Wrapping up the Year

At the end of last year, I started a new tradition with my scrapbooking.  My husband and I reflected on the past year by writing down the answers to some simple questions.  I then slid the sheet with our reflections on into my Project Life binder.  We both enjoyed reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the next one.  I am looking forward to looking at our predictions for 2013 to see how close we were :) I looking forward to the year that I can include my daughter into the reflecting.

Here is the sheet that I created for reflecting on this past year and looking forward to 2014.  Here is a link if you would like to print it - New Year Reflection.

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.  Merry Christmas!

A Homemade Christmas

This Christmas, I wanted to make some of the gifts that we would be giving.  I have always liked homemade, personal gifts.  Making a gift at home doesn't have to take a lot of time or effort.  For example, this year I got a gift basket from a student with three different types of homemade bread.  It was very thoughtful, however I am sure it was easy to put together.  (The bread so far has been delicious :) )

My homemade Christmas started with making my own Christmas cards.  Of course I wanted the photo on our card to either be of the whole family or my daughter.  One Saturday morning, I laid out a white sheet and some Christmas lights and let my daughter play with them.  As she was playing, I grabbed the camera and starting shooting.  After looking through many photos, here are the ones that I chose for the card:

I really like Snapfish for printing my photos, so that is where I looked first for a Christmas card to plug my photos into.  I found one I loved and they even had them 50% off!

Next, I wanted to to make something for my niece and nephew who are 18 month old twins.  I had already gotten them each a toy and a set of books.  Usually, my other gift would be clothes, however, as I was making my daughter a tied fleece blanket, I had the idea to make each of them one as well.  Here is the one for my niece:

I also wanted to make something special for the grandparents from my daughter.  After scrolling again through Pinterest, I got some good ideas.  

Here is a print that I framed:

Here are two ornaments that we created:

The snowman are made out of her fingers :)

The reindeer head is her foot and then the antlers are her hands.

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet

Transforming an Entertainment Center

With a two-year in the house who enjoys touching everything, we finally came to the conclusion that we needed to get a new entertainment center for the TV.  One that would have the TV a little higher, out of her reach :)

Once we got the new one, we didn't know what to do with the old one.  It is still in great shape even though we have had it for over eight years.  I had thought about putting it in the toy room and letting my daughter use it as a table to play with her dolls or Sesame Street on, but wasn't completely sold on that idea.

While we decided what to do with it, we had it sitting under a window in the dinning room.  My mom was over one day and said, "That would make a perfect bench."  That was it!  We never have enough seating in our living room when we have guests over.  I was going to turn that into a bench to put under the window in the living room.

First up was finding a seat cushion.  After pricing out what it was going to cost to make one, I thought I would try and find one already made first.  I was hoping that with it being the end of the summer season I would be able to find one that was meant for outdoor furniture at a good deal.  After a lot of searching, I finally found a love seat cushion with the right dimensions at Target.  I pulled some pillows out of storage and I had a comfortable bench.

I also ended up moving my office out of the toy room because I was sick of picking up everything after my daughter would decide to investigate my desk :)  My laptop is stored on one of the shelves and the two cupboards hold all of my important files and desk necessities (paper clips, stapler, binder hole punch, etc.)  So far, this has worked great.  She hasn't played with any of the stuff.  If it becomes an issue, I figure I can always get some locks for the cabinet doors :)

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Last year I really wanted to do Elf on the Shelf with my daughter, but she was only 1 so I figured she was a little too young.  Her grandma got her the Elf on the Shelf kit for Christmas last year so that I could start it this year with her.  So far, it has been a lot of fun!

In November, I started to plan out what Elf was going to do each day starting December 1.  I created a calendar on Google Drive and starting looking at different pins on Pinterest to get the ideas flowing.  Here is the calendar that I have created - December 2013 Elf on the Shelf.

On the first day, he appear sitting on the coffee table in our living room with his book.  I read the book to my daughter and at the end, you need to come up with a name for your Elf.  She decided to name him Jeff.  Throughout the entire month of December, I will come back here and add more pictures of Jeff and the cute ways he greets my daughter morning.  Enjoy!

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.