Anthro Inspired Snow Scene

It's no secret that I spend a little too much time in our local Anthropologie. I try to slip in by myself whenever possible, but it's fun even if I have to bring the girls, because they love it too!

Last time we were there, Lissie kept pointing out the little deer-and-trees-in-a-cake-stand-displays scattered around the store. She really, really wanted to buy one, but they weren't for sale. And who am I kidding? They probably would have been out of my seasonal decorating budget anyway!

Here is a picture of one of the ones we saw at Anthropologie:

This is really simple and cheap to put together if you already have a cake stand. Which we do. Remember our terrarium? It didn't do well (but at least it didn't stink the second time the plants died!).

And on the bright side, that meant that our cake stand was available for seasonal crafting.

I'm pretty sure we have a plastic deer, but I couldn't find it, so I bought one at Michael's, along with some gold paint, fake snow, and tiny trees. I borrowed one of the larger pieces from our set of tree blocks, but you can buy those at Michael's too.

I painted the top of the deer gold. You could definitely skip this step, but we like things shiny.

Holiday themed snacks are always a plus when doing something like this.

All you really have to do is arrange everything in a pleasing manner on the base of the cake stand, and sprinkle it with fake snow. Ours is obviously not to scale, but all of the taller trees were too tall.

And, the finished product. Easy peasy. Even with two sticky handed little helpers.

The Snowy Day

This obviously wasn't staged. If I'd planned it, I would have used my camera instead of my phone!

Elf Antics

Next year I'm waiting until mid-December to bring out our elf. 

We've got two weeks to go, and we're already running out of places to put him!

Looks like he had a good time with the tramp last night though, doesn't it?

Winter Swap: Goodies

I'm so excited about all of the lovely items I received in the swap that I just had to take pictures of everything to share here. It's like I got a box full of all of the things I would love to make if I knew how!

Most of the toys will be going to Maxine. She loves playing with little dolls and gnomes and things. I know she'll adore this fox:

And these little guys are all so cute, aren't they?

This one has a removable hat and beard!

 And look at this happy smile.

 Of course, they'll need somewhere to sit and eat:

And who knows what this might become?

Isn't this little play mat darling? It wraps up, which makes it the perfect size to stash in a purse:

I'm really excited about this "swisher" too. Maxine just asked for one like Lissie's the other day. Lissie's is from Sarah's Silks, and it's nice, but the quality of this handmade one is so much better!

And this crown to wear while she plays with it all:

Won't this angel will look pretty hanging in Maxine's room?

Don't worry, Lissie won't be left out! This pillow is perfect for her. Maybe a nice, warm pillow on her shoulders or forehead will actually help her relax for once.

 And this sweet fairy necklace has "Lissie" written all over it:

I think a few of these will be fun to use with our elf, Christmas. Can't you see him hanging in a window with this star some snowy morning? If we ever get any snow, that is.

And these?

Bowling, perhaps?

I think one morning he might be "sleeping" in this little bed:

And isn't this adorable? Its a little bunting that you can write on with chalk! I wonder what kind of message "Christmas" might leave on here?

We also got two pretty dyed silks; one red, one green.

And last, but not least, I'm keeping these for myself!

I feel like I should be sending thank you notes to everybody who participated, but I can't, because I don't know who anybody is. I hope that if any of you are readers of my blog and see this post, you'll consider yourself thanked. I love everything!

Winter Swap: Pocket Dolls

I had so much fun doing last year's handmade stocking stuffer exchange, that I jumped at the chance to do another one this year. And I was having so much fun making these sweet little pocket dolls I'd just learned how to make, that I thought, why not double the fun, and make 20 items to swap this year?

The instructions were to make 10 (or if you're feeling carelessly ambitious, 20) Christmas or winter themed items. I decided to split them and do ten Christmasy dolls and ten wintery dolls. Of course, it occurred to me after dyeing and buying a zillion different shades of red, green, blue, and gray felt that pretty much anything wearing a hat and scarf could already be considered wintery.

It also occurred to me, after cutting out 20 different body shape and color combinations, that they wouldn't all be going to the same person, and therefore, didn't all need to be completely different. But I think I'd have been terribly bored after making the second one without a little variety!

The dolls are made from wool/rayon blend felt. I found that a thinner felt works best for these guys, because they are so tiny. I used wool roving to stuff them, and wooden beads for the heads. The instructions I used also show how to make a felted wool head, which is darling, but I'm afraid that making 20 felt heads would have meant these dolls wouldn't be finished until next Christmas!

Are you loving the smudge on the left side of that picture? I had a greasy fingered little helper, but didn't notice until after I'd packed these for shipping.

Each doll has one embellishment. Some have an appliqué, others have an embroidered star or candy cane. I made a few tiny knitted scarves, and I loved the way they turned out, but there are only three because Lissie borrowed, and lost, my spool knitter before I could make more. The rest have little wool poms on their hats.

I found the instructions from Anna Branford's blog on Pinterest. In her post, she links to another blog which has a tutorial for making a similar doll with a fabric head. I'd love to try those sometime too.

Elf on the Shelf

This is our Elf on the Shelf. His name is Christmas. I didn't name him that. It's what happens when you let your seven year pick the name.

