PICKY EATERS SURPRISE LUNCH

I for some reason, as a single person thought I would be exempt from kids that were picky about food. Perhaps I figured because I love all foods, that they would too? I don't know, maybe it was just that blind ignorance thing... you really don't know until your own kids are making you crazy about this or that. I do have picky eaters. And now, I wave it off like everyone does, right? Not necessarily. I'm sure some of how I approach things could be better. I've seen moms offer up foods in ice trays hoping that the little sections will entice them to miraculously enjoy carrots. I know my kids like finger "snack" foods so I think this has some validity.

So I tried it. I told them I was preparing a surprise lunch. I used our old Beaba Babycook freezer containers as the plate and the bright colors surely offered some pow and punch to that surprise. They were so excited! And they started in immediately. That's a plus right there. Most days it's tricky just getting them to the table. I also tried to load it with mostly fruits and veggies.

I know they like kidney beans = protein. I know they like frozen peas = veggie. They don't do well with carrots, but I cut them in chunks for something different. I cut up apples and bananas because I knew that was a favorite. And blueberries. The one bonus (for them) was the crackers. Of course, it was the first thing they ate. They don't get those very often. This was a semi success. I will try it again after some time. I won't do it a lot because it's still new and exciting. But they did go for at least one full baby carrot and half of the peas... that is HUGE right there.

If you have a Babycook and you happen to have these laying around, they make for a great starting point for an exciting surprise lunch. I think this kind of thing could even be good for snacks, and put healthier snacks in there. There's something pretty awesome about eating things in compartments.

LA ESQUINA, NYC

On my husband's most recent trip to New York, he came back with some goodies (stickers, matchbooks etc.) from a now favorite new-to-us restaurant, La Esquina. I thought I'd share, for those of you in NYC... if you haven't been there, it's supposed to be a fabulous source for Mexican food and worth checking out.

As I recall, after living there in the 90s, there was every kind of food you could imagine, from every country... and all so very good. It was hard to choose a favorite. But one I always felt that the city lacked was good Mexican food. So this apparently solves that problem. Now all I need to do is figure out a way to get back there to try it out!

I hear it's a bit tough to get into. Unless, like my husband, you happen to be with his boss who we affectionately refer to as "Obi Brent Kenobi" and you can just walk up and wave a hand and there you are. What a force.

SICK DAYS

Winters around these parts are long and cold and tend to mean grass is a faint memory. I haven't seen grass since December. I'm really not kidding. I saw some yesterday and then it snowed last night again. By mid-February most people are playing out their previously planned vacations because we all know that it's just about enough!

We however, decided to put in a bathroom instead of going somewhere exciting so here we sit, trying not to spend money and well... getting sick over and over again. With one in preschool and the other in the beginnings of her getting-sick-years, sickness is recycled within our home endlessly. We don't get out much is the short story.

With all of this time at home, it is a challenge keeping television to a minimum. So we do a lot of crafting. I try to set up worthwhile crafting ideas to lessen the nonsense pieces of nothingness that end up in the trash after a few days. Those are ok too, because honestly, we can't keep everything they create.

Currently we're in party planning mode so I helped the kids make some party hats using paper, beads, and fabric. if you want to get serious about it, use a hot glue gun, otherwise Elmer's is fine, but I glob it on to make the beads stay which means it should dry overnight.

PROCESS
1. Make a cone with a thicker paper. I started with a 13"x19" sheet. Cut the bottom so that it's even and cut a 1/2" hole at the top to glue in a tassel.
2. Punch two small holes in the bottom at the half points.
3. Tie on an elastic after measuring roughly around their heads.
4. Make a top tassel with strips of several fabrics that the kids choose, add some ribbon and yarn, then tied string around it to make it a tassel. Secure it in the top of the cone with hot glue.
5. Have them choose their buttons and hot glue around the rim. If they want to do the gluing, use Elmer's and let it dry over night.

* They could draw on the paper first or use a patterned piece of paper. I just had white laying around.

CHOCOLATE VALENTINE'S SUCKERS

These are so easy, it's ridiculous. I had some sucker molds and sticks on hand so the only thing I needed to buy were the chocolate wafers. I buy them at a food supplier in town called Gygi's. One of the easiest places to lose your money fast.

