[new beginnings]

I love new beginnings! Each morning, each week, each month, each year… If you messed up somehow, you can start all over again and with better resolve to do better and to be better. Forgive yourself and others for misdeeds and thus give room for improvement.

One of my favorite things to do is to start a new day planner each year. This year I found the perfect one for me! So my style! Love it! J

I love to mark in the birthdays. The pages are clean, ready to be filled in with appointments or what happened that day.

This year’s wall calendar is Ireland themed. A gift from someone who knows Ireland is special to us.

Maybe if I’ll stare at this picture of Giant’s Causeway, I’ll magically get to finally visit the place. I lived so close to it, yet never had a chance to see this amazing piece of nature.

Look what a lovely thing is in my new day planner already! What a fun activity idea for kids. Print out the numbers of the new year and let children decorate them in some fun way.

If you want to see some ideas I’ve collected on Pinterest about New Year’s Eve, click here. I love the idea of interviewing your child each year and videotaping their answers.

Happiness to you all in the year 2013!

[this & that]

This is one reason I’ve been so busy lately. My dear Jay volunteered the men to do the Christmas decorations for our ward’s Christmas party which of course means that I needed to come up with ideas and supervise the whole production (Jay knew I wouldn't mind the challenge). The budget wasn’t huge so I had to come up with something that could be made relatively cheaply and would make a big impact.

I must admit that I truly enjoyed making these huge paper wheels with the men. Just listening to them talk about cars, James Bond movies and their jobs was interesting. J

One of the loveliest evenings this December was when Jay and I taped some of these wheels together and Sienna drew a Rudolph picture. All while listening to beautiful Christmas music. It really is the simple family moments in life that give you the most joy!

We made about 50 of these paper wheels out of Christmas wrapping paper from Costco (a nice thick roll for only $12, can’t beat that!). We hung most of them from the ceiling plus put some on the walls.

We also put evergreen branches in silver Christmas gift bags and hung tiny silver Christmas balls on them. And since you can’t light candles in our Church (not because we’re weird, just because of insurance reasons J), I bought tons of battery operated white tealights (from Costco as well).

I also lucked out by finding silver & white snowflake dinner napkins that matched everything perfectly. All in all, I was happy with the decorations. Simple, shimmery, elegant.

There you have it – my first big decorating effort. I’ve done things in smaller scale before but never for 200 people.

I printed Sienna’s Rudolph picture on light beige card-stock = Christmas cards for her teachers.

Sienna made this cool paper-mache bird mask at school.

My favorite Elf on the Shelf idea so far.

Made some photo gifts again this year. Every year, Sienna gets a silver photo ornament. I think it’ll be a great keepsake for her as she grows up. The picture of Sienna laughing while wading in a lake near Banff is my this year's favorite. Love it when I catch a real smile.

I used the snowman wrapping idea last year to wrap chocolate boxes. I found the idea from Pinterest.

These gum packages were gifts for my Activity Days girls (I’m in charge of doing bi-weekly activities for girls aged 8 – 11 years old). Great stocking stuffer idea! You just need black and orange permanent markers and little bit of yarn or material.

[gingerbread men]

Sienna and I had fun making gingerbread men out of brown paper. I have a feeling we’ll be making many more of these.

Happy Monday everyone!

[we've been having fun]

Boo is the cutest dog ever! We made some art with his cute little face.

The clouds are made out of wrinkled foil paper.

I think I know what Sienna’s grandparents will get for Christmas - art cards! J

[once upon a time there was a super cute astronaut...]

Isn't this the cutest robot ever?

I printed some pictures of teddy bears and we traced them and made these.

Sienna got this idea from the Mr Maker tv show. All you need is foil to make such a smashing astronaut.

I love how big she made herself. :)

Found these when we were in Banff. Had to try them. To my surprise, they were hot (as in making your mouth burn kind of hot). Such a simple thing, like trying some new candy, can make you smile.

Try something new today! :)

[for daddy]

Super sweetness!

Especially when you add 1.5 kg of M&M’s to it. J

{you know them bunnies... they multiply fast}

Gotta love our little girl! Yesterday she brought paper, markers, glue and pom poms to her bedroom when she was going to bed. She said that she had plans to work hard in the morning. The result? This cuter than cute bunny waiting for me on the wall when I got up this morning. So apparently the bunnies keep multiplying. Who knows how many there'll be by the time Easter's here. :)



If you want to see a clear, non edited photo of these garlands I made last year, click here.

{cats and cute monsters}

Having fun. :)

{paper craft for kids}

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make some crafts that kids can do.

Here's one that would be perfect for grandma.

Super easy.

Supplies:

4 baking cups (cupcake cups)

2" photo

some scrapbooking paper

(or the child can decorate her own paper)

a brad

small hole puncher

optional: 2" circle punch

some tape

optional: magnet



Make a simple leaf pattern and use that pattern to cut 8 paper leafs.

Punch a small hole in each leaf as shown.



Push the brad through the holes and fan the leaves into a flower shape.

Any brad will do. You won't see it once the craft is finished.

Tape the leafs together in the middle so that the leafs won't move around.

Arrange cupcake liners the way you want them and glue them one by one in the middle of the flower. I cut some of mine smaller as I didn't have various size liners.

Finish by gluing the photo in the middle. I used some tape too as the brad made a bump in the middle and glue itself wouldn't hold the photo down nicely.

If you want, you can attach a magnet on the wrong side so the decoration can be displayed on a fridge.

Done! :)



Sienna and I used this to make the above art:

drawing page by carla sonheim

{sunrises and Christmas art}

Some gorgeous sunrises we've seen lately.

 

Sienna started making her own nativity.





Chocolate boxes wrapped as snowmen. These large ones are for Sienna's teachers. I think we'll make small ones for her class mates.

Here's a link to beautiful Bible videos of Jesus' life. Just in time for Christmas.