Wishing you a Very Happy Muppity Christmas!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!
love, the Smith Clan

My Tacky Christmas Outdoor Decorations.....

Recently, a lot of my neighbors seem to be in some sort of tacky Christmas Decoration Extravaganza. So, to keep up with "The Jones's", I brought out my old big guns....Fabulously Tacky Inflatables! They look fun at night, but in the day time it is one big mess as you can see.

Wrapping 2010 up by posting a last photo of our Christmas Decorations before I take them down. I spent most of my time in the kitchen. (working on my art or craft projects while my family cooks. Life can't get any better than that!)

I made a lot of jewelry this Christmas. This is a bracelet I made for myself out of paper tags. It is jingley and light. I used my family Christmas card as the theme.

And presents! Devan got me this fabulous ring and some other goodies. I love, love, love that ring! And Hilari gave me these fabulous shoes. Now, I need an outfit to wear them with, or loose some of this Christmas goodies weight and wear them with a vintage black dress that I found in a downtown Glendale second hand shop.
I must also brag about the gift that Mr. Fabulous got me. It started out with a fur leopard casing that I thought was a shopping bag. I soon found out that it fit right inside a bicycle basket!
Then I opened this awesome drink holder...

that fits perfectly onto this fabulous bike!

And when I need to pass somebody with lightning speed, all I need to do is ring this fabulous bell!

To top it all off, Brooke and Kelli bought me a sewing form in my size that I have been wanting for a long time AND Chelsea gave me an "Official Glamma Fabulous" pendant that she ordered from a real pageant company. I just might wear it while teaching a class, but sometimes I just put in on and walk with "cup cake" hands!!! ha-ha (that's pageant talk for the way a toddler is supposed to walk with her fancy pageant dress on.)

I thought you might like to see a close up of the sash.

Now on to the new year!

2010 Christmas Greeting

I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season this year. It is REALLY hectic around here (a REAL CIRCUS) with so many little ones, but I would not have it any other way. I wish all my friends out in blog land happiness and joy amid your own chaos. Let's enjoy the ride together!

Celebrating Christmas in July!

My girls decided we needed to celebrate Christmas in July on Sunday evening when all the family comes over for dinner. (This was on Saturday) so after church Sunday, I got out a white tablecloth and christened it our "Christmas in July" traditional table cloth that everyone who comes to the party, signs their name and the year. We have done this for our December Christmas dinner for quite a few years now. My mother-in-law has been doing this tradition for MANY years now only she embroiders over the names/drawing each year. I'm not doing that...

I scrambled and made a palm tree out of scrapbooking paper and printed a bunch of empty circles that everyone decorated and cut out for ornaments that night. We also had everyone bring a "re-gift" and we picked out a gift and "stole" gifts from one another. That was fun, and Glampa Fabulous got a crazy candle holder made of rebar that I fell in love with. (My brother David is King of Thrift Stores, and finds the best stuff, we all know that whatever He brings will be crazy fabulous!)

My friend Mary brought her family traditional Christmas jello, and I was thrilled when my Mom brought her Christmas tree cookies that I crave every year. Poor Devan cried as she missed the festivities, and we missed her more. Fun!

December 2009 Highlights.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bethlehem Costumes Finished!

So I FINALLY finished sewing my "Bethlehem Costumes". I ended up sewing 32! The tips of my fingers are dry and jabbed with tiny pin holes, but it was worth it. I can't wait to see all of my family dressed up in them! And all those extra kits flew out the door. But before I can put my sewing machine away, I need to make a bed skirt out of this material...

and sew one additional Christmas Boot Stocking for Baby Pearl. Then the Bernina will have a rest (at least for a couple weeks )...

Bethlehem Costumes and Instructions

So our church is having "A Night in Bethlehem" family party where there will be "shops" that feature all things in the time when Christ was born. (Glampa Fabulous and I will be running a pottery shop where everyone can roll some clay and inscribe their names in Hebrew and make ornaments for their trees at home.) And of course there will be a nativity scene and a musical program about the birth of Jesus Christ. Above are some of the costumes I have made for me, Glampa and the Glamchildren.

