Thursday, November 21

Our Favorite Artist

We have a little Monet in the house. B had his first painting experience a few months ago making a father's day card for the daddy. The card turned out great, and the poster board I laid out underneath turned out just as good! I didn't want to throw it away, but I didn't know what to do with it....


Then a few days later we were checking out the Ikea as-is section and found these sweet 12x12" shadow boxes (with just a couple dings in the paint) for about $3 each. I picked one up thinking it would be a great way to showcase a bit of his artwork. Fortunately my very wise and helpful husband was there to remind me "if you don't get three, you'll regret it later." Good point.


When we got home I picked out my three favorite parts of the poster board to frame. I took the matte out of one of the frames and traced inside to mark the parts I wanted to keep.


Then I cut out the squares, leaving a little extra around my tracing lines.


Ready to frame!

Wednesday, November 13

Day 31 - Gift Wrapping

Welcome back, friends! This month we're working on 31 handmade gifts for everyone on your list. You can find links to the full series here.


We made it to the last day! And it's only like halfway through November... so... yeah. It's been fun, but I think I'll be passing next year. I may still do a series if something tickles my fancy, but it will have to be something less stressful and more at my own pace. A.k.a. the pace where taking care of two little boys comes first. But I guess that's getting ahead of myself, so let's go ahead and wrap this baby up with an easy gift wrapping idea!


I still love my gift wrapping from two years ago when I used brown paper, newspaper, salt dough gift tags, and ribbons (you can read more about it here) so I decided to go back that direction this year.


But this time I wanted something even faster & easier. And what do I grab when I'm in a hurry? gift bags! So that's what I focused on this year.


Easy to decorate, easy to pack, and they come in lots of sizes for whatever you're gifting!


And I think they're going to be super cute under the tree!


Here's all you need:

Tuesday, November 12

Day 30 - Cloth Napkins

Welcome back, friends! This month we're working on 31 handmade gifts for everyone on your list. You can find links to the full series here.


We're almost done! Today is our last gift project and tomorrow we'll do some easy gift-wrapping. So let's get started on these cloth napkins!


These are a great gift for just about anyone. They're practical but also super fun to use. And really easy to make!


I picked a fun print so these are perfect for everyday use with the family. If you wanted more formal napkins you could go with something like a natural linen for a boost of fancy.


You can use just about anything that fits the style of the recipient! (I made sure the print I chose was pretty dark so it won't stain as easily. My style is "little boys eat here.")


Here's what you need to make a set of four napkins:

Sunday, November 10

Day 29 - Owl Pillow

Welcome back, friends! This month we're working on 31 handmade gifts for everyone on your list. You can find links to the full series here.


We're wrapping up the series with a few random projects that help fill in any gaps we missed earlier this month. Today's project is a little something for the home. It's an owl pillow!


This is great for, well, anyone who likes owls (and come on. who doesn't?) but also could be fun for anyone who likes to keep things fresh around the house.


And you can totally suit this to anyone's style. Change the color of the pillow cover to match their decor, or even change the color of the owl to mix things up a bit! A white pillow with a rainbow color owl would be a fun twist, or even a gray pillow with a red and white owl. Or try a monochromatic owl in shades of blue.


But let's start with this guy. Here's all you need to make one (actually you can get two out of it so go ahead and make a pair!):

Wednesday, November 6

Day 28 - Baking Mixes

Welcome back, friends! This month we're working on 31 handmade gifts for everyone on your list. You can find links to the full series here.


Today we're back at it with a great gift for neighbors and friends, especially those who enjoy cooking or baking. We're making a couple baking mixes!


We're making two different kinds of mixes so you have a few gift-giving options. The first is a White Chocolate Cranberry Bread mix. It's easy to mix up and pop in the oven, so it's great for a cozy Christmas Eve! To make the mix, just layer the following ingredients in a quart size jar:
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