Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Perdues!

I hope your Christmas was lovely! We've had a wonderful whirlwind of activity the past couple of weeks. I only had to pull two all-nighters to get all of my gifts completed. All but two of the gifts we gave to family were handmade. Santa, of course, delivered a mix of gifts. The elves had a hard time finding online tutorials for making razor scooters and hot wheels cars.

I'm easing back into blogging this week. I'll post pics of most of my projects through the next few days. I didn't get pics of everything, as some things were finished minutes before they needed to be wrapped.

I'll be catching up on all my blog reading and the 500+ emails waiting for me - so keep an eye out for me in your comments sections! (Tara - I saw your kitchen on down--to--earth - how cool!!)

Wishing you and yours the merriest of holiday seasons

and a new year that brings all that you hope it will!

Love, Wendy

pssssstttt.....

For a peek into Santa's Workshop, go here.

wip

Finally, some pics of something I've made! Brandie commented on my last post that she couldn't wait 'til after Christmas to see pics of the stuff I'm making. That made me think, "Holy crap! I haven't been taking pics of the stuff I'm making and giving away!" So, forgive these hastily done shots, but this is what I gave my niece for her birthday, today.

The scarf is made with fun fur, which is decidedly not fun to crochet. It's just single crochet, no pattern. I crocheted two flowers (super easy pattern found here) and stitched them onto a hair elastic to use as a scarf closure or as a hair tie. I also crocheted more fun fur around another hair elastic and attached another flower to that. I figured she could use it as a bracelet or a hair scrunchie.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I think my niece really liked it, too.

I'm finishing up a wrap/shawl for grandma - I'll hopefully get pics up of it, tomorrow. Apparently, scarves are in for the 9-yo set, so instead of the bag I was originally going to make for my niece for Christmas, I'm going to do a long scarf. I'm kid free tomorrow, so Santa's workshop will be open for business. I'm planning to get the puppet stage done and paint the wooden things I bought earlier in the month. I think I might post pics on my other blog and then link to this one. Jackson sees this one all the time, so I don't dare post pics here before Christmas. I figure I only have a couple more years before that one figures the whole deal out. He already informed me that the guy at the mall wasn't the real Santa Claus. He's 4, y'all.

I'm enjoying crafting this Christmas so much! AND I learned that the crochet stitch I've been doing for years is a herringbone half double crochet stitch. Dang I'm fancy.

Don't forget to check out Lily's auction for some lovely Christmas gifts. It closes on the 15th, so plenty of time for Christmas shipping!

And one last thing, during all of this Christmas madness - kiss your kids, hug your spouse, be a good friend, life is short and aren't we lucky to have all these wonderful people who love us around us every day? Blessed, I tell ya.

crunch time

Ok. 15 days. It's crunch time, y'all. Much coffee. Little sleep. That Santa is a harsh taskmaster, I tell ya.

I saw these two posts on Matsutake the other day and wanted to share them with y'all. This is so where I'm at right now.

Christmas. The holiday season is for crafters what the playoffs are for, uh, whatever sports teams have playoffs. Well, no, wait. It's like the Miss America Pageant for pageant girls, and I am putting vaseline on my teeth right now. I am not going to wake up sometime in mid-December and say, "Whoops, I didn't get anything made this year, I wasted my time relaxing with loved ones." No way! Not this year! There is no time for loved ones. There is no time for relaxing. There are Christmas crafts to be made. Break out the papier mache. It's on! I'll sleep in January. Who's with me? We'll only eat espresso and power bars. There will be no bathroom breaks. We will wear astronaut diapers (available at Michael's in the scrapbooking department). (LOVED THIS!!! Read the rest here.)

So, if you're looking for me, I'm the one with little bits of string sticking to me and the crochet blisters on my fingers.

(and I swear ima gonna get that graphic tattooed on my butt)

hello-o-o-o-o-o!

Did ya miss me? I know. I've been a bad blogger. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, just no time to gather coherent thoughts!

Quick summary of recent events:

- Kira turned three! We had her birthday party on Saturday and it was lovely. We had it at home, so it was just family and close friends (of course, that's almost 40 people right there). I think she really enjoyed it. She loved everyone singing to her and said "hooray" and "piiiiittttttty" a million times while opening her gifts. It was pretty low key and I was thankful for the chance for our old and new friends to meet each other. Pics later, when I steal them from someone else. As usual, Derek and I were too busy running around to take pics.

- Kira started school! She's in one of the blended classes. 5 typically developing kids and Kira is the third child in the class on an IEP. She's the youngest, the only girl, and the only child with Ds. The first week was a little rough, but yesterday she walked in like she'd been doing this for years. I think it's going to be a good fit for her.

- Other good stuff: We've had lots of chilling with family good times recently. Thanksgiving was lovely with Derek's parents. We spent the majority of the weekend in Shreveport with my parents and had a wonderful time. More on that (with pics!) later.

I've been busy crafting, crafting, crafting and want to share one project with y'all. I made this tutu and drawstring bag for mailing it in over the weekend:

I've donated them to the Zoromski's auction so that they can get their daughter Lily home. Lily is in an orphanage overseas. She is five years old with Ds and it is a miracle that she hasn't been sent to an institution, yet. Lily is a twin, her birth parents kept her biological sibling. You may not now it, but Michelle and Brian are also the parents of twins. Ruby's identical twin sister, Lydia, died at birth. As Michelle put it, they are a family missing a twin and Lily is a twin missing a family. Amazing.

Head over to A Home for Lily to check out all the cool items in the auction. I know Michelle, Brian, Karly, Braden, Ruby, and especially, Lily, would appreciate it!

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And I promise to be a better blogger. At least, I will once I get laid off from Santa's Workshop.