2015 Christmas Cards

This is our 2nd year in a row ordering our Christmas cards from Shutterfly, and I'm feeling particularly relieved to have this year's cards finished up and ready to mail. Sending and receiving Christmas cards is one of my very favorite holiday traditions, but it was kinda stressful this year. My kids do not make the photo experience easy. I still cannot believe we ended up with a single decent photo to use. It's a Christmas miracle.

I had envisioned a full family photo on our cards, but it turned out to be impossible for us to take a decent picture together. And even asking for a decent picture of just the kids together was totally unrealistic. More on that later.

Luckily, I chose a design that had room for one small picture on the back. There weren't any family photos good enough to make it to the front of the card, but at this little size, you can't even tell that it isn't the best shot ever.

I typically spend a lot of time clicking back and forth between different card designs, torn between lots of lovely options. This year though, I fell in love with one design right away. Shutterfly has hundreds of beautiful choices, but this one looked perfect at first sight. You can find the design I used HERE.

And I particularly love all the adorable coordinating details--like our colorful envelope liners that match our cards perfectly and add such a fun pop of color:

And I love the matching address labels and personalized stamps! I couldn't resist adding one of our photo shoot rejects to the stamp. It was just too good not to include somehow.

I used some glitter washi tape to fasten the envelopes . . . because glitter. Why not, right?

And I love the quality of the cards--the print job is beautiful, and the cards are so thick and sturdy. If you're shopping around for Christmas cards, look no further . . . I 110% recommend Shutterfly.

Now, for the not-so-pretty behind the scenes of our Christmas card photos.

I had envisioned a cute little Christmas morning scene for our pictures--matching pajamas, all of us sitting in bed together, maybe a pile of books nearby for us to pretend to be reading. I suppose it goes without saying that I envisioned everyone smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, but this is clearly expecting way too much.

I'm actually thinking that next year I'll give up on the cute picture entirely and just put together a collage card of all of us crying in front of a Christmas tree.

Smells of Christmas, Old and New

A few weeks ago, my mom asked if I'd like to come rifle through her dozens of boxes of Christmas decorations to choose some things I'd like to use this year.

Free Christmas decorations? Don't have to ask me twice.

We had such a fun afternoon together, digging through her chilly old barn (while the kids whined and complained about the cold--never mind that part), uncovering newer decorations I barely recall seeing and older ones I'd almost forgotten about.

I brought home two big boxes full of sparkly new Christmas decorations--glitzy glass ornaments, rustic baskets, glittery snowmen--and a few of my childhood favorites, too, decorations I'd almost forgotten about, but seeing them again brought back so many childhood memories. And although they aren't the trendiest, most modern decorations, it just feels more like Christmas to have them in my house.

I'd be hard-pressed to recall any childhood Christmas memories that didn't include these wooden Santas. When I was really little, my mom loved craft painting, and one of my favorites of her projects was this group of Santas. They're a little worse for wear now after 20ish years of use--overzealous children have broken a star on one Santa's hat and lost the pieces the Santas on each end once held--but they were brought out religiously every Christmas. I'm so excited to have them in front of my fireplace this year.

And this Christmas countdown--just looking at it, I can almost smell the pumpkin bread my mom would make all winter, and cider simmering on the stove. I can remember arguing with my siblings over who would get to turn over a Christmas light on the tree each day as we counted down to Christmas. And no joke, Forrest asked me on the day after Halloween if we could start a Christmas countdown, so of course I couldn't leave this sitting in the barn. It made its way home with me, and Forrest is thrilled about flipping over a light each day.

I grabbed a few newer decorations too, and I nestled a Glade® Under the Mistletoe candle among them--I've mentioned in other posts that one of the highlights of each new season/holiday for me is choosing new scents to fill my home with, and Christmas is the very best time for scents. Just smelling my mom's pumpkin bread, or real, spicy apple cider, or a fresh-cut Christmas tree, is enough to bring back so many Christmas memories.

