Wordful Wednesday - Tis the Season

Tis the season in my house to be making Christmas ornaments. I love making Christmas Ornaments.

These are a few new items I made this year.

My son's favorite character - Stitch. 

I also added Sofia the First to the princess collection. 

After seeing Anna & Elsa from Frozen in Epcot, I now want to make them next.  :)

For more WW check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Seven Clown Circus,  Parenting by Dummies, Focused on the Magic & Fresh Mommy.

Wordful Wednesday - 6 More Sleeps!

{2013 Mickey Year Ornament can be found here.}

Only 6 more sleeps!!  This will be our last of 3 trips this year. 

For more WW check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Seven Clown Circus,  Parenting by Dummies, Focused on the Magic & Fresh Mommy.

Custom Ornament

Here is a special custom Christmas ornament I was asked to create.  This is the 4th year I have created an ornament for this customer.  I LOVE how she tells me what she is celebrating each year and I get to create something special for her.

This year she got engaged by the beach.  :)

10 Things.

1.  My son starts his week long Band Camp today.  This is his first year and it's the first year that they are not doing sleep away camp.  He is really happy it's only a day camp.  He was a bit nervous this morning.  I know he will have a great time.

2.  Lily has a busier social calendar than I do.  Which makes my calendar really full.  Lots of play dates and birthday parties over the last couple weeks. 

3. We have been home from our Florida adventure for over 2 weeks now and I still need to blog about our adventures.  I finally downloaded my photos from my phone today.

4.  We rented a car a couple times and went sightseeing/exploring sunny Florida.  I finally got to see the Mickey power pole.  I had seen it on blogs, but never in person.  It was really cool!

4.  The Erie County Fair has come to a close for another summer.  It's an August tradition here in WNY.  I am very impressed with the new improvements to the fair.  We went 3 times this year.  My favorite thing is the Butterfly exhibit. 

(Hope my family can make it back to Hamburg to next year's 175th fair.)

5.  Ian has middle school orientation on Wednesday.  Where did the summer go?  While I am ready for them to go back to school (insert evil laugh here), I am not ready for summer to end.

6.  I am ready to go back to Disney for my 40th birthday in November.  Not so sure about being ready to turn 40, but being in Disney will make it more palatable.  :)  Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party here I come.  (yes, we are going back to Disney again!)

7.  I am giving away this special Little Mermaid necklace over here.

8.  Last weekend there was a family reunion of sorts in PA...sadly we missed it.  I am traveling down that way to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday this coming weekend.  We couldn't make the trip 2 weeks in a row. 

(photo above taken by my father - my mom & her 4 sisters)

(above photo taken my my cousin - the whole group)

9.  Never say never.  Up until last week, I refused to make the Monster High characters. Not really sure why, Lily was Frankie Stein for Halloween last year and I am sure she would have squealed in delight if I did.  Of course, Lily now wants an ornament of her own.

10.  You are never to old to be silly.  ;)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday.

Good Bye 2012

Whew...I can not believe 2012 is almost over!

It was a great one! 

Hope everyone has a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Tuba Christmas

This is the last year with Ian's music instructor and he wanted me to make her a special ornament for Christmas.  How could I say no?  She is a lovely woman and pretty much the reason my son LOVES to play. 

"Have a Very Merry Tuba Christmas" 

Let me explain the Tuba Christmas thing...

Last year I read an article posted on the Disney Blog about how Tuba Christmas was coming to Disneyland.  I had never heard of such a thing.  I showed the article to Ian and then looked further into it and sure enough they have one here in Buffalo every year, too.  Ian said that someday he would like to play in it.  When he heard about it told everyone about Tuba Christmas.  Now his nickname in band is Tuba Christmas.  ;)

Mommy Please...

I made Lily a Christmas Tinkerbell (I had placed an eyepin in top) that I was going to make into a necklace.  She asked me if it could be an ornament instead and if I could make her a Periwinkle the same size.  How could I say no?

 She loved them!

She spent most of the day making them "fly"around the room.

Hunger Games Giveaway

 "Happy Hunger Games Ornament"

"May the odds be every in your favor"

The hunger games books are my nephew and son's favorite books.  I made these this year with them in mind.  :)

I am giving away one of each of these Hunger Games ornaments over at the Hunger Games Fireside Chat.  Go on over an enter.  Contest ends Thursday, Dec 6th.

Closed for the Holidays

My shop(s) has been closed for the last few weeks.  As most of you know I got a nasty cold and I decided to close my shop a few weeks early so I could get all of the orders finished and out. I am starting to feel better, but now my husband has it.  :(

I finally finished and mailed all of the rest of my orders yesterday. 

Time to relax, get well, clean my house and spend the holidays with my family.

Secret Of the Wings

This is one of Lily's new favorite movies.  She was sad to see this ornament leave the house last week. (Periwinkle was a special request.)  Looks like I will be making more for Lily and her cousins to add to their collection.  When they get older and move out, their own trees are going to be filled with clay ornaments made by me.   :D

What I did Tuesday...

I am still really sick.  :(

I did manage to package these.

Quick note on the above tray...this is only about 11 finished orders and a couple partial orders.

Time for a nap.

Dear So & So Friday

Dear Jeff,
Thank you so much for being such an awesome husband!  I am grateful for everything you do for me and our family.  
LOVE you!  Your sickly wife.

Dear Bob & Kris,
Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.  We had a great time.
Love - Melanie, Jeff, Ian & Lily

Dear Mom, Dad, Heidi, Vincent & the girls,
Miss you guys!  Hope you all had a good holiday.  
Love your WNY family

Dear Lily & Ian,
Thank you for sharing your cold with me.  :(
Your mommy coughing up a lung.

Dear body,
You have no time to be sick!
Get better quicker!
Me blowing my nose for the millionth time.

Dear Cold,
Good BYE!  
Melanie's exhausted body

Dear Kara,
Your cousins don't like eating the 'fancy' food either.  ;)
Love you to bits!

Dear Mia,
Sorry to hear you are feeling yucky.  Hope you feel better soon!
Love you to bits, too!!

Dear Neighbor,
Sorry the chairs you put by the bushes didn't work, your dog still got in our yard. The 10piles of dog crap we picked up last Saturday + stepping in 2 piles + $50 of netting we bought and put in the bushes because you can not put your dogs on a leash = really MAD neighbors. Grrr!

Dear Customers,
I am thankful for being so blessed with awesome customers like you.  
Thank you so much!

And because I really like photos in my posts, here is a photo of a custom ornament I made this week.

Monday Madness

Yesterday was a very productive day.  This tray of goodies are now curing.  I am hoping that hurricane Sandy doesn't hit us too hard.  We are in her projected path though.  Crossing fingers and toes that we do not lose power, our basement stays dry and our tree doesn't lose any big branches.

If I am without power for an extended period of time, there may be a delay in email response as well as order shipment until power is restored.

I appreciate your patience during these unforeseen circumstances, and hope that everyone affected by this storm stays safe and sustains minimal damage in its aftermath!

Time to Sort & Package

How I am spending my Saturday morning.  :)