbox products check out Linda's craft room from Craftaholics Anonymous. She even has a video tour to envy this room even more. Seriously, if this room had pink accents, and a papasan chair, it would be my vision for my future craft room with the grey walls and white furniture.

That's all for now, maybe I will be good enough for Santa net year, who knows. ;)

Thinking About Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I know I did, it's so nice to spend time with family! Now that thanksgiving has passed us by everybody is thinking about Christmas. I absolutely love Christmas so I have been thinking about it for a while now. We have even had our tree up for a week already, haha.

I have a few upcoming projects in mind to start on, but the sad part is I cannot post them until after Christmas since they are gifts (don't want to spoil the surprise). That being said, I love giving handmade gifts, they are so much more personal and heartfelt. What kind of handmade gifts will you guys be giving this year?

Sometime the smaller kiddo's don't appreciate the handmade gifts as much and rather have a new toy with extremely hard to open plastic packaging. That's ok though, I picked out the perfect gifts for them this year. For the boy we are getting the Leapster Explorer by Leapfrog with the camera attachment, because he loves to take pictures like his daddy.

I've done a lot of research on this toy and have read lots of reviews and I absolutely LOVE it. I know he will have tons of fun playing games and I will know he is learning. You can even track your child's learning progress by hooking it up to your computer. There are a ton of games for this toy but my favorite part is that you can download games, videos, and interactive books directly to your handheld... NO LOST GAMES! If he does get an actual game cartridge we will probably go with the Mr. Pencil game as it seems like one he would really like. Oh, and I forgot to add my other favorite part. The difficulty of these games change as your child learns, how could you not love that, you know its not going to be a game he completes in a day and is done with it.

For baby girl we picked out the cutest little doll perfect for her age. The Baby Stella doll by Manhattan Toy. This doll comes in a few different styles but we choose the one with the black hair, isn't she just the cutest?

There has been TONS of good reviews for this doll as the perfect "first doll" for little girls, and I am a big advocate of every little girl having a dolly. Stella is a nice cuddly soft doll which I love. I think soft dolls have so much more character than the plastic face/bodied dolls. She even comes with a little magnetic binky to give her

You can get lots of clothes and accessories for her which I love, every girl (even a dolly) needs lots of accessories. Looking around the Internet I did not find a lot of free (or even paid) patterns for diy clothes for this doll...except one for a diaper pattern from Treasures For Tots. I know when she gets it I will try to work on lots of clothes and accessories patterns to post as there is a lack of them on the net already. [so excited!] One day I hope to get her a Waldorf doll like the ones here, but for now, this one is perfect.

 That's it for now, tomorrow I will share with you whats on my Christmas list.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated by anyone to write about these products. I just really liked them and wanted to share my opinion.

6 Things I Love

Amy over at Mod Podge Rocks did a post like this and I liked it so much I wanted to steal borrow the idea too. Check out her 5 here. I did six because I couldn't narrow it down to just five.

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1. Strawberry Banana smoothies from McDonald's. My love of this flavor of smoothie started a long time ago from the frozen yogurt place in our local mall. Once Mickey D's got these, which was a lot easier to get then driving 30mins to the mall, I fell in love with them all over again. In my opinion, greatest things ever!

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2. Let's Make a Deal. This comes on CBS at 10am (eastern). I absolutely love this show, I watch it everyday and I'm dying to be on it. Yesterday I finally thought of what costume I wanted to wear: A cute cow costume, it will consist of a cow print dress and a headband with cow ears, and a cowbell necklace. When I get the money to go to California and go, I will definitely post on my diy costume.

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3. Google Reader. Since I am new to the blogosphere, I love following all of the crafty blogs that brought me the inspiration to blog myself, and the new ones I find everyday. I love reading my blogs through google reader so I can have all my favorites in one place and I never miss a good post. To see all the blogs I love, just check out the list on my sidebar.

4. Ravelry. I have been a member of this website for a long time and never really used it. Lately I've been wanting to crochet since I'm limited space for now. I love all of the free patterns I can find here, they have a little bit of everything. Lately I've been working on a doll for Naomi. I'm using different elements from different patterns to get it right, I'll show you guys when its done.

5. My Tervis tumbler. I got the  24oz Cherry Blossom one from Bed Bath & Beyond. Mine has a light pink top because I switched it from another cup. I use this for everything, hot or cold it keeps its temp for a long time. Since its microwaveable I can make my tea right in it. The fact that it's a clear insulated mug made me had to have it, although I thought it was a little expensive at first, with a 20% off coupon it was worth the extra few bucks. I'm going to go back to get the handle that goes to it soon.

6. Ben & Jerry's Banana Split pint. Eating ice cream straight out of the pint to be is pure bliss. If you have not tried this flavor before, you got to. I used to be addicted to their Strawberry Banana FroYo, sadly they discontinued it, and tried this one as a request by one of the customer service reps and love it. I eat ice cream with a baby/toddler spoon. I don't know why, but it makes it better. My spoon + a pint = my guilty pleasure

I know this will change soon and that my "it" things will switch up, don't worry, I'll keep you posted if it does.

What are you into? leave a comment telling me your 5 favorite things of the moment.