Christmas Open House 2011

at our Etsy shop

November 1st 2011

{Scenes from our very last Christmas 2008 in our brick & mortar}

So you know where I'll be the next few weeks: photographing, editing and uploading a lot of products!

I whittled away at it today as my wee ones went to Grandma's house. Well, I'm off to get some coffee downstairs, so have a lovely evening dear ones.

xo

{Wrapping, Tying & Embellishing}

have a lovely week........gathering gifts and wrapping!

{I have a 5 year birthday celebration this week for Luke} Hope to do a project for the blog....fingers crossed!
xo

Visions of Sugarplums

{Iced Shortbread "birdies"}

I have a very good friend {she's 23 and hangs out with me, even though I'm 35} she has made this recipe since she was 16. I can't even remember when I was 16. She doesn't bake anything else at Christmas besides this shortbread recipe. I'm following in her footsteps. Easy directions. Easy ingredients. Easy small batch. Easy.Easy.Easy. I'm all about that. Plus they're yummy.

It's Martha Stewart's basic shortbread recipe. I think since it calls for confectioners' sugar instead of granulated makes all the difference. I also add almond flavoring in the dough and the icing---I'm a huge fan of almond flavoring.

For the icing:

3/4 cup of powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons of almond flavoring

3 or more tablespoons of milk

Icing is slightly runny, I drizzle away over cookies and it sets up.

{The dirty "fluff" is his Snoopy baby----yes, my friends the classic Snoopy}

Luke is now 4 {December 1st} and it's fun seeing Christmas through his eyes. Soon after Thanksgiving he told me to get out the Christmas toys, he then stated---that means Jesus is born. What he meant was to get out the nativity set! Bless his little heart! 

I also love taking pictures of my sleeping kidlets.........

{Snoopy's tail is what he holds while sucking this thumb to go to sleep}

I thought you would want to know that. Just in case.

merrily,

k

Some Cheery Thoughts.........

*thought no. 1*

*thought no. 2*

Some special thoughts to pass on into next year...........may your day be "merry" while you're festooning Christmas all over the place.

k&d

It's a Wrap.........

*Thinking of you wrapping away............

k&d

Curiosities

*2 red notary labels---*Scallopini Cuts---*Petite tag in red envelope---*Vintage postage stamps---*Vintage map reproduced of Israel and a gold star locating Bethlehem ---*Pink bell---*Windup birdie in cage---*Red & white string---*Vintage book of Rudolph {you know who}---*Petite candy cane tied up with waxed twine---*Day #9 bag from Luke's Advent calender---*Vintage tour book of Rome.

---& Smack dab in -the- middle---

2 doses of headache relief pills & a December calendar page just in case you've forgotten

how many days left until Christmas!

k&d

Oh, we are in love with Mr. & Mrs. Limestone's blog!

I actually scrolled through her entire flickr set of photos,

I was delighted!

Girl-y Gift Ideas

{No. 1}

Bright colored scarves $29 for 5

Wisteria

{No. 2}

Dark colored scarves $29 for 5

Wisteria 

Make these "Handcrafted Tokens" from the Martha Stewart

Christmas issue and add to the lovely scarves above and

you have a thoughtful gift.

I love the combo of colors, I hurried and went and

purchased yummy colors of felt and trimmings to make today.

{after I enjoy all the Thanksgiving yummies}

TA-DA! The laurel wreaths are back in & we added a darling petite size. Festive, timeless and a bestseller! We'll add snippets of our velvet ribbon to make these shine.

May you have a blessed, thankful Thanksgiving and a day to enjoy!

k&d

Curiosities for Friday......

{*1. vintage polka-dot ribbon & petite hand} {*2. Vintage cash register tape}

{*3. Handmade petite book}  {*4. Brass name plague & calligraphy pen} 

 {*5. Vintage store sign}

{*6. Vintage birdies} {*7. Vintage store price stickers}

{from Kara's collection}

***---Smack dab in the middle----***

Minted Rose Lip Balm

Rosebud Salve & Headache relief for the Christmas season.

I went shopping on Tuesday with a dear friend.

We headed south to Cincy and while browsing came upon these darling girl-y tins of salve and lip balm. My friend Wanda squealed, no, I do that, Wanda is cool, calm & collected.

She stated she grew up 2 miles from where these products are made. 

They used the Rosebud salve as children. Newer to the company is the Minted Lip Balm and it is w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. I love the salve too, I have serious cuticle issues and this is just what the doctor ordered.

Wanda always has the best stories, she grew up in a large family in Maryland. This past summer some of her family was visiting Washington D.C. The men went in one van and the gals in another. {the gals really didn't want to talk about motors, gears, and other manly topics}

Trying to locate the Lincoln Memorial their GPS system lost its signal. Wanda's dad opened the window and stuck it outside to attempt to get a signal. 

