Mid Holiday Break

Christmas was a hoot and the girls had a blast. So exciting that they are still hanging on to the magic of it all.

With the combination of cold, rainy weather and no travel plans, these days between Christmas and New Years are stretching out. We are loving the nothingness on our schedule and abundance of everything in our home. Plenty of free time, plenty of down time. What a great week it's been!

We also have been reading and crafting. Here's what we are into now:

I hope these next few days last just as long. We are no hurry to get back to the real world this year.

Homemade Holidays

While we made quite a few gifts for individuals, our gifts for a crowd were fun to make.

We made indoor/outdoor coasters for our lovely neighbors. We made them the same way as we did for our outdoor chalkboard (click here for instructions) It's a great gift to make for many people. Tiles were $0.16 at Lowes, and we invested in the alcohol inks long ago. We definitely got our money's worth.

We used the Silhouette machine to cut gift tags. The girls then customized them.

We also made some treats for Dave's office.  We found a simple recipe on Pinterest. The results were fabulous! click here for recipe..

We made over 40 bags which the girls delivered with Dave at his office.

We also were lucky to inherit some crafting supplies from a wonderful neighbor who knows exactly what we like to do here on carfternoons. We used vintage satin covered styrofoam ornaments and embellished them with simple beads and straight pins. The results were awesome!

We had a great time making and delivering these little treats to our friends. I feel so fortunate not only to have time to make these gifts, but to know such amazing people that we can deliver them to :)

 

Merry Christmas! 

Happy Winter Solstice

Lots of reflecting. Lots of blessings. Letting go of what doesn't serve us anymore. Embracing what does. Setting intentions for the new year as we return to the season of light.

Happy Winter Solstice.

Birthdays, Ballet & BFFs (and a little crafting on the side)

Lots to celebrate this past week. We kicked it off with our long awaited Nutcracker performance. The kids were super excited and did great!

Mya was a snowflake and Marlee was a Russian variation.

I was able to work backstage during dress rehearsals, which was kind of cool to be part of the excitement. It was also cool to sneak across the street and slam a few White Russians in honor of the occasion.

We moved on quickly to celebrate Mya's 7th birthday!

We celebrated with dinner at her favorite restaurant. The next day we had fun with a few of her favorite neighborhood friends. This sweet soul is taking this year much easier than last year. Her fear of getting old is subsiding, thanks to an awesome friend she has who happens to have the almost same birthday ;)

Love this kid. 

Speaking of friends, I got a visit from one of the best.

As usual our time together was spent partying, catching up and laughing, always laughing.... Not much has changed.

Surprisingly we got a few things done in preparation for homemade holidays. At least someone around here was taking things seriously:

We started our mass production of neighborhood gifts and a few smaller projects.

Yes, that's Jen in there crafting with Mya ;)

More details on that later. Busy week ahead! More glass etching, edible gifts, and of course sewing! 

We will post all of our ideas & finished products in a few days for homemade holidays.

What a fun and wild time of the year!!!

'Tis the season for craziness

I knew our fall rhythm would end with the arrival of Christmas crafting, decorating, and gift making, but we weren't  prepared for the crazy week that passed!

Our trip to PA for Thanksgiving was lovely and full of fun. We even got to play in the snow.

Usually we'd ease back into the week upon our return. I'm not sure what happened, but nothing was easy with our first week into the Christmas season. 

We traded evenings of sewing and decorating for messes and chaos. So instead of posting photos if our activities & crafts, I'll share some of the craziness.

We did however, get our little Snow Village up and a few outdoor decorations on the house.

I also got to spend a few late nights with my Silhouette and etching cream. It was quite relaxing and fun.

However, we worked around and stepped over things like this all week:

To my dismay, I realized this was the only photo taken of Dave and I over the past year. The unflattering picture was taken by Marlee.

At least we got to have an evening of holiday cheer. A sweet, patient babysitter came over and did some crafts with the girls, so I guess the week ended on a good note.

As i reflect on the past few holiday seasons being sick with my recurring pneumonia and missing out on everything, the craziness doesn't seem so bad.

The following week will bring some holiday crafts and a Christmas tree to decorate. Hopefully.

Fabrics on the Table

I can't believe we are wrapping up our fall crafts and heading into the winter season already. The girls (of course) wanted to put up a few decorations to fill in the gap between Halloween and Christmas.

A few weeks ago I found these fun vintage fabrics and decided to make placemats. I placed some batting between each side, and they look fancy as ever.

I love reading articles about upcyclyng. I always try to be mindful and do it when I can.  I found a vintage tablecloth at our community yard sale a few years ago that I was super excited about. However, it just didn't fit well with our table. I decided to cut it up and make some cocktail napkins for a friend of mine. 

I was happy with the results. I know I'll be on the lookout now for more vintage sheets and tablecloths to add to my files.

In the upcoming weeks we will dive into our mass production of neighborhood gifts and become more consistent with our older kids craft club. I love this time of year!