Our Elf on the Shelf

This is a brand new tradition for us this year, and the ladybug and little guy have been loving it.  I had no idea what the whole thing was about and how it was supposed to work until last month.  When I read how the elf gets into mischief during the night, I thought we could have a lot of fun with this. (or be totally freaked out about a little doll watching us during the day and then running around in the dark while we sleep)  Luckily, the kids are having fun with it - no freak outs here. Whew!

A few days after Thanksgiving  we had a very simple, but festive surprise breakfast to introduce our elf, "Chip".  It happened to work out that the Elf on the Shelf special was on tv the night before, and that's also why they chose the name Chip.  We read the book that comes with the elf and enjoyed donuts and hot chocolate for breakfast.  Hello sugar.

After our sugar high, we chose a spot for Chip to sit where he would be out of reach, yet able to see our daily happenings.

When they go to bed the mischief begins.  Here's some of what our elf has been up to around our house.  Most of these ideas came from other creative people courtesy of Pinterest.   

The morning of the ladybug's Christmas program at school, he made some special elf sized donuts (cheerios) for us.  What a sweet elf.  He found the idea here.

One night Chip was making paper snowflakes.  The next morning we had our first real snowfall. (I had no idea it was supposed to snow.  That just kinda worked out!)

One night Chip got out the ladybugs porcelain tea set and had a tea party under the tree with Mary, Joseph, and Santa.

Tomorrow morning the kiddos will wake to find Chip enjoying a little r&r!

If you have an elf, what kind of mischief is he/she getting into?

Link up with me here...
http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/
http://lilluna.com/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

Our Christmas Advent Calendars

Wow, time is really getting away from me these days!  Way too many things to do and way too little time to do them.  Not complaining, just wishing there were more hours in the day.  At least I'm done Christmas shopping.  Nevertheless, my lists keep growing.  Mostly because there is just so much cute stuff that MUST be made this time of year.  Stinkin' Pinterest.  Sucking me in to all that cuteness.

On to the calendars....

In had no idea these Playmobile calendars even existed until Ali Edwards posted about them.  We gave it a try this year.  This one is just for the ladybug...small pieces and all don't mix well with my little guy...who knows where those little pieces would end up!  We always do this calendar when he naps so he doesn't feel left out.

She loves this.  Next year I'll have one for both of them.  

Last year I saw an idea somewhere about wrapping up your Christmas books, and letting the kids open one a day til Christmas to read.  LOVED that idea.  I didn't do it last year because I wasn't looking forward to wrapping 24 books.  I love to embellish packages, not so much the wrapping.  Maybe because one year I waited till Christmas Eve night around 9pm to begin ANY wrapping.  Crazy me.  

This year I buckled down and wrapped our Christmas books.  After 5 years of having little ones around we had plenty of Christmas books for 24 days.

Since the little guy doesn't get to do a Playmobile calendar, the unwrapping of these books is his duty.  He's usually pretty sweet about it and asks for the ladybugs help anyway.  Then we all read the story together.  I love it.  

It's a way to be sure we get at least one book read a day even on those crazy busy days. :-)

Link up with me here:

http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/

http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/

http://www.pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

December Daily (2011)

This will be my first year making a December Daily album!

I am so excited to see how the final product turns out at the end of the month.  

The album is ready to go filled with pretty reds and aquas.  

I made my album a 8.5 x 6 album.  

I liked Ali Edward's page structure for documenting each day, but wanted to make my own.

Using Microsoft Word I made the boxes and borders.  

I hand stamped the numbers in the corners.

 This project allows you to use left over embellishments and pieces you already have in your stash.  

I have a small basket full of embellishments in reds and aquas that I'll add to the pages as I fill them in with our stories and pictures. 

An album documenting every day in a month ends up being really chunky.  I had to use 3 inch binder rings, which I found out, can be tricky to find!  I have another set of 3 that I'll list in my shop later today, in case you're looking for some.

Do you do December Daily?  Leave me a link to it in the comments.  

I'd love some more inspiration!


Linking to...
http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/
http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com
http://www.yesterdayontuesday.com
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com
http://tatertotsandjello.com

Our Christmas in a "MINI" version

You know those mini album ornaments in my shop?  

Well I use them post-Christmas to preserve small memories from the season. 

Here's one I did from a couple years ago 

(before the little guy came along)...

Very simple.  

The point is to jot down the little things before you forget them.  

 

I add a few thumbnail pictures and it's ready to hang on the tree next year.

That's it.

 

 I love looking through past memories when we get out our Christmas decor. 

It's like opening precious little presents.

 

A Delightful Christmas

What a week!  

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week, but we have been enjoying Christmas activities galore!  Here are a few of the things we've been up to lately...

We've had many long talks with Santa...

we've been wrapping a lot of presents in the spirit of giving....

we even discovered santa's footprints in our entryway on Christmas morning....

we've waited very patiently to open presents....

we got extra fancy/handsome for Christmas dinner...

we even shared lots of Christmas treats with one of our favorite doggies...

I hope all of my wonderful readers are enjoying the season as well!!!

Come back in the morning for the Craft Catwalk!

Feeling Festive

Hope your enjoying all sorts of festive fun!

Hot Chocolate, Christmas music, and twinkling lights galore!

Check out this fun display set to music.  My kiddos love watching these ones.

Gingerbread House Cards

I'm in love with these cards!  I think they are the cutest!  

The ladybug fell in love with making them.  

I found this idea in Family Fun magazine.  

You can find the template for the card HERE

We used adhesive trim for the "white icing" on the house, glitter card stock for the doors and candy dots.

First I used a hole punch for the dots, but ladybug got so frustrated trying to work with such tiny dots.  I cut out bigger ones for the rest.  Then she didn't want to stop making them!

They're all ready for her sweet little drawings inside!  

She is going to love giving these out.

 

Linking to....
Pinkapotamus
Blue Cricket Design
Crafty Soiree
Paisley Passions
HOH
Fingerprints on the Fridge

Our Christmas Tree

I love real Christmas trees.  They smell good, and picking out a tree makes for fun memories.  One year our tree stand leaked and completely warped the wood floor.  The next year the tree dried out within 2 weeks.  

Since then we've gone the fake route.  Real ones just do not cooperate with us!

Someday I'd love to have a tree in golds and reds.  All shiny and pretty!  Now we have a hodge podge of sentimental ornaments. I like it that way too.

Some ornaments are priceless to me.

  

These were my Grandma's and love them!  

The hubs has a few sentimental ornaments from his childhood.

Hubs gets a lot of policeman ornaments.  

I wonder why.... : )

 

Every year my kids get their own ornaments to add to the tree.  When they're grown they'll have their own box of ornaments to take when they leave home many, many years from now.

 George is HUGE in our house.  Ladybug and little guy adore that monkey!

Ever since I was little I have been collecting these little houses from Hallmark.  

They're so cute!  They're like mini doll houses.  How could I resist?

Our stockings are hung on our railing since we don't have a fireplace.  

I love these sweater stockings.  They were only $10 at Target!  

Not too bad since most other cute stockings I found were double the price.

If the ladybug and little guy had it their way, all these little lights would be on all day long. 

The excitement in their eyes when the tree lights up is priceless!  I Love it!