The San Diego Civic Youth Ballet's "The Nutcracker"

I took the boys to go see The Nutcracker on Saturday. We got there just in time and really enjoyed the show. About halfway through the first act, Connor leaned over to me and asked when they were going to start talking. We almost left at the intermission because I thought they did both acts. Clara and the Prince were waving goodbye to the Sugar Plum Fairy at the end of the first part and I thought, well, this must be a short version or something. It wasn't until I was about 20 yards from the theater that I realized no one else was leaving. So we went back and saw the rest of the show. I know...duh, on my part. Well, the second act had lots of neat dances so I'm glad we didn't miss it. I'm looking forward to taking Aubrey next year.

Six days until Christmas...are you calm or stressed?

I feel a mixture of both. I'm calm because I feel at peace with the things that I've done (shopping & trips to the post office) and haven't done (christmas cards) and also because yesterday was the last day of school for the kids and I love not having to be on a schedule. I'm a little stressed because I still have lots of wrapping to do and I haven't finished mom's present and the deadline is today so I'd better get working!

Advice needed: What do you do if one of your kids caught sight of a stocking stuffer?

Look who's riding his bike!

Last year, we took off Connor's training wheels and he rode his bike along North Summit Avenue with some assistance from Mike. Little did we know that it would take a year to get him to try out his bike again. His razor has been his favorite mode of transportation especially on our street which is very steep. A couple weeks ago, a friend and I loaded up the kids and the bikes and Connor's razor and went to the church parking lot to let the kids ride around. I told Mike about it and the following Saturday, he took the boys again but this time instead of the razor, he took Connor's bike. I got a call from Connor a short while later saying that he rode his bike all by himself. So we decided to go again to the church parking lot as a family and ride bikes. Connor was anxious to show me what he could do. He was so proud of himself. It was great!

Stocking stuffers anyone???

My mom introduced me to making beaded bookmarks a few years ago. They're a ton of fun to make and I love to coordinate the beads with the books. These beaded bookmarks pictured below coordinate with my Peter and the Starcatchers series and my Twilight books. My mom sent me one that coordinates perfectly with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I love having a stylish bookmark and I love seeing them dangle from my favorite books on the shelf. Although, they're very easy and fun to make, there are a few trade secrets to making a good beaded bookmark. The key is finding a good cord to work with. We've found that waxed linen is the only way to go. When mom came out for a visit to NJ, we couldn't find waxed linen so I talked her into getting some black waxed cording that looked like waxed linen. She was hesitant but I thought it would work. I also bought some hemp cording. So I bought both of them thinking that they would do just fine. Wrong. Don't settle for imitations, they just don't work as well. Waxed linen has this stiffness that makes it easy to work with, keeps knots perfectly tight, and lies straight unlike most cording on a spool. I found my waxed linen from a website called http://www.fusionbeads.com/. I buy my beads on sale at places like Michael's, Joann, and Wal-mart. If you are interested in jg original, they're $5 a piece. And yes, they make a perfect stocking stuffer!

Card Workshop

These were the cards I made last weekend at a workshop. I made two of each. The snowflake and the reindeer cards are my favorite.

Quilt group...

My mom introduced me into the basics of sewing after I graduated high school. And it wasn't until my parents bought me a sewing machine after I graduated from the Y that I really started making things. I've sort of morphed into this self taught sewer/quilter that has lots to learn. When we moved to San Diego, I was asked to write a little something about myself so that it could be posted in the Relief Society newsletter at church. I expressed that my interests included sewing and quilting. As I was sitting in class the following Sunday, the newsletters were passed out and all of a sudden I heard, "WHO is Jennifer Gibbs?" This darling older woman approached me and told me about her little quilting group and invited me to join. I've really been enjoying myself and I've already learned a few new things. Some of you faithful readers might recall my paper pierced dragonfly. Basically what we do is learn a new technique each month and make a square using that technique and after 12 months, we will have 12 blocks to put together as a quilt...nothing fancy, mind you, just a "what I've learned at quilt group in the last year" quilt. Last night we started cutting out 3" x 3" for a scrappy lap quilt. It's suppose to give us practice doing more of the nine patch squares. We cut and sorted our squares into light, medium, and dark bags. Apparently we need over 300 squares so I'll be doing lots of cutting. I'm hoping to get together with a friend next week and make some cute holiday hotpads using the basic nine patch square. As I make and learn new things, I'm going to try to blog about them more frequently. I love getting and sharing new ideas for crafts whether they be for cards, or quilting, or just fun projects. So let me know what you're up to too!