Christmas Crafting

 With the move this year, we're trying to gift as inexpensively as possible.  So that means handmade!  Especially for teachers, since I think they tend to appreciate handmade gifts more than storebought anyway.

 

A couple months ago, I saw this decoration at HomeGoods, so I thought it would be the perfect project for the kids!

 

 We gathered a bunch of sticks, distressed some wood, and Ta-dah!  Really cute wall hangings for their teachers!

 

They're so cute, I wish we had made one for ourselves at the same time!

 

Then, for my sisters, I decided to make this reclaimed wood snowflakes.  These photos are from before I'd glued them together, but they turned out so nicely!

This time, I was smart, and did make one for myself at the same time!  Unfortunately, it will have to wait until next year to be hung though!

 

Hope you're all having a wonderful season!

 

A Little Christmas Corner

As you know, we're moving and trying to sell our house (it is for sale as of today!), so we decided it would be best not to decorate for Christmas, since my style of decorating can tend to feel a bit, ummm, cluttered, shall we say?

 

We take possession of our new house in two weeks, so will quickly put up the tree and stockings there for a little more festivity, and may even decide to spend Christmas morning there!  (We won't be moving in officially until early next year though.)

 

But  I wanted to have at least a little bit of Christmas here for the kids for the next month.

 

 So, in my studio, I set up a little Advent tablescape for them!

 

We've got our Advent calendar (with treats each morning), as well as the Advent tree I made last year.

 

 I purchased this old printer's drawer a couple weeks ago (I know- what am I doing buying new things when I'm trying to pack up a house??), and it was sitting, waiting to be packed.  So I thought, hey, that would work for the ornaments that go onto the Advent tree!

 

 The ones that didn't fit in the little cubbies went into this basket (another new purchase- what am I thinking?).

 

 Here's the candy Advent calendar, with our Elf-on-the-Shelf (Silly Pinnochio) hanging out up on top!

 

I have to admit that even though I did it for the kids, it makes me happy as well every time I peek in and see it!  Not decorating for Christmas is HARD when I see so much cuteness everywhere I look!!

 

We've also been a little crafty this Christmas around here- trying not to spend too much for obvious reasons!  In a couple days, I'll show you what we've made!

 

Old House, New House

Well, it's still crazy-busy around here, getting ready to move.  We're about to list our "old" house, so we've been cleaning, packing, fixing in order to prepare.  We don't close on our new house until mid-December, but we're going to be doing some construction, so probably won't move in until that's done, if the timing works in our favor. 

 

I was taking some photos for our listing, and thought it would be fun to show you pics of our current house and our new house!

 

Here's where we live now...

 

...and here's where we'll be moving within the next couple months!

 

We're very excited, but still have sooooo much work ahead of us.  At least I'm in better shape than I was the last time I moved.  That time I was 7 months pregnant, taking care of a 1 year old, in the middle of writing a book, and was moving clear across the country instead of just 10 minutes away!

 

Hope you're all having a great beginning of Fall!

 

 

Woes of a Serial Re-Decorator

 Well, as we're preparing to list our house, we're trying to clean things up as much as possible, so that it looks good to potential buyers.  Which means filling nail holes.  I just got finished filling the holes in my studio.  Ummmm, yeah.  And I probably actually missed a few.

 

 Need a closer look?  Now, to be fair, some of these were from the shelf brackets I had hanging, so they don't really count, right? 

 

And in other news, this little girl turned six recently.

 

 And then she proceeded to lose like all of her teeth!

 

 And this guy turned ten.  Double digits, baby!

 

 Still hasn't matured past a six-year-old though- ha ha!

 

 And this guy just continued being a cute little mess!

 

We're coming along in our moving process.  We will be listing our house next week, and closing on the new house in December.  But we're also going to be adding onto the new house, hopefully before we move in, so there's a lot of work still to be done.  I fear there may be no Christmas decorations this year.  In some ways, that's a relief, but I know I'm going to miss all those wonderful vintage goodies!

 

Hope you're all enjoying the Fall!

 

What's Up!

Hi there!  I know I've been a bit absent on the blog lately, so I thought I'd let you know what's up!  What's up is that we are in the beginning stages of moving (just in-town, not across the country!).  We've been looking at houses, making offers on houses, and finally are in the process of buying a new house.  And what that means is that I'm now beginning to pack up our old house, so that we can list it.  And what that looks like is this:

 

 I think I should be a bit embarrassed, don't you?  That is all of my dollhouses (and yes, my husband's pinball machine!), all in the same room, and ready to move to storage.  While they make me happy, I don't know that potential buyers of my house would quite agree with the need to have 20 or so dollhouses (I don't even know the exact number!) displayed throughout the house!

