December Daily Foundation

 

Ugh!  I apologize for the poor picture quality.  I'm having problems downloading the pics from my camera this morning so these were taken on my iphone.  Anyhow, last week, I showed you the album {or journal} I chose for this years December Daily.  Well, I'm the most indecisive person.  I could easily blame the pregnancy but eh-I'm always like this.  With the journal I was going to have to put my favorite things on hold {like transparencies and pocket pages} and I couldn't bear it.  So, in came the backup...a 6x6 chipboard album from Maya Road. 

 

It was obviously a plain chipboard album and I wanted just a simple cover so I made a stencil from a punch I had and painted on a few white snowflakes.  I also LOVE the look of a doily so I handstamped a sentiment in red and that was pretty much it.  Easy!

 

 
On the inside cover, I downloaded a blank 6x6 calendar and embellished it.  I plan on writing in all the activities we have planned for this month as well as a few of the highlights. 

Along with the front page, I did a pocket page filled with gold confetti.  Today I will be working on the front title page.  I'm planning on writing out a December Manifesto.  Today, I'm also planning on finishing up the remaining 10 foundation pages I have to do to have everything prepped and ready. 

Here are some pics that I will be including in my December Daily this year.  I'm ahead of the game in terms of photos because we set up so early this year and jumped right into our December traditions.

 

 

I'll be back later this week with some more pics of my DD. 

{DIY Elf Letterhead}

Do you have an Elf who visits your house every Christmas?  We do!  His name is Elfie Elfgrin and he likes to cause to mischief.  He's a quirky little Elf we picked up at Michael's about four years ago, not the more common Elf On The Shelf.  He's a fun little guy though, he's tagged a long on a lot of our family traditions over the past few years and has since suffered a broken leg and some bumps and scratches.  Needless to say, our kiddos have such a fun time with hima dn anxiously await his visit every year.  Here are a couple of pics from last year...

A little Lego building with some friends.

At the beginning of the season, Elfie Elfgrin always brings us a recipe for North Pole breakfast.  he also brings a little something for each of the kids.  Last year, it was warm fleece blankets to wrap up in.  This particular visit, he got all caught up in the lights as he was rushing to get the table set up for us. 

Last year, we also created a special letterhead for Elfie Elfgrin.  Just something fun.  This year, I may be doing everything on the computer as my daughter is now old enough to recognize our handwriting, even if I try to write backwards and with my left hand :) 

I uploaded a version of this letterhead to SCRIBED.  If you are interested in downloading it, feel free.  You can find it here.  Enjoy!  And, let the mischief begin!!!

December Daily 2012

 

Back in 2010, I started a December Daily album and never finished it.  I wish I had taken time to sit down and even just put together something simple.  This year, I wanted to dedicate time to making one.  The main reason is because this is the last Christmas we'll have as a family of four.  This time next year, we'll have another little baby boy crawling around making mischief :)   So, documenting this year has become very important to me. 

 

The Plan: I put a lot of thought into this.  I wasn't quite sure whether I just wanted to include a few extra inserts into our Project Life album or if I wanted to dedicate an entire album to December Daily.  I decided to go VERY simple this year.  My thought is to add a picture and some journaling and that's basically it.  Not a lot of embellishment, just the story. 

 

Yesterday, the kids played quietly for a bit while I got started on the cover of my album.  I recently purchased a journal at Target, it has an embossed cover and lots of pages to use up.  I also browsed their ornament section for something for the cover of the album.  I added the silver ornament I bought at Target for $1, a couple of doilies and a Christmas 2012 tag from Elle's Studio. 

 

The first page, I left open to decorate as a title page.  The next page I plan on using a velum envelope to create a pocket page for our double sided Christmas card.  I'd like to be able to pull it out so that we can see both sides of it.  In the short time I had yesterday, I was able to get about 4 pages completed.  I'm still not quite sure whether I want to document our daily happenings or just our our December traditions. 

 
Now, that I've kind of described my simple process, let's take a look at how I'm organizing everything...

This is my little craft corner in our small office.  I love this desk because there's SO much storage.  Most of my Project Life supplies are help within arm's reach to make quick documentation capable.  I also have a larger closet in this room which I am able to store all my punches, more paper, Cricut cartridges and more.  For my December Daily work, I organized everything in containers and will leave them on top of my desk so I can access everything easily. 

These containers store everything from stamps to embellishments.  Not as pretty as some of the organization I've seen on Pinterest but that's not my goal.  My goal is functionality and this works for me. 