When I was a kid, we lived on a quiet, windy street in rural New York. And just up our street, two houses away from us, was a little Christmas tree farm. Every year, we'd visit our neighbors at their tree farm and spend an afternoon choosing and cutting down the perfect tree. It's one of my favorite holiday memories--bundling up in our coats and mittens, the crisp, cold air on our cheeks, the crunch of snow under our boots as we hunted down our tree, and the mingled smells of the cider our neighbors handed out to shoppers with the fresh tree scent.

Sadly, we haven't carried on the tree tradition with our kids . . . yet. We've made do with our artificial tree each year, but I hope there are fresh trees in our future. And until then, this Under the Mistletoe scent will make up for the lack of a fresh tree in our home. It's the perfect blend of that fresh pine scent and holiday berry sweetness. As soon as I smelled it, I felt like I was back at my old neighbors' tree farm. And I'm so glad I was able to bring that memory home with me.

If you need some holiday scent memory-making goodness in your house this season, check out this Cartwheel offer to save some money at Target on the Glade® Limited Edition Winter Collection! May I humbly recommend Under the Mistletoe (available exclusively at Target)? It just smells like Christmas.

What's your favorite scent of the season?

Celebrate the season with festive fragrances from Glade®. Spread holiday magic through the town with the scent of bright holly berries and fresh pine garland, featured in Target’s exclusive scent, Under the Mistletoe.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Glade®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Dare to Deck the Halls Features

Wipe those tears, my friends, Dare to DIY 2014 is over but it was beautiful while it lasted.

As always, it was a delight to peek through all the projects that joined in our Dare to Deck the Halls linkup this week at Newly Woodwards. I wanted to share a few of my favorite projects—swing by Shift Ctrl Art, Décor and the Dog, and Newly Woodwards to see their features, too!

Love these festive and fun Ho Ho Ho throw pillows, created over at Interiors by Kenz.

And this DIY Deer Mount Advent Calendar by Primitive and Proper is so unique and exciting:

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in! I love being a part of Dare to DIY, and I’m so glad to see there are so many participants who love joining in, too!

I hope you picked up some inspiration and ideas for things you can do to brighten your holiday season. See you next year, folks.

Merry and Bright Blocks (Dare to Deck the Halls)

Here we are at our final week of Dare to DIY 2014! This week’s theme is Dare to Deck the Halls--make sure to hop over to Newly Woodwards today to share YOUR handmade holiday décor, and visit cohosts Décor and the Dog and Shift Ctrl Art to see their projects, too!

I always start the Christmas season with all sorts of grand decorating ideas. And every year, reality sets in before I even take a single step forward, and I realize I don’t have the time or the money or the energy to make all my big dreams happen. So we generally keep things pretty simple around here for Christmas. That works fine for me.

A week or two ago, my sister Bekah and I got together to do some Christmas crafts (thankfully, it went better than our Halloween craft day). We each did a spin on a ‘merry & bright’ decoration. Bekah’s project actually came out way, way cuter than mine, but I don’t have pictures of hers, so you’re stuck with my version of merry & bright today. I’ll see if I can take some pictures of her sign to show you this week. It’s adorable.

I found these two pieces of scrap wood in my garage, and thought they’d work perfectly to recreate this pin. I wanted to include a some gold in my Christmas decorating this year, so I started by painting one block white, and spray painting the other gold.

I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut the words out of vinyl, then transferred them to my blocks to use as a template. I used the gold spray paint to fill in the word ‘merry’ on the white block, and sponged white paint over the word ‘bright’ on my gold block.

After letting them dry (probably not long enough, actually—I suffer from a serious lack of craft patience), I went over them lightly with some sandpaper to give them a vintage look. And to hide the spots where I messed up. Distressing does wonders for hiding craft oopsies.

It adds a little glitz to my shelves for Christmas. Merry and bright, indeed.

Can’t wait to see what YOU made this year to deck your halls! Hop over to Newly Woodwards and add your project to the linkup!

Christmas Tree Wall Art by NewlyWoodwards // Merry & Bright Blocks by Maybe Matilda
Christmas Trees Sign by Décor and the Dog // DIY Mini Tree by Shift Ctrl Art

(Im)Perfect Christmas PJ Photography 101

If you’re visiting today in hopes of finding a photography lesson on capturing the perfect Christmas pictures of your sweet children . . .

