Save your Christmas cards... (oh, and happy New Year.)

Happy New Year!  Have a fun, safe evening and a blessed, healthy 2012!

Be sure to hang on to this season's Christmas cards...

I'll be back on Monday with a tutorial on how to recycle these lovely Christmas cards into gift tags for next year.

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Summer vacation.... now is the time to start planning for it.

I know, I know, we're still digging out from underneath Christmas, and are trying to figure out what to wear/do on New Year's Eve...

...but it's just about time to start planning for summer.

I'm serious!  Now is a great time to start looking for vacation package deals.  Cruises, tours, hotels and airfare all are going on sale.  It pays to be somewhat flexible with your dates and to book at slightly off times.  Orbitz, Expedia and other bargain travel sites are great for finding good deals on travel.  Living Social, Groupon and Jetsetter are all services you can sign up for and get daily deals sent right to your inbox.  Flexibility is key for taking advantage of these deals.

If you want to save on hotel accommodations, I would highly recommend giving airbnb.com a try.  Type in the city you're interested in visiting and check out all that is available and the amazing prices.

If you are a camper (like we are) make sure you know how far in advance you can make your campsite reservations.

We book our big camping trip at a California State Park.  Their reservations can't be made any earlier than 7 months out... which means that we can't book our July trip until January 2.  Our campground is a popular one and it fills up pretty quickly.

Knowing those dates helps to ensure we get the sites we want, when we want them. We camp with other families, so anytime you're trying to book a block of anything (rooms, campsites, tables....) it pays to do it early.  Reserve America is easy to use for this, and there are lots of KOA Kampgrounds across the country as well.

Be sure to check out the KOA Campfire Community.  It's a great resource for camping and outdoor enthusiasts.  We'll be having a Live Chat about planning for your 2012 vacations on January 5th, 10:00 pm EST.  Hope you'll join us!

Happy vacation planning!


 

How do you get to Carnegie Hall...? Through the front door of course. Duh....

Mitch has been taking guitar lessons and is now playing in a band with a group of students at the music school.

Their instructor sets up little "recitals" around town... usually at coffee houses or in restaurants.  The businesses like them because they come with a built in audience of family members and friends (all of whom buy drinks and order food).  The students like it because they get experience playing in public.

My parents joined us when we went to Mitch's latest performance.  Afterwards, my dad was asking him about the music school, the performances, and how all of this came to be.

My Dad: "How did you get in there?"  (Meaning how did the performance get scheduled at this particular restaurant?)
Mitch: "Oh, there are a couple of entrances."

Hilarious.

 

Top 10 Tips, Tutorials and Projects from 2011... as ranked by you.

Yesterday I posted my Top 10 Grant stories of 2011.  I ranked them in order of how hard I laughed when he said/did these things.

Today I am counting down my Top 10 Projects and Tips for 2011 as ranked by readers' visits.

10.  Mod-Podge Chair Tutorial

9.  Spring Artwork Tutorial

8.  Recipe for Apples Malloy

7.  Wine-Cork Artwork Tutorial

6.  Spray Painted Tissue Paper Pom-Poms

5.  How to dry Hydrangeas

4.  Cowhide Dresser Re-Do and Tutorial

3.  How to turn plastic eggs into faux Robin's Eggs

2.  Tip: using Silica Gel to control moisture

And by a landslide, (it had 50,000 page-views more than the #2 post!) the post that had the most page-views this year was:
1.  How to clean stove burners using just the fumes from ammonia

Thank you for coming over to read whatever it is I ramble on about.  This blog has been a great outlet for me and a real blessing... thank you for being a part of that.  Many blessings in 2012!

Linking up here:

click here

 

The Top 10 Grant Stories of 2011.

Although lately I seem to post a lot more craft projects than I do stories about Grant, these little anecdotes are some of my very favorite posts.  (Grant and his antics are the reason this blog got started in the first place!)

