the banner is my favorite part!

i love the red dot background.

it comes with the letters to spell "merry grinchmas" as well

as 2 grinch pennants and 2 tree pennants.

 it can be hung as one long banner

grinch-merry-tree-grinchmas-grinch

 2 inch circles look adorable by themselves....

or add a scalloped background!

...............

favor tags:

 2 1/2 inch circles

...............

food labels:

6 custom labels or unlimited blank

to order any of these items or the whole package,

visit my

etsy shop

 return address label

last year i did reindeer fingerprints

so this year we did a fingerprint christmas tree

 "we believe"

"count your blessings"

subway art

I just love pinterest for finding great inspiration.

this christmas i have updated

my decorations with a few of these ideas.

i had pinned this wreath in the fall, 

 but it was too late to be making a fall wreath

so i added pinecones dusted with glitter.

i followed the tutorial and it took about an hour.

the most time consuming part is cutting the burlap.

i had lots left over from my sister's shower,

but it does take a lot of 4 inch squares.  she said about 100.

i didn't count... and you'll need a lot of pins!

 i searched advent calendars on pinterest

and found so many wonderful ideas.

i decided to do a mix of winter/holiday fun as well as

acts of kindness & thinking of others.

 here is my list of activities:
color a winter picture ~ make a card to put
with gift card for the mail carrier~write a note to your
sister telling 3 nice things about her~read a christmas
storybook~make a card for your busdrivers~
make cookies~have a snowball fight~go to starbucks
for a treat~make a sign for the garbage man and
attach a gift card~make a snowman~look at
photo albums~make a card for your REP teachers~
watch a christmas movie & have popcorn~go see
christmas lights~make a winter craft~draw a picture
of baby jesus~make cards to send to
great-grandparents~buy a gift for toys for tots~
help wrap christmas presents
{i put a few of these in more than once}

 i used burlap and muslin because i love a natural look.

i had seen this tutorial last year

 their skirt was sewn,

and i was all ready to follow their instructions.

i had planned on pulling the sewing machine out....

and THEN i saw this tutorial!

wait, what?  i can do this with a glue gun?!

done!

happy holidays!

i have once again been searching for

fun. easy, cute ideas for classroom parties.

our party has to be winter themed so that really narrows

down what we can do.

these are the treats i made last year

 i just stacked 2 doughnut holes and made a cupcake topper to

be the snowman head.

my daughter liked helping decorate and attaching the hats.

this year i have found some cute ideas on pinterest

to see all my pins go here.

{there are some christmas ideas too}

i really like these food ideas:

 snowman snack mix

i plan on making a large bowl with

mini marshmallows {snow balls}, pretzel sticks {arms},

chocolate chips {eyes/mouth/buttons},

and orange sprinkles {nose}

 i made these for the halloween party and they were a huge hit!

just cut the seeds out with a mini cookie cutter.

i need to find a winter shape now!

this is puppychow,

but since our school parties are peanut free

i thought it would be cute to use a frosted cereal like

frosted mini wheats since they look like they are covered in snow!

i'll share some activities next time!

i had a client contact me to make

an invite for their grinch themed christmas party.

i think this sounds like such a fun idea for a kid's

holiday gathering!

i'll be making some party decorations as well,

so stay tuned!

my family's card

i am so excited about how these cards turned out!
the pictures don't represent the great
quality of the printing.
i'm so glad i have found a good printer
so that i can create any format i want.

front of the card.
it is a 4.75 in square when folded.

i totally copied this idea from another blogger,
but can't find the link!
cute and easy.
i took each kid's thumbprint, added antlers and a red nose.
since i needed about 80, i scanned it and printed them out
on sticker paper. then i used a circle punch to
make it perfect for sealing the envelope---no licking!
later, i wished i had printed the year under it...oh well.


my sister-in-law's cards

she brought me a picture of this idea and
i was really excited to try and replicate it.

i think it turned out so pretty.

"believe" banner

a small banner made from burlap.

the letters are cut from a dark green shimmer card stock.

santa banner

this is a mini banner that i thought would be perfect to hang on the end of your child's bed just to make sure santa knows to stop!

we are refinishing floors, so do not have any beds to model with :(

i think having the date added makes it a special memento. hopefully they can hang it up on their anniversary for years to come!