Happy Friday! We had a superb Christmas filled with friends and family. K raked in some squeal-inducing gifts (the expression when she saw the gigantic Yamaha keyboard box with her name spelled out with red camo duct tape was pure gold: "Mommy! There's a present for me that's bigger than our couch!!"). One of the things I really enjoyed on Christmas Eve was making miniature gingerbread houses that perch on the edge of mugs. I used Not Martha's template and recipe recommendations, and ... Read more
Joyeux Noel
One of the holiday projects we worked on included these clay ornament tags. I've been using them as decorative touches to gifts as well as gifts themselves. K, my mom and I spent an evening cutting them out using cookie cutters and then painted them a couple of days later when the clay pieces had thoroughly dried. We used this brand of air dry clay, and initially it looks dull, like dirty snow. But as it dries, the clay turns bright white, just the way I like them. One of the things I ... Read more
Felting + Girly Hair Accessories
Still slaving away, trying to crank out handmade gifts, though I came to my senses yesterday and decided to purchase a few gifts rather than trying to make everything. My mantra is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy-and-don't-keel-over-from-stress, and I'm choosing the path of least resistance. I need to add in at least one more cliche there... I don't want to reveal all my gifts in case any of the recipients are passing through here (unlikely, but you never know), but I'm pretty excited about this ... Read more
DIY Faux Leather Luggage Tags
As a going away present, I made some luggage tags for a friend some weeks ago. They struck me as good holiday gifts that you can whip up in no time, so I'm putting it out there. My friend was very sweet and complimentary about them, and I think they're quite pretty myself. And did I mention easy to make? The ones I made are about 3.5in x 5.5 inches. I tried out a couple of different methods, and there's a wealth of customization opportunities with these. I liked using ribbon from my stash ... Read more
2013 Advent Calendar
Unlike last year, I've been quiet about my industrious advent calendar-making this year. Thanks to a world-class babysitter (what would we do without moms?), I had the luxury of working on this year's calendar at a leisurely pace, and though I'm not sure it packs quite the visual punch of last year's, I'm so so pleased with these itty bitty houses. There's a lot of love poured into them. Yes, I made 24 balsa wood houses from scratch. Did you know you could cut balsa wood with scissors? Such ... Read more