Have a lovely and peaceful holiday, dear readers.

via These are a few of my favourite things...

Mulling Spices and Pomanders

Photo from LivingInWilliamsburg photo blog

A favorite Christmas tradition in my family (though perhaps not for my younger brother) was a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. They have beautiful natural decorations there and sell cider and have bonfires in the square. It's about as cozy as it gets, and everything smells wonderful. I think it's where the Demeter fragrance team must go to bottle up their Fireplace perfume.

This year, some friends and I decided to make our own old-fashioned Christmas decorations. We strung cranberries and popcorn and made orange pomanders. Secrets to pomanders: use a rubber band to establish lines and buy your cloves at a Latino or Asian supermarket (or even the Latino aisle in your own market) where they're about 1/6 the cost.

 

We also made cider sachets—mulling spices wrapped in cheesecloth. I got the recipe from Real Simple, which also had cute printable labels. A bonus activity was getting to pretend you're a WWII nurse assembling bandages while cutting all that cheesecloth.

 

Last two photos by Elena Rue

want, need, wear, read, and make

At not even one and a half, this is only Sweet Pea's second Christmas and I know I could give him nothing this year and he'd still be as happy as a clam (well, that is true as long as I let him play with the TV remote). However, I worry about the future and getting caught up in wanting to smother him in stuff that he won't necessarily want, need, or play with more than the time it took to unwrap (this book has been an eye opener for me in many ways that I'll share with you in another post). Anyway, I sure am glad to have stumbled upon The Four Gift Rule. It makes gift giving seem easy and it also makes a ton of sense to me (although I think I would add one additional category: 1 Thing They Make - for art supplies, crafts, etc.). Stockings, on the other hand, are a total free-for-all...

miniature boxwood tree

Whether you are looking for the perfect holiday table centerpiece or for the Christmas highlight of a smaller living space, a tiny boxwood tree is ideal. You put the whole thing together yourself, so the size, colors, decorations.... all up to you!
This tutorial at Ladies' Home Journal will walk you through the process.

Images: hgtv, boxwoodchristmastrees, 

teleflora

 Houston Chronicle blog

merry and bright

After years of wanting to try this project, Vivi and I finally rolled our own honeycomb tapers for holiday gifts. My favorite part was covering the matchboxes in holiday prints and finding the perfect tags/ribbon/wrap to coordinate with them.

This project just requires some honeycomb wax sheets and then whatever you have to make these candles your own. We found fantastic papers and ribbons at the local craft stores and the blogging community provides an amazing array of free printable holiday tags. I would definitely try this project again- the results are very merry (and the company could not be beat!).

Ikea Christmas...must check it out

Images: homedesignparadise (2), ikea (5)

holiday cards- take two

At week's end , I will have to decide what to do with my holiday cards. The cards of the non-photo variety can be used for decorations if I am particularly fond of the design or colors.
With just a circle punch or two, they could be turned into a wreath.....
but, with the same punch, patience, and the ability to follow directions- you could wind up with some intricate ornaments for next year's tree.

Images courtesy of scoutiegirl (1,3), bhg.com, marthastewart

"White Wine in the Sun"

I love cheesy, sentimental, and overplayed Christmas carols. I'm not going to deny it - I'm that square (see further evidence here). But as resistant as I am to changing my musical repertoire - I just discovered Tim Minchin's "White Wine in the Sun" and I'm adding it to my holiday mix immediately. It's not only a really lovely and clever song, but it can also appear to the agnostics/atheists out there during this time of the year. Who could ask for more?

the perils of wanting to be a crafty mom

When I was pregnant with Sweet Pea, I spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of mother I wanted to be. Of course I knew I wanted to be a loving and kind mother who taught him to love animals and camping and all that jazz, but I also knew that  - despite my lack of natural abilities - I wanted to be a crafty mother.

With this desire in mind I undertook my first crafty project - Christmas stockings for my family unit of three. And, as you see in the image above, I did indeed finish one stocking. But the process of making it was BRUTAL. After getting advice from sewing master Mae, I still completely forgot how to use my very basic sewing machine and so had way too many moments of frustration. For example, I yelled at my husband for trying to help me thread the bobbin, I burst into tears when I ran out of thread, and really, really wanted to throw the whole damn machine across the room for getting jammed with knots. I also thought I could wing the pattern and so first made a majorly jacked up club foot stocking before I used this Martha pattern. I am not kidding when I say that I seriously wasted hours of time - and ignored my son - in order to make this one stocking for him.