Back in 2010, when I was organizing for that project I put together a couple of ready made kits so it would be easy for me to grab the products that I love and wanted to include.  Here are some of the contents of those kits. 

So, there you have it!  A short rundown of how I'm planning on approaching my December daily album.  I'll be posting more as I go along.  If you want to follow my progress, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram , you can follow my December Daily Pinterest boards here or simply follow my blog :)

Ava's Workshop 2012

Many of you have been following the story of "Ava's Workshop" for a while now.  But for those that haven't, you can catch up by reading this post here.  This remains one of my most popular posts to date, I'd like to think it's for the good that's happening in her heart but I think it may be for the cute thumbprint cards.  Either way it's fine with me, the more people that read her story the more people may be motivated to make a difference in this world. 

I've been asked several times through my Facebook friends or Instagram friends why we decided to begin "Ava's Workshop."  It was my daughter {then age 5} who decided that she wanted to take matters into her own hands and help keep homeless people warm during the winter.  She makes all the crafts and mommy and daddy help with all the other details {invites, set up, baking, packaging, purchasing, distributing}.  My motivation behind it is not only to teach our children to give back but also because we know what it's like to not have much.  A few years back, we hit a rough patch financially and without the help of our family and the kindness of strangers, we could've easily ended up homeless.  We had so many people who reached out to help us, making an investment in us.  We are simply taking that and making an investment in others.  Besides, it's become a fantastic family tradition and a GREAT way to jump start the holiday season. 

This past weekend, we held the third annual "Ava's Workshop" fundraiser.  We decorated the house, we had Christmas music playing, the fire was burning and the crafts were all neatly priced and displayed.  The kids worked tirelessly on their crafts for weeks in advance and we finished up all the baked goods that morning.  Here's a look at our lovely day...

The tree and all the decorations went up last weekend.  Much, much earlier than normal but it's been nice having it all done.

There's obviously a lot of prep work that goes into "Ava's Workshop."  Much of this I do with the kids but Daddy jumped in to help and give me a break this year.  Yay, daddy!

We set aside a couple of afternoons specifically for "Workshop" crafts.  We play Christmas music, the kids favorite is anything from "The Chipmunk's,"  and we paint, glue and color.  It makes for a great family day.

This year, we decided on the thumbprint trees and reindeer.  These are always big sellers, mainly because the guests who spend the most money are usually grandparents.  :)

 

 

Easy, just stamp the thumbprint and once it's dry decorate the little trees any way you want. 

 

 

The baked goods we sold were rice krispie treats, brownie pops {like cake pops} and pretzel hugs.

 

 

 

All the cute packaging is from Target's Dollar Spot

Here are the kids, all set up and waiting for their guests to arrive.

Handpainted cards are always a big seller!

Another big hit are the die cut Christmas tree tags.  People have bought them to use as gift tags or even to hang on their child's tree.  The kids have so much fun decorating these with glitter glue, paint and buttons.  This craft kept them busy for a long time.

This silly boy has to jump in the donation bin, every year.

At the end of the evening, she counted up all her donations.  She was able to raise $145.00.  Yay!!! 

The next morning, we took the kids to Target and Walmart and filled our carts full of blankets, hats and gloves. 

 

 

Here's the annual pic we take after we buy all the goodies.  I'm trying to document how much they are able to buy with each passing year.  Last year, they were able to fill 12 bags so we surpassed our goal by 4 bags! This year, we found cheaper prices on blankets and gloves so we were able to buy more of those.  In addition to that, we had great friends who donated cash, knit scarves, hoodies and brand new t-shirts or our cause.  These bags were full!

 

 

 My word!  These little ones are crazy!  We tried to pile all 16 bags onto the stairs to get the perspective of how much we had but even then I still couldn't get them all in :) 

On Sunday afternoon, we had organized an event with another member from our church where we packed 150 brown bag lunches and 100 blessing bags and headed downtown to pass them all out.  We had about 150 people or so show up to the event, which is HUGE considering how small our church is.  I think people were looking for a way for their family to give back this Thanksgiving.  After we packed up all the lunches and blessing bags, we divided into carpool groups and headed downtown to distribute everything. 

