last Christamsy stuff

My friend Anna and I threw a holiday party and here are the pictures to prove it! I did all the decorations on a teensy tiny budget (I'm talkin' $30ish) and we held it at her parent's house. Unfortunately we didn't send the invites out as I had wanted because we were both out of the country, but that's alright. Someday maybe I will get to throw parties in exciting locations with real invitations and someone else's money, that sure would be nice. The menu consisted of spanikopita bites, spinach quinoa grapefruit avocado salad and a zucchini goat cheese tart. I of course forgot to photograph it, though Anna remembered to get one of the mulled wine. All the recipes are on my pinterest, and I would highly recommend them.

cookies galore

For the past 5 or so years a group of my friends has gotten together to decorate christmas cookies when most of us are home for the holiday season. The first few pictures are of the actual event where we all ate our weight in cheese ball and made a big mess while decorating. The last ones are of some of my better cookies, I had fun trying to use the more challenging shapes.

around the house

Here are some bits of Christmas around my mom's house. I made that wreath from tree cuttings a friend gave us and no joke, it's 4 feet across! The gingerbread house ornament is a "springle" made at least 20 years ago by my great uncle and the stained glass in the background my mom made. I created the plywood trees last year as gifts and I wish I had a saw so I could make more, they are so simple and cute.

last of my Irish projects

Still have a few things I didn't share from Ireland, this may be the last though. Simple embroidered pillow, and the last painting detail I did. And I just thought those books were awfully pretty.

prints

Here are the three versions of the first plate I did at Limerick Printmakers. The first two I watercolored, the last is just the black ink, and what I did the edition in.

jelly

Here is some more of the jelly we made, and that i created the labels for. Unfortunately they didn't come out as perfect as I wanted, the printer cut of bits of the design and put fade lines through one of them, but that's alright I guess. I am back in the US- it's nice to see my friends and family and really get in to the Christmas spirit, but of course I will miss Ireland.

a little something