SUPPLIES
Milk Chocolate Apeels
Sucker Molds
Sucker Sticks
Squeeze Bottle
Cellophane Bags
Ribbon

PROCESS
1. Load the sucker molds with sucker sticks.
2. Melt the wafers on medium-low heat. Stirring occasionally.
3. No need to boil, they melt so smooth and yummy.
4. When the wafers are almost all melted, turn the heat off and stir until melted entirely.
5. Pour melted chocolate into a squeeze bottle (if you have one, this makes it easy and less messy when loading the sucker molds.)
6. Squeeze the chocolate over the tip of the stick first and into the whole of the mold.
7. Wiggle the tray gently and let the chocolate settle in.
8. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, not long, just until it hardens again.
9. Pop out the suckers one at a time, and place in the cellophane bags.
10. Tie off with ribbon.

It's a yummy and quick Valentine's treat. Also good for Easter or birthday parties. There are so many cute molds you just start thinking, what else can I make chocolate suckers for?!?

VALENTINE'S DAY DECORATIONS

Here's a peek at our Valentine's decorations.

Last year everything was pink and gold, which is a combination that I LOVE. But this year I'm liking the vintage silver pieces in the mix. The hanging hearts are felt and fabric stitched straight and hung from the ceiling. The flower vase was painted by my grandmother many years ago. The frames are all spray painted in various pinks. And the feather wreaths are made from styrofoam hearts and feathers, hot glued all around. I've made a couple of garlands this year and my kids and I covered their bedroom doors with hearts from various crafting moments and valentines sent from their friends.

VALENTINE'S CRAFT FOR KIDS

Good glory, what is it about putting Valentine's goodies together for my kids friends that makes me a bit crazy. Is it the constant pleading for the various pieces that go into each package? Is it the refusal to participate in a way that is actually helpful? Yes and yes.

So this year, sadly, it's been tough trying to teach my kids the reason why we give things to our friends and family. For those people that we love. It's been a challenge to explain that Valentine's are fun to GIVE. I'd love to be able to say my kids are perfect, sharing angels at all times but it's just not the case, darnit. After this day passes, we'll all forget and they'll have a lovely Valentine's Day and enjoy giving and getting but the process has been... well... a process.

Here's one of the crafts that we worked on in a good moment. I had a bunch of yarn scrap left over from making pom poms so I came up with something fun for the excess. We made Valentine's cards with pink paper, Elmer's glue and the yarn scraps. It's messy, but what isn't, right? After the glue was dry, I hairsprayed it to give it a little "hold".

VALENTINE'S BUTTON WREATH

This is easy, but admittadly, it takes a ton of pink bottons, which can get spendy if you're collecting in a rush. I had collected over time plus I purchased some batches of pink buttons on etsy. So overall this wreath cost me about $25.

SUPPLIES
Styrofoam Heart
Pink fabric scraps cut into strips
Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
Lots and lots of buttons - I used a variety of pinks
Ribbon for hanging - I used 1.5" silk
Wire

PROCESS
1. Cut a 2"-3" piece of wire and bend it in a "U" shape.
2. Poke the two ends of the wire into the back, top of the foam heart. Hot glue into place.
3. Cut long strips of fabric about 1"-2" wide. Use fabric that is the same color as your buttons. I used linen, because I happened to have some, but you could use anything, preferably solid. Felt would work great.
4. Wrap the foam heart. Start by hot gluing it into place next to the wire and wrap around the wire to further secure it.
5. When completely wrapped, start hot gluing buttons on. Start with the larger buttons, then medium sized and use the smaller ones to fill in empty spaces. Note that the larger buttons don't "wrap" around the roundness of the heart form and that's ok. If you'd like to be less random, look for a styrofoam heart that has flat surfaces.
6. Wrap a long ribbon around the top and complete with a knot about 7" from the top of the heart. This is used for hanging. The nail in the wall will be most likely be hidden by the ribbon.

AN EVENING AT BRAINTREE

What a whirlwind that was! We had such a great time making our Valentine's garlands. Some very lovely ladies joined me and made these garlands their own whether by arranging the ingredients in a pattern or non-pattern, by squooshing everything tight or spacing them out, or by including a central large pompom or keeping them all uniform. They all did such great work. Hooray for Braintree for providing a grand place for us to be creative together! I'm honored to be a part of the fun. They have oodles of classes coming up. Check the Braintree site often and don't miss out.

