Happy New Year!

I can not believe that it is almost 2011.  Crazy!  I've been thinking lots about resolutions, but I think I'm just too completely tired to come up with anything meaningful.  So I'm just hoping to be positive & productive in the next year.  Actually, that sounds really good!  Be positive & productive.  I'm making a sign of that & putting on my fridge.

Thanks to doctor's orders for one of us because of some recently discovered health issues, Dylan & I have been dieting for the last month.  We've limited our sugars & carbs and have been eating lots of salad & vegetables.  We've both dropped some pounds & are feeling great.  I bought a pair of jeans in a size smaller!  It hasn't been too hard & we're feeling good, but we've been really craving a few things & decided that we'd have a free day to eat all those unhealthy goodies on New Year's Eve.  Dylan chose pizza for his reward & I chose chocolate cake.  So tonight we are indulging & celebrating the last year of accomplishments.  We survived & we had fun & we hope 2011 is just as great.

Wishing you all a new year full of awesomeness!  Happy New Year!  :)

Call for Sponsors & Shop Update

It's a new year full of new possibilities!  I have some advertising spots open for the month of January.  Please e-mail me for more information if you are interested.

That cool little owl bookend has been added to the shop today along with some other vintage items.

How are you filling these last few days of 2010?  Are you having trouble accomplishing as much as you'd like to like I am?  So much to do to catch up after the holidays!

Christmas Eve Thrift Shopping

My local Goodwill stores were running a 50% sale on Christmas Eve, so we started the day out with a trip to the thrift stores.  I was lucky enough to find the Catherine Holm piece above.  I've never even seen anything from Catherine Holm in real life.  Only in  photos online.  So this was pretty thrilling & definitely the best find of the day.

I was also super stoked to find this king size sheet & two pillowcases.  I love the retro print.  I'm not sure if they are vintage or not, but they are definitely awesome.

Then I also picked up a yellow floral sheet & a small vintage pyrex-like glass bowl.

I just noticed on the Goodwill calendar that they are having another 50% off sale on New Years Eve.  Guess you know where I'll be that day!  :)

Handmade Dollhouse

Dylan & his dad built the girls a dollhouse for Christmas.  They used these plans from Ana White (formerly Knock Off Wood).  I really like the open design & it's really sturdy.  The girls love it & I think it's sweet that they have something built just for them from Daddy & Grandpa.  I think it was my favorite gift given this year.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas & much love from the Todds! 

I hope you're having what feels like the best Christmas ever.  We sure are.  Only downer was that I have a pretty terrible cold.  This trip out to look at lights on Christmas Eve proved to be really bad for my sore throat.  It's all about resting now for the next few days so that I can feel better.

The girls were really fun this year & despite mama feeling under the weather, I'm glad we got to spend some sweet moments together.  I wish I could bottle up all the love you feel on Christmas morning.  It's just the best!

Merry & Happy

As soon as Sadie got out of school for winter break, she started coming down with something & not soon after Claire followed. Both girls were pretty miserable for days. Two sick kids at once is not fun. Not fun. The nights were rough & one look at my crazy hair in the mirror each morning summed up how crazy our nights were. Then just as soon as they started showing signs of getting better, I started getting sick. So we have been focusing very closely on getting better before Christmas. All of us! Lots of resting, lots of sleeping, lots of watching TV & reading books. Although my ears are clogged & my eyes are foggy & I feel like I'm walking around underwater, the merriment has begun.

My side of the family got together for the kids graham cracker gingerbread house decorating party.  A new tradition we started last year.  I love traditions.  Like really love them.  It was really hard for me to let go of the family traditions of my childhood, but as our family has changed so have our traditions & I am loving it.  Who's excited for the family kick ball game this year?!!

Then we finally made it out to good ol' Bass Pro Shops to see 'the real' Santa. 

Whew!  Now Santa knows what they want for Christmas so we're covered there.  And thanks to Claritin D, mama may just be able to get through this!

Soft Baby Rattles

We have a few babies in the family that need gifts so I made each of them a Soft Rattle from Lotta Jansdotter's book Simple Sewing for Baby.  You know I love that book right?  If I ever have another baby, I plan to go through & sew everything in that book. 

