Merry Christmas...
...from our family...
...and our home...
...to you!
Love - Matt, Erin and Liam
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Quick and easy ornament
December's Crafty Club was held at Urbane, a local bar/restaurant. But instead of passing around craft supplies we passed around drinks and homemade ornaments!
Each of us pre-made one ornament to give to someone else in the group. And I must say -- everyone did a great job! There was a glass ball decorated and filled with popcorn, a glass ball filled with cute curly-cue papers, a ball covered in handmade paper flowers, a ball wrapped in holiday yarn, a Crafty Club themed ball (very nice Sarah) and a ball made out of socks.
The ball above and below is the one that I made. I used things that I found laying around the house (felt, scrap booking paper scraps, a clear ball, ribbon and tiny red fuzzy balls). I just cut scraps of paper and felt into little teardrop shapes and glued them on the ball in layers, starting at the bottom of the ball and working my way to the top. I used Aleene's Clear Tacky Glue to stick it all together. It took me a 1/2 hour tops to make the whole thing. Quick and easy. My friend Joy was the lucky taker of my ball.
I ended up picking my friend Janine's ball. She made her ornament out of some cute striped socks. What an easy, fun gift to give someone. I'm tempted to unravel this and wear the socks though :)
Liam says "enjoy the rest of your week."
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sticky, gooey and messy = fun
Baby it's COLD outside. Which means Liam and I are pretty much stuck inside all day long. It's important that I try to keep him busy or else I seriously might go crazy! So I peruse Pinterest and the mom-blogs that I follow for fun ideas to keep the little guy occupied.
I saw an idea on one of the mom-blogs I follow - Growing A Jeweled Rose - and thought I'd give it a whirl. The mom/writer of the blog posts awesome creative projects, like how to make homemade paint, fun science experiments and sensory bin ideas. I came across her Shivery Snow Paint recipe and it looked like something Liam would enjoy.
I worried a bit that he would try to eat it (like he does the play dough we made) but I told him over and over again "do not put it in your mouth" and he actually listened!
The recipe is really, really simple. All you need is school glue, plain foamy shaving cream, some glitter and a couple of drops of mint extract. The mint works nicely to mask the smell of the shaving cream.
You mix equal parts of glue and shaving cream together, and then stir in a ton of glitter and a few drops of the mint extract until it looks something like this:
I found an old, crappy paint brush in our basement (perfect for using with a gluey mess) and a wooden stick for Liam to use.
It was sticky, gooey and messy -- perfect for a little boy!
It kept him busy for a good 10-15 minutes.
I decided it need a little more color, so I added a squeeze of both green and red finger paints to the mess.
It dried puffy within a couple of hours. I think I may cut a few hunks out and turn them into Christmas ornaments...we'll see.
If any Sheboygan moms want to try this with their kids, let me know. I will happily pass on the supplies since I already have them all. Sharing is caring :)
If any Sheboygan moms want to try this with their kids, let me know. I will happily pass on the supplies since I already have them all. Sharing is caring :)
Peace.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Hanging up the faves
I just LOVE decorating Christmas trees. Each year as December rolls around I look forward to getting out our box of ornaments, looking at each one (and reminiscing over the memories I have with them) and then carefully put them on the tree. Although I think the term "carefully" is probably not the correct word to use anymore, since little Liam helped me this year!
I separated the ornaments into two piles right away: 1 pile of fragile/vintage/unsafe/breakables and then 1 pile of completely safe/fun/un-breakables (no glass, no hooks, no fit-in-the-mouth). I hung the "Liam do not touch those" ornaments on the top half of the tree while. And Liam hung his toddler-friendly ornaments on the lower half. What a great deal!
This little boy not only helped me decorate the tree this past Sunday, but he's helped me un-decorate and decorate it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN every day this week. I sit by him when he does it, to make sure he doesn't try to climb the tree (or eat the tree or destroy the tree).
It's cool to see that he loves decorating the tree as much as his mama does :)
To me, ornaments are a gift that keeps on giving. Every year I get to look at them & enjoy them. And each one has it's own unique story. Here are some photos of my favorite ornaments that I've been gifted/given or made myself over the years:
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| Matt, Liam and I made these last year and gave them to Liam's grandparents & godparents as gifts. And of course we saved one for our tree! It cracked a little while in storage, but I'm keeping this thing as long as it will let me! |
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| When I had an art studio in St. Petersburg at The Art Lofts I made a bunch of ornaments out of wood and paper scraps. I sold them at a Christmas art event. I still have a few left. This one (and the one below) are my favorites). |
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| Here's another ornament with Florida memories! I bought this at a really cool pottery place in St. Pete called St. Pete Clay. All of the ornaments there were handmade by local artists. |
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| I gave this to Matt as a gift a couple of years ago. This is pretty self explanatory. Matt likes beer. |
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| My mom gave this to us the first Christmas after we were married. |
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| My mom gave this to me (and one to each of my brothers) the Christmas after my dad died. That was THE hardest Christmas I've ever experienced. But this star, which I hang at the very top of the tree every year, also represents the presence my dad still has each day in my life. I know that he's like a star watching over my family and I :) |
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| Liam's first Christmas ornament. Very dear to my heart. |
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| My mom gave me a box of childhood oldies to pick through and keep a few years back. This Strawberry Shortcake ornament is pretty dang old - I got it as a little girl from my grandma & grandpa. |
We also picked through some boxes of vintage ornaments of Matt's Grandma's. I just love the history and look of these. Someone else's memories are now hanging on our tree.
