Hallmark Christmas Ornaments

It seems that the seasonal holidays keep coming faster and faster. For instance, my kids have been out of school since June 9 and already I'm getting back to school catalogs! After July 4th goods are clearanced out at our local Wal-Mart, school supplies show up then it's Halloween merchandise starting September 1st. However, one holiday item I look forward to seeing early every year is the newest Hallmark ornaments.

My mother-in-law got me hooked on Hallmark ornaments. Before my kids were born, she bought the holiday Barbie ornaments for my older nieces. Then Anna was added, and now Camden gets his own Snowball & Tuxedo series ornament. Our local Hallmark store closed a few years back and they sold all of the ornaments they had from 13+ years. That also fueled my addiction since you can't beat a 90% off discount!

Even though we're in the middle of a heatwave, looking at the new ornaments for 2010 got me wishing for winter and Christmas. I even started humming Jingle Bells! I love these new ornament series:

Christmas Cupcakes from the "Oh So Sweet" series How cute is this? I am seriously considering adding this to my list of series ornaments that I collect, which would bring the total to four (Holiday Barbie, Snowball & Tuxedo, Winter Fun with Snoopy, and now Christmas Cupcakes).

Stained Glass Window from the "Glad Tidings" series Beautiful! Love this one too.

Merry Mixer
Not part of a series, but I keep my stand mixer in heavy use during the holidays. Last year they had a talking refrigerator ornament. Very whimsical.

When we were at the beach last July, the new ornaments were released and I bought the miniature Snoopy ornament to add to my collection. I am going to make it a tradition to buy an ornament during Beach Week.

Anyone else out there collect ornaments?

Have a great week and stay cool!
Melissa

*All photos are from hallmark.com

Awesome eBay deal!

I posted in February how I was jealous of my in-laws new Keurig coffee maker. Since I refuse to pay full price for almost anything, I checked out eBay, or actually fatfingers.com. Now fatfingers.com will search eBay for misspelled versions of whatever you want to search for, with the premise being that misspelled words in the title will have fewer bidders because so few people search for the misspelled versions. So I searched for variations of "Keurig". I hit on an auction for a mini-brewer with an opening bid of $25 and shipping of $9.99. This model retails for $89.99 in the store. It was listed as used, which was ok as long as it wasn't beat to death and it worked. I was the only bidder and I got it for $25 plus shipping!

The box came today and I was shocked to find it was a BRAND NEW coffee maker AND it had 10 K-cups included! I was so excited since I was expecting a used coffee maker with no K-cups. Maybe it was a re-gifting auction, who knows. I'm just happy I got it for such a steal! Happy Dance!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Awesome Giveaway at Lauren Nicole Gifts

I love Lauren Nicole Gifts! Her jewelry is so timeless. She is offering a great giveaway this week, a silver monogrammed pendant set, including the seal used to make your initials.

Click here to enter, contest closes on Thursday, July 30.

New Cake Pan from W-S

I am a sucker for housewares. I could spend all day plus an entire paycheck in Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, or Williams-Sonoma. Fancy silicone Madeleine baking pans make my heart race. Muffin top pans are so neat (but not the kind of "muffin top" that spills over my jeans). And candy making supplies? Love them. Is it a wonder I was a Pampered Chef consultant for over four years?

I was browsing the Williams-Sonoma website and came across this new cake pan. Now I am not a cake decorator, a while back I took all three of the Wilton Method cake decorating classes offered at Michael's only to realize at the end I stunk at it. I love making pastries and anything with my chocolate melter, but with this pan I wouldn't have to do any decorating per se. Just bake the top and bottom, make a cream filling, and there you go.


My birthday is coming up so I might spring for this as my birthday present to myself along with a large can of Baker's Joy spray. My fear would be that some of the chocolate would get stuck in the pan once I turned it out to cool. At any rate, I'll keep you all posted of my progress. Who knows, the finished product might end up on Cake Wrecks!