A Sugar Kissed Giveaway

Welcome back to our Sugar Kissed Christmas! We really appreciate the positive response we got from everyone yesterday. It is so sweet of you to let us know that you are excited about our ideas.

I was very happy that so many of you liked my button card. We are giving you the image to create your own, plus a new one! We printed them up on printer cardstock paper.

Choose the buttons that you want for each card. I chose pink for the one above and red buttons for the one below. I posititioned them on the card and punched a needle through the holes so I could see where they go. I then threaded my needle and went through the button holes to fasten them down and then tied the thread on the back.

Lindsey added the glitter! You can use a hole punch in the top if you want to hang it. I think these would be pretty hung on the tree or as hang tags or even a banner.

We want to recommend this beautiful book to inspire you. It's called Christmas Memories: Gifts, Activities, Fads, and Fancies, 1920s-1960s. It is filled with lots of inspiring stories and pictures!

We found this book at Borders last week but they were going fast! If your local Borders doesn't have it, visit Borders.com, or you can find it here on Amazon.com.

I have been enjoying reading this book very much. The author shares information and stories from old letters, diaries and magazines from the 1920's to the 1960's. It is full of beautiful pictures and will entertain you for hours! I especially enjoyed reading how in the 1920's, Christmas trees were not desired in a pyramid shape but a very spherical shape. The bigger around the middle the better! For most people getting that desired shape often meant they had to buy a tree that was much taller than room would allow. The bottom branches would be cut as far as possible and then the top would be lopped off where it met the ceiling or the top branches were bent back.

Lindsey and I are excited to offer the first giveaway of our Sugar Kissed Christmas. Included in the giveaway is a pair of my knitted houseshoes in, what else? Pink and red! Also, one of the button cards and a tag from Lindsey!

All you need to do is leave a comment between now and Saturday night at midnight CST.

We'll see you tomorrow for a tutorial from Lindsey for her Christmas journal pictured in the photo above!

Twyla and Lindsey

Welcome to Our Sugar Kissed Christmas

Welcome to our home, friends.

Lindsey and I would like to welcome you to our Sugar Kissed Christmas.

We wanted to share our style with you for a vintage inspired wonderland. We've created our theme around the color scheme of pink and red. We feel these colors evoke a feeling of a vintage, retro Christmas. We have designed and crafted several decorations that we want to share with you over the next few weeks until Christmas. We will be sharing vintage images, tutorials, and lots of pictures to help you if you would like to create some of these crafts for your own home and gift giving.

I have always thought that crafting supplies are, in themselves, beautiful. I came up with the idea of making old fashioned button cards. I went through my collection of postcards and found this one that lent itself to our color scheme. Lindsey scanned the image, printed them up in the size needed and I sewed on the buttons. I think they turned out very pretty.

Lindsey has made Christmas journals in two different sizes. I hope that you will enjoy making one also, as they are so helpful during this time of year to record your shopping and gift giving ideas. She has also created a wall hanging and tags along with a few surprises up her sleeve.

We hope that you will join us daily to share in our love of Christmas and our desire to share some Christmas joy. We took great pleasure in creating our 'Sugar Kissed Christmas' button. We would like to invite you to add it to your sidebar and help spread the spirit of a sugar kissed Christmas!

See you tomorrow for our first project and a fun giveaway! Twyla and Lindsey

Barbie Wednesday

Hello Friends, First I would like to thank you all for the Birthday wishes!

I want to show you another beautiful Barbie I received for my Birthday. She is from the Silkstone Collection, called Lady of the Manor Barbie. Both her and my amazing American Girl Barbie were gifts from my wonderful Brother this year.

I love this Mattel photo showing off her beautiful dress! I had never seen her before my Birthday and was thrilled to add such a lovely doll to my collection.

I love this closeup of her jewelry!

Here is a closeup of her dress! The ribbon flowers and seed beads are amazing!

Lady of the Manor Barbie came out in 2006. She was created by designer Robert Best. There are less than 6,300 dolls worldwide! She was designed to capture the posh life, during a fab British Invasion.

Hope you are having a lovely week, Lindsey

Twyla Tuesday

Hello friends! I want to thank everyone for all the birthday greetings you left for Lindsey last week. She had a very memorable 21st birthday which is just what we'd hoped.

I am loving all the magazines that are out now. This one tiny picture in the Romantic Homes Dec. '09 magazine is by far my favorite. Be still my heart.

I am currently scouring the antique stores and flea markets trying to find a salt box so that I can recreate this beautiful vignette.

Before Christmas comes Thanksgiving and I don't want to ignore that beloved holiday. Most of you know that I collect postcards and Thanksgiving ones happen to be my favorites. Especially the ones with turkeys on them.