Photos compliments of Braintree.

Do you want a freebie? Print this on 8.5"x11" sticker paper and punch cut each circle with a Fiskars scalloped squeeze punch.

BRAINTREE PREPARATIONS

If you're signed up already, hooray for you! We're going to make super cute Valentine's Garlands. Details here.

Here's a peek.

GOOD BOOK

The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen. Illustrated by Sanna Annukka. We got this book in December, actually, my husband wanted it for Christmas. It was a good choice. I've been inspired by it ever since I opened it. Sanna Annukka's illustrations are remarkable. I love the gold foil on the green linen cover as well. It's a beautiful little book.




My goal for this year, and it will take a year, is to make stockings for my daughters using inspiration from this book. I've never quilted before, but I want to patch quilt triangles of fabric in various patterns and colors for each of my daughters. White wool felt backing and fold-over flap with their names stitched on the flap. I also want to figure out how to incorporate a cross stitch of each of them. I'm still in the thinking stage. I've been thinking since December. This is why this project will take a year ;)

JOIN US FOR A BRAINTREE CLASS

Braintree has officially begun. My friend Dallas has started a fantastic space and place for creativity and learning to dwell. He's asked several friends, and let me just say that this is a guy that knows many, MANY people. He not only knows them, he keeps track of their goings on. He's truly a wonder to me. I don't know how he keeps up on so many people and all while being so very sincere and loving. But he and his friend Paul have asked a handful of their friends to participate in teaching something that they love, do, or know a bit about... whatever it may be. You can go on their site and see their first batch of classes available. You can also sign up to be a teacher or make a teacher or class suggestion if you'd like.

These are one session classes that are cost effective and above all fun. I'm teaching a craft class on February 6th at 8:00 p.m. We will be making Valentine's Garlands, much like this one that I made last Easter.

I'm really excited to be a part of his new project because when Dallas has an idea, it's sure to be big and great fun. Hooray for Dallas and Paul!

If you're local, and interested, click here to sign up. Maybe I'll see you there ;)

TIME TO REFRESH

After packing away our Christmas decorations I feel like my house is completely bare. Just lacking. But that feeling lasts for about a day and then I feel like I want to organize and refresh everything around me. CLEAN SLATE.

There are lots of projects to decrease the clutter from the previous year. Most importantly, I want to purge the toys and the craft drawer. I want to clean out the refrigerator, refresh the junk drawer and our basement storage room. The garage is another big one.

But what are some of the little things that I can do to make our space feel refreshed and new. I like to swap out things like pillows, wall art, throws, items on the kitchen counter. In my daughters room, I like to organize their closets and swap out the clothes that are too small. I find these things all rather enjoyable actually. Not too chore-like for me, but the accumulation of them can feel like a chore over all.

So I space them out over January before the February decorations come out from the basement. I try to accomplish one item a day.
- Now I can smile when I open the kitchen junk drawer.
- The kitchen feels like I can cook in it.
- The pantry is organized so that the oldest cans are in the front.
- The laundry room is refreshed with the linens pressed and ready for the next dinner.
- The basement is ready for another year of in and out madness.
- Our 72-hour kit is updated.
- I've cleaned out the craft drawer.
- The toys are edited.
- The kids closets are updated so I know what clothes they need and already have.
- The garage... my husband will do that when the weather warms up a bit.

We're feeling pretty good. I'm not sure what your list is like, but I think any home big or small, with kids or without could use a little of this. New Years feels like the natural time for "spring cleaning". And honestly, we need this kind of editing more than once a year.

Here's a FREE FELT HANGER TEMPLATE for your kids closets. I keep these simple and easy to swap out by using key tags and a Sharpie for the sizing. I buy kid-sized hangers here. I sew three of these for the sizing around what my daughter is currently wearing. This project takes about a half hour.

Print this on 11x17 at 100%

PACKAGES + HONEY BUTTER RECIPE

I do love a good package. One of my favorite parts of Christmas preparation is wrapping up the givings. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. And may your New Year be happy and bright.

