it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

... especially on my desk at work!

I picked up this cute little mouse at Crate & Barrel a couple of weeks ago because I just couldn't resist. Isn't he cute? He has brothers made out of the same material in other colors too, but I thought this brown was a perfect shade. Anyway, he's standing next to this cute little coffee mug that someone at work brought back for me from his trip to Chicago (during a two-hour flight delay).

And this morning my coworker, the ever-so-talented Karoline, walked in and presented me with one of her adorable hand glove creations:

Isn't he adorable??! (Yes, we've been telling her for a long time that she needs to sell these on Etsy ...) I don't know why I assume it's a he. It just looks like a he to me. He's very cute, that's for sure. I should take a picture of his tail for you, but that might be border-line glove rabbit x-ratedness.

Okay, going from one extreme to another ... going from something cute to something, um, let's just say interesting.


Yes. That is an inflatable fruitcake. And as it says on the website where you can order it, "It's festive, it's traditional and it's inedible - just like the real thing." Ha! I've never been a fan of fruitcake myself (although my mother and sister both love it) so I didn't mind putting up this vinyl version for decoration on my desk. (And no, I didn't purchase this!)

Of course, the candy bowl had to be updated to represent the holiday season. I tried to be a little more PC with this so I did half red and green, and half white and blue. I think it turned out pretty good actually.


And last but not least, the same person who bought me the candy cane striped coffee mug a week ago left these two CDs of holiday tunes for me. The first one, as you can see, is the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. The second one's title cracks me up ... Holiday Lounge: The Christmas Mixes ... I can't wait to see what's on that one.

Christmastime is definitely in the air here! Now on to completing some shopping ...

staff holiday party

We had our Harvard Art Museum's staff holiday party last night at the Queen's Head Pub in the basement of Memorial Hall. The pub and Crimson Catering did an awesome job with the decorations and food setup, and we had a great turnout.

Part of the festitivies this year included a raffle drawing for staff members where they could pick from one of six prizes to win. Elissa and I had a blast putting them together -- they were a hot chocolate set from Burdick's; a holiday cookie baking set from Crate & Barrel; a cute martini set complete with a mini shaker; four AMC Gold movie passes in a popcorn bowl; a beautiful Snow & Graham 2009 calendar; and two tickets to the Bruins vs. Canadiens hockey game in January.

Tony was able to join me and I think he had the most fun at the decorate-your-own-gingerbread station. :)

once in a while

Once in a while, I'll get a card design in my head in the middle of the day when I'm busy doing something else. In this case, an idea came to mind about an hour before I left work today. I frantically drew out a rough sketch so I wouldn't forget it, dashed home (practically speed ran - ha ha), and made a beeline for my crafting table to execute the design. And voila!

I have to say that I'm really happy with the way it came out. :) I started out by stamping and embossing the snowflakes (Elzybells "snowflake 1" stamp) with a Versamark ink pad onto some new cardstock I bought from Papertrey Ink in "ocean tides". Then I poured some Rangers embossing powder in "seafoam white" on top, shook off the excess, and heat embossed them. Next, I punched them out with a 1-1/4" square punch and made sure not to make them all centered on purpose. Then I mounted each square onto a 1-1/2" square of silver metallic cardstock. I applied some Aleene's paper glaze around each of the 1-1/4" square's edges, then covered the glazed area with some microfine glitter, and set them aside to dry. I like how it gave the edges a chunky, snowed on look.

To assemble the card, I used a piece of white cardstock that was cut down to 5.5" x 8.5" folded in half as a card base, then I glued a 4.25" x 5.5" piece of "ocean tide" cardstock on top of the card cover. I bought some of Papertrey Ink's "stamper's select vellum cardstock" and just love how thick and durable it is. I cut a sheet of it into 4.25" x 5.5" rectangles, and then used a Martha Stewart "simple scallop edge" punch on the right edge. I adhered the vellum to the top of the card using two small mini glue dots which were then covered up by tying a piece of "ocean tides" ribbon on top. Once the glittered squares were dry, I set them in place with some adhesive, stamped the message, and ta-da! A lovely holiday card.

inspired holiday decor & ornaments

My friend Renee came over for Thanksgiving yesterday. After we ate and moved onto bottle #2 of the vino, we decided to get crafty. We were inspired by these monogram ornaments but decided to do words instead. Then after we got tired of holiday-ish words - and more into the vino - we came up with the three word phrase "jingle my balls". Ha ha! And so yes, there are not only one set of ornaments with this phrase, but two! And for sale! On Etsy! Cin cin to that!

Okay, so then today I decided to try and do this after a trip up to Michael's. And here's how they turned out. Not too bad I think.

What are you doing to get ready for the holidays?