...anyone can start today and make a new ending.

December 31, 2011

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."
Maria Robinson

New day, new year, new start!

I have never been big on the whole New Year's resolutions thing.  I cannot recall having ever come up with a real resolution.  I think I usually just say something silly and go about my business.

This year - I am taking this seriously!

I assigned each family member {except Ella, she still won't talk!} the task of coming up with 5 goals for 2012.

Many people work really hard at their resolutions for about a month and then toss them aside and go back to their old ways.  This is not as easy to do if you broadcast your goals in some manner.  So to keep us honest I created this goal display.




Step 1.  I scrounged up an old frame in the basement and gave it 3 coats of acrylic, white paint.

Step 2.  I cut a scrap of fabric and covered the cardboard backing of the frame with it.  I used glue dots around the back of the cardboard to secure the fabric.

Step 3.  I wrote our goals with Maia's window markers.

Step 4.  I took a nap... yawn.

This isn't a game.  There are no rules, no prize.  I simply want my family to take a moment to examine our lives and come up with some ideas on how to move forward in a positive way that best suits each of us.

Here is how we are moving forward:

Daddy - Lose 3% body fat, read 6 books, take one business class per quarter, lead a one-day sport's camp, improve upon our fruit/veggie garden setup

Mommy - Workout 3 times per week, open an Etsy shop, acquire 200 blog followers {hint hint}, design my craft room and complete it, improve upon our flower garden

Maia - Learn to tie her own shoes, ride her bike without training wheels, swim without a lifejacket, clean her room everyday, complete her morning and bedtime skincare routine on her own {she gets "itchies" (psoriasis = lame) so the routine involves oil and vaseline application - she hates it!}. 
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Counting Down with Family Fun!

Some of you observant types might have noticed that I kind of *cough* disappeared the week before Christmas.  I was in over my head with projects and I caught a nasty cold and I was just miserable in general.  So I set the blog aside and gave up on my remaining Christmas decor plans and went straight to finishing Christmas gifts {I will share those another time - they were AWESOME}.  I have come up with some blog planning strategies that I believe will better prepare me for the 2012 blogging season.  But, enough of my excuses...

2011 was the first year that our family had an advent calendar which contained daily activities {see the project here}.  With all of the parties, decorating, crafting of gifts, baking, school activities, etc. {I know this isn't just our household}, I was a bit uncertain about being able to keep up with the advent day-to-day fun.  

Surprisingly, we did it!  

Each day's activity gave us the opportunity to take a break from the holiday madness and enjoy some time together.  It felt good taking some time from the constant go, go, go to sit down with Maia and watch a Christmas movie or help her with a holiday craft or go shopping to let her pick out gifts for Daddy and Sister or having a hot cocoa and popcorn party, etc.  

Sometimes amongst the day-to-day craze we live in, we forget to stop.  We think we don't have the time, but after seeing how well we did this month, I can see that I really do have the time.  Planning it all out and assigning an activity each day allowed me to mentally prepare and it eliminated the need for Maia to whine about not having something to do.  Maia knew what family fun to expect and Mommy was able to organize her day with the activity in mind.

So here is what I have decided to do:  I am going to do this every month!  Each month I will create a new {super creative and freakin' adorable} countdown and each day will be assigned an activity.  Maia will be better able to remember the date each day, we will look forward to a family activity and Maia will hopefully learn something from each activity {even if it is just enhancing her crafting skills - I am grooming her to be bigger than Martha Stewart}.

I think this is going to be PHENOMENAL!  I am super excited about it {if I hadn't conveyed that already}!

Ok, ok, ok... enough chatter.  Time to put my creativity where my mouth is.  JANUARY HERE WE COME!

I had a few helpers...




January Garland How To:

Step 1.  {I must have been a VERY good girl this year, because Santa brought me the Silhouette Cameo that I had been wishing for}!
I used my fancy new miracle machine to cut out all of the cardstock components of my garland - the people, the hearts and the sweet little envelopes {look at those adorable itty bitty hearts!}.

Step 2.  After the Cameo did it's job, Maia, Ariana {my niece} and I painted each of the little people to signify how different each person in the world is {the girls LOVED this}.

Step 3.  I glued on each itty bitty heart to show that despite how different we may look, we all have the same heart inside {tear}.

Step 4.  I then attached each completed person onto a strand of twine using miniature clothespins {from Joann's - left over from a Christmas gift project}.

Step 5.  I wrote the number of each day onto each envelope using Sharpies.

Step 6.  I glued the cutest envelopes ever onto the pretty peoples using glue dots {love those}.

Step 7.  I printed out the activities on regular printer paper.

Step 8.  I cut out activities with a circle punch and stuffed them into the envelopes.

Step 9.  I smiled.









What does this garland have to do with the month of January?

January holds a holiday which I believe to be very under-appreciated, but so important.  Martin Luther King, Jr is one of the most inspiring people of all time.  His message was, and continues to be, so strong, so inspiring and so important.  Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

For the month of January I want to show my littles more about togetherness and equality.  

I am testing something out this month; I am going to focus my projects around a central theme.  This month's theme will be "I Have a Dream."  All of my posts will not focus on MLK's message, but the majority will.

I have my schedule all mapped out and boy am I excited about what we have in store in the coming month!

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We Wreath You a Merry Christmas - Part 3 - Snowball Fight!

December 14, 2011

How could I NOT make a snowball wreath?

I went with a snow theme with the mantel and our outdoor decor this year {we typically don't get much in the way of real snow in these parts} and I am in love with the snowball wreaths I saw while snooping around pinterest.  Kristi from Addicted 2 Decorating has a great tutorial HERE {I can't take my eyes off of her chevron fabric}.

Like many of my projects, this turned out to be pretty time consuming {I'm not really sure why I ever expect it to be anything but}, but completely worth it!


Definitely love the way this flows with my snowflake wonderland outside so I swapped out my beaded masterpiece for this one on the front entry.




I had planned on embellishing it with "Let it Snow" written in red wire, but as I was hanging it on the door the flower arrangement on our entry table caught my eye.  Just for giggles I stuck a few flowers in there and LOVED it, but I needed something else...

Snatched a mini snowman ornament off of the tree {from out of this year's advent calendar HERE}, glued a toothpick to the back and pinned her in.

Perfection.

I will be sharing one more wreath this week, our super simple stockings and show off our finished mantel {I am looking forward to January when I can get back to your everyday crafting!}.

Linking up:
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