one year

6

Tuesday, December 29



one year.


12 months.


365 days.


365 very fast days.


days filled with wonder.


days filled with smiles.



days filled with diapers.



days filled with laughter.



days filled with joy.


days filled with each other.



days filled with everyday life.


some days filled with tears.


one day filled with a sucker. one very happy day.



days filled with love.


365 days.
12 months.
1 year.

we are so blessed to have you in our lives.

happy birthday, sweet girl!

on christmas day, on christmas day

1

Friday, December 25


merry christmas!

the stockings were hung . . .

1

Wednesday, December 23


with the joy of having a baby this year (well, technically she was born last year, but she won't be a year until after christmas ;) is the not so great joy of making another christmas stocking. when i thought about how much i didn't want to make one, i somehow decided to make three.


my parents would tell you math is not my forte.

my idea was compounded by the most amazing fabric i found in the late summer. at first, i was just going to buy a fat quarter, but i decided to buy a yard for some reason. apparently, it was for this:


isn't this fabric sweet? i combined it with some vintage chenille, some twill tape and bells to create a bigger, more relaxed stocking (just what my kids need-more toys!).



of course, this fabric was not going to make the perfect stocking for a little boy, so i made one that looked like this:



i planned to add their initial hanging down with the bells, but i kinda ran out of time so i decided i could add it next year if i still wanted to.

and, since i haven't yet, i will leave you with a few images of christmas at our house:



jingle bells




tinsel tree decorated with my vintage knee hugger collection



vintage pink & aqua ornaments and an accordion paperback prettied up with a vintage pin



sherbert green milk glass santa fairy light



a vintage holiday card and the little house i made

we have two other trees as well, but the only pictures i have of them were taken by carter. what's that? you want to see them, too. okay, but just remember, these are not the cleaned up, so now you can take pictures type of pictures. these are the sure, you can take a few pictures, just let mommy check her email for a few minutes and sit down for a second after a full day at preschool type of pictures. you know what i mean, right?



this is our family tree complete with random toys and after school sonic treat on the side table. this tree is pre-children and full of breakable little bits and pieces begging to be touched. as much as some people say give in go kid friendly, my love of christmas says just add another tree. so we did . . .



i'm letting it all hang out now. this picture is before the advent calendar was introduced and the junk board was cleaned up. and, the pink tree currently resides at my parents house as both kids got new ones from michael's for super cheap. but, the green tree, the green tree is a favorite of mine as it looks like dr.suess to me and is full of all the fun, kid-created ornaments i receive each year from preschool. it resides in the playroom across from my craft spot so i have had lots of time to look at it recently!

okay, i still have shopping to do and gifts to wrap, so that concludes the tour. next stop . . . target. again.

merry christmas eve eve!


A B C, it's easy as 1 2 3

7

Saturday, December 19

i didn't really have an idea this year for teacher gifts and i needed 5. 5, people. i needed something i could make so it might be cost effective, but i wanted it to be something they might like, too. my mom always says in gift giving it is the thought that counts . . . and i say, if you don't put thought into it then it doesn't count. not bitter, i'm just sayin' . . .

i saw this tutorial a while back but didn't think about recreating it because it was a large project- large as in big in size and number, and i didn't have the space for it. but when i was perusing the anthropologie site, i saw something i already own, the printer's letter stand, and it came to me.


i began the project with a wood candle stick and a wood circle from the craft store and a wood block from my very gracious and meticulous father. (he even accommodates my crazy requests when i need them the next day, but i think it secretly makes him crazy . . . well, maybe it isn't a secret!)


details: the candlestick is more than 1.5" wide at the top so he cut a block thick enough to cover  it. therefore, he cut the blocks from a 2 by 6 approximately 5.5" wide. why 5.5"? because that is what looked balanced to us on the candlestick we chose. you can adjust measurements based on your pieces.

where were we? okay, glue your candle stick to your base with whatever glue you have handy. we used elmer's wood glue.


then, we glued the block to the top of the candlestick.


after the wood glue dried enough (remember, i'm in a time crunch), i painted them with my favorite spray paint, heirloom white and canyon black.


after my scarf exchange, i finished up the details.

for the details, i used burlap, decorative tacks, the cricut and the winter woodland cartridge, black acrylic paint, a sponge brush, twine and jingle bells.

i cut out burlap rectangles slightly smaller than my wood block. then, i created a stencil using the cricut. i cut 4.5" letters from the winter woodland cartridge and painted the letters black. i would not have used a sponge brush typically, but i didn't have the right type of brush and i started this project at 11 at night, so i am pretty sure my local craft store was closed. regardless, the sponge brush worked and that is what matters, right?


