holidays
Presents My Kids Played With Longer Than 5 Minutes
I challenge you to find me one parent on the face of this planet that didn’t hear their children say at some point after Christmas, “I’m bored.” In certain dialects it could have also sounded like, “I’m booooored.” You find me that one parent and I’ll show you a person with their pants on fire. Or a parent who is wearing earplugs because they are so much smarter than me. Yes, yes. There were moments this holiday season that were magical. Joy-filled. Melt my heart. Worthy of a Hallmark card. Those are the moments I hold close to my heart while I let electronics babysit my kids because the week…
Christmas Touches in the Kitchen and Living Room
For the first time in my life I have discovered the worst best feeling to have. Yes, I typed that sentence how I meant it. I am done shopping for Christmas. I’ve been done since December 12. I even wrapped all of the presents. WHO AM I?!?! I should feel amazing. I should be humble bragging right now. Maybe just flat out bragging, but I’m a mature adult, so I won’t do that. I’ll blog about it instead. Instead of relishing in the self-satisfaction that all of this forward-thinking and advanced prep work created, I. AM. FREAKING. OUT. Not on the outside, of course, because I don’t do that. On the…
Color Blocked Wood Ornaments – Tags and Balls
It wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t feel the need to make some ornaments. Someone check my temperature if I ever decide not to be crafty at Christmas, okay? This may turn out to be the longest running fever on record. Seriously though, making ornaments the last few years is something I oddly enjoy. Is that a hobby? Guys, did I finally find a hobby? Nah… This year I wizened up an created ornaments that can be made over when I change my mind on colors or styles in the coming years. There’s something very freeing in the idea that you can change your mind later. I highly recommend this…
Christmas Tree 2018: Blue, White and Natural Wood
Once upon a time a certain blogger became over-zealous in downsizing her possessions before moving back to the United States. She gave away her faux Christmas tree only to discover there WAS room in the shipping container. Alas, it was too late. The tree was gone and the ship was actually setting sail. Much to her husband’s dismay, her only choice was to buy a new tree to bring sparkle and magic to their new home at Christmas. Much to her husband’s delight, the new tree was found on deep discount at Michael’s because a certain blogger has the Michael’s phone app with all the coupons. The husband was so…
Peg Doll Place Cards
In November I gave my daughter a set of unfinished wooden peg dolls. My original request was that she paint our family on peg dolls as a Christmas present to me so I could put them in a shadowbox frame. She loved that idea. I loved that idea. The peg dolls arrived just as friends flew in to stay with us for Thanksgiving. That prompted an even better idea! Peg Doll Place Cards for Thanksgiving Dinner. I asked my daughter and her friend (they are both 11 years old) if they would paint peg dolls for every person joining us for Thanksgiving. Instead of place cards at each table setting,…
Chalkboard Globe Advent Calendar
If I’m being really honest, some of my creative ideas are the result of sheer panic or parental guilt. Case in point. My kids have been asking since Halloween if I had purchased chocolate advent calendars. It’s one of their favorite holiday traditions. “There’s plenty of time,” I said. No. No, there’s not plenty of time. In my defense, my grocery store does not sell advent calendars, so I haven’t been able to make an impulse buy that would avoid all this parental guilt regarding the holiday tradition I started. Last week I decided I needed to get serious about finding chocolate advent calendars because tick-tock goes the clock entire…
DIY Leather Christmas Trees
We had a very special visit from my dad and The Junk Whisperer this fall and they brought me presents. I LOVE PRESENTS! And by ‘presents’ I mean they cleaned out a drawer and brought me a treasure I would have coveted had I known it was in that drawer. I clearly need to do a better job of snooping when I go home for visits. Anyway, back to the gift! The Junk Whisperer brought me a whole stack of emu leather! She knew that I’ve been on a leather crafting kick lately. (See this map, this paperweight, these drawer pulls and this pumpkin.) And then because I’m a super grateful…
New Way to Trick or Treat – Dock or Treating
I know it is November and we’ve moved on to other holidays, but I have to tell you about the neatest Halloween experience. We were introduced to a new way to trick or treat this year – dock or treating! I’m still giddy about it. We are fortunate to be spending time living in a lake community. These type of neighborhoods are fairly common where we live in the Northeast. Our neighbors organized a trick or treat event called ‘Dock or Treat.’ Homeowners living directly on the lake volunteered to be available to hand out candy from their docks. Some of them got really into it and even decorated their…
Halloween in a Small Rural Area
Happy Halloween! Ready for all those trick-or-treaters? Did you eat your stash of Halloween candy and have to run buy more? Twice. No? Yeah…that didn’t happen to me either. How would you like me to treat you to some pictures of autumn and Halloween in a small, rural area to get you in the mood for tonight’s festivities? “YES!” Oh good. There really was only one correct answer. I’m glad you said that! These are some pictures I took about ten days ago in a small town called Hope, New Jersey. Before you mention it, let me tell you it was still QUITE green then. We had a seemingly endless…
Black Card Stock Halloween Decor
I’ve decided black card stock is the unsung hero of Halloween decor. Especially for those of us who would rather decorate with pumpkins than all the scary things. I cut out bat and mice shapes from a few pieces of black card stock and then randomly added them around my home in places that gave me amusement. Sounds like solid decorating advice, right? Do you remember my junky dumpster find that I turned into a 4th of July wreath and a rope mirror? Well, now that junky treasure is a fall wreath with a little black card stock bat attached. As soon as Halloween is over, the bat will be hibernating…
