our 2010 christmas card

Hope no one minds how late I am sharing pics of our Christmas cards. It's been a non-stop busy tizzy around here ever since our trip. We must be the luckiest ducks in the world, because this year we won 75 free cards from Minted in a giveaway here, plus had an opportunity to get some legit family photos with our photographer friend Erin Johnson. Whoo-hoo! I absolutely love the look of the mini books because you can roll short sentiments (or in our case quick family updates) + 4 photos all into one beautiful product. I've also seen these used as save-the-dates or wedding invites. Nifty.
When the stack of cards first arrived at my door, I thought that the 2 eyelets on the side needed a little something to finish off the card. A little yellow+white bakers' twine did just the trick!

christmasing

Just a few pics (mostly of G!) from our really happy week in Spokane visiting Oma + Grandad:
Snowman footie pjs on Christmas morning
Wooden trucks
Snazzy sweater vests + black high tops
A handmade garden tote sewn by Auntie Heather + mini watering can, trowel, and seeds for springtime
A huge family lego party
Decorating gingerbread cookies with Oma

o holy night...

is hands down, my favorite Christmas carol. I felt inclined to share it here after its loveliness hit me again in a whole new light on Sunday and the words have been running through my heart all week. It's truly magnificent: we can come to Christmas empty-handed and be filled with the comfort of Jesus' coming to earth to freely fill us with His all-sufficient grace and love. Everything else--the hustle, bustle, decorations, presents, and cookies are ultimately details, sometimes even distraction.
May your heart be filled with + focused on this same simple joy this season {and every season}.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! O night divine, the night when Christ was born; O night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming, Now come the wisemen from Orient land. The King of kings lay thus lowly manger; In all our trials born to be our friend. He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger, Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Merry Christmas sweet friends!! we are jet-setting today to visit our family + friends in Spokane this week. I'll be back in the new year! Can't even wait for what's in store for 2011.

holidazzle

Last weekend we braved the 10-something degree digits to fight the crowds in dt Minneapolis and began a fun + festive new little family tradition: Hitting the Holidazzle Parade. There are few things better than a night on the town with my 2 lover boys. {Even if it means shivering on the sidewalk. Next year we're arriving early to stake out VIP seats in the armchairs at Barnes & Noble.}
G was in awe of the city lights, dressed in holiday style...even before the parade began. xo

christmas card wreath

Christmas cards are making me really happy today. A big roll of yellow bakers' twine just arrived at my door--precisely what I needed to put the finishing touches on our fresh stack of cards. I promise to share pics soon! My goal is to go postal with them by 12.23. (We got so busy making cards for some of our photog clients that we are running a whole lot late with our own cards this year!)

In the mean time, the steady stream of cards from friends + fam arriving at our door are a complete and daily delight. I borrowed this idea from Martha & I love the finished product. I'd acquired quite a collection of embroidery hoops from the thrift store last summer, so this was an easy 5 minute project! Simply collect a large diameter hoop (mine was just 12"), hot glue gun, and mini clothespins. Glue the clothespins 1-2 inches apart, facing in alternating directions. (The majority of mine face outward, and a few point toward the center.) The result is a minimal, Scandinavian-looking wreath that adds maximum Christmas cheer to a wall near you. I've already run out of room on mine and am considering replicating the project on two smaller hoops...Wouldn't it look even better in a cluster of 3?

happy early christmas scenes

It is snowing. Again. Ugh, I can't even believe this wintry madness. We are officially 3 massive snowstorms in, and according to my calendar, winter officially commences tomorrow.I shouldn't even complain because inside, warm + cozy, we are feeling like spoiled brats here today. My parents + youngest brother came to visit over the weekend and we celebrated a mini early Christmas. Oh boy, did we celebrate. The highlight of the party was the antique kiddie windsor-back rocking chair that my dad refinished for G. It's the prettiest thing and looks right at home in our living room. How magical to think that some other kid might have received this exact same chair 80 years ago...Am a fan of vintage Christmas gifts.
G opened a gift of matchbox cars and a sweet bouncy ball from his uncle Dan. Teenage brothers are cute gift-givers.
Oh and the gift of the Charlie Brown Christmas book, complete with musical buttons made the perfect bedtime story on a late December's eve.