And here is a pile of costumes waiting to be sewn...
I went to Home Fabrics and Rugs when they had their $1 sale this last Tuesday and bought over 120 yards of fabric!!! I was able to cut out 83 outfits consisting of a tunic, long vest and a belt. I needed 27 outfits for just my family and the rest went to friends. (I do have a few "outfits" pictured above if any of you want one ((already cut out, but you have to sew them))...first come, first served.)

I researched costume patterns and put together these instructions that I thought I'd pass on to you. The first sheet contains a simple tunic and vest guidelines that you measure to the people in your family. Below are a few non-sewing ideas that I found.
On Christmas Eve, we have the glamkids dress up and Glampa reads from Luke about the Savior's birth. This year I'll have these "fancy" costumes, but it is just as meaningful to just read the story without the costumes as a family. It is also fun to tell the kids to go put together outfits and props from around the house. It's cute to see a child wrapped in a sheet or towel and caring a perfume bottle as one of the three kings, or pinning a paper tail and ears on to be a donkey... Hope these instructions can be of use to you!

I almost forgot, above are a few "head hole" ideas. Just remember to cut small, then cut the opening larger if you need to. (mistake made, lesson learned already.)

Christmas Eve dinner awaits!

Last Thursday night we had a progressive dinner over here for all my church ladies and this is how we set up, AND this is also how I set up for today's dinner. We now have 29 people with just us and my Mom, Dad and siblings. So how do people do it who have bigger families!?

I know, Buffet Style and outside! That is what we do when we go over to my Husband's parents house. He is the oldest of 9 children and now all 9 have families, so it is well over 50 not including any strays that are invited over. The more the merrier! (in AZ we can eat ourside with heaters)

I hope that how ever big or small your holiday festivities are, that they are wonderful and with those you love. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

This is my "Kitchen Santa" collection. The middle Santa is from my childhood. My Dad managed an AJ Bayless store and He got to keep this velvet CokaCola Santa. I have also collected vintage Santa mugs for a while. I only displayed a few this year. I just haven't gotten into the "real" decorating mood. I just cringe thinking about putting it all away, weird state of mind I know. Maybe it's just a weird time right now with the economy and all. Do any of you feel this way , just this year, for some reason?

Fabulous Swap Items Received!

I just received these darling items from Jillian Haupt!!!!! I can't tell you how delighted I am with them. THANK YOU Jillian, you are amazing!!!!

This cute paper doll is made from one of Jillian's original paintings, how inspiring is that! You can see Jillian's art by clicking here .

More Christmas Stockings

So I fixed the spelling error and made Sloan's Christmas stocking and they are all hung...now to figure out what Santa will fill them with!

Christmas Stockings

About 10 years ago, I made all new Christmas Stockings for the family. I had seen these fabulous cowboy boot stockings made out of leather in a magazine, but they were $30 a piece at the time and so I made my own pattern and made these felt stockings. This year we have added two new family members - Carma and Daisy (shoot!!!! I just realized I spelt Daisy wrong!!!!) ugh.... and Conway is due in February. When I was putting all the stockings up (a grand total of 23) I also realized I never made Sloan's (she was just a new born last Christmas). So back to the sewing machine and I'll show you a photo of them all up when I get done.

O.C.D. or Organization ???

The beginning of the end for the Christmas decorations. This is a third of the boxes, not counting the trees, that are packed, labeled and ready to be put into the garage. I ask myself "Why did I spend so much time making the "labels" ?! I even took time to customize the ornament colors to match what is in the boxes. It didn't seem weird to me at the time, and I do like looking the "organized chaos", but wouldn't just the descriptions alone be good enough? Oh well, I enjoyed making the dumb labels and I guess that is all there is to it.

Are you going CRAZY too?

I'm too busy to blog, and feel totally stressed! I quickly looked at a few friends and family blogs and they haven't entered any new blogs recently either, so I guess that we all are in the throngs of the season right now. I hope that all of you have a very happy holiday and are safe in all your travels to and fro. love, Kelley

Chistmas Carolers

My Mom made these porcelain caroling dolls for me one Christmas when the girls where little. HOURS were spent cleaning, painting and firing these dolls. Countless more hours were spent by my Mom meticulously choosing the right color and style of wigs, eyes and so on. Each doll represents one of my daughters when they were so little and cute! They are still cute, but in a more fashionably and stylish way! Thanks Mom!!!!

Some Santas...