. . . you’ve obviously come to the right place.

For this sponsored post today, brought to you by Joe Boxer, I’d love to share with you our festive, yearly family tradition of giving and receiving new pajamas for Christmas . . . and totally botching the photo op.

Make sure to start out with children who are only semi-willing to participate, at best. Children who are flat-out opposed to your photography endeavors would, of course, be ideal for catastrophic photography failure.

A nice mix of attitudes, in my experience, is having one child who is focused so intently on going to visit Santa after taking pictures that he must be reassured every 3-5 seconds that yes, we are going to see Santa soon and no, we have not forgotten about going to see Santa, combined with a second child who has spent the past week or so regressing so deeply back into her completely dependent newborn clinginess that she suffers a total mental meltdown if physical contact with her mother is broken.

Also, you may think wrapped gifts will make nice props in your photos. It’s a nice thought and I applaud you for thinking creatively here, but the two possible outcomes are 1) the children become so distracted by the presents that they can hardly continue taking photos for being so desperate to find out what is inside or 2) the boxes will immediately be placed directly in front of one child’s face. Which is fine as long as the box is the thing you are most eager to capture and immortalize. I’m sure the box’s grandparents want a picture of it in front of the Christmas tree this year, too.

Maybe they just need better coaching, you say? Surely if given clearer directions, I could get a few keepers?

Good thoughts. ‘Hug your sister!’ quickly escalates into full-body tackling, followed by an adorable wrestling match and lots of angry squealing from the littlest piglet. It makes for nice photography—snap fast so you don’t miss a moment!

Forced cuddly poses yield similar, if slightly blurrier, results.

This is a good point to bring in mom and dad. Dad will be predictably grouchy about being asked to participate in family photos, and will offer only the most awkward and unconvincing of smiles. Just another small step toward family photo perfection.  At least he hasn’t resorted to trying to gouge out his own eyeball to get out of family photos, like your precious tiny munchkin.

You may, surprisingly, end up with a few decent shots if you give up on trying to force things and just let the day devolve into madness. Candids are the most true to life and memorable anyway, right?

Do you do the Christmas pajamas tradition in your house, too? I think it’s so fun. When I was a kid, getting socks for Christmas became so predictable and so weirdly funny that it turned into a major holiday tradition—both of my kids’ first gift ever from their grandparents was socks, and the socks from Grandma and Grandpa are always the first presents we open each year. So it’s been fun to carry on the sock tradition with our kids and build on it with a new pair of cute pajamas every Christmas, too.

If you love giving your kids or spouse new jammies every Christmas, you ought to check out Joe Boxer pajamas from Kmart. Huge selection (to the point that I ended up carrying around 2 or 3 pairs for each family member while I shopped, and had a hard time narrowing thing down), and they offer so many fun patterns and prints. They’d make such a fun, memorable Christmas gift and really, Christmas just isn’t complete without a new pair of pajamas.

In case you need a smile today:

 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Joe Boxer available at Kmart.

Dare to Entertain: Peppermint Chex Mix + DIY Favor Boxes

Welcome to week two of Dare to DIY, a holiday DIY challenge cohosted by me, Newly Woodwards, Décor and the Dog, and Shift Ctrl Art! Each week, we choose a holiday-related theme and encourage you to join in by creating your own project that fits the theme, and join it up to a link party hosted by one of us.

This week’s theme is Dare to Entertain—make sure to hop over to Décor and the Dog to join in the link party and share your project, and visit all the cohosts to see what we’ve come up with this week! As a reminder, next week’s theme will be Dare to Give Handmade, and the link party will be Monday, 12/8, right here on my blog. I hope you’ll join in and share your handmade gifts!

Gingerbread Man Place Cards by Décor and the Dog // Truffle Box Place Card by Newly Woodwards // Felt Tree Centerpiece by Shift Ctrl Art // Peppermint Chex Mix and Favor Boxes by Maybe Matilda

I always think Dare to Entertain is the hardest week. I’m not a big entertainer—I like the occasional small dinner party, but I really don’t enjoy putting on big events. And if given the choice between staying home with a book and attending a party—well, it’s hardly even a question.