I'll share these two from my collection with you. Feel free to reprint these to use in your art work.

My very favorite magazine is Where Women Create. I read every word of every article. I can't say that about many other magazines. I have so much admiration for these women who make their living in a creative field. It's kind of like how I feel about visiting my friends in the blog world. I see so many wonderfully creative ideas and inspiration. I love many different kinds of blogs. The crafting ones, the decorating ones, the homemaking ones, the cooking ones, the ones from other countries. I could go on and on.

As I admire the studios of these creative women I have to remind myself of my great grandmother. She raised 14 children in this little log cabin near the banks of Cedar creek. Her husband died when she was pregnant with the last one. Two of her children didn't survive childhood. She managed to feed and clothe her family by fishing, gardening and picking polk greens and berries. I don't think she had time for crafts, but my mom remembers her making crepe paper flowers to put on her babies graves. To me, she was a creative woman, too. Just in a different world in a different time. She passed away when I was 4 years old, but I can still remember her and being a little frightened by her white hair.

True success in life has little to do with what we gain or accomplish for ourselves. It's what we do for others. - Wendy Imbornoni

Wishing you much happiness! Twyla

Barbie Wednesday Birthday Post

Hello Friends, I had a wonderful 21st Birthday party last weekend! It was a very sophisticated Barbie themed party! The colors were pink and black. My family made sure it was a very special and memorable night!

I think I will save some gifts for next Barbie Wednesday as I don't want you to be too overwhelmed by Barbie cuteness but I will show you my big gift!

See how amazing the room looks?! Pink and black crepe paper were streamed around the room to look like a big canopy.

This cool paper chandelier really added a lot of whimsy to the table of presents!

I was truly blown away by all that they did for me! It was a blast!

I received so many beautiful things and I felt so loved!

I was very surprised by some of my presents! Not all were Barbie related but they all were very special!

Of course I got a pair of pink and black houseshoes! I love the feel of a new pair! So soft and cozy! I am wearing them right now as I type this! I always sleep in them and I wear them all morning and put them on first thing when I get home at night!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the other goodies I received! I have one present that is still on it's way! Guess what it is?!!!! A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!!! Woohoooo!!!! Im so excited I could jump off the walls!!!!! I can't wait to start playing with it!

My big gift was in this beautiful pink bag!

This little tag should have been a clue as to what I was to find on the inside!

I couldn't believe my eyes as I opened my last present to find a vintage American Girl Barbie with her original box!!! WOW! I was so shocked!!!!

Isn't she beautiful?!!! Oh my! I never thought I would have such a beautiful American Girl! And the box is so awesome!!!!!

Her hair is so perfect still! The color is called Titian!!!!

She is so amazing and I am so thrilled to add her to my collection.


It was a wonderful Birthday and I want to thank you all for the Birthday wishes! I will share more Barbie gifts next week!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my Barbie Birthday!
Lindsey

Twyla Tuesday

It's been a topsy turvy week around here. Preparations for Lindsey's 21st birthday party was the main order of business.

We needed haircuts this week and I thought it would be fun to share with you how we get our hair cut. We are fortunate enough to have found a wonderful hairdresser who prefers to cut hair in your house rather than in a shop. I don't know who snapped this picture of me getting my hair cut, but thought I would be brave and share it with you.

We really do make a big deal out of birthdays. We happen to think people should feel special on their birthday. We usually choose a theme for each birthday and that guides us as to decorations and gifts. This year for Lindsey's we chose Barbie as the theme. I am only going to give you a sneak peak at what it looked like because Lindsey is going to share it on her Barbie Wednesday post tomorrow.

The gas gauge on my car went out last week. You would think that I would have known better after running out of gas once, but Thursday night while Jordan and I were shopping for balloons for Lindsey's birthday party it happened again. I was trying to leave the Wal Mart parking lot when the wheel locked up and the car stopped. I sent Jordan across the street to get gas when a lady pulled up beside me and rolled down her window. "Are you alright? Do you need help?" I replied that I ran out of gas. She saw Jordan crossing the street and she said, "We'll go help him." The lady and her husband got the gas can, insisted on paying for the gas and proceeded to fill our tank so that we could be on our way. I was so touched I cried. I never felt so taken care of before. It was so amazing to me that every step we took that night allowed us to be at that place at the exact time that this angel of a lady was behind our car when it ran out of gas. It reminded me of the verse: In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths. - Proverbs 3:6

I found this Thanksgiving postcard this week in a flea market. I love Thanksgiving postcards and especially the ones with turkeys on them. Feel free to copy the image and use in your art projects. Yes, we have so much to be thankful for.

Wishing you all much happiness! Twyla