Winter Wonderland

Happy winter, everyone! Okay, I know winter doesn't officially start until this Sunday, but you could have fooled me! It has been snowing here for the past 8 hours and it hasn't let up one bit. I can say with certainty that this is the most snowfall we've received here in the last ten years. It was so nice to be greeted with such a beautiful scene. Here's what it looked like in the backyard around 10 am:

And here's what it looks like now (around 4:00 pm):

The front of the house looks spectacular!

I braved the cold just to get this shot (and to grab the mail real quick). I probably should have stayed inside since I'm sick. Yup. I caught myself some type of bug. I just hope it goes away soon.

Since I haven't blogged in a few days, I have quite a bit to share with all of you! I know I always say this, but life has just been seriously busy. We were out of town this weekend, and then I went to my Stampin' Up demo Christmas party Monday night. I was prepping for the party all day Monday, but it was well worth the time and effort because the party was a blast! I spent most of Monday morning making these tags for our cookie exhchange bags. I used my Cricut to cut out the tags. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink, and all the ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michaels. Gotta love those dollar deals!

I spent the rest of my day making this necklace and earring set for my secret santa who just happened to be my good friend, Ana. Boy was it hard keeping that secret from her! She wanted to know right away who my secret santa was, so I had to fib just a little. It was for a good cause!

I used freshwater pearls, Toho seed beads, and Swarovski crystals for this project. All the silver components are sterling. The pictures just don't do the color or the sparkle justice.

These next pictures are from the party itself. Maria, one of our hostesses, had her house all decked out in beautiful holiday decor. Every room was very festive and inviting. The projects that everyone brought to share were amazing! The cookie exchange packages really blew my mind, and the secret santa gifts were all so beautifully handcrafted. Oh, and the food! Talk about some yummy stuff. I think I ate more than I should have :)

Here are some goodies that our hostesses made for us (close-up coming tomorrow!).

The rest of the pictures are of the cookie exchange packages.

Well, I'm totally pooped out, so I'll share more with you tomorrow. Have a great night!