Getting in the Holiday Spirit

I am trying to get myself in ANY form of holiday spirit. I'm having a hard time this year being excited about any holiday with all the work that I have been doing recently...school, family, school, personal life, school, housework, and have I mentioned school yet?!?!? Needless to say I am MORE than ready for Thanksgiving break! In an effort to get myself in more of a spirit for any holiday I have been crafting and cooking like mad! For instance today I made pumpkin cream pie's...I do not even have the words to describe how wonderful these are!

Seriously though...just look at them!!! I have no idea how fattening they are, how bad for me they are, or how I'm going to prevent myself from eating the whole plate in one sitting! My friend Elizabeth wrote about how much she wanted to make these on her blog, but living in England they apparently don't have canned pumpkin so she couldn't. I generously offered to send her pumpkin (before I knew how much that costs!!! Yikes!) if she sent me the recipe, and I am so glad we made that deal!!!! Elizabeth you rock!!!!

All right on to other things that won't make my mouth water! I have also been working on more holiday cards! A few people have told me that they will purchase whatever I have leftover from the craft fair...well here is what I have to say to that, Why Wait? I have my Etsy site back up again and there is a link in the sidebar that will take you directly to my store. Granted I have posted just a few of the many cards I've made, but please feel free to purchase them. I will have plenty of cards in time for the craft fair so you are taking nothing away from me. Also if you see a card that I've posted on my blog, but isn't on Etsy let me know and I'll be more than happy to sell it to you. Now on to the recently made cards!



All right that's all I can manage right now. I just submitted a fellowship proposal for school, and getting it written has put me a little behind in other course work, so I better get back on it. Keep your eyes peeled for more cards soon. =)

Cardmania!!!!!

Okay...I've been busy! Last week I began to work on more holiday cards since I know that these are going to be the things that most likely sell the best at the craft fair on December 4. Over the weekend I got the flu (leave it to me to get the flu even after I had gotten a flu shot!) and because I had been sick and didn't have the time to study over the weekend I missed class on Monday. Needless to say I have had a bit of time recently that I normally would have because of a random weirdness of events, so I made cards. =) I decided to try something different and make a slide show of all the cards that I have made since there are so many of them! Naturally this is not near enough since I'm hoping to sell a lot, and I'll still need some to send to people this year!!! Yikes!!! Needless to say, Christmas is getting closer and closer for me and I don't feel near ready enough!

So I didn't put these in the slideshow since it's a postcard and I thought that might be a little confusing. =)

And I've even made a few Halloween cards to send to friends this year near and far away!

Normally this is the point in my post where I say that I'll post more things soon...well as much as I would love to say that I will be, I think I might need a bit of a break. I promise that there will be more, but it might be a week or two before I post anything, lol. =)

More Cooking and Jen's Quilling

All right this is going to kind of be a bit of a random post. So it's Fall and this means two things for me...First I'm going to be sick for the next 9 to 10 months (already got the flu and I even got a flu shot!) and second I'm going to be cooking up a storm! It seems like as soon as the weather begins to turn cool I become a magnet for germs...and I love to cook. Maybe the cooking thing is just to help keep the house warm, lol. In any case I made my first pumpkin spice roll of the season the other day. As anyone who knows me and has had it can tell you, it is by far the best recipe that my sister has ever found!!! I also decided to make potato bread since the oven was warm, and now have 2 loaves to last me for a while. This evening I decided to embark on unknown lands and made a butternut squash soup. I love butternut squash, but normally just roast it with some brown sugar and butter and call it a meal, but today I decided to be daring! It turned out all right with some feta cheese sprinkled on top, but I think I need to "Liza-fy" it and add something else...it was just too plain for my tastes.

Ready to be cut up and enjoyed, this one is all mine!!! =)

Cooking the butternut squash with homemade chicken stock!!! What is wrong with me that I've become so domestic?!?!?

The finished soup with a bit of feta added for some extra flavor...yum!

Now on to the next random topic in this post...my sister. Now she is random, and I only claim her when I have to, but she has discovered a new craft that she is really good at and enjoys. Quilling is rolling small strips of paper and gluing them together to create a decorative design. This was apparently a popular pastime for European women in the 18th century since it was seen as not to taxing for their minds. (This is taken from Wikipedia...I'm biting my tongue and many of you will know why.) Anywho Jen has begun to do this and is fairly good at it. She has made quite a few designs, but hasn't been up here to make cards with them yet. Last time she was up though she took some of her first designs and made a few holiday cards.



All right I may have given her a bit of help on the card design for this one.

And then there is the random Halloween card she made, lol.

I'm sure this qualifies as a totally random post, which is why I am going to end it. Two things before I turn my computer off for the night though. One I have been busy working on Christmas cards for the Hanover craft fair so look for another post from me in the next few days with pictures of those. Second, the Hanover craft fair will be December 4th at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana...Please come!!!! The fact is that I hopefully will have a table if they aren't too expensive and I'll be selling cards and crocheted items. Since I am a poor graduate student, without a job right now I need all the money I can get so this may be my only source of income for a while. So come out and support me, tell your friends and family and tell them to support me too. =)