We are buried in snow and {already} buried with gifts.
What a happy weekend.
I had plans to take the fam on a snowshoeing excursion here, but it turns out we are all wusses in frigid temperatures. Instead we hung in with movies + Christmas cookies.
Oh, and my mom and I couldn't resist a trip to spot lovely things at anthro & hunt + gather while the boys played video games.
For dinner, we checked out Blackbird, a recently re-opened fine little cafe in our neighborhood. Such a good place. I hope Jeff & I will be dating there again soon.

christmas salsa

Remember that one time when I peeled 1,000 tomatoes, cooked, and canned my first-ever batch of salsa? I'd never made salsa in my life, but I had high hopes of passing all those pretty little jars along as Christmas gifts. Fast forward a few months and most of it has disappeared from my cupboard. What can I say? We have Mexican at least once a week, plus I have a husband who loves to munch. (The Christmas cookies have fallen to the same fate.) For the dozen or so that were spared from our own bellies, I spent a few minutes gussying up with pretty paper, tinsel wire, and jingle bells. They're officially good for giving and too cute {for us} to crack. Merry, Merry.

wrapping painting

My mini crafter and I pulled out some Christmasy colored paints and set out to make some homemade wrapping paper this afternoon (1.5 year-old style). You can't buy this stuff at Target. I've been taking G to a toddler class on Wednesday mornings and yesterday we had a really great guest speaker (during mommy separation time) talk about the importance of arts at an early age. Of course I soaked it up. She reminded me that there's 1,000 more benefits to letting your child explore different mediums and textures than detriments (uh, messes). Sometimes as adults our idea of "arts & crafts" gets skewed and we fixate on perfect finished products. With kiddos, it's so important to embrace the whole learning process--it nurtures everything from creative thinking to language skills. Whoever knew finger painting could be so in depth?
I just realized that it's been forever since I shared a little G post around here. He's seriously been more fun than ever lately! Just in the last week or two, he's started putting 2 words together. Some of the combos we've been hearing lately are "Ni ni {horse}," "Uh oh bus," and "Super hot." That's right, super hot.

Don't miss out on this week's giveaway extravaganza: ekate jewelry, a custom paper banner, and september house embroidery. Winners tomorrow!!

water for africa

What do a few simple Christmas crafts have to do with water in Africa, you ask? Did you know that unsafe, unclean drinking water + lack of sanitation kill more people each year than war + violence? This season etsy shop Water for Christmas is teaming up with Charity : Water to actually do something about it. I love everything about this cause! It's a place you can actually spend your holiday dollars with a clean conscience. It's really a triple win: crafters can donate their time, talent, and products; shoppers can score handmade gifts and simultaneously give the gift of safe water to someone in need, because 100% of the proceeds go directly to build fresh water wells in Liberia, West Africa.

I feel blessed to have contributed a few crafts to the cause. Purchase my gift tags, paper garland, and yarn wreath--if not for the craft, for the cause. If you know of any other charitable crafting going on this year, please do share a link below!

***

Last call to enter this week's giveaway. Winner announced tomorrow!

1st christmas

And finally, 2 weeks later, after our Christmas tree has been exiled to the garage and our closets have been reorganized, it's time for a little Christmas recap. Gone but not forgotten--Graham's first Christmas--2009. We spent 4 full days at my parents' and managed to dodge the blizzard. There, snowed and snuggled in, we thoroughly enjoyed the snow glistening. It was the quintessential white Christmas, although it felt a little weird missing the Christmas Eve service at church (canceled!). My whole entire family made it home for Christmas this year, which was no small feat. 12 people, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 crazy Christmas and a partridge in a pear tree.
Lucky G, he had some great bonding time with his cousin Elijah. They are just 14 months apart, so it will be awesome to see the adventures and mischief the two lads share as they grow up together. Above the duo are all bundled up (or in the words of Eli, "playing snowman") and taking a joy ride in the sled. Graham got a similar little wooden sled as a gift from his great-grandparents (see above). We are waiting for it to warm up (as in, above 0 degrees, which is obscene) so we can take it out for a spin!
I. love. this. picture. The boys are so serious, it is hilarious. As my brother said, they both look like they have fat pension plans and retirement homes...Or maybe just Harvard-bound babes with encyclopedias and chemistry sets wrapped under the tree?
Here's our little threesome, G rockin' the horse from grandma+grandpa, and his first lick of sugar cookie. Mmmmmm. Graham had a magical 1st Christmas and hopes you did too!

dec. daily {no. 22} photo ornament tutorial

Time for the second annual handmade ornament tutorial + grand finale of my December dailies. (Am bugging out early, I know!) This year, I made a big batch of these baby block ornaments to give as gifts to all of Graham's doting grand and great-grandparents and saved one for our little family. These make perfect baby's 1st Christmas ornaments, but of course you could decorate yours with absolutely any theme.

