THIS MONTH v. holy crap its December!

Well, I kinda kept on track last month. Some blog posts. A video even! Husband spend most of November out of town, but made it home to share the holidays. Our Thanksgiving was full of family and wonderful food. It was really nice to have all the nieces & nephews around to see how they have grown in the past year. Its like talking to grown ups... i mean, some of them are 18+, but still! Its amazing! This month will bring many opportunities to enjoy the company of family and friends and its going to be GREAT

*Looking forward to:
DISNEYLAND (surprising the boy with this trip! very excited!)
A very special visit from our Mimi 
Holiday Decorating & Baking
Gift Giving
Wrapping up another semester of homeschooling the boy
Celebrating the season and welcoming great things in 2015

*Blogging this month:
Simple ornaments for kids 
Holiday album updates 
Watercolor holiday canvas video 

*Goals
Keeping our holidays under budget and overflowing with cheer! 

Happy December!
holly*

Kids Craft: Gratitude Banner

While doing Studio Calico's Gratitude Documented E-Course, I sat down with Tyler to talk about being thankful and the things we appreciate in our lives. I wish I was on it enough to talk about this all year, but, HEY, Thanksgiving... its topical... Together we made a list then put a banner together so we would have our visual reminder all month long... (ps. chomping at the bit to start hanging garlands, BUT I will not... no sir...) 

Supplies Needed: 

Assorted Colored Cardstock

Solid Paper 

Twine

Stapler 

Scissors 

Misc Embellishment (not required) 

This first and most important step of this project is simply to sit down and discuss gratitude and what we are thankful for. Tyler and I created a list while I prepped our supplies... 

For prep, I pulled scraps of paper that matched my embellishments (omg I need to gush how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE projects that use my scrap!) and cut roughly 1/2" strips from copy paper. I also folded my scraps in half and cut them into random sized hunks ranging from 2" to 5".

While I rewrote the things we are thankful for on stripe of white paper (write in the middle of your write strips if you would like to create banners as we did), Tyler cut the flags/points into our banners. 

Now that all of our elements were prepared, we strung each banner flag on the twine and assembled the strips and embellishments (feathers from Basic Grey) using our stapler to secure each element. 

While this project is best for an older child (6+), I can see how each year the project can get more profound to both parent and child. This would also be fun to do on Thanksgiving day, handing each guests a strip and/or flag and every guest would be able to having their own thankful strips included. 

Such a simple project, but so much meaning.  

Kid Craft: Indian Corn Wreath

I am always looking for ways to keep my kiddos engaged, the house festive, and the messes contained. This craft meets all of those requirements and can be easily completed in a single afternoon. 

Supplies Needed: 

White or Off-White Cardstock

Corn Husk Colored Cardstock 

Paint

Paint Brush

Lint Roller 

Bubble Wrap

Piece of Scrap Chipboard/Cardboard

Pencil 

Scissors

Glue Dots or Hot Glue

Wooden Embroidery Hoop 

Surface Covering (VERY IMPORTANT)

My supplies ended up being cardstock from American Crafts (cream) and the pale green that was embossed with a texture from Cordinations, paint from Ranger (a yellow, orange, red, and brown), along with a scrap of bubble wrap, lint roller from my sewing supplies, and a misc paint brush. 

These supplies were easily gathered from my stash which is always a bonus on the frugality, but would also be very inexpensive to pop into a local craft store and pick up. 

Once we had all of our supplies laid out, Tyler got to work on our background paper for the ears of indian corn by randomly applying our colors of paint on different areas of the bubble wrap covered lint roller. I did suggest to him that he not over lap the paint colors too much as they would mix and would end up the same color. This reminder was somewhat useful. 

Once the paint mostly covered Tyler's roller, he rolled all over the paper until the entire piece of cardstock was covered with tiny dots or kernels of corn. 

While the paint was drying, I created a cardboard template for the ears of corn. Once the paint had completely dried, Tyler turned the cardstock over and traced the ears of corn. He got 6 ears from each piece of 12x12 paper he made. 

I helped Tyler a bit more at this point and we free handed the husks of our ears of corn. he helped with placement and I trimmed the shape. Once our ears of corn were completed we mostly symmetrically attached them to the inner frame of an embroidery hoop with glue dots. I highly recommend adhesives such as glue dots when working with kiddos.

After adding some ribbon from our stash, our new wreath was ready to hang and enjoy. We even have about a dozen more ears of indian corn to use to either decorate our Thanksgiving table, use as place cards, or even dish markers during our Thanksgiving festivities. 

While I did this craft with our 8 year old son, I do feel it can be done with younger children with just as little frustration. Very fun and very memorable craft to share! 

2014 December Daily

This year I am feeling pretty cocky having my December Daily album ready for the holidays to begin.What I'm not feeling so cocky about is my very first youtube video... Between the over excited use of my hands (yea, I'm one of those people who talks mostly with their hands...) the random dialog I spout when I get nervous, and in general my poor video editing skills, this video is a real hoot... Enjoy! Oh, there is a project in there too, but the glare makes it hard to see at times... Maybe I'll redo this post with photos...




I do have a giveaway as noted in the video. I have not one but TWO Avery Elle stamp sets to give away to help us celebrate new projects & now videos! Rafflecopter will help us get a winner between now and November 15th! Winner will be announce November 16th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THIS MONTH v. getting started

This month I would like to start something new. We have been so busy that I feel like I'm missing things and I want to stop that. So, I would like to start planning better, tracking better, being more present... This month marks the beginning of more crafting, more planning, more living! So... he goes nothing...

*Looking forward to:
Gearing up for the holiday season that is fast approaching    
Auction planning for our local elementary school
Finishing the kids' bedroom projects (fingers crossed!)
Studio Calico's Gratitude|Documented Class
Debby Schuh Classes hosted by Memories Live On
Planetarium and Mining Museum experiences with the boy & his Cub Scouts
A couple free weekends (HA)
Working through fun history curriculum & getting through the worst math chapter ever with the boy

*Blogging this month:
My December Daily overview (coming soon if the camera batteries hold out!)
Fabric pumpkin tutorial (because the internet needs another one of those!)
Favorite Fall Cocktails
Gratitude|Documented update
....and more!

*Goals
Just keeping my head up. The to do list is full, as is the monthly calendar. But, although busy, life is good. This month will be even better!

Happy November!
holly*

*GASP* Layouts to share!

It has been MONTHS since I've even thought about blogging anything! Even crazier is that I actually have layouts to share! I've been on and off the project life bandwagon lately and my hands have been getting dirty, i mean happy with mixed media projects, but there I am with LAYOUTS!

I really enjoyed creating a few layouts! The last layout was based on the BPM guest dt sketch! Working on a few mini album assignments and an event i have been commissioned to design, but then i think it might be time to do some serious 12x12 sessions! 

Hope this week is treating everyone well!
holly*