top dog dies: give thanks

Each year for Thanksgiving, I like to create a gratitude journal for family members and dinner guests to record what they are grateful for.  More recently, I have been creating place cards for the table setting.  This year, I was lucky enough to have some Top Dog Dies to help me out.

Using the Scallop Box Die

I created place card favor boxes:

20 of them:

Each one topped with a handmade flower

filled with a pearl center.

The boxes themselves are filled with some chocolates for a post-dinner, pre-pie treat!

For this year's gratitude journal, I decided to create a banner:

Each pennant has a glassine envelope that contains a Project Life card for recording this year's gratitudes.

Each pocket is embellished with an accordion-folded medallion made with the Sizzix die

and trimmed with paper cut with the Madison Border Die

I love that this year's "journal" doubles as holiday decor!

For those of you celebrating tomorrow, have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  And for those living in other parts of the world, may you always find something to be grateful for.

valentine garland

I have found a new addiction.

photo credit: Small Good Things

Pom-pom making!

The above pictured gadgets can be found at your local craft store.

They whip up pom-poms quickly and easily.

But you could also use a fork

Or a piece of cardboard

Pom-poms were the perfect use for the variegated pink and white yarn I picked up on clearance 

{I'm a sucker for clearance}.  

Instagram photo

From the moment I made the first pom, I had envisioned a little Valentine garland.

And what would a pom-pom Valentine garland be without some crochet hearts?

For the small heart:

Work all stitches in a magic ring.

Ch3, dc, trc, 4dc, trc, 4dc, trc, 2 dc, pull cricle tightly closed, slst into ring.

The larger heart was worked using this fun pattern from Barbara Summers.

As a last minute design element, I decided to add some fabric scallop circles cut with the Big Shot, pressed in half, and stitched with baker's twine in a running stitch.

Instagram photo

Love on a string!

be my valentine

I really like Valentine's Day.

I do.

Love seems too strong of a word, but I do really like it.

All the pink, the flowers, the symmetrical hearts, the lace and doilies.

The chocolate.

It epitomizes femininity (and maybe a few extra inches on the hips).

What I do love is coming up with little Valentine ideas for the boys to hand out to their classmates.

And then spending time with my favorite Valentines to put them together.

This year's treats:

filled with chewy fruit snacks

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

XOXO

advent calendar

One of our favorite traditions is to countdown the days until Christmas with an advent calendar.  In years past we have done the cheesy cardboard chocolate ones, the Lego ones, and wrapped Christmas books.  For the past several years we had a little wooden one with numbered doors behind which we stashed little treats and trinkets.  

The problem with that calendar was that we have 3 boys which = bickering over whose turn, complaints about who got what, waking up extra early to open the calendar and all of that = one unhappy momma.

So this year, I got smart.  I started a Pinboard of advent calendar ideas:

view the board here

And I decided to make this year's countdown to Christmas about spending meaningful time together, rather than about "stuff."  

24 embellished pockets hang from strings attached to a picture frame.

I put the more time-consuming activities in the weekend pockets.  Our weeknights are busy with three boys in hockey, guitar lessons, homework, etc.  This is meant to be fun and stress-free.  If we can't get to an activity one night, we simply switch it out or double up on another night.  So far the boys have loved it!  Their favorite was definitely the special hot chocolate party:

{Intagram pic}

And mine would have to be the giant popsicle stick snowflakes:

{Instagram pic || idea pinned from here}

Thanks for visiting!