My little Super-E has been in the chess club for a couple of weeks now and is really getting into it. He needed a more sturdy chess board (the one we had was too flimsy) and so the coffee table was painted and has now become the new chess game area. I had been planning on painting it anyway (it’s getting kind cruddy) and that’s not going to happen anytime soon. This will work for as long as he’s interested.

Some exciting stuff has happened this week.  A large spread in the AZ Daily Star featured local Etsy sellers on Saturday.  It was a great article.  I wasn’t in it, but it led me to my local Etsy street team and I was able to get into their group.  They are super  talented and a very active group. We are having a small craft fair on Feb 10th.  Check out our website: Sonoran Artisans and flickr group.  So very exciting for me because I can meet real live, in the flesh, crafters and artists, right in my hometown!  It is also the kick in the butt I need to be a more focused on my shop.

Very quickly, I have to share this movie I rented last night.  It’s called Once, a modern day musical and it is excellent!!! And the music is amazing too!!!  If you haven’t seen it,you have to check it out.  Click on the movie link above to hear the song “Falling Slowly”,  an Academy award nominee for best song.  Then listen to the next one too “If you want me”, it’s my favorite. So beautiful.

Books are very important in this family. We collect them, love them, (sell them) and take very special care of them. There is no mistreating of books of any kind allowed in this house. Oh no, no, no! No throwing, standing on, tearing of pages, no water anywhere near and definitely NO dog ears. We’ve been ingraining this into our kids since they were babies (we are still working with I-guy on this). That is not to say that there aren’t books scattered all over the house. There is! They are, for the most part, gently used, loved and respected.

Books are informative, inspiring, magical, amazing. We love them. So they have become a huge part of the holiday gift giving in this house as well as birthday gift giving too. Needless to say, we are starting this year with a nice big stack of new books.

For the Kids (from friends, family and Santa):

Uncle Wiggly’s Story Book by Howard Garis.
The Big Book for Peace. A collective of several different poems, stories and illustrations.
Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy by Michael Reinhart
The NEW Way Things Work by David Macaulay
The Way Science Works by Jayne Parsons

For the kids, but really for me:

A Kid’s Herb Book by Lesley Tierra and The Book Book by Sophie Benini Pietromarchi. I am the most in love with these two books. Both are so very well done and just simply amazing. The herb book seriously makes me want to run out and grow an herb garden. Now, I am a strong believer of the powerful medicinal properties of herbs, so this book is right up my alley. It is full of easy to understand information about all the different herbs and loads of activities and recipes for treats, drinks and common childhood ailments.

The Book Book is such a wonderful inspiration for book making. Not only does it give excellent instructions for making several kinds of books, but it has brilliant ideas for what to put in the books using everyday around-the-house objects. A wonderful resource for getting children to think creatively.

For me:

The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller
The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter
Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy

I could go on and on about each and every one of these, but then this would be the longest post EVER! So I’ll just say that they are so fun to look through and get inspired by. All incredible and so beautifully done. I can’t wait to get bakin’ and makin’. Yeah Baby!

Even Daddy couldn’t resist the new translation of War & Peace even though he already has more books than he knows what to do with.

Tomorrow starts the beginning of the “Month of ME!!” where I make and share lots of things that I’ve wanted to make for myself. Yes, Me Me Me. This “me” list has been staring at me for such a looooong time. I can’t wait to get started with it.

I’m wishing for a long magical life of believers. That the children of the world believe in you longer than they seem to be lately. That this belief is sprinkled in with lots of the other meaningful holiday traditions.

It’s just more fun to believe and keep that childhood imagination soaring for as long as we can. It’s that imagination that flames a long fulfilling creative life.

My Little guy spent a good portion of Tuesday writing a letter to Santa. I love the “I try to listen” part. He does try, which is so, so hard for a 6 year old. He added a few questions at the end. “How do you get your mail?” and “How fast does your sleigh go?”. We’ll be working on a return letter just to keep the holidays a little more magical for him. I love that he believes in Santa. He is usually a little more skeptical (like his father) about most things. I think The Polar Express helped seal the deal a little.

How fast does Santa’s sleigh goes anyway?

Do you love my Santa collection. I do! They are “vintage”. My lovely mother-in-law gave them all to me I think. I’m not sure about the one on the far left. I have a growing collection of Santas and of snow globes. I always look forward to pulling these out of the closet every year. They make me smile.

Tomorrow morning I will announce the ornament winners!!  The cut off for leaving a comment is tonight at midnight. 

Can you hear it? It’s the sound of Superbuzzy in the mail. And Sew, Mama, Sew too! All in one day even!! A teeney little order from each, but exciting none the less.

Superbuzzy above. My first Japanese fabric ever. I am so in love with it. Why did I wait so long? Oh yeah, $$$. It’s going to be so hard cutting into this fabric!

And Sew, Mama, Sew below. These gorgeous flowery prints make my heart flutter.

It took me forever to pick these prints out. They really are for a gift that I’m making for a friend of mine. She likes greens, yellows and browns. I would find a print she liked, wait too long, then it would be sold out!!! So finally I settled on these. Many of them were on sale too, which definitely helped the decision process.

Oh, I have to mention too, that this is the first fabric I’ve bought in over 2 months!! Now that’s a long time folks!