{Recap} December 2015

Ah! December! Tis the season, to not feel like Christmas?

This year, the weather has been so un-winter-like that it never felt like Christmas to me.

Yes, the decorations were hung and Christmas activities where happening, but no snow? Boo.

Friends down south? How do you do it? 

Just like it doesn't feel like Christmas without snow here, I bet you would feel the same if there was snow on Christmas! Right?

 And yes, this is how I felt of most of December and January! 

Pregnant with baby number 4... Is hard!

To help being "busy pregnant" I made baby boy this awesome center out knit blanket. 

It's so squishy I want to make a giant one for me! 

Just a little something I put together for Carter's teacher for Christmas.

Fun glittery pencils, an insulated cup and then filled with gel pens!

Simple yet adorable, and I know she would use it all!

My boys LOVE Lego Star Wars, and my husband remembers seeing the movies when he was a kid and started watching them with them. So when we needed cookies for a school Holiday party, and I saw how easy these were.  Chewbacca cookies it was! 

These are chocolate sugar cookies, not gingerbread men. They were a hit at the party too! 

A simple gingerbread man cookie cutter, and fork make the hair. Chocolate frosting and sprinkles! 

And yes, I was that mother using tweezers to pick out five sprinkles of one color! 

Lastly, the table is almost complete! 

My husband really took his time with the table because the wood was no kiln dried. 

So he wanted to let the wood acclimate a day or two in between steps to try to prevent warping and pulling. Hence, the table upside down in my dining room!

Its December!!!!

Ah! I need to make a killer to do list, like yesterday!

I have so much I want to accomplish this month!

 

First, I need to update my advent calendar.

Umm. How was I supposed to hang the ornaments...Ooops!

 

 

 

Then, I need to take our Christmas picture!

Or is it I need to shop/figure out their outfits? Then take the picture!

Oh yea. That's it!

Here's our card recap, all our past cards in one place!

Some more crafty than others!

 Then I need to pull out the rest of my decorations!

Or, how about all of them. Especially these ornaments, I love them. 

I typically have my Christmas tree up on Black Friday.

This year not so much, since I hosted my very first Thanksgiving!

 

Anyone else feeling behind this year?

I swear I thought with one out of three kids in school I would be onthe ball. Not so much.

Oh well. Guess I better get digging through my Christmas decorations, and find the tree if I want to take the kids pictures in front of it!

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Every year I take a minute to look back at the top ten popular posts of All Things Fee!

{2010}{2011}{2012}

And this year is no different!

 10. Knit Wreath Tutorial

9. Under Sink Drawer Hideaway

8. Baked Ham & Egg Cups

7. Easy Crochet Flowers

6. Meal Planning

(I've Revamped how I plan now, so check that out here! I think it's pretty genius, I never have to sit to meal plan again!)

5. Chalkboard Eraser Tutorial

4. Crockpot Mac & Cheese

3. Fabulously Festive Ornaments

2. Sews: Advent Calendar

and.... the number one spot goes to

Finger Knit Cowl!

Sews: Advent Calendar

Every year, an Advent Calendar is on my list of "to makes".

Every year I put it off. This year I finally did it!

I may be late but I did it! And next year I won't have to put it on my "to make" list!

The hardest part was starting! So, I decided to start with the top half of my felt that is more decorative.

I have seen this advent calendar floating around blogland, and I loved the tree. 

A little bit realistic, a little whimsy. It was perfect.

So much so I sat staring at my computer screen with paper and slowly sketched it out.

Once sketched out, I used the papers as my pattern, alternating light green and dark green.

As for the countdown part, I just could not make up my mind.

My mother has a countdown that you move the stuffed mouse everyday,and thought I would make that.

Then I loved all the calendars with the pockets for treats, or notes.

But I also loved the ones with ornaments to hang too.

In the end I just went with it, making mine so that it can grow with us and be used in different ways each year if we want to. I started by looking at my moms, and hers had 4 rows with 6 pockets per row.

So, thats what I did! Using strips of white felt (3"tall x 18"wide) I sewed them down creating pockets.

Then I needed to decide what to use as ornaments, or countdown markers. 

Joann's sent me a lovely box of goodies to Celebrate the season with them, and they lovingly sent the perfect amount of buttons! 18 red, and green traditional buttons and 6 gingerbread men buttons. It couldn't have been more perfect!

To make my advent ornaments, I pulled out my jewelry making supplies!

This couldn't have been any easier! 

Using earring hooks, and eye pins.

And in no time I had 24 perfect sized ornaments! 

Look how cute they look in their pockets!

Now to all together! 

Even though I didn't get to use it this year, I will have it for years to come!

Plus if I don't want to hang the ornaments everyday, I can put them all on and either use a clothespin to countdown the days ( decorated in some way of course) or put notes/activities/candy in each day for the kids!

Again I can't thank Joann's Fabric and Craft Stores enough, for challenging me to Celebrate the Season! It has kept me on my toes, and added some wonderful holiday treasures that I plan to use for years to come!