Here are my favorite Santas. I just bought the Cooking Santa Nutcracker and the other Cooking Santa beside the fake Christmas Treats this year. The wonderful Santa in velvet is an original Santa from the Coka-cola company. It was a display item for a Bayless grocery store in the early 60's that my Dad was a manager for. He brought him home after a Christmas and this Santa was a traditional fixture in my home growing up. My generous Mom gave him to me. I love that Santa Claus !!!! Some of the Santa mugs are old and some are new. Last year when I browsed the Antique stores, that is what I looked for.

Christmas Stockings

These are our family Christmas stockings. I saw similar ones that were leather in a Cowboy decorating magazine and wanted them sooooooo badly, but they were around $50 each 10 years ago. So I sort of copied them, only I used felt instead of leather. I made a pattern for the boot and different patterns for the toe, heal and top of the boot so that the stockings would all be different. I made half of these I think 8 or 9 years ago, and add to them as the girls have gotten married and as grandchildren came along. I need to make one for Sloan before this Christmas. I plan to make at least two more pinkish ones and two more blue ones since we know that Chelsea is having a girl, but it's too early to know what Kelli's baby will be. The girls didn't like the stockings too much at first because they can't hold that much stuff! But that's a good thing for Santa as we now have 20 of them!

Yummmm....

This is my display of delectable treats. Don't try to eat them though, as they are all fake! I made the cake by cutting a piece of styro foam in to four circles, I painted them a light brown (which was a waist of time because I ended up covering them up) and then I "frosted" the cake with white vinyl Spackle. I have a lot of fake fruit that I use for still life set ups, so I got out some strawberries and "drizzled" brown shiny fabric paint on top for chocolate and sprinkled glitter on top for sugar.

For the truffles, I painted styro foam balls brown and drizzled the fabric paint on top and glittered. I did the same thing for the chocolate dipped strawberries, but poured the paint on and let them dry on a plastic disposable plate so that they would peal off better.

I used lager styro foam balls and used the same process above to make the cupcakes. I put Spackle in the bottom of the cupcake foil cups and let it harden first so that it would be level. I also iced some cupcakes with Spackle, but they are on another centerpiece that I show you tomorrow.

It was fun, took some time, but worth it as I can use these objects for other holidays or parties and in still life groupings...

Only My Hairdresser Knows for Sure...

I got my roots done the other day, and my darling hairdresser Amanda asked me while putting the foils and goop in my hair "Have you finished painting your house? Because I don't see any paint in your hair this time!" I told her yes, for now, but lately I have been working on making a few new decorations for Christmas. Then, she paused and said "Yes, I can see that, I just found a bunch of glitter in your hair!" I thought of the old commercial that said " Only my hairdresser knows for sure" and then I remembered how at the last two massages I got, the masseuse asked me if I had been painting. I had paint on the back of my arms that I guess I couldn't see to scrub that well.
It came to mind that I am an open book. I do not lie (I am terrible at it, thank goodness) and my family tells me that I disclose way too much even when I am just meeting someone or even just chatting with a stranger in a line at the checkout counter. I am what I am and I am finally coming to accept and even like all the quirks about myself. That will have taken almost 50 years this April. It gives me comfort to know that I have a good more 30 or so years to improve bad habits and to acquire better ones, to become a more skilled artist, a more loving wife and mother, and a much better friend and extended family member. (God willing) THIS IS GOOD! These thoughts leave me hopeful and excited for the future, even with all the crummy stuff that happens on this world.
Anyway, I didn't start this post with sentiment and soul searching, it just happened. I guess I'd better copy this entry for my journal. (many silent thanks to my genealogy teacher, Bro.Comeau) THE GLITTER: I glittered tons of fake fruit, made fake candy and decorated all kinds of stuff for the kitchen. (I am a little worried about getting it all cleaned up, it's hard. Every time I think I'm finished cleaning, I look from a different angle and see glitter ALL OVER the kitchen.) Anyway, here is the village. It was a lot of fun to put together. I can see why people love making train city's and such. Maybe next year it will be bigger. The houses are all chipboard, painted and glittered. I used vinyl Spackle for the icing, and children's air dry clay for the candy. (Some of the candy is plastic that I bought.) I can't wait for the grand kids to see it. I am buying some small fences I saw at the store to give a more visual "please don't touch" feel to remind those kids to not eat anything.