after the acrylic paint dried, i tacked the burlap to the block using the decorative tacks.


next, i tied jingle bells at the ends of a piece of twine, wrapped it around the candlestick and called it a night, or morning.


when i was finished, i was a little jealous i had already bought all the candlesticks in the city. i need one, too.

if you need another teacher idea, i made these using this tutorial for the girls who work in my pod with me:

it makes wearing a lanyard way more fun!

i'm still crafting away. how about you? what are you trying to pull off with only 5 crafting days left?

i've got my scarf to keep me warm

18

Friday, December 18

as expected, christmas day is rapidly approaching and my crafting list is still growing. i have been crafting every night, well into the wee hours and now, i am sick. ugh!

this week i had a scarf exchange and the last day of preschool, so now i can post the tutorials for my scarf & my teacher gift. this season, i have been inspired by my favorite store, anthropologie. they are responsible for both of the gifts i gave this week and my christmas cards. ahh, i love everything in their catalog (and stores, but since there is not one here, i rarely get to have that experience.)

so, while perusing their website, i found this:


the squiggle scarf. isn't it amazing? and, it is cashmere. and, a little costly for my budget of $10 to $15 for the scarf exchange. and, now sold out online.

i thought i might be able to create something a little similar. (well, at least inspired. isn't that what you call it when it doesn't turn out anything like the original?)

i purchased 2 yards of a nice weight knit, matching thread and elastic thread.


i cut a 10 inch piece of knit that was the entire length of my fabric (2 yards).


i set up my machine with the matching thread in the needle and hand wound the elastic thread around the bobbin. you do not want to pull the thread as you wind as it will stretch the elastic and your gathering won't look right. this is the most annoying/hardest step in making this scarf. (and, please ignore all the spray paint on my hands. it is from the next tutorial.)


my machine settings were as follows:
stitch length 5
tension 3

next, decide where to stitch. i decided on three rows at 2.5, 5 & 7.5 inches. then, straight stitch from one end all the way to the other. don't forget to back stitch at the beginning and end to secure your stitching.


can you see the fabric ruffling behind the foot?

i sewed rows 1 & 3 first and then stitched down the middle.


and, after no more than ten minutes of time, i had this:



isn't it cute? i love it! of course, i finished it with just enough time to get ready and go to my scarf exchange, so i have no pictures wearing it. i will make another one today for myself (that is how much i love it!) so maybe if i don't look too rough tonight josh can take one and i can post it then.

edited to add this not-so-great picture of the finished product:



when i tried it on, miller said, "mommy, why are you wearing a swirly tie?"

squiggle scarf. swirly tie. i don't care what you call it, but it's cute.

check out this and other ideas at diy day and  frugal friday party and at



he said (christmas style)

3

Sunday, December 13

on our ride home the other night, i could hear miller talking under chris cornell's ava maria (ahh, christmas music). when i turned it down to make sure he didn't need anything, he said in awe,

"look, it's the star of bethlehem!"

it was really a radio tower,
but i love that he believes he could see the star of bethlehem just as the wisemen did.


oh, the magic of christmas.

dear santa . . .

2

Friday, December 11

for advent day 6, we chose to write a letter to santa. my kids are great at proclaiming their need and desire to own every single toy advertised in commercials, but when it comes to christmas, they always respond "i don't know". so, i thought we would write him a letter. a letter that mommy could read and hopefully help santa purchase appropriately. 

we started by discussing things they had mentioned wanting at some point and then narrowed it down.


miller narrowed it down to the first two things he wrote down and then he was done, mostly because he ran out of room and partly because he is a three year old boy who was ready to move on.



carter, on the other extreme, color coded each word and really thought hard about what exactly she might want to see under the tree this year.



miller's hot blue letter for santa



they were very concerned about spencer telling santa what she wanted. too bad they didn't ask her before they each told me one thing they thought she needed. bless her heart, i really hope this letter gets misplaced on its way to the north pole.


carter's masterpiece letter to santa
she sounded out and wrote it all. we only helped with difficult sounds like "ch" and "th".

then, carter wanted to know how they would get to santa. but, she immediately suggested that charlie (our elf) take them with him that night when he visited santa. she even suggested leaving them under the tree and, very matter-of-factly, informed him of his task while he sat perched on the hallway sconce.



i guess we will have to wait and see if santa is able to deliver.

so, tell me, what is on your list??

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