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JANUARY // day trip to cannon beach
FEBRUARY // valentine's day ties for the boys
MARCH // weekend getaway to seattle
APRIL // secret agent kits for easter
MAY // enjoying the warmer weather
JUNE // j's 5th birthday
JULY // spending time with family + friends in california
AUGUST // family camping trip
SEPTEMBER // new school for the boys
OCTOBER // their first star wars costumes
NOVEMBER // trip to ashland
DECEMBER // one last trip to seattle
It was a very white Christmas this year at Casa Shim. Although I wish our Christmas involved white powdery snow we had to settle for white Christmas decorations. I was originally planning to go with a white + gold color palette [since I have leftover materials from the Gifted feature]. But somehow everything turned out white.
Cutting out snowflakes is one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season. As cliche as it may sound, I really love how no two snowflakes are alike. J made a bunch of snowflakes which we strung across the windows in their playroom using hemp twine. j had more fun opening up all the snowflakes I made.
I also made a linen tree by wrapping strips of white linen around a white foam tree. I'm not sure why they don't make the foam trees with a pointed tip. I improvised and made a paper cone and hot glued it in place [before wrapping the strips of linen around the tree]. I also hand stamped on to white twill tape some words [love, faith, hope, peace, joy, forgiveness, grace] that reflect what Christmas means to our family.
I cut the words out and pinned them on to the linen tree. The boys helped pin on some silver matte sequins.
My makeshift votive candles were made from my favorite simple ikea glasses + tiny marshmallows.
This white roost ceramic origami crane was a gift from Melissa. I've wanted one for a long time. So pretty and simple.
And the tree that keeps giving. We've seen it here for Halloween and here for Thanksgiving.
I removed the kraft paper leaves with our words of thanksgiving [which are waiting to be placed into a book] and added some more simple white leaves using beautiful paper from our recent Whimsy & Spice order.
We also made a linen wreath by wrapping strips of white linen around a foam wreath form. J had fun pinning the sequins on to the wreath.
I also made a paper chain using this Martha Stewart edge punch [see first photograph]. I borrowed the idea from the lovely Kjerstis Lykke blog. And in order to use up the last few snowflakes I made a quick garland using paper + hemp twine. I'm a little sad Christmas is over. I've really enjoyed the quiet + lazy days at home with the family. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !
Wishing you a day filled with good food + family fun!
Last year I made snowy day survival kits for friends + family which included board games + hot chocolate + marshmallows. This year I decided to make some simple hot chocolate kits. Although I could have gone the homemade hot chocolate + marshmallow route, I went for the easier repackaging route. I bought the ingredients for the kits and placed them in pretty Weck jars which I picked up from Canoe.
The kits included Dagoba's xocolatl drinking chocolate...
...and tiny marshmallows...
...and chocolate covered peppermint sticks.
I designed simple tags for each jar and tied it with hemp twine. My original plan was to sew drawstring bags for the kits like last year but I ran out of time so I used white shopping bags and attached a personalized tag.
H O L I D A Y I N S P I R A T I O N
+ martha's diy branch candle holder // perfect for your home or as a gift
+ bonnie's "to give & to receive" series // check out my picks here
+ suann's 2010 holiday card // cute + clever
+ sharilyn's christmas gift tags // beautiful + free
+ whimsy & spice's homemade marshmallows // appah describes them as little pillows
+ kjerstis lykke's advent calendar // amazing [along with everything else she makes]
The farm where we got our Christmas tree this year has a sweet little bakery with the best apple cider donuts [their pumpkin + marionberry donuts are pretty darn good, too]. I don't know anyone who doesn't like donuts so I've been giving them away to friends. I packaged them up in kraft bags with a poly liner and metal tabs [I used to sell these in the shoppe a few years ago] and used washi tape to adhere a little "an apple [cider donut] a day keeps the doctor away" tag.
It appears my goal of posting every day this month was a bit ambitious. I had good intentions but the last week of school kind of did me in. I was busy coordinating + preparing for two classroom winter parties and packing + shipping Christmas presents for our families. Now that we're officially on vacation I am looking forward to finishing up holiday decorations, making some last minute Christmas gifts, working on fun crafts with the boys + enjoying time with my family. Hope you all have a great day!
[gingerbread house on left by V + j and on right by J + Appah]
P.S. J + j + Miss Venise are on the Ace Hotel's blog!
I think these photo booth strips taken at Ace Hotel in Portland pretty much sum up Days 10-12. My dear friend Bonnie and her daughter Venise were visiting over the weekend. Their visit started off with big hugs and hand holding and ended with even bigger hugs and more hand holding [and a bunch of tears]. It was a wonderful weekend of hanging out at the house with the kids watching Christmas movies [Day 10 advent calendar activity], decorating ornaments + making gingerbread houses [Day 11] and painting little wooden people [Day 12]. We also were able to take our LA girls to some PDX restaurants [Tasty N Sons, Little Big Burger, Toro Bravo, Screen Door] and enjoy some down time at Powells and Ace Hotel. Fun times with good friends, doesn't get much better than that. [I am in love with the way Bonnie documents life and you can see more photographs of her adventure in PDX here.]
Once every 3-4 months I like to do a little clean out of the boys' playroom. Although they are responsible for tidying up their playroom every evening before they go to bed, it is amazing how little piles of papers + craft creations build up over a few months. I decided today's advent activity would involve cleaning up their playroom as well as donating toys that are no longer being used by the boys.
And as much as I try to limit the number of toys that come into our house there are some things that I cannot resist buying for the boys. You might remember the sweet Sally doll that Jennifer of Sophie & Lili created. Well, I kind of begged Jennifer to design some boy dolls for me and look what she came up with! J + j superhero dolls!! I was so excited when she emailed me the sketches of the dolls [hello, striped tees!] and they are even more cute in person. I am trying really hard to wait until Christmas to give the boys their dolls.
I love the front view of the dolls but the backs are also super sweet.
And here I am with my two favorite boys. Hmm...I'm wondering if I should order an Appah doll next.
One of the boys' favorite things to do is play games with Appah. And today after school they had a nice chunk of time to do just that. They ate snacks, played games and listened to Christmas music. I wish we could press the "repeat" button on days like today.