In the end, you may ask, what lesson did I learn? Well, I know now that I don't have the patience or the skills to be a sewing mom. But I also learned that I don't have to be good at it to actually do it - as long as I enjoy it (which I actually did - a tiny little bit) and no one gets hurt (my husband's feelings not included).

Hand Print Santa

As a parent of young kids, I am always looking for some holiday projects we can try that are preschool-age friendly. I thought I had seen most of them, from the felt mouse candy cane holder to the Popsicle stick reindeer, but at parent-teacher conferences in kindergarten last week, I spied a new one!
Sunday afternoon we gave these hand print Santas a whirl. It was a simple craft that was a smashing success. All it required was some washable tempura paints, a few brushes and construction paper. We decided to use the dozens of palm-y St. Nicks as holiday cards and gift tags. I will tuck a couple of them away for future Christmas decorations as well.
I would definitely recommend this craft as a fun and easy way to get into the holiday spirit with little guys and gals.

Vintage Christmas

One of my favorite Etsy shops is efinegifts where everything is on the verge of being ephemeral - so worn, so delicate, or so breakable. I'd love to live in a world of these vintage decorations, but with Sweet Pea's newly grasping and grabbing hands - I might have to wait a little bit longer.

 {all images via efinegifts}

Festive Clothespins

A package of clothespins is so reasonable and available at most any craft store- really, it is like a bag of potential for a dollar. These examples don't even touch upon all the kids' crafts that start with a clothespin....these are some grown-up ideas for the holidays :).

Clothespin Card Garland, Clothespin Advent Calendar, Christmas Wreath, Clothespin Christmas Card

Here's to a festive, restful, and beautiful holiday.

Merry Christmas, dear readers!

{image via danagraves}

free and pretty printable gift tags

 

 by Eat, Drink, Chic

Because I won't leave the house to go Christmas shopping again and because we've got new ink in the printer - I'm going this route for tagging my gifts. And aren't all free holiday tags great? Just click on the link belonging to the tag(s) that wins your favor and follow instructions to download the printable/PDF format.

Happy printing!

by Blush Printables

by west elm

by Heather Powers

by notion: creative

by Marmalade Moon

by sweet jessie

by Sew, Mama, Sew!

by Paper Crave

Thursday, a Christmas stocking, and Etsy

Image courtesy of TheFloatingWorkshop

When I was little, my favorite part of Christmas morning was going through my stocking. I loved that it was filled with treasures in miniature and chocolate and especially girly trinkets. Of course opening presents was a huge thrill too, but I always grabbed the stocking first....

This Thursday and Etsy comes just in time for the big day- a collection of Christmas stocking stuffers that is sure to brighten the morning!

To start - the stocking itself - there are so many fantastic stockings out there, but I am especially fond of these numbers- the Peekaboo and the Retro Santa. I can just imagine them brimming with treats.

cardinals, blue birds. peekaboo stocking courtesy of smidgebox

Simple Retro Santa Stocking courtesy of nissalynnhome

These finger puppets will be right at home inside any stocking:

Splish Splash Friends -Furry Fingers Finger Puppets courtesy of sweetmellyjane

For the girls - there is something sweetly special about this personalized pendant necklace:

Claire Loves Cherries personalized painted doll pendant courtesy of peanutbutterbandit

Some unique ponytail holders....

little friends ponytail holders courtesy of breadandbuttons

And some stuffed owlies for color-filled play the whole year through:

wee Liberty owlies courtesy of krakracraft

For the boys- what could be better than the superhero version of yourself?

custom superhero peggie courtesy of nakedpeggies

An intimidating and cool way to carry your lunch money....

A Monster Ate My Lunch Money courtesy of TheBurbs

And some fizzy Astro Bathstroids will liven up any tub:

Astro Wild Bathstroid Bath Bombs courtesy of jessicawelch

Everybody is creative in one way or another, so some sidewalk paint and recycled crayons will help them show it to the world:

Sidewalk paint party favors courtesy of SidewalkSensations

Crayon Butterflies-set of 6- courtesy of zeebree

Recycled crayon blocks and men -set of 8- courtesy of zeebree

A little something that is just for you....and your tree:

handmade wooden folk art ornament courtesy of mooshoopork

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Ornament courtesy of artagglomeration

A festive touch to top it all off...

Christmas Tradition Pinwheels-set of 12- courtesy of ElizabethSt

And no stocking would be complete without, at least a few, holiday sweets:

Large round Christmas themed chocolate lollipops courtesy of Candycassions

Peppermint Bark- Snowflake shaped - courtesy of cakesandmorewi

Fingers crossed that I find a stocking even half as cool on my mantel this Christmas!