I was thinking back on past Christmas parties (not thrown by me) to try and come up with an idea for this week, and remembered a Christmas party my sister-in-law Mindy threw a few years ago. She put out a big bowl of the most amazing peppermint Chex mix with white chocolate and candy cane bits, and it’s barely an exaggeration to say I ate about half of the bowl myself.

It’s become a regular Christmas treat in our house since that party, and I think it would make the perfect Christmas party favor for guests to take home after a holiday get-together, or (more realistically for me) a great gift to drop off at friends’ and neighbors’ houses around the holidays. I made my own little favor boxes to pack the Chex mix inside of, and let’s pretend I’m going to throw a Christmas party and hand these out. (I most likely won’t.)

First up, the goodies. Proceed with caution. This stuff is downright inhalable. So delicious and so Christmas-y and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Peppermint Chex Mix
recipe from my sister-in-law, Mindy

5 cups Rice Chex
12 ounces (1/2 package) vanilla almond bark (or any white chocolate or vanilla candy melts)
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy canes (5 normal-sized candy canes—I put them in a sandwich bag, wrapped it in a towel, and hammered it into oblivion)

Pour the Chex into a large bowl, and melt the almond bark according to the package directions. Pour the melted almond bark over the Chex, and add half of the crushed candy canes. Stir, stir, stir to evenly coat all the Chex pieces.

Pour them out onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper (or a Silpat) and spread out evenly. Immediately sprinkle with the remaining crushed candy canes. Set aside to allow the almond bark to set (about 20 minutes). When it has hardened, break into chunks.

Irresistible.

The Favor Boxes

I wanted to deliver some of the Chex mix to our neighbors, so I used my Silhouette Portrait to make easy favor boxes.

I used this box template from the Silhouette Online Store, and cut the pieces out of white cardstock. I wanted to use colorful, festive papers for my boxes, but I couldn’t find any I liked that were thick enough to make a sturdy box, so I first cut the boxes from heavy white cardstock, then glued colorful papers to the finished box.

Then I used my Silhouette to cut little gift tags (I used the gift tag that comes pre-loaded in the Silhouette library), as well as some letters that I glued to the tags, and tied them on with coordinating ribbon. (Just a note—I used hot glue to assemble my boxes, but it probably wasn’t the best choice, if you’re a craft perfectionist. It made for some bumpy edges. No biggie, just FYI.)

What did you make this week? Make sure to swing by Décor and the Dog to link up your projects!

Our 2014 Perfectly Personal™ Holiday Cards

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly. All opinions are mine. #ShutterflyHoliday

I’d like to go ahead and give myself a hearty and drawn-out pat on the back for having my holiday cards sitting right  here, ready to be addressed and mailed, all before Thanksgiving. I love planning and sending out Christmas cards, but it’s one of those details that I sometimes forget about in the holiday bustle—you’re putting up decorations, going to events, shopping for presents, then the first Christmas cards start trickling into your mailbox and you suddenly remember you haven’t gotten yours ready yet and is it too late to order some last minute? Are you with me here? Yeah. One day, when I’m a mature and organized adult, I’d like to be the sort who has all these details planned in advance, and it is pure luck that I have them ready this year. It feels good. So consider this post my humble brag that mine are ready to go (yay!!!) and a gentle push to get started on yours, too—why not get them done early and have a little more time and energy to enjoy the holidays with your family this year? Plus they make me feel all cheery and cozy and Christmasy, just looking at them. *happy emojis*

Our Christmas cards this year came from Shutterfly (we used Shutterfly cards last year too! you can see our 2013 cards HERE), and I love how they turned out (you can see the card design I chose and all the personalization options HERE). I used some of our most recent family pictures on them, and I love how the foil-stamped gold accents look with our photo colors. So shiny and glitzy and gorgeous. And it’s always so fun to play around with the little details to personalize the cards—I’m always a sucker for a scalloped edge, and although I didn’t want to change any of the colors on the card, that’s an option for most card designs, too. It really is fun to make little changes to make them feel mine.