If you find you have nothing to do and would like to wrap up a little something for some close friends or family, here's a Cinnamon Honey Butter recipe and free printable label. It doesn't take long to make and could be done for the New Year.

CINNAMON HONEY BUTTER
Makes 3 half pint jars - Double the recipe for about 6-7 jars
Ingredients
1 cup Honey
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 half pint canning jars

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Using whisk attachment on mixer blend until smooth    
    and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. Use rubber spatula to pour mixture in to a large pastry bag (or Ziploc bag), cut off tip and     squeeze into half pint jars. (tip: place bag in tall glass for support, or have someone hold     the bag while you pour).

Here's a FREE Printable Label for you.

After printing these labels on sticker sheet paper, use Fiskars Scalloped Squeeze Punch to cut them out. Next cut out circle shapes the size of the jar lid and insert into the jar and stick the sticker onto the craft paper. Add a ribbon and you're done.

Many thanks for a fantastic year of sharing. I've enjoyed blogging my findings and I hope to continue in 2013. Happy New Year!
xxo
vb

FELT ACORN GARLAND

When our sweet niece was legally adopted we were fortunate enough to go to the courthouse, witness this and explain to our kids that their new cousin was now legally part of our family. On our way out to the car after, I noticed a ton of acorns had dropped from the trees. As my husband loaded our kids, I gathered as many as I could and shoved them in my pocket. I knew I needed to do something with them to remember her special day.

I love felt ball acorns, I made a bunch for our Thanksgiving table in 2011 and I figured I could do the same with these and turn them into a garland for her baby room. So I ordered several felt balls (my favorite sources are here and here).

Now, just a few words about felting balls... I have tried this... and now I have a ton of roving left over after my sad discovery that purchasing felt balls is much more desirable than making felt balls. If making them with soap and water, it's tough on the hands and worse on the patience level. But I've provided links (above) for those that are feeling the need to learn. There is another method, needle felting that maybe I'll try one day.

After the balls came in the mail, this project took all of 20 minutes.

SUPPLIES
Acorn Caps
Felt Balls
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
String or Twine - I chose twine which is why I used hot glue.
* If using string, get a Felts Needle to string these through the ball.
Explanation Tag - I created a tag in Illustrator and printed on sticker paper.
Scissors

PROCESS
1. Line up all of the caps
2. Line up all of the balls in front of the caps to get your color pattern in order.
3. Hot glue the inside of the cap, place the string on top of the glue and then place the ball on top of the string and press into the cap.
4. Repeat this for all of the caps and balls, spacing them as desired. I spaced mine about 1.5" apart.
5. Snip off the stems of the acorn caps if there are any.
6. If you'd like a little tag included place that around the string at the first acorn.

CHRISTMAS CRAFT FOR KIDS

I love crafting with my kids but I end up with a ton of art pieces that I then need to decide: HANG UP or NO and then there's the KEEP or TOSS. I usually toss the wierd ones after they've lost interest, and I save the really sweet ones. These kids are crafting up a storm faster than I can make these decisions so you can imagine, it's amazing to find a craft that we can do together that I can hang up and they can proudly say "I helped make that."

SUPPLIES
Bakable Clay - White Sculpey Pluffy
Cookie Cutters - I used a variety of stars
Glitter - Color of choice. I used chunky white
Fishing Line - If you'd like to hang them
Magnets - If you'd like to use them on a magnet board
Elmer's Glue
Paint Brush
Small Mixing Bowl - For glue and water
Baking Sheet - To bake on and contain the glitter mess after cooled

PROCESS
1. Roll them out flat like and cut the stars out with the cookie cutters. Poke a hole in the top if you want to string them.
2. Bake them according to the instructions.
3. Let them cool
4. Mix up a bit of Elmer's Glue and some water and paint the glue on one side of the star.
5. Glitter that side and let dry a few minutes.
6. Flip them over, glue and glitter.
* If we're making magnets we only glitter/paint one side.

CHRISTMAS KIDS CRAFT

Everybody is sick around these parts. So we're IN for the long haul. I'm fine with it, I've completed my shopping and Christmas to-do's for the most part, but we are running out of things to do.