Supply round up:
1. glitter, lots of glorious glitter
2. tiny eyelet screws (found these in the wood section at Michael's)
3. wooden baby blocks
4. pretty scrapbook paper
5. foam brush
6. embellishments (I am a button freak)
7. small paint brushes
8. paint
9. decoupage (because no great ornament tutorial would be complete without it!)
10. glue
11. ink pad (I'm obsessed with Staz On ink)
12. scissors
13. ribbon, twine, or ric rac
14. photos, printed in 1" squares
Start out by painting your blocks. I lightly painted over the carved out letters to give it more depth and a two-tone effect. Allow to dry.Next, glue on paper squares and glitter as many sides as you please.To create the itty-bitty photos, I created a collage of our latest family photo shoot using Photoshop. It just cost 15 cents to have this printed as a 4x6 at Walgreens.Once your paint and glue have dried, it's time to decoupage on your mini pictures. I choose to cut mine small enough to leave a small border around the photo. Use your decoupage to coat entire block. Once sealed, use hot glue or tacky glue to adhere buttons or other fun embellishments. To give it a bit of an antique look--lightly swipe ink pad over corners. I used rubber and acrylic stamps to add Graham's initials and the date to the top of the block. And to finish it off--screw eyelet hook into top of block and lace with a pretty piece of ribbon or twine and hang it on your Christmas tree!

In hindsight, I might have saved the glittered side for the absolute last step. It works either way, but you're probably familiar with the wandering tendencies of glitter...I had some trouble keeping it off of my pictures and ink pad.

This is the part where I wish you the warmest, most wonderful Christmas yet. Am wrapping up early, packing up the car, and heading home for the rest of the week to celebrate Christ's coming and indulge on cookies. Will be back in 2010. Wouldn't miss it.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!!

dec. daily {no. 18} : baby stocking stuffers

I'm not shedding a single bead of sweat over Christmas gifts for Graham this year. I'm fully aware that he'll have much more fun with all of the big cardboard boxes, shiny bows, and crinkly wrapping paper involved. However, I am still planning to stuff his little stocking with a few fun items:1. Wooden stacking rings from Ikea.
2. Applique onesies. (I had aspirations of making the whole alphabet, but stopped after just 2 of his initials. He didn't need 26 onesies anyway!)
3. Apple Cinnamon Puffs. The poor boy is a bit young for peppermint bon bons and fudge, so these are the next best thing. Although they are too spendy to justify buying every week, they will make a tasty Christmas treat...And the only way we can make it through church these days without growling. :)
4. Sheep in a Shop. We are expanding our literary horizons after becoming hooked on reading Sheep in a Jeep. It's a big family fav around here; it cracks me up every time. We still need to check out Sheep on a Ship and Sheep out to Eat and Sheep take a Hike. But that's another day my friends.
It's been a pretty productive week around here. We are officially all set for Christmas--the tree trimmed, the cards mailed, the shops shopped, gifts wrapped and stockings stuffed. I'd like to say that I am kicking back with a tall glass of eggnog to enjoy it all for the next week...but instead I am working four 12-hour shifts in a row before heading to my parents' house on Tuesday. Yikes! Happy weekend one and all. Will be back sometime next week with a last minute Christmas ornament tutorial. (In the mean time, check out last year's birdie ornament.)

dec. daily {no. 17} holly pins (my take)

