snow day

a great way to start christmas break!

circle paper garland

Lately I've been feeling a need to dig out the holiday spirit. I've also been itching to try my hand at a paper garland. This was so fun and easy to do, I fear there may soon be an epidemic of circle garlands around my home! What's fun is that the project cost $2 and took about an hour. Easy , right? And if you use paper from your stash, it's free!!

Hope you give it a try...

//circle paper garland//

1. Punch as many 1in circles as you can muster from 2 pieces of double sided card stock.  

2. Stitch circles into 5 strands, varying in length.  Leave extra thread at the beginning and end of each strand.  

3. Arrange strands according to length and tie ends together. Drape on the wall for a festive holiday bunting!

december 2

advent activities: day one
day one happen to be "watch a christmas movie." Since I made the cards, I told S he could choose the specifics. After a bit of deliberation (and a reminder that it isn't the ONLY Christmas movie we can watch this season) we decided on A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was a fun, relaxing (non-multitasking) event. And just to mix it up a bit, we watched the more recent special entitled: It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown. Certainly a tradition to continue!

advent activities: day two
today's activity was to "have a reading party." While our plans were altered and the original reading party derailed, we did end up having some time to sit down and do a bit of reading. what I enjoyed most about this is that we are currently reading the same book. This has only happened a few times, mostly with young adult series that go quickly and are suspenseful. This time we are reading Love Does by Bob Goff.

I am reading it for a bible study and when I downloaded the ebook I encouraged the boy to take a look as well. It seems like the kind of book that anyone everyone could  should read. It has been fun to discuss the parts the book a little here and there and since we are reading from the same ebook, we can view each other's highlights and notes. It is so neat to get his perspecitve and to see what he finds most noteworthy in each chapter. definitely something that we might not make time to do.

So far, mission advent activities = success!

december 1

i'm not sure how we got here. i suppose december 1st always comes after november 30th... regardless,  here we are, 24 days from christmas and i actually got an advent calendar up on the wall! sure, it's not the one i've been ticking away at, hand stitching for 2 years, but that one will have it's day of glory some year. this year is about the beauty of simplicity :)

a handful of patience and a few holiday deals later i acquired a wire frame with photo clips and a set of pocket cards pre-stamped with #1-25. this project was so simple and fun, i can hardly believe how happy it makes me! I cut cards out of brown kraft paper and fancied up the top of each with some hexagon papers and different cutting techniques.

each card has a different activity on it, such as: go for a walk, bake something, light a fire, sip peppermint hot cocoa, learn the history behind a christmas carol... and so on.

what i love about this project is that next year we can use the same cards, or create new ones! and the wire frame can be redecorated to be used year-round. perhaps 2013 will have monthly random activity cards???

no promises, but the possibilities seem endless!

happy decemeber. 

may it be merry & bright 

may there be many moments of joy!

national scrapbooking day!

Happy national scrapbooking day!
Inspired by the holiday, a (fairly) free saturday, a new book and a need to get April in the book I am gear up for some editing, storytelling, printing, cutting, pasting & embellishing.

two 4"x6.5" layouts in progress.

holiday recap

I can’t believe that Christmas has come and gone! I feel like I was finally ready for the season on December 22nd. We packed all sorts of activities, events and visits into the 28 days of Advent and although it felt claustrophobic at times, I am grateful for each experience. The picture above reminds me of how I felt. Sure, we were pressed for time and space, but we were with the people we love, laughing and enjoying the journey to Christmas.

Here were a few of my holiday faves:

• singing Christmas Songs
• making Peppermint Marshmallows
• sipping Hot Cocoa
• roaring Fires
• simply decor
• baking and general kitchen mess-making
• stuffing Stockings
• stitching and knitting and thinking about the gift recipients
• presents via skype
• surprise gift that came early
• surprise gift that was hidden until yesterday
• a gift from a child who told me about the gift as i unwrapped it
• gifts that inspire healthy living
• a new Christmas Album to be enjoyed year after year

Here’s to another wonderful Christmas. Let the merry making push us on to 2012!