There are only so many Tinker Bell movies and Peppa Pig episodes one can watch. You know it's bad when the kids are saying, "Turn off the TV". Crafts and TV, that's been about all we've done for four days.

I'm on the hunt for new craft ideas. Toilet paper rolls always have something to offer. We made some cute Thanksgiving People with them a few weeks back. So I figured we could do the same with Santa. This would work for Elves, Reindeer, Snowmen... Here's a quick tutorial for Santa.

SUPPLIES
Toilet Paper Rolls
Construction Paper - Red. Black. Peach
Cotton Balls - 2 per Santa
Small White PomPom Ball - 1 per Santa
Glue
Scissors
Clamps - If you have them, I use them after gluing to make it dry faster.

PROCESS
1. Cut a 1" Strip of Black (for the shoes). Cut a 2"-3" Strip of Peach (for the face). Cut a 3" Strip of Red (for the body).
2. Glue the shoes to the bottom of the tube and secure. Glue the face to the tube about a 1/2" down from the top and secure. Try to keep all of the end seams in the back.
3. While those are drying a bit, make a cone hat with red. Glue and secure. Glue the small white pompom on top.
4. Glue the red suit to the tube overlapping the shoes and face and secure.
5. Glue the hat to the top of the tube. If some of the the tube shows between the face and hat, that's ok, it will be covered up by cotton.
6. Unravel one cotton ball and squeeze it into a long strip. Glue that around the bottom of the hat overlapping the skin.
7. Draw the eyes and a little smile. This part is what my kids like to do the most.
8. Unravel the second cotton ball and glue the hair around the back.
9. With the last bit of cotton, glue on a strip of mustache and beard.

EVERYBODY NEEDS A BREAK

My lovely sister-in-law, in all her generosity and wisdom recently provided an affordable way to get The Brown Sisters on a much needed holiday from our daily craziness for just a few days. We four met up in New York, coming from Los Angeles, Dallas, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas.

We stayed at The Nomad, an amazing new hotel in the Flatiron area. I have a soft spot in my heart for Chelsea because I used to work for J. Crew back when it was on 6 Ave. and 18th Street. That was my lunch-time stopping ground. I'd commute via Union Square and grab breakfast at the farmers market. We'd shop at ABC Carpet, Fishs Eddy and Paragon after lunch and I'd often complain of frizzy hair due to the humidity. Probably one of the reasons I wasn't in New York for long. I am not one for the combined extreme temperatures and humidity. I do believe my heart was in San Francisco.

But I made some lifelong friends and wouldn't change that experience for anything. It was nice to go back and be reminded of the good memories. And quite comical to say, "I used to work around here" in just about every area of town that we went too. I had several jobs there, I think six within two years? That's embarrassing. My favorites were Badger Worldwide, now Badger and Winters (for the creative atmosphere and lovely people), J. Crew (for the friendships made), and Prescriptives (for the bus commute -- finally).

New York will always be a place that I think of fondly. To visit is always a pleasure. Even in the cold and rain. I don't care as much about my hair, I suppose.

On this trip we shopped and ate exceptionally well. First night at ABC Kitchen, next night at Locanda Verde and our last night at Cookshop We met the REAL Santa. (Seriously, look at him. He's at ABC) I was able to visit with my dear friend Carlyn (my guest blogger a couple of weeks ago), check out the MOMA and see Once. We walked the High Line at dusk in the rain and stopped in lots of cute shops. Including the Etsy Holiday Shop.

It was the perfect trip and oh, so needed. Thank you Holly! xoxo.

DIY CHRISTMAS GLITTER HOUSE

I feel like I need to say something on 12.12.12. I know I just posted yesterday but I have plenty to talk about after a trip to New York and Christmas crafting a-go-go. I tried to explain to my daughter how the opportunity to see the same triple digits like 12.12.12 is over. We don't have 13 months in the year so this is it. Despite the fact that my other daughter has been sick all day, it's been a sweet day of hanging out with my girls. I missed them so much this last week and with one of them sick, I'm hugging them to bits. I just can't squeeze them enough.

