it's been a while...

(my poor tree is still only half decorated, maybe I should make this....image from here)

sorry for the lack of posts lately, folks. 'tis the crazy season. I have been up to stuff* (I swear) like:
* making gnocchi & a cardboard christmas village with a good friend (it just needs some glitter & voila! I will post pictures! oh, by the way, I mean the village needs glitter but not the food. But investing in edible glitter is not a bad idea to liven up the workweek meals...)
* visiting a dear friend who lost her home recently
* competing in a cupcake bake off (I didn't win but did get the eat cupcakes for lunch yesterday, so aren't I the real winner in the end??)
* participated in a yankee swap ( we got books! I got a cookbook and Ryan got this and this)
* visited good friends for dinner for some old school stroganoff & lots of laughing until I cry
* finished a chunk of holiday gift shopping
* made & addressed the christmas cards

so to play catch up this week I am going to (try) to post everyday 2 DIYs. Today since I didn't post any Friday through Sunday, here is a slew of them:

Snowglobes
glycerin (you can find small bottles at Michaels)
glitter!
small jars (like baby food)
small figurines

Fill the jar almost to the top with distilled water; add a pinch of glitter and a dash of glycerin to keep the glitter from falling too quickly. Don't add too much, or the glitter will stick to the bottom of the jar when it's flipped. Screw on the lid tightly, being careful not to dislodge the figurine. Turn the jar over and back again -- and let it snow (ha ha I copy and pasted this from MS's site and had to leave in the cheesy end instructions)

Finger puppets**
Fleece
Bowl filled with hot, soapy water (4 tablespoons of dye-free liquid dishwashing detergent to 6 cups of water)
Bowl filled with cool water
Felt
Scissors
Hot glue
Finger puppet template

Felted Finger Puppets How-To
1. Wrap fleece in layers around finger. Use the index finger on the hand you don't write with. The wool should be snug but not tight. Add wool until you can't feel your knuckles through it. (The soft wool should be about 1/8-inch thick when pressed.)

2. Dip your wool-wrapped finger into hot, soapy water, and press with the fingertips of your other hand; dip and squeeze until the fibers seem to hold together.

3. Rinse in cool water when done; let dry.

4. Ears, wings, and similar pieces can be cut from store-bought felt; use the finger puppet template, enlarging or reducing them if necessary. You may need a lot of glue to make these features stick, since felt is absorbent.

Herb Infused Honey***
honey
herbs (I used rosemary, lavender or thyme work good too)
put herbs in honey. let steep at least 5 days. give them as gifts with herbs inside since it looks fancy.

Quote jar
random quotes
nice jar
any assorted craft pieces for decorating jar
my mom is big into inspirational quotes. I printed out a bunch & cut them up and fold them in half. I filled a fancy jar with them. it gave her enough facebook statuses for a year.

* one thing I haven't done but need to do is catch up on blogs. sorry friends! I promise I will be commenting soon.
** these are the serious directions, I just sewed some felt together and they came out fine.
***these are nice gifts with tea. I made a friend a "tea wreath" by hotglueing plastic tea packets in a wreath shape enough to hold them together but not so secure that she couldn't take it apart and drink them (I used a wire base).