and it's a wrap!

I am back with a quick post to share with you how I wrapped my gifts this year.  I was inspired by the gift wrapping I did here and decided that this year, I will be using kraft paper.  I love the look of red and kraft together.

So here is what I did this year....

I embellished my package to resemble the look of a parcel one would normally receive in the mail.  I used Papertrey’s Postmarks and 2010 Holiday Tag sets.

For the tag, I used the very adorable Tiny Treats: Christmas set (also from Papertrey).  I attempted some colouring using the few Copic markers I have on hand.  I also added a couple of bells to put some jingle on my gift.

Here are a few of them together...

Are you done with your holiday shopping and wrapping?  Which one do you enjoy more?  I finished mine last weekend.  And I must admit, wrapping makes the holidays so much more fun for me. 

in the meadow

The Papertrey DT (design team) recently re-visited this old holiday set from last year.  I immediately fell in love with In the Meadow when it was first released because it was different from the other sets I have.  I love the silhouettes and the scenes you can build even with just the dies. 

And because of the DT's wonderful creations (esp Maile's cards), I was inspired to revisit this set too. Here are a few cards I made with it...

And for my last card, I decided to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge.  This week, the challenge is to create a Clean and Simple project that features a knot or knots.  And here is my adorable little boy in a sled.  I made him a scarf using some red and white twine from Jillibean Soup.

And because he is so stinkin' cute, I made two of him...

And here they are all together...

Thanks for stopping by!

oh! christmas tree

I mentioned before that nowadays, my DD has a lot to say on how our tree is to be decorated.  I had a goal of finishing decorating the tree and getting the house holiday-ready by last weekend.  Happy to share with you that I did it!  It was tricky at first because she kept on re-arranging the ornaments as I put them.  We did that for about 20 minutes and she broke an ornament in the process (but that’s okay).  I had to create a distraction for her. So we finally gave in and let her open and play with the doll house she got as a gift during her last birthday.  I wanted to have hubby assemble it first and surprise her with a finished house but we did not have time.  So now, we have small furnitures and miniature house decors scattered all over her room.  But at least I got to finish decorating.  Here is our tree...

One of our favourite things to do during the holidays is to take a photo of Frances by our tree.  It is amazing to see how much she has grown over  the years, standing in front of the same tree every year.  Here she is in two of her first photos by the tree this year...

Disguised as a ballerina kitty...

And here are the layouts I made of her Christmas tree photos over the last 3 years. 



Year 2011



Year 2010

Year 2009

Thanks for stopping by!

countdown to christmas

We are starting a new holiday tradition this year with our first family advent calendar.  We are counting down the days leading up to Christmas (yes, all 24 of them!) by doing an activity together as a family.  It could be related to holiday crafts, treats, thoughtful gestures to others or anything that is fun. 

Blogland showcases a lot of ways to do an advent calendar.  Since this is the first time we are doing it, I chose the simple route.  I wanted something store-bought (gasp!), inexpensive and easy to set up (as I need 24 of them!).   So imagine my delight when I saw a set of 24 mittens backed by a clothespin, ready to be used as a countdown ornament. The best part is that  it only costs $2.   I already have a large wooden picture frame sitting on my fireplace perfect for hanging these mittens.  Here it is...

The idea is that each day, my little one would open the note behind the mitten and we would do the fun activity indicated for that day.  I tried to incorporate “known events” into the countdown calendar like our scheduled photo session with Santa, get togethers with friends or bringing of presents to school and daycare.  Movie night is also scheduled on a Friday (as we have a no-TV-during-weekdays policy) and ice skating is scheduled on a Saturday evening.   In case you are interested, here are the things I included  this year:

1-   Have our picture taken with Santa

2-   Decorate our Christmas tree together

3-   Bake cookies together

4-   Read a Christmas story together

5-   Have your picture taken by the Christmas tree

6-   Dance to a Christmas song

7-   Sing a Christmas carol

8-   Get together with friends

9-   Family brunch

10- Donate to Food Banks

11- Create a holiday ornament

12- Drive around the block and look at Christmas lights

13- Frances to take a picture of Mom and Dad

14- Camp out in the family room and watch a movie together

15- Get together with friends

16- Bake holiday treats for the office

17- Make a card for Santa

18- Drop by our dessert place for a quick treat (you can wear jammies!)

19- Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows

20- Bring Christmas presents to school

21- Bring Christmas presents to daycare

22- Go ice skating

23- Call Grandma and Grandpa

24-  Wear our new jammies

I have accepted early on that there may be instances when we will get busy with other things so we may need to postpone or replace an activity with something else.  And that is okay.  What is important is seeing my DD’s face light up with excitement every time it is time to open the “mitten for the day” and the smile on her face when we actually do the activity.  Since this is the first time we are doing this, I included some relatively simple activities in the mix to keep me from stressing out too much, ha!

Happy to share that we have so far done 3 out of 3 of our mitten activities.  We’ll see how it goes the rest of the month (wink, wink).

Hope you are having a fabulous December!

Salud!

It always makes me happy to do a 3 dimensional cake.  It's the challenge in the construction and artistry  that keeps me excited and inspired when I do my cakes.

I did this wine cake for a returning client who hosted a surprise birthday for her sister's 30th.  She is a wine lover with a dream of owning her own vineyard one day.

The cake seems apt, don't you think?

The bottle is made of rice crispie treats, topping the vanilla strawberry shortcake covered in faux wooden panels.

Have a glorious week, everyone!  

Stay sweet!

Bebsy

Emma's Bike-a-thon

My niece Emma celebrated her birthday on a lovely fall afternoon with a bike-a-thon theme. This is the first year she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels!   Emma was the creative genius behind the occasion and Aunt Aimee couldn't be any prouder. 

Everyone came with their bikes or scooters.

It was a glorious fall afternoon for a bike ride. 

 

Emma even made the signs for buckets bearing the flag milestone markers.

 

Next up was a nature scavenger hunt.

 

Even moms and dads helped out.

 

After the buzz of activities, everyone was ready for snacks, picnic style of course.

 

 

Emma was so thrilled when the time came for her cake.

 

 

And then more fun and games.

 

As we head into the cold winter months, the memories of this year's outdoor fun already have me looking forward to next year.

 

 

snowflake medley

Can you believe it’s December already?  Where did the year go?  The days are certainly getting shorter and it is getting more and more difficult to get up in the morning, lol.  I am so looking forward to some vacation time during the holidays.

Anywho, I am back with a quick post to share the other Christmas cards I recently created.  I broke out my Snowflake Medley set from Papertrey and was surprised at how much I love it.  Here are a couple of cards I made with it…

And here they are in multiples..

Papertrey cardstocks in aqua mist, pure poppy, hawaiian shores and lavender moon.

Here I used simply chartreuse cardstock instead of hawaiian shores. 

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!