I have a group of friends that get together for DIY night. We've made some pretty amazing things together. Last year's lou-lou was the quiet book. THE BOOK. We each took one page and repeated it 20 times and traded. Another big one was our Halloween glitter house. Many of us bought our houses as a set of three from Hobby Lobby and used the biggest one for Halloween and the other two for Christmas. We all bring our ideas and jiblets and swap and influence each other. It's great fun. I adore my DIY girlie friends.

So here are my houses. They were being referred to as a Winter Wonderland. I like how it turned out. I found most of my things at Jolly's and Beehive Bazaar. I made the scalloped base, the felt tree and I found the two deer in New York and sprayed/glittered them.

SUPPLIES
Houses (Hobby Lobby)
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Supper 77 Spray Mount
White Spray Paint
Glitter in Variety of colors, thicknesses
Embellishments for exterior (vintage ribbon, glitter ribbon, little animals spray painted and glittered, mini trees, wreaths, pipe cleaners, berries, old book paper, vellum, fake snow)
Battery Mini Christmas Lights (Target) * Make sure the package says "warm"
Scissors
Xacto Knife
Felt and Fabric
Book Binding Glue
Paint Brush
Skewers
Wired Fence (Joann's)

PROCESS
1. Spray the houses white. Dry.
2. Spray the houses with Supper 77 (spray mount). Glitter. I like to put a chunkier glitter on the roof, or something to the roof that is different than the house. With the Christmas houses, I painted the roof blue first, then glued, then glittered.
3. Hot glue various embellishments to the house and around it.

* I wanted a base for these two houses so I could put little trees and animals around so I made a scalloped base. I first cut (with a box cutter) the shape I wanted out of cardboard. Then I covered one side with fabric and the underside with felt. 

CHRISTMAS TREE KIDS CRAFT

I was out of town last week. It was the first time I've left my kids for more than a day. I went to New York with my sisters-in-law for four days. My husband took two days off of work, but we decided it would be nice for the kids to have some Karolina time too. Karolina is my sister-in-laws nanny. We know her, love her. Karolina is part of the family.

She pulls out amazing kid craft ideas like this Christmas tree made of cupcake liners. I love this idea. I mentioned it to a friend in need of a quick craft for her daughters preschool class. It's a good one and most of the stuff is probably in your house already.

NEEDED
Cupcake liners - 3 per Tree
Construction Paper - Green. Brown.
Glue
Embellishments - Anything sparkly used as ornaments
Stapler
Felt Pens

PROCESS
I wasn't there, but this seems pretty straight forward.
1. Cut a cardstock background piece (half of an 8.5x11 piece of paper).
2. Cut a tree trunk rectangle out of the brown construction paper (or draw one).
3. Glue the trunk to the bottom of your background paper.
4. Fold the cupcake liners so that they are a pie wedge shape. One large, one mid-sized and one small. * If necessary staple the top of each wedge to keep it in place (except the smallest one).
5. Glue the largest wedge first on top of the brown trunk. Repeat the other wedge pieces each on top of the other.
6. Cut and glue a yellow star to the top of the tree (or a sparkly bead).
7. Glue various embellishments to the tree with beads, sparkle bits and ribbon.

THANKSGIVING KIDS CRAFTS

Although the time has passed, I'd love to share a few kids crafts for Thanksgiving. After cooking the big dinner two years in a row, I've decided it's important to entertain the littles and avoid cabin fever. This makes for a sane cooking experience.

The night before I prepped several crafts to do throughout the morning. Each was organized in a large zip-lock bag with instructions, supplies and needed pieces pre-cut. My husband also came home from work with a stack of coloring pages which were very helpful.


FINGERPRINT TURKEY
I've wanted to do Fingerprint Turkeys for a long time. Gather a few fall colored ink pads, blank cards or folded white card stock and some colored pens. Print out examples of each step or show them if you're able to spend the time.

FALL LEAF
You could make a colorful Fall Accordion Leaf. Download the leaf PDF here and pre-cut a few leaves for painting. Read through the folding instructions prior. Once the paint is dry, fold and tape together. Then glue on a stem.

PILGRIM PUPPETS
Toilet paper rolls always come in handy. I tend to save them for times like this. You could make a Native American or Pilgrim Puppet with them. This activity worked out the best for my four year old. Our two year old needed more help but still loved the activity.

