Holiday Hijinks
Hold On.
As we head into the holiday weekend, we’re looking forward to watching “the kids” unwrap their presents (yes, Burger gets some too), gorging on goodies, and spending time with family and friends. But before the festivities officially begin, we wanted to take a moment to say HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you guys!
The image above was the Christmas card that we sent out to our family and friends (in case you can’t see, the text reads: “Hope you get your mitts on everything that you want this season“). This is the template we used through Snapfish (we just provided the pic and the wording of the note and they printed 40 5 x 7 cards on matte photo paper & provided envelopes for each one to the tune of around $25 thanks to a coupon code that we googled around for).
Getting the shot was a bit more involved than our previous years’ cards (which starred Burger as a reindeer, a kiss-monger, and a big brother in waiting) since we had a dog and a baby to work with this time (everything from getting Burger to actually wear his trapdoor sleeper to keeping both of our models in place was a bit of a challenge). But we had tons of fun watching Clara try to lick Burger for a change (weird, but true). And since we know you guys love behind the scenes stuff, here’s our “set” of sheepskins in the ol’ den where we shot it in early December:
Notice the block acting as Clara’s stand-in while she was getting a diaper change? Oh and here’s a fun fact, Sherry actually photoshopped that bow on Clara’s head after we uploaded the pic because she wanted her to look a bit less androgynous (since there’s no hair to clip a real bow to yet).
Anyway, happy holidays to all! May your days be merry and bright- and may your chihuahuas (and other various family members) be held tight.
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.
Nice Mugs
This is a weird DIY thing I tossed together three Monday nights ago in front of the TV in our old house.
The first reason I’m calling it weird is because we no longer live there, so it’s funny that this post somehow got buried and now it’s getting published with our old walls and shelves in the background. And it’s pretty darn close to Christmas, but I figured it might be a fun little last minute gift idea for someone. Better late than never, right? Hence the idea of hitting publish on it (as opposed to delete).
The second reason I’m calling it weird is that I totally didn’t use the right materials to make these mugs food or beverage safe (so they’d be great informal flower vases on a kitchen windowsill, pencil holders in an office, or even q-tip or cotton ball containers in a bathroom) but they shouldn’t be used to hold tea or coffee. I just used a silver Sharpie that I had on hand (the same one I used to make these ornaments to celebrate Clara’s first Christmas). Why’d I do that? Well, we sold a bunch of these mugs that we never used at our moving sale, but when we were packing our three floating shelves in our old dining area we realized there were three more mugs sitting up there that we somehow missed. So before I put them in our donate pile, I got the odd urge to draw on them with my favorite little marker. Just for kicks.
My expectations were to have some fun sketching on the mugs and then just donate them (after writing “not for food use” on the bottom). But I ended up loving them so much that I gleefully packed them up and took them with us to our new house. I think they’ll look so cute in our office (full of pens, pencils, and paperclips). And of course I can also use them every year around the holidays to hold individually wrapped candy canes in fun fruity colors like yellow or pink (which, thanks to the wrapping, won’t be affected by the not-food-safe Sharpie).
As for the how-to details, what you see is what I did. I pretty much just drew rows of hearts all the way around one, some funny scale-ish wiggles that looked sort of like strips of ribbon on the second one…
…and a whimsical little tea bag on the outside (and inside) of the third….
The tea bag idea was actually inspired by a similar mug that I recently saw at Urban Outfitters (shown in this post). And of course that one took about ten seconds to do. So anyway, I figured it was worth sharing my odd little a-few-weeks-old evening project even though it’s not really the best DIY gift when you use a silver Sharpie (unless you tell the giftee that they’re not food or dishwasher safe) since a food-friendly ceramic marker or paint pen might make these quick little designs that I threw together a lot more functional. Happy mug-drawing to one and all!
It’s Up! Again.
We actually got our tree back up a few days ago amidst boxes and general chaos (here it is the first time when we set it up in the old house). We figured we’d never be 100% organized and unpacked before the holidays hit, but taking an hour to get into the spirit in our brand new house for our bean’s first Christmas was just what the doctor ordered. We found the perfect spot for our tree in the corner of the living room (right near the sliders that lead out into the sunroom and the doorway that connects to the kitchen).
We also hung my beloved Pottery Barn wreath (a gift from John’s mom a few years back) on the back of the fireplace in the living room that will someday be double-sided. I just stare at that empty green bookcase and picture a blazing fire…
And the other side of the fireplace (which is located in the eat-in part of the kitchen) looks like this:
I know, I know – that paneling, dark brick, and red tile is ka-raaaazy. But there’s still something sweet about seeing our stockings (John and I share one so Clara and Burger each get their own), my little faux presents, a few feather trees, some ceramic fruit/birds, and our cardboard snowflake wreath up there to keep things festive until we can break out the primer and paint to lighten things up.
Oh and as I was unpacking I spotted those cute silver zebra-ish plates (from Crate & Barrel a few years back) and decided to stick them up on the mantel as well. Why not- it’s a kitchen, right?
They add a nice little shot of holiday sparkle. So I try to rest my eyes on those little gems (instead of all that paneling- oy!). Can’t wait to brighten things up in there. Oh and speaking of painting, we actually tackled Clara’s room this weekend. It felt good to be back in our painting clothes! We went in a totally different direction than we did in her last nursery, so we’ll have to snap some pictures and share them soon…
Holiday Shopping Post Numero Three
Here’s our last installment of our recent gift sleuthing spree (see part one here and part two here) and this time we paid Urban Outfitters a visit. It’s always full of cute, quirky, and downright hilarious gift ideas that are usually pretty affordable. Here’s what we found:
These sparkly pillows were pretty luxe looking (and around $30, as opposed to something similar that we saw at Crate & Barrel for $99).
This $22 book of “Other People’s Love Letters” reminded us of those Post Secret books (we love them, and actually own two volumes of ‘em- they’re great for leaving in a guest room so visitors can entertain themselves).
For the techie in your life, these funny $16 iPhone app refrigerator magnets could be perfect (if not a bit expensive- maybe they’re a good DIY gift idea too?).
This pretty canvas print would definitely work for any newly married couples who just got their first house. So cute. And it might also be DIYable with floral fabric, some fabric paint, and some stencils. I somehow forgot to note the price for this one. Boo.
These sweet $8 mugs had so much charm. And they’re great to give full of any number of things (fancy tea bags or coffee grounds, a bag of cookies or biscotti, even pencils or pens for a work friend’s cubicle).
Of course we had to take a picture of the quirky band aids on the left for Burger. And anything with a mustache joke is cool with us, hence the box on the right. These could make pretty funny stocking stuffers. Sidenote: I just googled mustache to be sure I was spelling it right since the box has that funny spelling that made me second guess my first instinct and look at what came up. Those are some intricate mustache designs…
Here’s a $36 faux chandelier that we thought would be a great gift for a fancy fashionista friend. We can totally picture it hanging above an entryway table, a dining area, or even inside of a cool walk in closet (best of all: no wiring necessary).
And we had to snap a picture of this dude from The Hangover…
… because if John had a goatee and some glasses it might have been a pretty good representation of his “heck-yeah-I’m-wearing-a-baby” fashion choice.
Of course Clara was asleep at this point so she missed the hilarity. Anyway, so ends our three store virtual shopping spree. Off to unpack some more.
Psst- We weren’t paid or perk’d to mention these items or stores, we just like them and thought you might too.
