Ayla was on a camping weekend having tons of fun and Evren and I weren’t happy just sitting at home… so we visited one of our favorite places in the city. Then he convinced me to go to the Art Museum across the street also. I had to stop him when he just assumed we were going to the Asian Museum as well… I love museums too, but moderation!
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My super-awesome friend CJ tells me: I got you something, it’s totally not a big deal, but I saw this and I thought of you and I had to get it.
I drink iced coffee almost every day (I know! she says) …she was right – this is totally the perfect gift. I love it!
I got this idea straight from Mindy Pierce’s site – she made it look so super easy! …and I want to make sure I give credit to her. I thought it was a beautiful idea to make inexpensive gifts for people I care about – at work, at school, in my neighborhood – to let them know I am thinking of them during this holiday season.
Sometimes you may not know everyone’s personal tastes… do they like coffee? do they have pierced ears? do they enjoy chocolate? Well, this is the perfect gift, it’s fun to make, and the kids can help!
What you need:
bag(s) of small oranges or tangerines
bag(s) of limes
cinnamon sticks
bay leaves
whole Cloves
clear craft bags, holiday ribbon, printed tags
Put one orange, one lime, 2-4 bay leaves, 5-10 whole cloves and 2-3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks in each bag. Tips: Buy your cloves and cinnamon sticks at an ethnic market to get them in bulk at a much cheaper price. Use whatever paper & ribbon you have on hand to make your tags. I had intended to print my tags on white card stock but realized I didn’t have any left. But I did have white labels & red card stock and I think they look even better than I intended! I designed my printing to fit the labels I had.
I devoted way too many hours this season to finding the perfect advent calendar… and, as it turns out, it doesn’t exist. But I was a mom obsessed and I couldn’t let it go. My main reason? I need accountability when it comes to holiday activities. I want to do them, I mean to do them, but …excuses! I have a lot of them and they get in the way. But, if my darling children, full of anticipation, open a cute little box in the morning that says that we are going to do a holiday craft after I get home from work… then we’ll do it, no matter what.
First task comes early… steal enough Halloween candy from the kids’ stash to fill your Advent Calendar boxes. You have to do this the day after Halloween so they won’t miss 50 pieces of candy gone. (Mine had no idea.) I took 2 like pieces of 25 different candies and I didn’t have to buy any candy at all. Sweet!
Then, for an entire month, I looked for an advent calendar… and by Thanksgiving I was pretty much willing to pay any price. My biggest issues were 1) most advent calendars have teeny-tiny compartments that allow for you to put what exactly in them? one hershey kiss?? and 2) peeking is too easy! Oh sure, honor system, no peeking… right. Not gonna happen, not with my kids anyway.
So, while everyone else was scoring big screen tvs on Black Friday I was hitting the craft stores for 70% off sales with 50% off coupons stuffed in my purse. I found 3-packs of Christmas-themed jewelry boxes for $1.99, gift card holders for 50 cents, Christmas ribbon marked 70% off, vinyl number stickers marked half-off and I scored a big glass container for less than ten bucks with a 50% off coupon. I already had the cardstock, so I was set.
It did take a long time to plan out my activities and coordinate with my calendar, but I fit it all the fun things that I always intend to do every year and all of our usual traditions that I definitely don’t want to forget. I printed each one on a small piece of cardstock…
Then I slipped one activity and two pieces of candy into each box and tied it tight with a ribbon. No peeking or I will totally know. Each box got a number on the outside so we know which one goes with which day. Then I just put them carefully into my glass container for a beautiful Advent Calendar…
In fact, my vase wasn’t large enough so I put the overflow into my cake stand.
One tip: Add all of your activities into your personal calendar so you know which ones are coming up in the next few days. (As long as your calendar is private and your kids don’t see it.)
I let the kids open one box every morning, taking turns each day. That way they have all day to look forward to the activity we have planned and they save their candy for a little treat later in the day. After they have opened each box I put the ribbon inside the box and into a bag in the pantry so I can save them to reuse next year.
Merry Christmas!!
BEFORE:
This was the absolute best this tree ever looked. This is the only photo I could find with the tree in it – I realized every time I took a photo of the house I (sub)-consciously tried to crop that side out so I wouldn’t have to look at it.
Then, after our BRUTAL HEAT WAVE breaking all kinds of records most of the tree died so it was brown. My neighbor across the way pointed out the obvious one day, “I think your tree’s dead.”
And THAT WAS IT. I finally had a *good enough* reason to get rid of it.
And so I did.
AFTER:
I am so grateful for the help I had to get rid of it once and for all! Thanks to the wonderful Ayla (yard work hater) who did help saw off several big branches but ended up inside baking us a pie while we were working and was heard to say after, “Huh. I never knew there was a window there.” And also, Thanks to Evren (wishes we did yard work every weekend) who helped cut down this monster and was heard to say after, “What is the point of a window that isn’t actually a real window?”
I saw this quote online and it reminded me of a friend who has a birthday tomorrow. But the sign was very rustic and her taste is more elegant, so I wondered if I could recreate the sentiment in a different style as a personalized gift for her.
I downloaded some free fonts online first and practiced with a few different ones I liked to pick the perfect one. Then I went to the craft store to buy an inexpensive (50% off!) but fancy frame, a few pieces of open stock scrapbook paper (also 50% off!) and a couple of flower embellishments that I thought might match (40% off!).
I printed the quote directly onto the scrapbook paper (tried a couple different papers to see which one I liked best) in dark brown with a shadow and cut it to size. I pulled out my hot glue gun and made sure the three flowers were very well adhered to the frame, and…ta-da! Easy. And even though it’s not expensive, I was thinking of someone in particular and it made me happy to make this for her. I hope she likes it!
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