FALL WALK & TURKEY ART
I have always wanted this Acorn Cap pattern by Cate Anevski. This year I finally purchased it and found many uses. I printed some for coloring and a smaller version to paste onto a paper bag for the fall walk. The kids colored those first and then went out for a nature walk to gather small leaves, twigs and other jiblets. I also had a variety of dried beans to contribute. I printed a large turkey image onto cardstock for them to paste all of their treasures onto. Tracing your kids hand onto a paper plate to make a Hand Turkey works great too.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was surprisingly simple and low stress. Crafts for the kids on Thanksgiving is just going to have to be part of the plan now because it really worked.

GUEST BLOG: MINI-GRATITUDE BANNER

My dear friend, Carlyn and I worked together in San Francisco several years back. We also traveled to Europe together and she taught me to love stamps. I quickly came to adore Carlyn and her style. We had such a great time working together at Man Bites Dog. We even carpooled, a 10 minute drive each morning. She has inspired me continually over the years and I'm so grateful for our friendship. As we approach Thanksgiving, I feel it appropriate to include her on my little blog. Thank you Carlyn! You're just too cool.


Mini-Gratitude-Banner Centerpiece for Thanksgiving Feast!

NEEDED
- Dowel Rod (I got the absolute smallest, thinnest size so I could cut it with a scissor. I found it at the hardwarde store on my street but you can also get them on HomeDepot)
- 3 colors of felt (this bundle is from Purl) which provides lovely color combinations.
- Clay (for propping up the dowel rods)
- String (to attached banner to rods)
- Scissors for cutting small type letters, X-acto and rotary cutter for cutting triangles
- Needle and thread (not pictured)

PROCESS
01. Select your felt colors - 2 colors to maybe alternate with the little flags, and one color for your type - and cut the triangle shapes out. I used a triangle template 2" across on the top, but you can vary it depending on big you want your banner. Plan ahead what word you want to use, so you can count the triangles you will need to cut.
02. Cut out your felt letters. I provided two type templates: one is a more organic, loose typeface that allows you to incorporate the rough edges that come along with cutting out felt letters this small. You can amend that as you go and make it your own. The other typeface is Helvetica - and you can use that if you are looking for a cleaner read. You can pin a copy of the letter to the felt to make it easier to cut.
03. Hand sew a few stitches in a supportive area of the letter to attach it to the flag. Only a few stitches are necessary, this way it "floats" a little on top of the flag.
04. Punch a hole in the corner of the first and last letter.
05. Chain sew the flag together on a machine.
06. String the letters on to the dowel rods.
07. Use clay to prop up the rods (or find another spot to hide them - in a small jar/vase etc.)

Voila! Centerpiece!

DIY THANKSGIVING DECORATIONS

My holiday decorations are pretty simple and usually a bit monochromatic. I don't get too overly colorful. That will probably change soon as my kids express their love of purple, blue, yellow and green. But I'd like to keep it my way as long as possible. I feel the need to hang on to SOMETHING... clothes are no longer my call. Sparkles, crazy colors and patterns are taking over their closets. I'm not quite ready to embrace all things KIDS just yet.

I really liked these gold dipped feathers. I hung them with washi tape and fishing line. They gently spin ever-so-slightly and sparkle. Love them.

NEEDED
White feathers
Gold Paint - Martha Stewart's Metallic Paint (Golden Pearl)
Gold Glitter
Sponge Brush
Tin (or something to contain the mess)
Newsprint (or something to contain the mess)
Wax Paper (something to lay them on to dry)

PROCESS
I saw someone else do this and she dipped the feather in and wiped the excess off... The paint is pretty thick so this created a pointy feather for me. After some playing around, I decided the best way was to paint it on with a sponge brush from the get go.
1. Brush one side of the tip of the feather with the gold paint. Lay out several on wax paper.
2. Glitter that batch and let dry.
3. Repeat for the other side.
* If any are pointed, frayed or not shaped like you want, cut them. I like them to be rounded at the tip so the ones that were pointy, I cut and ended up using them. I also had a batch that was a bit frayed naturally and those looked great too. It's hard to mess this one up.

