Monthly Archives: December 2011

We’re in the middle of our own rendition of “Four Christmases” over here, but we didn’t want to forget about you! For our last Favorite Goodies we wanted to share something small that brings us a whole lot of joy!

So we’ve included our very own Christmas Card below to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Of course our card would be nothing without a sillytacular photo. While I may be a tad biased, I’m sure there is nothing quite like a holiday photo experience with Studio ATG and if you’re looking for a little time to burn between Christmas presents and honey baked ham check out the Studio ATG Blog for a whole lot more craziness.

And for those of you that shared your holiday goodness with us… Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Every Christmas Card we received was its own present and really gave us that warm gooey feeling inside.

So please rip that paper, munch those cookies, and enjoy your time with your loved ones. We’ll be back after the food coma subsides with a whole lot more house, food, and random goodness.

We interrupt this love fest of our favorite goodies for a little Holiday Cheer. I’ve been so immersed in the bathroom chaos that I almost lost the chance to whip up a few ornaments for this Holiday Season. I love tying ornament bulbs on top of packages or even gifting them alone.

While browsing pintrest a few weeks ago (yeah, I’m addicted) I found these glitter-tastic “ornies” and figured a project this seemingly simple couldn’t be missed. So Shannon stopped by and we got our craft on. Yeah, craft…mess…it’s all the same thing.

And yes, before you ask, the wine was an integral part to the ornament creating process.

On to the goods… as instructed, we made sure to get the correct floor wax and coated the inside of the bulb. Then it was as simple as adding glitter (through an old kitchen funnel) and swirling. Then PRESTO! Insta – Glitter Bomb!

Ryan ventured into the crafting mess momentarily and seemed VERY concerned until he learned that all the glitter remains in the bulb. Once we had clearance from the boss we continued. While the bulbs dried we got to creating bows using the fold and tie method. Essentially fold layers of ribbon and tie center with smaller ribbon. Insta-Glitter Bomb Bow!

We didn’t just stick with black and cheetah…although I’m loving these girly ornaments for the ladies. We tried silver, white and even gold flaking!

If you’ve got ten minutes and pledge floor wax you’re good to go. We made over ten ornaments in no time! Stick on letters, rhinestones and even paint pens could also be used to give them a personalized touch! But for now I’m sticking with the Plain Janes.

On another note, it has been brought to my attention that I may be favoring one of my fur children above the other. So in honor of the man in the red suit we’re sharing a flash-back photo of Ryan and Lexus. This was taken back when she was a puppy and we used to subject her to ridiculous outfits. We’re way more kind these days.

Don’t forget there is still a little time left for our first giveaway! We’ve loved hearing about your favorite spices and can’t wait to gift someone a new jar of 4S soon.

Everybody has their favorites. Favorite restaurant, favorite movie, favorite color and in honor of the rapidly approaching holidays we’re sharing our favorite goodies with you! That’s right, just like the Sound of Music or Queen O these are a few of our favorite things. I also feel like it is important to note that no one is bribing us to say good things about their products. We just have some serious love in our hearts for these items and wanted to share.

So let’s get this holiday countdown started with some serious spice. Literally. A while back I was gifted a box of Penzey’s Spices. Since I love to cook I considered it an incredibly thoughtful gift. Little did I know this unassuming little box was going to rock my culinary world!

I should have expected greatness when I opened the box to find the spices packaged in cinnamon sticks, bay leafs and nutmeg! Major score!

While ALL of their spices are absolutely bomb-diggity. (Yup, I went there) our favorite, hands down is the Four S. Burgers, French Fries, Breakfast Potatoes, Steak, Pork Chops are all a bagillion times better with 4 S.

We’re so fond of Penzey’s that when it came time to order holiday gifts we knew exactly where to go. Even after a crazy long week, a box of Penzey’s just makes me smile.

That’s not all! In honor of our favorite goodies and holiday gifting we’re having our first GIVE-A-WAY!! Woot Woot!

The Details: We’re giving away one (1) 4 ounce jar of Penzey’s 4S. The giveaway closes on Wednesday, December 21st at 12:01pm. The winner will be determined via random.org. Prize ships anywhere in the USA. To enter comment below and tell us: What is your Favorite Spice? One entry per person.

I have a confession. We’re beer snobs.

While Ryan has had the entire beer transformation from grocery store brews out of a can to craft rarities I just started at the top. So besides an empty wallet what does our secret love leave us with? Bottles! Fancy pants, craft labely (My word, don’t judge) bottles. And while there are TONS of projects out there for wine bottles the beer family has yet to really represent. So without further delay, let’s start with a simple, show me your bottle display.

Before we get onto our winter brews let’s take a look back at fall… Ryan had been waiting to crack this puppy open for a while and once I saw the label I knew we could put it to good use.

So along with a small Stone growler and a few “Pumpkin Trees” I picked up from Whole Foods we had ourselves some table decor that really Hops. Get it, Pops…Hops… okay that one was for me.

After looking at it a while we decided the two bottles looked a bit lonely. A situation that was easily remedied.

During the halloween to thanksgiving transition we actually switched out the Pumpkin Trees for Wheat and had a beautiful harvest display…see so versatile. We were digging the three bottle look so much that for the winter season we saved up a number of cool selections for a little variety in choices. I love options. I was going to spray our favorites with white spray paint but then I saw the  Delirium Tremens bottles and fell in LOVE!

They’re all ready this beautiful ceramic coated goodness. Simply remove the label and Tada! Gorgeous! We added some sparkly twigs from Michaels to finish off the look.

All in we probably spent $5 on the twigs with a %50 off coupon. I love me some coups. Of course if you live anywhere besides the desert..ahem. You could probably just walk outside and gather some twigs of your own. All I have here is rocks…nice rocks…but rocks all the same. I’m also not counting the beer as we were going to buy that decor or no.

So what do you think? Stesha please stop showcasing your drinking? Motivated to grab a few bottles of your own? Know any amazing Sour ales? We’re all ears!

PS…I know your out there question readers. I squeal every morning I see how many people have stopped by. So show some love…give us a little banter. Or am I going to have to do a giveaway to get some responses? I’m not above bribery.

Morning All,

I’ve officially re-written this post three times now.  You see, I’ve been trying to find a way to show you my Christmas decorations without looking like a total nut-job. Now I’m starting to feel like the true nutcase is going to shine through no matter what and I’m striving for honesty, so here goes…

Our Family Room Christmas Tree in all her nostalgic glory…

We just upgraded this year from a 5′ to a 6.5′ courtesy of Lowes fabulous Black Friday special. Oh yeah, pre-lit this baby was only $49. So as you can tell from my burgandy and gold only tree I am a complete control freak when it comes to Christmas decorations. I admit that I get an unnatural feeling of satisfaction knowing that all of the ornaments have gold ribbon hangers.

And yes, that little cloud in the left hand picture is my twenty-something year old baby ornament. That thing is a trooper.

Even though we have a relatively small home we can’t have just one tree. Oh no no, that won’t do. So now for the cool kid…aka the Parlor Tree. This Helga of a tree was an after Christmas buy from Target that I HAD to have a few years back. Needless to say I would have expired without it. Thank Goodness Ryan took me seriously and we have had this fine specimen ever since.

Yes, the packaging and ribbon matches the tree. No, I’m not going to apologize for my type A personality.

And how about a little sock lovin?

So that’s the majority of our Merry-Tastic decor. I’m sure one day I won’t have the energy or the patience to go all crazy for the holiday season. But until then we’re excited to share all of our seasonal goodness with you!