DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

 The weeks before Christmas in Europe mean it's time to hit the Christkindlmarkt, or traditional holiday street market for your fill of mulled wine and cider, handmade Christmas ornaments, specialty gifts and delicious baked treats. The Christmas market is an annual tradition in Copenhagen, Prague, London and Cologne, but if you don't have time for a tour of Europe this holiday season, you can visit one of several Christmas markets held in the good old US of A. From the Windy City to the Bay Area, here's where you'll find some of the best Christmas markets in the United States: German Holiday Market in San Francisco The German International School of Silicon Valley hosts an annual  Holiday Market  in Mountain View, California a few weeks before Christmas. The event includes an appearance by Santa, and dozens of booths featuring local crafts, handmade decorations, holiday baked goods and other treats. Head here to stock up on last-minute  Christmas gifts  a...

    Horror films have been a part of American (and international) culture since the very beginning of cinema. In the last 40 years alone, we have seen so many new icons of horror; from Freddy to Jigsaw, and Jason to Pinhead. But are these nightmarish juggernauts also the stuff money is made of? We’ll see, as I present to you the top 10 most financially successful (highest-grossing) horror film franchises (Note: Many of these films are 15+ years old, so the amounts of money shown are in 2007-2011 U.S. dollars, and the amounts of money are only the profits of films (not TV shows, video games, etc.); also, there are some spoilers!): 1.  “Friday the 13th” Series Main Villain(s):  Pamela Voorhees; Jason Voorhees; a crazed ambulance-driver; Freddy Kreuger Number of movies, etc .: 12 (including the remake, and “Freddy vs. Jason”); 1 TV show; 1 video game Amount of Money Grossed, to date : $380,637,525 (not counting the TV show and video game) A...

   This  diy comes from  www.dollarstorecrafts.com  .  These look quite cool.  They can be used all year round.  Enjoy! Dollar Barn DIY: Robin’s Egg Vase Morning, everyone! Your very own crazy crafter, Jess from Mad in Crafts, here. Are you cheap? I am. I have a little panic attack anytime I see a price tag in the triple digits. Do you like pretty things? I do. When my house is clean and decorated, sometime I just sit and look around at it all. Partly because I know it will be many moons until it's actually clean again. Anyway, because of my remarkable cheapness and love of pretties, you can imagine the internal torment that overtakes me when I visit the Pottery Barn website. ((shudder)) A few months back I wrote a  couple of posts  called  A Dollar Barn Christmas  where I took items I found at my local Dollar Tree and turned them into home decor that was inspired by all the goodies at Pottery Barn. I was brows...

    The legend of   St. Urho  originated in Northern Minnesota in the 1950's. However, there are differing opinions as to whether it began with the fables created by  Sulo Hvumaki of Bemidji , or the tales told by  Richard Mattson of Virginia . Either way, the legend has grown among North American of Finnish descent to the point where St. Urho is know celebrated across the United States and Canada, and even in Finland. St. Urho's Day  is celebrated on March 16th, the day prior to the better known feast of some minor saint from Ireland, who was alleged to have driven the snakes from that island.     The legend of St. Urho say he chased the grasshoppers out of ancient Finland, thus saving the grape crop and the jobs of Finnish vineyard workers. He did this by utter the phrase :  "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, men   taaita hiteen"!  ( roughly translated: " Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Hell"!). His feast is celeb...