Anyway, the thought of how much money gets spent this time of year makes my stomach uneasy & I figured the 1 year old & under crowd would be more than happy to receive a handmade gift made from supplies I already had on hand.

I think they are awesome & It was fun to choose the fabric specifically for each niece & nephew.  :)

CSN $75 Shopping Credit Winner

I'm feeling pretty good today because I get to make someone's day by announcing them the winner of the CSN Stores $75 shopping credit! 

It looks like The Patterson's are going to be doing some shopping!  Congratulations!

Thanks again for taking the time to enter.  And a big thanks once again to the nice people at CSN Stores.

Holly's Little Paper Garland

I absolutely adore the little paper garland that Holly of Hot Tea and Milk Chocolate made from our fabric stash calendar from last year.  We didn't get around to making the calendars this year, but the same vintage fabric prints are used in our printable fabric stash notecards.

I just love the sweet little paper garland in vintage sheeting prints.  The rounded corners are a nice touch.  Great upcycle, Holly!  Thanks for sharing.

Recent Thrift Finds

After our yard sale on Saturday we packed up everything that was left over & drove it straight to Deseret Industries for donation.  We were all in a "get it out of here!" kind of mood.  Of course I couldn't go to a thrift store & not go in for a little shopping.

I found two awesome silver trays.  I have crafty plans for these which I'm really excited about.  I also found two pretty milk glass bud vases.  I just recently decided to start collecting milk glass.

That cake stand is a Martha Stewart Everyday vintage inspired piece.  I LOVE it.  I've been wanting to start collecting ceramic cake stands like this.  The punched design on the side is lovely & the $3 price tag sent me over the moon.  So happy about that find!

And two sweet little birdie mugs.  These will be making their way into the etsy shop soon.  Aren't they darling?

Overall a good haul.  I was glad we stopped in!

20% Off In The Sparkle Power Shop!!

Enjoy 20% off everything in the Sparkle Power shop from now through Saturday, December 18th with the code HOLLYJOLLY.  Yes!  Awesome!  We thought this would come in handy with that last minute shopping.  Also, we just really like you. 

We can still guarantee delivery before Christmas for domestic orders if you purchase through the 18th! 

How can this get any better?  Well you can use the same coupon code for 20% off everything in the Tuff Industries shop as well!  Yippee!!  Check out Dylan's awesome ad here.  And be sure to let us know if you want to order from both shops.  We may be able to combine your shipping & save you even more.

Happy, Happy Holidays, my friends!  :)

Gingerbread House

Oh this gingerbread house makes me giggle when I look at it.  We bought the gingerbread house kit from the bakery that works with our food co-op.  That's the bakery that makes the best bread in the world & I'm not sure what I'm going to do if they ever quit making that delicious 9 Grain bread or if we move to a place where it's not available because I don't want to eat any other bread anymore since that delicious bread has come into my life.  (How's that for a run on sentence?)

Anyhow, I started building the house but apparently I mixed my icing incorrectly (too wet?) because the house was not holding & just fell apart.  So I started again this time connecting just a couple pieces at a time & allowing them to dry before adding more weight.  All was working well & I only had one half of the roof & the chimney left to attach.  I was cooking dinner & picking up the house & talking to Dylan on the phone & when I went back to attach that last half of the roof, I couldn't find it anywhere!!  It didn't take to long to realize that the dog had knocked it off the counter top & eaten it.  The whole thing!  We couldn't blame the dog though, the gingerbread smelled amazing!  So in place of our missing roof piece, I hot glued a piece of cardboard.  It turned out the be the perfect fix. 

Then when we were decorating the house the girls were just so funny & cute. 

Claire would hold a piece of candy & say, "I need some butter on this."
Then we'd all say, "It's not butter!  Ha ha."
And Sadie would say, "Yeah, it's pudding."
Then we'd all laugh harder & Dylan and I would have to say, "You guys are silly.  It's called frosting."

