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 Happy December! Today is the start of my favorite month - one where I celebrate several family birthdays and, of course, Christmas. Are you getting into the holiday spirit? Today we started our Advent countdown calendar, had our first visit from Buddy, our "Elf on the Shelf," and tonight, I helped my kids write out their letters to Santa. I thought I'd share our template with you. The wording is the same as last year, but the design has been updated. Enjoy! 
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4/8/2015 1 Comment 10 Fun, Fresh DIY Spring Ideas Hellllooo, spring! You "officially" made your debut over two weeks ago now, but I'm still not certain it's safe to put away my winter boots just yet. We've had a few really nice days so far here in Wisconsin, but the days that plummet back into the low 30s make me really, really ready for warmth and sunshine. Spring is such a great season - time of renewal, of hope. I'm ready to put away blankets and cold weather décor and instead focus on things that are light, bright, and pretty. Here's a round-up of 10 fun, fresh DIY ideas for spring for all the areas of your home - I'm looking forward to trying a few of these ideas out soon!  How to Grow Tulips in a Vase Indoors via Life Fad  Wine Bottle Tiki Torches via The Armchair Sommelier  Paper Crane Backdrop via All Free DIY Weddings  Twig & Butterfly Centerpiece via The Elli Blog  How to Grow Green Wheat Grass via Country Girl Home  No-Sew Pennant Banner via aka design  Paper Bow Template via Lia Griffith  Printable Pinwheels with Happy Lyrics via No Biggie  Hello Spring Printable via Sandy Toes and Popsicles  DIY Boxwood Wreath via Lovely Little Snippets I hope you love this list of spring DIY projects as much as I do. What plans do you have for your home for spring?
 My sweet little girl just turned 2. At Christmas time, she loved ducks, so I was originally planning a duck themed birthday party. Then she turned her attention to owls, and finally, to horses. Oh, she loves horses. "Horsies say 'yeehaw'!" she says.  Can't get enough of this "cheese!" smile! So horsies it was. With feminine pink details - from the invitations to the banner, treat table to her pink handkerchief dress. The birthday girl's adorable horse bubblegum necklace is from S Sparkle Boutique via Etsy - head on over and check out her shop! And oh, did we have fun! She was so excited for "my pah-ty day." Check out all the details below! Vendor Credits:
Horse Invitations, Favor Tags, Banners & Cupcake Toppers: Goin Chic Boutique Horse Bubblegum Necklace: S Sparkle Boutique 3/25/2015 0 Comments Easy Easter Countdown Calendar This past Christmas, I made an Advent/Countdown Calendar for my kids. I thought that they'd have a lot of fun opening up a new activity or scripture reading each morning, and they did - but I'd go so far as to say that the calendar was the highlight of the season! (Which made each morning following Christmas, with the gift opening behind us, a little bit of a battle as I explained why we really shouldn't be eating chocolate kisses for breakfast.) :) So for Easter, I wanted to create something similar (for the tradition aspect of it, not necessarily the candy!), but a lot more simple - my Christmas Countdown calendar was all handmade from scratch, and each little box took quite a bit of time to make. I thought I'd go the route à la Sandra Lee - semi-homemade. ;)  I was happy to find these white "Mini Craft Sacks" and the "Itsy Bitsy Tag Stack" at Hobby Lobby - the colors are perfect for Easter! I decided two do a 14 day countdown. I cut the tops off each tag, glued one to each white sack, and adhered an egg-shaped number I created using my Silhouette. Next, I used mini clothes pins to hang each sack to a chicken-wire wrapped frame I created last year (I've found so many uses for this frame! I love it). Pretty cute, right?  Using some inspiration from Pinterest and my Bible, I broke down the Easter season into 14 chunks - one "lesson" per day - that the kids can open each morning along with a couple of jelly beans. We'll spend time together as a family going over each day's lesson while they enjoy their candy. (Yes, I said candy. Before breakfast. Again. That's a huge part of the appeal!)
Does your family do a countdown to Easter? If not, what traditions do you have that makes this holiday feel special?
I think it's about time for a giveaway! I've teamed up with Amy from Milestone Memory to give you the chance to win an awesome, customized birthday chalkboard printable! 