My favorite feature of our holiday cards this year? Hands down, the matchy-matchy stationery accessories. I mean, an adorable holiday card is certainly enough to make me smile, but golly, if you’re going to make a full matching stations suite with personalized address labels and even personalized postage with our family picture on them to coordinate with our cards?! Done. Sold. Period. (And I will whisper a secret in your ear: I discovered an awesome perk of the personalized postage that perhaps even Shutterfly hasn’t realized—since the picture is small, it’s the perfect opportunity to use a family photo I really liked that wasn’t totally in focus. Sadly, this shot was just a bit too blurry to hang on our wall, or even use on the card itself, but for a little postage stamp? No one’s the wiser, it looks clear and sharp, and I got to use a picture I might not get to use elsewhere. It’s the small things, right?)

I love all the gold details. Of course I couldn’t resist slapping a picture of the kids on the back of our cards along with our personalized message, and the matching stickers with our name on them go perfectly with the cards. Aren’t we glad gold has come back in style? I admit, I was skeptical at first, but as with 99% of the trends I start out hating, I’ve stopped kicking against the pricks and joined the fold. The gold fold.

Truth be told, I hadn’t even considered throwing a Christmas party until I fell hard for these pretty party invitations. And now it appears I am throwing a Christmas party. Heaven help me.

Just admire with me. Look at how beautifully everything matches. It makes me happy.

And now I’m feeling a strong urge to bake some Christmas cookies. Can we skip past Thanksgiving and fast forward to Christmas please?

Dare to Deck the Halls Features

This is it! The end of Dare to DIY 2013! Wipe those tears, it’ll be back next year. Until then, here are some of my picks from this week’s theme, Dare to Deck the Halls.

I loved this DIY Gold Starburst Tree Topper from Gabbi at Retro Ranch Reno. Such a unique, modern twist on the traditional star tree toppers.

And this Merry Christmas banner from Brynne at The Gathered Home has such a sweet, old-fashioned typography look. Love it!

Thanks to all who joined in and made Dare to DIY special, and be sure to visit NewlyWoodwards, Décor and the Dog, and Primitive and Proper to see their favorites from this week’s link party.

And another big thank you to everyone for your support and nice comments on yesterday’s post! It really feels awesome to be a part of such a supportive, helpful internet community. That sounds cheesy as heck. But it’s true. I love that I can be real with you guys and not feel like I have to shine things up before I share my life with you, and you’ll be just as sweet as can be about it. Corny sentence alert: thank you for letting me share my real, unglamorous life with you. I appreciate it. So much. Okay, corniness over.

I’m hoping to have a certain crochet project finished, photographed, and with the pattern written up to share with you next week . . . here’s a sneak peek at what I’m working on. Fingers crossed I get the step-by-step photographed over the weekend, because it would really make an AWESOME quick, last-minute Christmas project. Who isn’t in the market for that?

Have a good weekend!

Easy Chocolate Butterscotch Fudge

This post brought to you by Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

Would you believe me if I told you I've never made fudge before? Not once. Consumed it? Innumerable times. One summer at a choir camp, I ate a bowl of straight hot fudge very single day. Didn't even mess around with ice cream. Just the hot fudge. I also gained 10 pounds that summer, strangely enough. But for some reason, I've had the idea that fudge is too hard to make, so I've never tried it myself. This seemed like the season to give it a go, and lemme tell you, the results are, as a certain someone in my house declared, 'deeeeewishus!'


In case you are scared of fudge like I was .  . . don't be. This is as simple as it gets.

Chocolate Butterscotch Fudge
(adapted from this Carnation® recipe)

1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups mini marshmallows
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes; remove from heat.

Stir in the marshmallows, chips, and vanilla. Stir quickly until marshmallows and chips are melted and fully incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan.

Do you want to stick your whole face under it? I do. It's like a delicious waterfall. A fudge-fall. Choir camp flashbacks!

Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Then just remove the foil from the pan, peel the foil off the fudge, and slice it up. And eat it. But that step speaks for itself. How could you not?

I came up with this recipe by tinkering with an easy fudge recipe from the Nestle® brand page on the Dollar General site. Check it out for more delicious recipes (ummm, Gingersnap-Spiced Ice Cream Pie, anyone? I'll need 2 slices), savings, and fun holiday ideas and tips!