And the most funny part is that this whole exchange repeated 2 or 3 times.  They weren't even trying to be silly!  They just honestly kept calling it the wrong thing. 

Anyway, I've decided that decorating a gingerbread house it such an exciting thing for little kids.  They get to just go at it & be creative.  Plus they get to eat candy & lick frosting off their fingers.  And it's an activity that the whole family can get involved in.  I felt so happy when we were all working together & enjoying each other so much.  I think decorating a gingerbread house may become a new holiday tradition for us.  :)

It Is Allmost Chrismis Time

I cannot tell you how much I love my girls' drawings.  Finding them around the house is one of the best things in the world.  My first grader has started writing a lot more too & it always makes me giggle.  I wish they'd write like this forever.  Not really, but it's awesome.  :)

My scan is a little cut off on the right side, but I think you can get the gist of it.

Giveaway - $75 CSN Stores Shopping Credit

I guess CSN Stores loves Sparkle Power readers, because they are once again offering a $75 shopping credit to one lucky reader!  The credit can be used at any of their 200+ stores.  Perhaps you could use it to shop for flat screen TV stands for that new TV you purchased over the holidays.  Or perhaps you can use it for some last minute Christmas shopping.  Any way you use it, a $75 shopping spree would be super fun!

You can't win it unless you enter!  Here's how to go about doing that:

1.  Leave a comment on this post which includes your e-mail address.

2.  Leave one additional comment if you are a Sparkle Power follower.

3.  Tweet about the giveaway or share on Facebook (just push the twitter or facebook button at the bottom of this entry) & leave one additional comment.

You have until Thursday December 16th to get your entry in.

Open to U.S. & Canadian residents.

Good luck!!

Saturday Song

By the time this posts, I will be out in the front yard trying to make a little money by selling all the stuff we don't want anymore.

My sister Kimberly & I have been preparing for a yard sale this week.  My Mom has been going through her closets too & pulling out lots of old things that have brought back so many memories from my childhood.  You should have seen the reaction my sister, Amber had when she saw the snackmaster.  Ha ha!

Anyway, all this thinking about the old days got me thinking about the music of my childhood & boy did my parents love Alabama.  When we went on road trips it was Alabama cassette tapes the whole way!  Oh, this video made me chuckle.

Clip On Dress Up Earrings Tutorial

I cannot take credit for this idea, but when I saw that a friend had made these dress up clip on earrings, I knew that my girls would totally love them.  These are going in little bags inside their stockings & I'm pretty sure they're going to flip out when they see them.  These are a really great last minute handmade gift idea.

So I'm going to show you how to make your very own for the little girls in your life that love all things dress up.

You are going to need some rhinestones, clip on earring bases (my package says 3/8" steel ear clip nickel), a glue gun & you may need a pair of wire cutters.

The only clip on earrings that I could find at my nearest Joanns craft store had a little loop on the front of them, which is used for attaching anything dangly like beads.  I didn't want any dangles so I cut them off with my wire cutters.

So now you just have to attach the rhinestone to the clip.  Open your clip on earring.  With your hot glue gun, just run a line of hot glue down the back of the rhinestone & place the front of the earring clip in the glue.  Hold it for a minute until the hot glue starts to dry.

And it's just that easy!  You've got a pair of fancy, sparkly earrings that any little girl would love.  How cute would these be made with vintage buttons?  You could really get creative.  And I even modeled a pair for you.  :)  Fun stuff!

December Sponsors

A big hello to our new sponsors this month!  Welcome, welcome!

 LenzLove

Paper and Yarn

elsie marley

And we're just as glad to see our returning sponsors!  We think you're super duper cool!

Lo & Behold

Babes of Sweet

wave kaia

Pretty & Preppy

Cactus and Olive

Between the Lines

Lily & Thistle

Whew!  Aren't they all fabulous?!!  Their support helps this site to be better & I am grateful for their choice to be a part of the Sparkle Power blog.  Thank you sponsors!!

I am also grateful for your comments on their giveaways & the time you take to visit their lovely sites.  Go Sparkle Power readers!!  You are all the BEST!  :)