Great Christmas Gift

I NEVER know what to get my parents for Christmas.
What do you get for the people who have everything? Honestly.

Every year I get my mom a sweater or shirt that never gets worn, or some pajamas that she says she wants that never get taken out of the box, or jewelry that she wears for promptly one day and then only breaks out every 6th year on months ending in "R".
Cookbooks? Dusty. Homemade Jams and Jellies? Uneaten. Handmade Bottle art (vinegar with the herbs and peppers in it)? undisplayed and unused.

And My dad...wow. He has a whole closet full of expensive ties that have never once been coordinated with his beautiful tailored suits. I have given him book gift certificates, which I KNOW have been re-gifted elsewhere, I tried getting him Golf coffee table Books, History Buff videos, make your own marinade kits etc. I always feel like a "Gift Failure".

I wish my dad could be like Lindseys dad, who giggles at the thought of a "Come to the Dark Side...We have Cookies" T-shirt, and who would willingly wear it in public.
Had I given my dad a T-shirt like that it would have been cut into strips and used to varnish their hardwood floors.

SO I really struggled this year to find the perfect gift for them. Something they would love and enjoy and use. One thing they LOVE are Peter and Finn. They have BOXES of pictures and are always asking for copies of pictures that we have taken and always want to see pictures from events etc. So the wheels started turning.
So THANK YOU to Heather, who told me about Blurb and showed me her Blog Book.
You can actually go onto Blurb and MAKE a book. You can make a Blog Book, (unfortunately Blurb no longer slurps from blogger, so you would have to cut and paste and add the pictures)
You can make your own cookbooks, photobooks, journals, wedding books and more.

So I made my parents a year in the life of the McBride family (mostly the boys).
It goes in Chronological Order up to the present, and I chose various picture formats for the different pages, added some captions and text, added titles for certain Pages, and voila.
A 50 page hardcover photobook that they can have for always. No gluing, no cutesy scrapbook tags and papers. Just upload the pictures, arrange, add text and submit.
It was super easy and fun. AND the perfect gift for them.

You can preview it HERE.

I think this is one gift that will get good use.

My Precious

I am so in love with Amy Butler. Let me just clear that up and get that out in the open. I am ADDICTED to her fabrics.

Her lines are just so amazing, and I love to go to the quilting shop that carries them and go have a look. Here is her "NIGELLA" line. Couldnt you just dive in and drown in the beauty that is Amy Butler Fabric?? (In case you can't tell I am COMPLETELY addicted to Fabric. It is a sickness, really)

Here are some of my favorites from her LOTUS collection.

This one is Tea Box:

This one is Damask Rose:

Well the other day I was at Michaels with a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket when I stumpled across THIS :

It is K&Company Specialty Paper scrapbook Pad with AMY BUTLER PAPER! It is from Nigella Collection and is the Tea Box set. It is 24 sheets of Double sided paper. (2 pages of each type). So there are 24 designs in this set. So at 40% off it was a mere 9.00. You can get a yard of her fabric for $9. But I got 24 pieces of her glorious paper. It is so crisp and beautiful and sparkly and "purdy". Oh Amy Butler how I love you.

This paper is so scrumptious and beautiful. I am absolutely infatuated with it. I dont know whether to save it for a rainy day, or get busy cutting and creating!! I have an itchy paper cutter finger and am feeling antsy!! I keep looking through it, touching it, stroking it and calling it "My Precious".

So moral of the story: If you see me with scraggly hair and a wild look in my eyes, throw me into Mt Doom and let me perish with My Precious.