A few months later the FBI {not kidding} contacted Wanda's brother {the van was his}. They had questions for him. Someone had reported them that a van was slowly driving in Washington D.C. and a man of Arab descent was holding a camera out and thought he was taking pics of tall building. {I'm cracking up at this point as I know how this happened} Wanda's dad is a German Baptist Preacher and has a longer beard and no mustache. He grew up Mennonite and is not from the Middle East! Wanda's brother called his dad and joked, thanks for getting me in trouble! Although after the FBI did their research they knew what had happened. You never know who's watching!

Now from that subject to Anthropolgie: from one extreme to the other!

Athropologie's mugs wrapped with plaid felt and kraft tag on the handle with pine cones inside. I'm ready for candy cane hot cocoa!
{swoon} polka dotted skirt with layers of scallops {extra swoon}
Puffy tissue balls cut out some laboriously way........piled high! I'm ready for snow! {did I just state that?}

Have a lovely weekend! Thanks Wanda for the fun shopping trip & stories...........

k

Christmas List.....

Wm. Mills & Co.

Sailmakers

since 1880

{classic}

These bags our added to both of our Christmas lists.............have you started yours yet?

As soon as October arrives we'll start shopping. This year we can decorate our houses instead of a store! Usually Darcy & I would be flurrying around on Christmas Eve day wrapping gifts, not joking. We have so much fun with wrapping that this year want to enjoy our work.

Now folks about a McMaster & Storm pop-up-shop.............more on this later.............

Hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!

Highlights of our Christmas Day festivities. We are truly blessed to spend time with our families. We wish you a Happy New Year - 2009! May God bless our friends far & near, we've enjoyed getting to know you through blog-land! LOL, Darcy & Kara






Highlights from festivities yesterday!

Talented Sara's Gifts For Us

Sara came into the store with the most wintry treat of a gift. Plus the packaging was just wonderful eye candy. I didn't want to open mine as I love to savor the wrapping, but she insisted I open it.
Ok, lets have a look......


Sara took a German Christmas ball that's actually a box, painted and embellished it with flakes of sparkle. She then embellished the top with berries that look like they have ice on them and greenery. Sara tucked a bird tag as well. She made this from Martha Stewart's holiday idea book. Sara used her own twist for the top, which I love.

Tucked inside was darling hand knitted fingerless gloves! Sara can knit and well do just about anything with creating lovely things. {she's busy creating @ this moment!} The gloves were wrapped in tissue inside with bakery twine around the package. They are made with very soft yarn, Baby Alpaca D.K.

Now, I just need a manicure and I'll be set.

Darcy will open hers on Thursday, hopefully she won't see the blog. Regardless if she takes a peek on the blog, she'll love this!

Enjoy your last full week of Christmas preparations and don't forget to drink lots of hot cocoa!

LOL,

Kara & Darcy too

Lola B in the House! {aka Kasey}

Thanks Kasey for coming to the "middle of nowhere"! Darcy wished she had more time to chat. We have enjoyed getting to know other shop owners and love the friendship that we are able to have. It's truly a blessing to our "shop girl life"! Kasey and her husband plus kiddos
came to the store this past Saturday on their way home from visiting family. They drove out of the way to come to the shop. Kasey is getting ready for her Lola B's Christmas Open House this weekend. If you are lucky to live close by we recommend you check it out!

Thanks Kasey for stopping by!!!!

Baby Jesus Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar

A Family Tradition

Advent means "the coming" and refers to the 4 week season of preparation for the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day

and anticipation of His coming again. Advent begins the Sunday nearest November 30th and continues until December 24th.

The Advent calendar, which originated in 19th Century Europe, has 24 numbered flaps concealing a biblical scene and verse about the coming of the Messiah. Children especially enjoy opening a new door each day

as Christmas draws near and we come once again to the Birth of Christ.

12" wide and ribbon for hanging. Ribbon will vary. Available at our "petite department store"!

We wish everyone a Blessed Christmas Season.

Picking Christmas Wrapping Colors from an Outfit?

We were smitten by the combo of the colors of J.Crew's outfit-
the deep royal blue, melon and contrast of a greenish yellow. We dove into ordering a collection of velvet ribbons and paper ribbon for packaging, inspired by these colors. As for gift wrap none other than our favorite foil paper. Here we'll show you some packaging supplies inspired by j.crew's picture.
{by the way did any of you see the J.Crew's creative director's home in the latest domino? very fun I tell you!}

The display Darcy did of the bracelets is delightful. Love the texture of the wood in contrast to the jewelry.

Have a lovely day!

k&d

Christmas 2008 Open House

Here is a flurry of open house pics.

Slightly rested up from last week and on to the next thing!!!! {There's always something brewing it seems like!}
Darcy is out front snapping pics for website and I'm back here blogging. Now is the time to focus on new things for website so they are up before Thanksgiving.
If you make a purchase online and want it wrapped as a gift let us know to whom through our web site's e-mail & we'll wrap in McMaster & Storm style.
As always all of your purchases receive some type of special wrapping.