Abracadabra. Here's my take on the lovely Martha pins from earlier. {I almost want to take that post down...Honestly, I am embarrassed by the comparison!} I didn't have the same velvet ribbon and puff balls that were used in the magazine, so I just scrounged for some fun buttons + trims that I had on hand. Mine are definitely a bit more scrappy looking. Whether that's a plus or a minus, I'll let you decide. But as Julia Child would say, "never apologize, no excuses." I love that motto--and I believe it translates well from cooking to crafting. BTW, I finally saw Julie + Julia last weekend. Loooved it. Even more charming than I imagined it would be. And even Jeff liked it! Maybe I should write a blog about being a wannabe Martha. Mmm, no thanks.
All in all, I'd say this is a pretty quick + simple project to undertake. Just be sure to stock up on sticks for your hot glue gun! I went through 2, although half of it came out on my fingers.

dec. daily {no. 16} : oh christmas tree

Just a quick snapshot from Monday afternoon's cookie extravaganza with my mom. (Sorry little brother--your Michael Jackson gingerbread man did not make the cut.) Christmas is just 9 short days away and there's still so much to do this week! Am dreading that line at the post office...

dec. daily {no. 15} handmade tags

Am proud to report that last weekend I officially wrapped up the shopping and hauled out the wrapping paper. With the right tools--pretty paper, a pile o' ribbon, at least 3 rolls of Scotch tape, and snazzy tags--wrapping presents can be a dream come true. Seriously, this is my favorite part of Christmas prep. (I realize I say that about everything.) And making your own merry mini gift tags is a quick craft that can add a whole lot of pizazz to the simplest of gifts. I cranked almost 2 dozen of these out in an hour, while a certain creepy crawler played under the table with my ribbon stash and a big jar of buttons.
{Fun button embellishments from here were a gift last year from a sweet friend.}

dec. daily {no. 14} oreo truffles

As promised, the recipe you've been awaiting+craving. These little morsels are among the most tasty Christmas treats you can crank out in the least amount of time. They are getting super popular these days, so please don't mind me pretending like I've invented them. My grandma first discovered them 10 years ago and passed me the recipe long before I had a kitchen of my own. But with a name like Reindeer droppings it's no wonder the recipe fell by the wayside for a few years...

And now here's how:

Ingredients:
4 oz softened cream cheese
A package of oreos
Vanilla almond bark
(yes, that's all!)

1. Smash your Oreos. (It's ok if you cheat and eat one out of the package before beginning. I promise I won't tell because I do the same thing. And I promise it won't throw off your recipe.) It doesn't matter how you smash them, just turn them into the tiniest Oreo particles possible. If you're lucky enough to have a food processor, go for it. If you're old school like me, just toss them into a Ziploc bag and beat them to smithereens with your burliest rolling pin. It's a good way to release some of your holiday angst.
2. Toss your Oreo bits into a bowl and combine with cream cheese until the mixture is even and moist

3. Roll into 1" balls

4. Freeze for 1 hour or until balls are firm for dipping

5. Melt almond bark, dunk your Oreo balls, tap off excess...you know the drill

6. Add chocolate sprinkles, allow coating to harden, and store in fridge
Enjoy your sugar high!

As we speak, I am on my way home to bake the day away w/ my mom. Can't wait. Have a great week everyone!

dec. daily {no. 11} : cookies commence

For obvious reasons, Christmas baking is one of my all-time favorite traditions. Every December my mom would (and still does!) turn the house into a cookie factory. Not even exaggerating--she would spend an entire week baking from dawn until dusk plus chase 5 stinking kids in between. And she would not stop 'til every piece of Tupperware was filled with every form of Christmas cookie known to man. Call it overkill, but come Christmas Eve, our fam would feast on the sugary delights and my mom would not need to lift a finger to bake again 'til Easter.

No way can I come close to producing such a bounty. (Nor do I need to--we'll be going home to a cookie extravaganza at my parents' this year for the holidays.) But I will try my hands at a few favs.

This year's short and sweet to-bake list:

Sugar cookie cut-outs, festively glazed+ sprinkled
Almond spritz cookies
Peanut butter stars
Mint brownies
Oreo truffles*

What's in your oven this year?

*More on the truffles tomorrow!

dec. daily {no. 10} dear jeff

Thanks for the million and one things you do, the dipes you change, and the joy you bring around here. But today--thanks for battling the sub-zero temps, running to 4 different stores to buy a shovel, picking up groceries for our starving family, and managing to bring a giant pot of these home with you. You are the best. xo