 

 Here they are, organized a little more neatly at my mother-in-law's house, where I will store them until we move.

 

Look at all those pretty roofs!  It's like a really close-knit neighborhood!

 

 And this is what my studio looked like about a week ago!

 

 But this is what it looks like now.  I displayed the doll dressers in my shelves, just so that it doesn't look completely empty!

 

I left a few art supplies out that I'll need until we move, but this is about all that's in the room now.

 

As I'm going around packing and staging the house, and simplifying a ton, I almost wish that we could live this way all the time!  So nice and sparse and uncluttered!  But, I know I'd start to miss all my STUFF before too long!

 

I'll keep you all updated on what's happening.  At this stage, we're waiting for an appraisal on our new house, and then will hopefully close in two months and move right before Christmas.  Wish me luck!!

Blessed

Although I liked the wall arrangement I used to have in my front room, I was looking for a little change. 

 

I have a bunch of reclaimed wood I was itching to use, so I came up with a way to use it!

 

I scoured Pinterest to find a quote I liked- I'm very picky about quotes- I only use them if they reeeeaaally mean something to me.

 

It seems that quotes about gratitude really resonate with me.  Here are two others I've hung.

 

"Take a moment to think about how blessed you are."  It's a message I constantly need to be reminded of, as do the kids!

 

I printed out the quote on offwhite paper, outlining the font before I printed it.  Then I took about two hours cutting out every letter!!

 

If I had a vinyl-cutting machine, it would have been a whole lot easier, but you work with what you have!

 

I added the scroll-y wood pieces on the sides, and they were just the right size!

 

Then placed the other frames and art around it.

 

By coincidence, I came across this little "blessed" sign at Hobby Lobby a couple days later!  I thought it fit in perfectly!

 

We're all so blessed!  And this helps me remember it every day!

 

The Rest of the Summer

Well, sorry for taking a month-long break there!  The end of our summer was jam-packed with out-of-town guests, camps, and vacations!  Things have finally settled down, so I thought I'd show you some of the fun things that we did.

 

 

 We took our out-of-town guests to this wonderful beach on Big Talbot Island.  It's a beach where the erosion has caused tons of trees to slide down the banks down onto the beach. 

 

 

The trees have all become bleached-out by the sun, and their roots are all showing.  It's quite a magical place there!

 

 

 The kids love climbing on the trees and exploring.

 

 

 There are beautiful live trees there as well- with lots of cool branches to pose on!

 

 

Then, we reopened Mom's Waterpark for the summer. 

 

 It didn't get as much use as it did last year, but it still kept them busy for a few afternoons.

 

 

Watch out, or you may get splashed!!

 

 

We took a few trips to the beach this summer as well.  This morning was during the week, so it was pretty empty, which is always the nicest!

 

 Isn't this the most serene-looking photo?  There was a wonderful tide pool the day we went, and she spent most of her time in there!

 

 

Here are the boys by the tide pool.

 

 

I love the huge empty beach with little tiny Avery in the middle!

 

 

Love this one as well, with Noah running out in front- such a representation of pure childhood!

 

 

 He isn't always silly though- sometimes he can just be cute and handsome!

 

 

Digging up the clams and watching them burrow back into the sand.

 

 I try to periodically take photos of the three of them out in the water like this.  There's one in my blog header- in fact, that may have been the first one I did of them like that.

 

 

Then, Mom and Dad finished off the summer with a trip to Las Vegas!  We used to go frequently when we lived in Seattle, but haven't been for many years now.

 

 

Of course, we had to purchase the cheesy show photos, since those are the only times we ever get photos of the two of us!

 

 

And on Wednesday, it was Back-to-School!  The kids are starting at a new school this year, and though they are nervous, I think it is going to be a very positive move for us.  Riley had a nice attitude the first morning...

 

 

... but you can tell that Noah was not in the best mood, unfortunately...

 

 

...but Little Miss Avery Sunshine was all smiles!

 

I hope you are all having a nice end of the summer.  I know that we start school pretty early here, but I was definitely ready for it this year.  I need some time to get some things done!  Some craft things, and decorating things, and dollhouse things, and thrift store things, and....