Good evening, everyone!

It's been a very full day, first with church, then with some sewing, and then my son and his wife stopped in with the baby. 

Today Benita discovered the little cubbyhole where the dog brushes are kept. I thought it interesting that she knew the brushes were meant for the poms and not the people, because she carried them straight over to the dogs and attempted to groom them. They weren't having it for the most part, but eventually Peppy allowed Benita to manage a few strokes with the brush.

Anyway, the point of my rambling is that I'm too bushed to manage much in the way of a post today, but not to worry! Pinterest to the rescue.

Have you tried Pinterest, by the way? I signed up a few months ago (it's free) mainly under duress. I don't "text" or "tweet" or do anything much on the computer beyond the basics, but I did want to increase exposure for the Etsy shops and so I plucked up my resolve and took the plunge. It's proved to be remarkably easy and a great deal of fun. Not only is a source for beautiful and funny pictures, recipes, and spectacular landscape photographs, but you can find wonderful "how to" ideas for just about everything. I paid for a tutorial on "How to Pinterest" but I've since seen videos on youtube explaining the site just as well and they're excellent--and free. By all means, give it a shot!

Here are a couple of links I've gleaned this evening to share with you.

First of all, you can get terrific ideas for things to do with kids, like this from the blog secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com

What a fun way for the kids to wake up on Christmas morning!  A roll of crepe paper does the trick.

 

 

 

 

 

Or make a project of creating colorful ornaments with your oven, like this:

Melt plastic perler beads in a 200 degree oven. Line the pan with parchment paper.

 

For nifty craft ideas (that real people can do!) you might want to check out this twisted felt garland bracelet, necklace, or garland: 

www.purlbee.com

 

Or use stiffened felt (you can buy it that way now!) to make little gift boxes. Directions below:

 

Well, tomorrow is my last Etsy day before I close the shops for a much-needed Christmas break. All three shops have sales going--here is the coupon code if you're interested:

MyPalPeppy.etsy.com             YULE25 for 25% off

MelmacParadise.etsy.com       YULE25 for 25% off

RedLetterDayBags.etsy.com   YULE25 for 25% off