'Tis The Season

In my very first blog post I made mention of the fact that I am a restless human being, jetting around participating in random activities, and can never sit still. I keep my schedule consistently full because I don't know how to not be busy, and maybe in some way like to see how far I can take myself.
As a matter of fact, this personality trait is one of the main reasons for the name of my blog - because I'm always on the run.  


Get it?!?! 
I know, I know, I should have gone into comedy.

So anyway, Christmas allows me to go into full beast mode and be completely psycho and fully engulf myself in new projects and decorating the house and baking goodies.

Exhibit A: Learning How to Sew

When I was little my mom hand made a good bit of our clothes. She sewed all of our Halloween costumes and made all of our Easter dresses. I have fond memories of going to Wal-Mart and picking out patterns and fabric (seriously, where was Project Runway in 1989?!). If our jeans got a hole in them (we all know how graceful I am, so that was often) mom would sew a patch in the knee with a fun colorful fabric.

 For whatever reason, I never took interest in learning how to sew at the time. Present day I have kicked myself in the pants for not sitting down with my mom for just 10 minutes to learn how to read a pattern and operate a sewing machine.

After becoming a member of Pinterest and wasting the hours away browsing the web's countless Christmas projects and getting inspired (which means seeing about 100 things I wanted to make that required knowledge of sewing) I made the decision that it was time to learn. 

So I took my first class, just in time for the holidays!

I made a wine bag, and learned how to thread, stitch, wind a bobbin, and make a button hole. 

Voila!

Needless to say, this has opened up a whole can of worms in the creativity realm - don't be surprised if you get homemade gifts for the next 10 years.

Exhibit B: Decking the Halls

I'm the sap that loves putting up the ornaments on the tree while Christmas music is playing in the background, and hanging the stockings by the fireplace, and putting lights and outdoor ornaments on our palm trees outside (yea I live in Florida, we don't have Douglas Firs here so we make do). 

In typical DIY -Martha Stewart - Pinterest mode, I made my own rag wreath for the front door, made the tree topper with ribbon that I found on clearance last year, and am in the process of making my own tree skirt (in the process meaning I have the materials but haven't done anything with them yet).

I also put together this cute little guy below for the 1st Annual Christmas Tree Challenge at work -- each department received a tree and had a $20 budget to decorate.

Oh yea, I was all over this project like white on rice.

Can of white spray paint : 97 cents 
Can of fake snow spray: $2.99
Styrofoam head: $1.99
Styrofoam balls for buttons: $1.99 
Eyes and mouth (glued on river rocks): $2.99
Nose (glued on fake carrot): 99 cents
Arms: free, compliments of my backyard 
Hat and Scarf: free, previously owned 



I was $7 under budget -  I think I should get bonus points.

Exhibit C: Baking 

How To Make a Cake

My mom somehow managed to make everything from cut-out Christmas cookies to Divinity to Fudge to Gingerbread around the holidays. We always had at least 5 home baked goods readily available for our gluttonous pleasure.  While I have not mastered baking in multiples, I have been able to pull together some  pretty cute Christmas foods for various purposes, such as the Santa bread that I found on TasteOfHome and these adorable Santa Hat Brownies I made from the inspiration of ericasweettooth.com. 

The challenge with the bread was finding someone to initially cut into it. We all felt bad taking a knife to his beard. Sorry, Santa.

I hope everyone enjoys their last 6 days before Christmas ....I'm anxiously awaiting Saint Nick's arrival with a spatula in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other!