 

This is the first year that we allowed Ava to get out of the car and help hand out the bags she put together.  She's only 7 and we never wanted her to feel scared or intimidated.  When we pulled into the parking lot downtown to hand our lunches and bags out, she asked if she could go this time.  We agreed that she was ready and allowed her to help distribute.  Later that night I asked her what her observations were and she said "there were WAY too many people wearing short sleeves, they were SO cold and we didn't have enough blankets to hand out."  So, her efforts will not just be centered around the holidays this year, she wants to continue. There are WAY too many people to help.  I love her kind heart.  I hope this post gave you some fun ideas of some ways you can either give back or even just some fun ideas of crafts to do with your family.  :)  

{Long Time, No Post}

 
Oh, where to begin...there's so much to catch you all up on.  I guess I'll start with the most recent.  We've been busy as usual, getting started with a new homeschool year.  Getting schedules in order, gymnastics classes to attend, choir rehearsals to go to and AWANAS groups to participate in.  The newest venture, keeping my schedule busy is starting up another fundraiser for my hubby's next trip to Haiti.  We had money set aside for his next trip which was supposed to be last Spring, when the time came, he didn't feel his heart was compelled to go.  We instead "invested" in someone else who we thought would benefit from a trip there.  We offered our funds in order for this person to go. 
So...we are now left trying to scramble and raise funds quickly as his deposits due within the next two weeks. EEK! 

Anyhow, we started a FB page for our fundraising efforts.  Every Sunday, I will be posting handmade holiday wreaths in hopes that we will raise enough to send him back to Haiti.  Here are some pics of the recent wreaths that have been sold.  100% of our proceeds go straight to this purpose.  This time around, his trip is to include building a new school at one of the local orphanages.  Since most of the buildings were destroyed in the quake of 2010, there's been A LOT of rebuilding.

 

 

 

  Please follow our FB page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheDecoratedDoor.  We'll be posting pictures and videos from his past trips as well.  This is a cause that's VERY close to our hearts, please visit and help us spread the word.  Thank you!

Benjamin's Star War's Party

 This little guy desperately wanted a Star Wars party for his 4th birthday.  He and I fought back and forth for a few months on it.  Mommy said "it's too violent." and Benjamin said "it's so cool."  Mommy gave in :)  The only stipulation was no scary "Darth's" allowed.  The party supplies you find at Party City were, in my opinion, too violent. I wanted to go as close to vintage as I could. Today, I'm going to share the decorations with you.  The food, favor and games will all be in another post.  So, here ya go...a look at Benjamin's vintage inspired Star Wars party!

A look at his invitation.  I bought the invitations and the printable from AndersRuff.  All the colors were based off the invitation.  So cute, right?

We put our chalkboard out on our entry path to welcome our guests.  Here's a shot of the birthday boy all dressed up in his Star War's gear with his pool noodle light saber.  He's ready to party!

This is the sign I made for the front door preparing our young "padawans" for training ahead.

When guests came in they were greeted with a name badge, signed by Yoda himself and we had the Star War's soundtrack playing.  


Here's a peek at his "birthday mantle."  This is a biggie in our house...if it's your special day you get special decorations.  For Benjamin's mantle we had his birthday photo with all his "loves", some of his daddy's vintage Star War's figures and books.  We also had a chalkboard which read "The Force Is Strong With This One."  My all time favorite photo of him and his sister, taken when we brought him home from the hospital.  The photos that are clothes pinned to the pom-pom garland are all from his birthday photo shoot with mommy.  This was a HUGE hit with everyone at the party-so much fun!

Here's a peek at the snack bar which we named "Admiral Ackbar's Snackbar."  This was a small table with a few snacks, some waters and the kid's bento box lunches.  Oh, and Han Solo frozen in carbonite a.k.a. jello.  But...we'll save that for another post.  Let's take a look at the decorations at the snack table...

I made the tissue poofs, hung silvery star garland and paper fans from the ceiling.  I also made the "Admiral Ackbar's Snackbar" sign which was simply glued to a gray and white paper straw and stuck into a rice filled tin bucket from Target's Dollar Spot.  I used some muslin fabric as a backdrop and to tie in the Jedi robes that each child would receive.  

This was by far my favorite part of planning the party.  We had so much fun coming up with the foods we were going to serve.

The outdoor decorations were kept very simple.  The tables were covered with gray table clothes and topped with Star Wars wrapping paper, which were used as table runners.  Here's another example of how I used the tin pails from  Target.  Each one was filled with rice to help with weighing down the tablecloths.  I loved the silver stars which I added for some height.  I personalized them a bit by using the printables once again.

Here's a quick shot of the tables and my sweet lil' birthday boy :)  Stay tuned for another post featuring the foods we served, the games we played and the crafts I made :)  If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them all for ya!