I mean really - how cute are these? The perfect accent to your child's next birthday party, and a great keepsake! 
To enter, complete the following:
1.) Head on over and LIKE Milestone Memory's Facebook page 2.) Add a comment to this giveaway blog post The winner will be announced Thursday! Good luck!  Valentine's Day is right around the corner! Do you have little ones? My oldest is 4 and in 4K this year - and this will be his first experience with valentines. I remember how much fun it was as a kid to celebrate Valentine's Day in school - candy, trinkets, and little valentine cards plastered with the decade's most popular cartoon characters. I imagine things are pretty similar these days. Except now I'm an adult, and I really don't like "characters" per se. Am I the only parent that feels that way? My kids have their favorites, of course, but I'm personally not a fan of character-ridden invitations, clothes, and bedroom décor - it's just so commercialized. Unoriginal. Not that my 4 year old thinks about these kinds of things, but since I enjoy being crafty I thought I'd make him something different that would be fun and devoid of candy (oh, the candy. What could we possibly do with it all? We still have candy left from Halloween - circa 2013. Yikes! That needs to be thrown out, now that I think about it...). So yes - the valentines. A few weeks ago I found a pack of little plastic dinosaurs in the Target dollar spot for (you guessed it!) $1. There were 20 pieces in the package, and my little man only has 8 other kids in his class this year, so I couldn't go wrong at that price! I found a few similar ideas as I browsed through Google and Pinterest, but this is my version:  My son has been working on his letters and numbers all year in school, and he loved writing out his classmates' names and his name on each of these. I had to squelch down my inner perfectionist - drawing a subtle line in pencil under the "to:" and "from:" helped him better understand where he should write - but I'm really proud of how much he's learned so far this school year and how well he did on these valentines! I really think his class will have fun with these. And his teacher, too, since he is adamant that she also needs a dinosaur valentine. :) Want to send your child to school with these invitations? Click here to download the PDF, which will print 4 valentines per 8.5"x11" page. I used a paper trimmer to cut the valentines apart, then mounted each one to a piece of orange cardstock. I poked holes where I needed them using a paper piercer, and threaded coordinating baker's twine through to tie the dinosaurs in place. This would also be cute with a small sheet of dinosaur stickers! 
Enjoy! :)
12/3/2014 0 Comments Santa Letter Template Freebie!  Our 2014 Advent Calendar Can you believe it's December already? I mean, I shouldn't act so surprised - I do own a calendar (several, actually, in my never ending quest to find "the perfect planner"), but still. I feel like the last few months have gone by in a blur and now it's time for my favorite holiday season - Christmas. I have a lot of projects planned and I'm really looking forward to spending time with my two little ones - ages 4.5 and 21 months - and I fully expect this to be the most fun Christmas ever! I finally finished the advent/Christmas countdown calendar I'd been planning to make. Of course there are a lot of options available to purchase, but I couldn't find anything I really liked and this version made use of things I already had on hand. Today's activity was "write a letter to Santa," and of course I wanted a cute themed template to use for the occasion. I found several examples online, but nothing that fit the bill perfectly - I wanted my son to answer for himself whether he thought he'd been naughty or nice over the last year, and have room for several examples to back up his thoughts. It's so easy (unfortunately) to get lost in the material focus of Christmas, and though he's young, I want him to have a concrete understanding of what it means and why it's important to be "nice." We had a good discussion on the topic while I helped him fill out this portion. There's also space to write a Christmas wish list. Do you help your child(ren) write a letter to Santa? If you'd like to use this free template, please click on the link below to download the PDF!
11/10/2014 0 Comments Favorite Things 2014 Giveaway! Goin Chic Boutique's gold glittered polka dot tote bag was featured today on both Craft That Party and Tori Spelling's ediTORIal! I am beyond thrilled to have had the chance to participate as a sponsor for this fun party - what a great way to kick start the holidays - by getting together with friends and exchanging some of your "favorite things"! Check out all the details at craftthatparty.blogspot.com and torispelling.com - and enter for your chance to win a swag bag worth over $400 - including the featured tote from Goin Chic Boutique! Look for this featured tote along with many other gifts, stationery, and party décor items via my Etsy shop! |
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