As the year draws to a close, I thought I'd share my Top 10 Favorite Grant Stories of 2011.

10.  On Girls.

9.  On building his own self-esteem.

8.  The proper way to celebrate your new Buzz Lightyear pajamas.

7.  On creative writing assignments.

6.  On telling the truth when you're caught red-handed.

5.  On fashion

4.  On the state of the national economy.

3.  Regarding website registrations and online activities.

2.  On what to do with left-overs that are made with alcohol.

1.  On finding loopholes in the rules.


I can't wait to see what 2012 brings! Happy New Year.


 

Wear your seat belt. The best commercial ever.

I hope everyone had a lovely and safe Christmas.  Please be safe as you ring in the new year.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

 

Our home's Christmas decor... better late than never.

The month of December has just flown by!  I haven't had time to do all of the things I wanted to, but at the same time, I'm not stressed out at all.

(Other than having my exterior Christmas decorations ripped apart due to a roof emergency...)

Anyhow, I didn't link up to any holiday "home tours" but here's what's going on in our household.  Although I usually change things up with fun colors each year, I promised Handsome Hubby that this year would be traditional Christmas colors... so Red, Green & Gold it is.

click here to see how to make the "True love was born in a stable" Nativity Artwork

The tree...

The mantel...

The dining room...

Special touches...  Ornaments from my parents' Christmas tree, about two weeks after they got married.  These ornaments are 51 years old and I treasure them.

And this?  This candle says Santa's Helper, but I think Christmas Troll would be apropos.  What the heck is that?!  It's a little scary.  However, when I was about 18 months old I must have thought it looked more tasty than scary.  Those little marks on the shoe are where I nibbled on it a little bit.

Merry, merry Christmas and blessings for 2012.

 

With all the crafty tools and doo-dads we have, sometimes we forget the basics.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Parker Pens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I assume if you're over here reading my blog that we must have a few things in common, right?  We like to make things, we like to entertain and cook and craft...  I figure you must like the little crafty tools like I do... our electronic cutters, our glue guns, etc.  We spend money on scrapbook supplies, die cutters, stencils, glitter, glue and power tools...

You know what I want and I don't have?

A pen.  Seriously.  I want a nice pen.  

One that writes smoothly and doesn't leave ink blobs or smudge.  If it looks pretty, that's a bonus.  Do you have a favorite pen?  I know that might sound kind of stupid, but anyone who does have a favorite knows what I am talking about.  It feels good in your hand and it even seems to make your penmanship a bit nicer.

I think I want something from the Parker Ingenuity collection.  These look like pretty fountain pens, they write beautifully like rollerballs, and they are as easy as a ball point.  I would totally keep this in my purse and treat it like a fashion accessory too.  (It would be safe from the boys there as well.)

See?  Pretty.

I think this would be a great last minute gift too.  I hope Santa reads this post in time for Christmas morning.  Be sure to check out Parker on Facebook.

3 simple Christmas traditions to start for your kids.

If you do it twice, it's tradition.  That's kind of a family motto.
The only way to start a tradition is to just start doing something.  It doesn't have to be a big, elaborate thing.  I told you about our family Christmas tradition of going out to see lights by boat, but we also have several traditions here at home that make Christmas-time extra special, especially for the younger members of the family.

My good friend, Impulsive Addict, was wanting to create some Christmas traditions for her adorable, just-turned-2-year old daughter, so I thought I'd share some of ours.

1. Have special toys, books and movies that only come out at Christmas time.
The toys can be stuffed animals, coloring books, anything Christmas themed.  Ours come out as soon as we start pulling the decorations down from the rafters in the garage.  (Each year when we pack up the Christmas decorations, we make sure the kids' box goes up last so that the following year it can come down first.)

Grant loves this train that circles the main tree.  It is not my favorite thing, but Grant and Handsome Hubby love it, so that's what matters.  They lie next to the tree and watch it go round and round.  (To each his own...)

