Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

Wow...another year! 2008 has been full in so many ways. 2009 promises to be another year with so many more adventures. I'm excited to see what comes, and to share it here with you.

I love that New Year's Eve gives me a reason to bring out my vintage hats and party horns. Also gives Chloe a reason to make yet another cake.Inspired by Ali Edwards, I enjoy choosing a new word to concentrate on each year. For 2009, my word is COLOR. Tune in tomorrow to find out why.

I thank you for taking the moments out of your days in 2008 to stop by this space. It's such a joy to share the journey with you!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Wrapping up 2008...

I hope your holiday was wonderful. I'm enjoying catching up on all the blog posts. We've been having a magnificent time here. My sister and her family are still in town, so we have been very busy enjoying each others company and watching the kids play together. We've done so many things. Gone sledding, made snowmen, celebrated a birthday (my sister's), dressed up as princesses going to the royal ball.
Painted tea sets.

And crafted as much as we can. Crafting together is one of the treats of having my sister around. We made patchwork canvases with vintage wallpaper. I added the kids school pictures to mine.
I also scrapped a couple of holiday pages.


Next on the agenda for New Year's Eve is to work on a holiday album. Last year I made this FAMILY album while Laura was here.
Hope you're enjoying the last few days of 2008 and looking forward to a wonderful new year. I cannot wait to share some exciting news for a project I've been dreaming up. It involves lots of swaps for the new year and another blog!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Day...

Hope your day was merry and bright!





Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Holiday joy...

My sister and her family are now in town from San Diego. The festivities have begun and the kids are having a blast. It's so much fun to have family time together. As you can see, the girls were pretty serious about sprinkling their cookies. Definitely one of my most favorite Christmas events.
Plenty of sugar to go around.
The weather was perfect for sledding the other day and we all had a great time.
I also wanted to share some wonderful gifts that I have recieved from my blogger friends. You are all so generous and thoughtful.
Thanks girls!!
Cassondra Walters made me this stunning jewel toned handmade stocking. No need for anything else in there from santa. Love it!
Julie Collings sent a wee little box of vintage goodness in her signature style. Love all the red, green and metallic bits of wonder.This wonderfully whimsy handmade patchwork pillow in ArtsyMama colors is from Lilli Beck. So cute and happy.
Kimla sent this adorable reindeer bear that was a huge hit with my kids. Chloe has adopted this sweetie as her own.
Happy Christmas Eve.

Hope you are all happy and healthy and full of joy!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

To be merry....

You've seen all the pieces of the scene above before. The retro wreath, the vintage stockings, the candles made for my autism mom friends. Now after first seeing the cover of Home Beautiful here and then Danielle's post here, I had to add some vintage honeycomb bells I had stashed after thinking they looked too wedding-ish. Maybe they still do, but I put it all together and have to admit, it really did make me feel merry.
Another thing that made me happy, is this trunk that I came across at an estate sale the other day. Love the color and check out the inside....those stars!!! I thought it looked good filled with festive gifts and the new eco-friendly pom pom gift topper made with a Target bag! See the tutorial here. Here's a bunch more of my holiday journal pages. By keeping it simple, I'm really keeping up with photographing and documenting each day. No small feat.







Hope your week is filled with delight!

Happy Solstice...

Today we are reminded of
the cycle of the seasons and the continuity of life.In the woods today, I looked up and couldn't help but notice the way the trunk formed a circle. Peering through into the sunlight through the middle, I took a breath. I have noticed the play of the growing darkness internally and externally recently and celebrate the coming of the light. This is a time to draw in, reflect, count my blessings and revel in the season. Thank you for being the shining light in my little blog-world. I appreciate you being here.

"there are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it"

~ edith wharton
Here is Chloe's little woodland solstice gathering. The "snow" is wool from my grandmother and the stones gathered from various journeys represent the fire/light.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The stockings were hung...

I love Christmas stockings...with a passion. I especially love vintage stockings. I often find them at estate sales for a dollar and imagine that someone woke up on the magic of Christmas morning many years ago to find that santa had been there and left gifts in that very stocking. There's no way I can pass that up.I especially love felt and handmade stockings.They remind me of my childhood Snoopy stocking that I still hang each year.I also hang the vintage paper stocking I made in Pam's class at Silver Bella two years ago.So I decided that this year I wanted the kids to each have their hand at making their own stocking. One to keep and put up each year as they grow older. I bought a large felt stocking for each for $1 and pulled out my felt stash and some little felt ornaments I bought last year intending to put them on a cloth gingerbread house. As you can see, I helped with the cutting, but they certainly had their say in the design. I adore them and so do they! Here's a few more stockings we have up around the house that I've collected over the years. Each with it's own wear and it's own story, that I can only imagine.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A sweet day...

There is a serious sugar rush going on in my house.We've been doing lots of baking and putting together little packages for the kids teachers. Today we jumped right into making gingerbread houses. There is just something magical about making houses from gingerbread (in our case graham crackers) and decorating with frosting and candy. It's as sweet of craft as it comes. I have very fond memories from my childhood of my grandmother's amazing gingerbread houses (see pic below). We were always so amazed and now after trying to make them myself I am in awe at her creations. So today Chloe and I gathered our supplies and went to work.
She carefully added bits of this and that, making this cute little face on the side. Then she sat and admired her creation.
Of course posing for a picture for mommy.


A truly sweet time we had!