Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

12.08.2011

quick and EASY advent calendar

what's up with the holiday season? are you feeling like there just isn't enough time in the day, week, or month? man oh man, i am. and then to top it off it's the end of the year already. what? well, we are pretty busy over here with my girl being in the nutcracker, so we are just starting to get our decorate on. the tree is up, the stockings are hung and today we added an advent calendar to our decor. i have always loved the idea of having an advent calendar. i dreamed of making this one for this year, but i saw it like at the end of november. of course, i could just buy it (not really, it's sold out), but that's no fun i want to make it. there just wasn't enough time this year, so i just bought the chocolate calendar at trader joe's that we buy every year at Christmas. but, then my clever little friend maria made this and i thought i could so make this today and i did. i know it's not from the beginning of the month, but that's ok. who says you have to start the first day of december? not me. you even have time yourself to make one of these for your home right now. you should. grab some envelopes, stamps, markers, crayons, whatever you have and get to work. it was super easy, take a look...


i stamped each envelope with something Christmas related

and the number of days left until Christmas

then i wrote on index cards one specific thing to do for that day. (see below for ideas)

i took some thick green yarn, pinned it to the wall and
used tiny clothes pins to hang the envelopes

my girl was eager to open her first envelope. it said, "decorate".

we decided that we would put up a pom-pom each day to replace the envelope she opened and make a garland as we go along.

that's it! i didn't have to purchase a thing. i had all this stuff on hand from other projects, passed Christmas', you name it. it was completely free, which is totally my style right now.
hope you all are enjoying the season and getting some craft on as well. merry Christmas!

what i wrote for the inside of the envelopes:

*decorate
*draw a picture of santa
*give someone a hug and wish them a merry Christmas
*spread some Christmas cheer
*help someone in need
*explain why we celebrate Christmas
*put on some Christmas music and dance
*draw a picture of the nativity
*make a yummy treat
*read a Christmas book
*watch your favorite Christmas movie
*bake cookies
*be nice
*sing a Christmas carol
*enjoy hot cocoa by the fire
*bake a birthday cake for Jesus
*get ready to open presents

1.05.2011

holidaze!

it's been a really long time since my last post. of course i have had things that i wanted to post about, but circumstances happen and things don't always go the way we plan. i'm learning to just take what i can get or do what i can do and let it go from there. this holiday season truly seemed like a holidaze for me. there was so much going on, so much to do and so much sickiness. thankfully we are all starting to feel well and things have slowed down and we're feeling some what settled in, so i feel like i can finally post a few pics from our "holidaze"...

it started with the nutcracker...

our little miss was a little lamb

and she was awesome!

the one christmas craft i completed

christmas cookie exchange for the little miss

getting into the spirit of things with our rudolph pops

our christmas move - we made it into our new home

our vacant home with one tiny decorated tree

christmas visitors and a christmas show

a little christmas shopping

the annual visit to the man in the red suit

the little fella was not happy about this
(i know what kinda mom would do this to their kiddo? this one !)

all's forgotten with a choo- choo ride

christmas morning - the little fella's gift from santa

stockings filled with stuff

umbrella's were given this christmas

i would say an appropriate gift for this season

one very tired girl who made it to the new year!

hope your holidays were filled with joy and i wish you all a very happy 2011!

12.01.2010

christmas door swag +pom-poms

ok, so i was at trader joe's the other day and they had a christmas door swag
that i thought was cute and festive. it was only $6.99 which i think its pretty
reasonable. i contemplated on whether or not i should buy it. after standing
there for a minute or two i decided that i could totally make one for free which
is a real reasonable prize for me these days. home depot always has a box of tree
trimmings for free and i knew i had a ton of christmas ribbon at home, so it was
settled i was going to make my own for free. that's exactly what i did. i went to
the home depot on my way home, picked up a few branches, got out my christmas
boxes and went to town. i also came across this pom-pom tutorial the other
night and thought they would be super cute on my christmas swag.
so check it out here's my swag...


i think i might add some jingle bells to it too
what ya think?

my pom-pom maker