Many of these toys are below Grant's age level now, but he still enjoys taking them out and looking at them.  Because they only come out once a year, he wants to play with them all that he can.

The same can be said for the Christmas books...

...and the Christmas movies.

Because these movies are only out at Christmas time, we all enjoy them and look forward to them.  (In case you were wondering: No, Grant is not allowed to watch The Ref.)

2. Start a tradition that involves mystery and anticipation.
Ours is in the form of 3 elves: Marta, Helga and Jingles.  I can't get on the whole Elf on the Shelf bandwagon because these 3 elves have been coming since I was a child.  Now that I have children of my own, the 3 elves come to see them too.

About 35 years ago my mom upcycled a Christmas card and typed on it:

Dear Vivienne and Monica,

We Elves from Santa's workshop are watching you.

You had better be good, you better mind mom & dad!

Check in your stockings for an early Yule time treat....

If you are extra specially good, that is.

love, Marta, Helga and Jingles

(A few years ago my mom had that original card laminated and gave it to me as a gift.  I treasure it.)
From the moment the stockings were hung, we knew to start checking them for little presents.  I shop all year for little gifts to put into the stockings.  After Christmas Clearance Sales are a great place to stock up on Christmas themed toys, little books, DVDs to add to your Christmas collection.  Target's Dollar Spot and various Dollar Stores have plenty of little treats are well.

The kids never know when the elves will show up.  Sometimes it's a few times in one day.  Other times it's once a day.  There is such a level of anticipation and mystery about these elves.  When they are on the look-out for the elves, these kids are hilarious!  They look like TSA screeners, patting down travelers at security checkpoints... the way they pat down their stockings every hour or so.  I love to see it.

Click here to learn how we told the older kids The Truth and enlisted their help playing "elf".  (And you know what else is cool?  My childhood stocking still is hung at my parents' home and I still get treats from the elves in it...)

3. Incorporate photos of Christmases past into your decor.
Part of my Christmas decorations are framed photos of some of our favorite Christmas memories.

I am kind of a Christmas Freak and I spray paint the frames to match my ever-changing color schemes. (You certainly don't need to do that part if you don't want to.) I pack the framed photos away each year which makes it easy to set them out again.

We look over photos of school Christmas programs...

Of gingerbread houses made with our grandma (and even old photos of me with my little sister and dad from the 70s...)

More gingerbread house photos with grandparents

Christmas mornings...

But this one is my favorite.  Christmas cheer and complete goofiness...

We look at these beloved photos each year and reminisce.  We refresh memories that can so easily be blurred into one long Christmas season, or worse, lost all together.

One of the boys' favorite things?  I framed the, um, alternative lyrics to The Twelve Days of Christmas.

In 2002, we were driving somewhere and they began singing the song, but changing the lyrics.  The more they got into it, the harder they laughed.  Dad was joining in too, and they were having so much fun that I knew I had to preserve the moment.  I scrawled the lyrics on a scrap of paper I had in my purse.

I typed up the new lyrics and framed it.  I even taped the original scrap of paper to the back of the frame.  I know you're all dying to know the new lyrics, so here they are:

The Twelve Days of Christmas

 1st Day : Hot Wheels from Italy

2nd Day: Killer Bees

3rd Day: Hornet Nests 

4th Day: Chocolate Chip Pancakes

5th Day: Onion Rings

6th Day: Punching Kangaroos

7th Day: Golden Boogers

8th Day: Cigarettes

9th Day: Pooping Squirrels

10th Day: Stinky Socks

11th Day: Toilet Plungers

12th Day: Rattlesnakes

Yes, I have boys.... why do you ask?

At the end of the day, these 3 things I do each year (Toys, Elves and Photos) are things that the boys look forward to and remember.  I am fairly confident that they will grow up and continue these traditions in their own homes with their own children.
How cool is that?!