Friday, January 20, 2012

christmas crafty

i've been meaning to post about the couple new advent/christmas decorations i made this year.  i know it's a bit belated, but here are a few pictures.


i couldn't get this carol out of my head all during advent, so i was inspired to make this banner.  i enjoyed doing a little bit of embroidery again, which i hadn't done for a long time.  i used regular stamp ink on white fabric for the letters, and it worked pretty well.
 


the kids and i had a go with salt dough ornaments, which i'd been reading about all over the blogosphere.  it was fairly easy and fun for everyone.  i enjoyed the stamping on them, but maybe next year we'll try painting, sticking beads in them or something else.  it was fun to do words and names with the tiny letter stamps, but i think it looks cool with really big stamps too, which we didn't really have.
i found this awesome (to me!) nativity matryoshka fabric at joann's, and i knew it would be perfect for a tree skirt.  aren't the little people so cute??!?!  but it was definitely a bit of a challenge working in a circle, and with so much fabric.  i was so proud of myself that i figured out how to do the slit with ribbon ties... until everything was right-side-in and i realized the slit was right in the front of the tree instead of the back.  and since the people are oriented one way, it's pretty noticeable.  oh well!


lastly, here is a not-great photo of the star atop our christmas tree.  it's a star-shaped piece of foam onto which i needle-felted some blue and white wool.  very easy--and pretty!

Thursday, January 05, 2012

quiet christmastide


we had such a nice calm and quiet christmastide.  aaron took off the week after christmas, and we had lots of good relaxing family time.  we were all sick off and on for most of the vacation, but in a way that was a blessing.  there was no pressure to schedule play-dates or other activities, or to accomplish much around the house.  there was lots of lying around, eating, reading, enjoying new christmas gifts, etc.  what a life!


we did enjoy a fun few days at grandma and grandpa's house, celebrating christmas with the ever-growing bandstra clan.  aaron got away for two days to do an overnight snowshoe adventure near whistler with his friend mike.  we went ice skating with the bates's on new year's eve, and we went to mount baker on new year's day to play in the snow!


now we're back to normal, which isn't really all that crazy but feels crazy in contrast to the last few weeks.  i'm trying to maintain a feeling of calm even in the midst of a schedule and responsibilities.  deep breaths.  just sitting doing nothing.  hugging the kids.  hugging my husband.  keeping the house tidy.  saying no to things that add stress.  not spending too much time on the computer.  not shopping...
any more ideas?


i guess these are all really new year's resolutions too.  if i had to sum up what i'm striving for in one word it would be calm.

and with more chaos coming soon: lord, have mercy.