So far, we haven't noticed any improvement in behavior, but the girls do love looking for him in the mornings. I kid! We totally aren't pushing the behavior side of it. We're just doing it for fun.

Terrarium Time

Update: My Polka Dot plants were dead within days and the stench was unbearable, so we dismantled the terrarium. Actually, I did it. Lissie wouldn't even come into the kitchen. I am planning to try again, once I find charcoal. And tiny ferns.

I'm not really a houseplant person. I like them, I buy them, and then all but the heartiest die within a few months. I wouldn't say I have a black thumb, exactly.* It's more like a lazy thumb. But lately, I keep seeing terrariums, and I think I love them. They are supposed to be low maintenance, so I thought setting one up would be a fun project as we ease into spring.

There are no doubt a zillion better tutorials experiments out there than mine, but here you go anyway. This is what we did, and our plants survived the first night, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

First, you need a glass container. I had this crooked cake stand a friend gave me. She thought it might be good for a Halloween party. And it would, but we haven't had a Halloween party yet and it's been sitting in the cupboard (the one we never go into, because of the mouse poop, but then one of the cats got stuck under the lazy Susan, and I saw the cake stand in there) for so long I wouldn't even have remembered to use it if we'd had a Halloween party last year.

Don't forget to wash your container really well to remove any mouse poop germs (you can skip this step if you don't have mice).

You also need small stones, soil, and moss. I added a clear drainage plate to hold everything in place because the base of the cake stand is flat. Some people recommend activated charcoal** too, but I am not exactly sure why. I read that it prevents odors, but I guess the lid should probably keep them in?*** I suppose if it starts to smell bad, I'll add some charcoal. Or just never open the lid.****

Start with a layer of stones.

Cover them with moss. This step may be optional, but the moss keeps the soil from migrating down into the stones so it won't get soggy. It seems like a good idea.

Cover the moss with soil.

Then you add plants. I didn't get a good picture of mine before they were planted, but obviously, you need plants that like high humidity and will fit inside your container. I used baby's tears (also called angel's tears), polka dot,***** and some kind of ivy. I bought the smallest plants I could find, and I did have to check a few different places to find tiny plants. I really wanted a fern, but I couldn't find any that would fit. I may add one later though.

You can sometimes separate the plants too. My polka dot container had four plants, but the roots were really tangled, so it looks like two plants. There were three ivies, but only two fit in the cake stand. It will be interesting to see how those two do vs. the one we planted in a pot.

It took some fiddling to get the plants where I liked them. Once I was done, we made sure the roots were covered with soil, and covered the soil with moss. I don't know whether that's necessary, but I think it looks nicer.

Then you add water****** and put on the lid. It only needs to be watered every few weeks (perfect for those of us with lazy thumbs), and if too much condensation builds up inside, the lid should be removed for a little while--which I guess is where the charcoal comes in handy.******* Dang.


*This is debatable.
**Definitely get the charcoal.
***It doesn't.
****Sometimes, you have to open the lid.
*****RIP Polka dot plants, we barely knew you.
******A tiny bit of water. Far less than you think you need.
*******Finally, I was right about something in this post.

Oh Christmas Gratitude Tree

Earlier this month, I had an idea. I often have these grand ideas, but rarely follow through. I think this one worked out really well though. My idea was to do a Christmas tree, but instead of decorating it with ornaments, we would decorate it with all the things we are grateful for. A gratitude tree, if you will.  

It was one of those ideas that I really wasn't sure how to implement. We had a tall narrow tree already, but I didn't think we could fit our gratitude on there with all of our other ornaments.   also didn't think Brad would be keen on giving up his Star Wars* ornaments in exchange for one of my crazy ideas (he wasn't), and I wasn't even sure how we would hang our gratitude on a tree. Fortunately, things have a way of working out sometimes.  

We have plenty of space for two trees and Brad's aunt Shirley and uncle Mike are downsizing their Christmas decorations, so a few weeks ago, they drove all the way out here and brought us this huge (really, we had to leave off the entire bottom section for it to fit), lovely tree for our dining room (and somewhere on our tree, there is a little tag with their names on it, saying how thankful we are for their generosity). This was perfect, because we used to use real trees, until 2003, when I dragged our tree out, in February, leaving a trail carpet of pine needles through the entire house, and I was so mad that in a fit of hyperbole I swore we would never, ever, ever, have a real tree again, not even if someone paid us a million dollars. So we're all about the artificial kind now, and last night, after assembling them, I found a package of old school, non-adhesive, cardstock gift tags in the bottom of a box of decorations. I gathered a little basket, some pens, a hole punch, and then I got to work.

After dinner tonight, we all stayed at the table and wrote down some of the things we are grateful for. We filled out names, where applicable, and wrote our messages on the backs of the cards. Then Ariana cut approximately one thousand tiny pieces of string (for which I am very thankful), and we hung them up, like this:

We did add some ornaments, because we were afraid the tree would look bare without any. I'm not usually one for themey trees, but we decided to use all white on this tree, so they wouldn't compete with our little gratitude cards. Thanks to Jan, we had plenty to spare, because between our own ornaments and the ones we got from Jan, our other tree was full even without the white ones.

*Not that Brad even likes Star Wars anymore, because George Lucas totally ruined it with CGI.