IT'S AUTUMN TIME

We didn't carve all of our Halloween pumpkins so I'm using a few of the small ones for the pedestals I made for Emily's farewell party. The pedestals are made from a vintage brass candlestick and goblet each glued to vintage salad plates. I must confess, I made those on the fly (for a wee $4 total) with just hot glue and they need to be epoxy'd before they fall apart, break, and make me cry. I had no idea how much I'd end up using them and have since fallen in love with them. It's time to make them more permanent.

I also made an acorn cap wreath for our back door. Our front door requires a wreath that can handle the elements which means our options are limited. So our inside back door is my opportunity for more fun decorative wreaths each holiday.

NEEDED
12" Styrofoam Wreath
Wool Brown Felt - Cut into 2" strips
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Acorn Caps - Approx. 150 (I ordered on etsy)
Wire - I'm not sure of the gauge, I just used what I had. Heavy, but bendable.
Ribbon - At least 2" width, approx. 1 yard

Extra Wool Felt - To cut leaves (Fall colors)
Felt Balls - (I ordered on etsy)
* Felt Balls and felt leaves for alternate cluster at the bottom

PROCESS
1. Cut a 3" strip of heavy wire and bend it into a U Shape. Insert that into the back of the Styrofoam wreath. I also like to hot glue at the entry points just to secure it until it gets wrapped.
2. Wrap the wreath with felt strips using hot glue to start and finish each strip. This can be fairly sloppy, as it will be mostly covered with acorns. The back will be visible though. I like to wrap and glue extra securely around the wire hanger.
3. If needed, sort your acorn caps in small, medium, large. If they're all about the same size, no worries, just start gluing.
4. Glue acorn caps onto the wreath, starting at the top (where the wire hanger is) and glue an entire row all the way around the outer side of the wreath.
5. The next two to three rows will be the most visible so if you have a variation of sizes, use your best caps for these rows, and try to keep the sizing even if possible (Probably the medium/large).
6. The last row will be on the interior of the ring and might need to the smaller acorns. Some people spray paint at this point, but I like the naturalness of the acorns as is.
7. You can use the ribbon for a bow or as a loop for hanging.
8. * I had a few felt balls and left over caps so I used them to make a cluster and cut out two oak leaves in different colors of wool felt.

GOLD LEAF TRAY

I've wanted this tray by Up In The Air Somewhere for a while now. And I love to gold leaf things so I thought this would be a fun and fairly simple project. However, there were some things to learn. So I consider this a trial run. When I do it the next time around, I'll keep these things in mind. 

NEEDED
White tray - I found one at Target for $12
Masking tape
Xacto Knife
Gold Leafing kit - Gold Leaf, Sizing
Brush
Small Sponge Brush
Mod Podge

PROCESS

1. First start taping by creating a triangle off of one of the short sides.
2. Use the width of a piece of tape to mark where the next row should go and build out from the first triangle to the long sides.
3. When needed, create a different angle to create some variation in the pattern. This can be altered many different ways.
4. When all of the tape is down, carefully cut around the outer edges. And you know, this depends on the kind of tray you get. The tray that I first fell in love with doesn't have edges, and you'd wrap the tape around, but this tray has sides so I cut them. It was too kooky on the rounded corners to make the tape go up the edge. This is a more functional tray with the edges so that's good.
5.Tape around the interior edge to keep a clean line.
6. Using the sponge brush, apply the sizing and leave on for about 20 minutes. Read the label, this may vary, but the kind I use needs to sit for a few to get tacky.
7. Start laying down the gold leaf. I use a soft brush (It's actually a blush brush) to gently get all of the gold to stick and fill in all of the spots.
8. Gently peal off the tape.
9. Apply Mod Podge or another sealer with the sponge brush.
* NEXT TIME, I'd like to pour in a layer of acrylic to keep it very thick and sealed.

This particular tray has a slight convex bowing and it wouldn't work as well to apply a layer of something thick like acrylic, so I stuck with the Mod Podge. It's not as durable, but very cute and functional for parties and such.

Note - Mod Podge will dull the shininess of the gold a bit so if you don't want that, acrylic spray might be a good alternative. Just be sure to tape off everything you don't want sprayed.

WARHOL COLOR POP FROM TARGET

I bought these a while back but Halloween decorations took over. I love the color combinations and would like to thank Target and Campbell's for bringing a bit of Warhol color to my cupboards. It makes me smile.