#Fabulouslyfestive Ornaments

I am so pleased to be working with Joann Fabric and Craft Stores to Celebrate the Season!

This month I was asked to create something #Fabulouslyfestive for the December holidays!

In an effort to use some of my glass ornaments, that are no longer safe on my tree, I came up with an out of reach for little hands solution!

What do you think?

So far I love it, and everyone that have come into my kitchen has loved it! 

Want to create you own?

You'll need:

A curtain rod

Ribbon

Scissors

Hot glue gun, Hot glue sticks

Ornaments

Don't forget your Joann's Coupon! 

 (at the end of this post!)

Ready to get started?

To start, I hung up my curtain rod. I measured down a foot from my ceiling and made a mark.

Then, I started my screw on the mark. Then added the hardware.

Next start adding ribbons!

I would put the ribbon over the rod, and then glue where the clip is in the picture.

Continue to add ribbons until your rod is almost full. For the length I just eyeballed different lengths, some short some long. Remember you can always cut shorter, so I went with longer and then adjusted after the next step!

Continue to add ribbons until your rod is almost full.

Lastly, add your ornaments! I just threaded the ribbon through, pulled the ribbon up the back and glued.

Just like I did for the tops.

At this time you can adjust the spacing, by sliding the ribbon along the rod,  and adjust the length of some of you ribbons.  Overall this is the hardest step! 

What do you think? 

I'm loving it! It's the perfect amount of color, and decorations for my kitchen! 

I also can't wait to add some non holiday decorations to the curtain rod!

Running out to make your own?

Don't forget your coupon!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Joann's Fabric and Craft Store. I was given a gift card to Joann Fabric and Craft Stores to create a #fabulouslyfestive for the Celebrate the Season Campaign. 

I can't thank Joann's Fabric and Craft Stores enough, for challenging me to Celebrate the Season! It has kept me on my toes, and added some wonderful holiday treasures that I plan to use for years to come!

DIY Christmas Card Recap

Over the year's I have made my photo Christmas cards in different ways,

 and honestly I don't think one comes out any better than the other. 

To recap, here they are!

 

So this is our card, sorta, for Christmas 2013!

In an attempt to get all three kids in one picture, there were very few great ones of them all.

Have you figured out why, this one is considered a great one?

Yup! Wyatt picking his nose!

This year since there were some good solo pictures, and some hilarious (this one, and another) of all three, I just printed the pictures (A solo of each, and a couple group shots) and put them in regular Christmas cards! Not too crafty, but it did the job!

 

Put together Digitally, Printed at home

(I took the kids pictures separate, and photoshopped them together!)

Photographed, Put into a Digital Card File from My Memories, Printed at local drug store

Digital Photo, Printed, then Attached to Holiday Cardstock

(This was my go-to for a while, it allowed people to pull the holiday paper off, and keep just the photo)

Now to get working on this years! 

Any tips? Tricks? Ideas?

Remember I'm dealing with a 4 yr old, 2 yr old and 1 yr old!

Wishing you JOY...

I guess this is better late than never!

This year I got a little extra creative making our Christmas  New Year's card. 

Instead of jumping through hoops to get all three kids ( Ages 4 and under!) into one picture, I went with three individuals pictures that when put together made one adorable card! If I do say so!

But now, my mind is thinking of all the other three letter words we can do! 

The first to come in mind, DAD. I better get working on it so I can actually get it done before June!

Ellie's Stocking!

It's official. Ellie is a keeper!

Her stocking is complete and hung with the rest!

A couple years ago, when we only had Carter I decided I wanted nice matching stockings. And knowing we would have more kids, I decided it would be easiest to make them. So I picked up felt in my colors ( I decorate with jewel tones, turquoise, magenta, lime...and more!) and put it away with our ornaments so as babies came stockings would be made and match!

The first year, I must have been crazy and painted the lettering. Yuck.

The next year I used my embroidery machine. Much better. 

Now, normally I don't think ahead. And of course the one time I did, I couldn't find the magenta for Ellie's stocking, but luckily I was able to match the color! 

Anyways, using my stocking as a pattern I used pinking shears to cut the stocking shape. 

Regular scissors for my cuff. 

Embroidered her official "E"

 

Then sewed it together like the others! 

Now we all match except for Cooper, which I may replace his cuff to make him match better too!

Have you ever made stockings?

 These were super simple and do the job for now. I know in a couple years I will either change my mind or decor for Christmas and start all over!

Of Christmas Pasts 2012

This holiday season is flying by!
It doesn't help we are in the middle of construction and have our little Ellie keeping us busy!

Here are some of my Christmas Crafts of Christmas Pasts! 

Toffee Popcorn



White Chocolate Popcorn

Mug-staches 

Salt Dough Coal

Hand And Foot Reindeer

Packages

Knock Off Moleskin Journals

DIY Photo Christmas Cards

Christmas Card Lights



Knit Wreath Tutorial

Costume Jewelry Trees

and more!