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| Matt's family is VERY German (like 100% German background), so every year Matt's parents have been giving us a German-style ornament for Christmas. These are two of my faves. |
Okay....so what is YOUR favorite ornament from your childhood? That you've made yourself? That you've been gifted? Please share!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Three clear glasses, two creative hands and a gold permanent Sharpie marker...
This month's Crafty Club was held last week at my friend Janine's house. She found a cool idea on Pinterest. She bought clear, simple glasses for us to decorate with gold and silver Sharpie markers. All seven of us decorated our glasses the way we wanted, and I must say, they turned out pretty amazing! Here are a few of our finished products:
This is my favorite out of the ones that I decorated.
These are my three completed glasses. Which one do you like best?
One of Joy's masterpieces. She used painters tape to mask part of the glass, then colored in between.
This is another one of Joy's. I really like this one :)
Here are Erin's (sorry it's blurry, she sent it to me via cell phone). She put candles inside, lit them and placed them on her counter. These will look great on display for the holidays.
Janine said that we could bake the glasses in the oven to "set" the Sharpie markings permanently, but I'm a little scared to try it. I'm just going to leave mine alone and hope I never need to wash them! I'm planning to use them as candle holders.
This was a REALLY easy craft for those of you out there looking for something "homemade" to make and give as gifts this holiday season. I highly recommend trying it :)
Have a peaceful Thanksgiving everyone!
Love,
Erin
Monday, November 25, 2013
Feeling mappy
With a new baby arriving sometime in April I've been busy planning Liam's new "big boy room." We're hoping to move him into his new room sometime in the next couple of months.
The new baby will move right into Liam's current room once it's born (although it will be sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom for the first couple of months). So I'm not going to change anything with that room. It's owl themed, which is good for a boy or girl, so I don't have to worry about the baby's room at all :)
Liam will be moving into the bedroom that, up until very recently, was Matt's at-home office. We moved Matt's office to a different bedroom (our largest bedroom in the house) which will now be Matt's office + guest bedroom. I'm not sure how happy Matt is about have a guest bed in his office...but we really wanted the kids' bedrooms (the two smallest rooms) closest to our bedroom. Oh my gosh, did I just say kids? Like plural? Like more than one kid? Ahhh!!!!
Anyways...in Liam's future room we need to paint the new window we just had installed, and put a fresh coat of white on all of the trim. And then I get to decorate it :) I'm sure you're wondering what the theme will be in Liam's new room? It's going to be a worldly/map inspired/happy travels kind of theme.
A bit of my inspiration actually comes from the book All The World, which Liam received as a gift from our friends when he was born. The book is an amazing story about how all things/people/animals are connected and important. I think it's a great story for Liam to grow up with and understand someday.
I finished a little project for his room last week. I'm sure I saw the idea on Pinterest or in a magazine a while back. I thought it'd be cute to put on a shelf in his new room.
I bought cardboard letters at Hobby Lobby, which spell out Liam's name. They were less than $2 per letter, so this entire project cost me around $8.
I searched our home & cars for a variety of maps. I'm sure we won't miss the the maps too much (hello GPS).
And I already had a squeeze bottle of Tacky Glue here at home.
Over the course of 4 nights (one letter per night) while watching TV, I cut and pasted the map pieces onto the letters. It was kind of a pain in the booty, but it was well worth the outcome.
And the rest of the maps that I have left over? I can use them for a couple more mappy projects :)
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
We'll treasure every measure
Way back in April I posted a photo of this boring ol' piece of wood, with the intention of making a giant growth chart for Liam:
Well it's been seven months and we FINALLY finished the project!
As most of you've probably seen (on Pinterest, in stores, on DIY sites online), do-it-yourself wooden growth charts have become quite popular. Here are two kinds I found online and that I fell in love with:
From Headwaters Studios on Etsy
From the Dear Lilly blog
I really liked the layout of the 1st photo -- the way the numbers are centered on the wood and upright. And I really liked the wood & rustic look of the 2nd photo. So I decided to combine the two and make one of my own.
We bought the piece of wood from Home Depot and then Matt lightly sanded it. I used a yardstick and pencil to lightly draw in the inch and feet lines. I bought some inexpensive stencils from Hobby Lobby and found a Min wax stain color in our basement that I liked. I taped the stencils to the board and dabbed stain over them with a cloth. And VOILA, it's done! Super easy and very cheap.
We wanted it in our house where it can be seen, but didn't want it in a main living area, so we decided to hang it in our back mudroom.
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| Liam is just shy of 2' 8". |
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| Okay...so Matt and I are going to measure our heights too! But we actually want to see if we'll SHRINK as the years go by :) And you need to know - Matt was wearing shoes when I measured him for this (he cheated), so he's not that much taller than me :) |
I'm more of a "measure your kid on the inside of an old door frame" kind of person. My mom has an awesome measuring spot in a doorway in her garage (all of her grand kids height measurements are there). But Matt and I aren't sure if we'll be living in our current home forever, so we thought it'd be best if we can take the growth chart with us wherever the wind may blow us :)
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