December Daily Days 9-15

I'm still so in love with this project!!  I most likely will have some type of withdrawal once Christmas arrives (besides the obvious post-holiday depression).  I've tried to keep it simple in order to keep up with each day.  Using Ali's layered templates and full page photos are the way to go for me!!

Here are days 9-15.

Day 9

Our Christmas book tradition

Day 10

I took my daughter to see The Nutcracker.  Totally amazing watching the ballet through a two-year old's eyes!

Day 11

"Around the house".  Completely copied Ali's awesome layout for the most part.

Day 12

Building our gingerbread house.

Day 13

My letter to my little guy.

After seeing the block stamp Ali used for this layout, I tried to re-create it using her Christmas Boxes brushes.  Love the way it turned out!!

I added a few pictures in the page protectors in the middle.  Totally love it!

Day 14

Visit to a train garden and lunch with some friends

Day 15

Our Christmas cards

Cardboard Gingerbread House

We are planning on putting together our gingerbread house tonight and Sweet Girl has been eyeing the box for a few days.  She is anxiously waiting to build it and asks about one-zillion times a day if we can "do it now"!  To try to appease her until this evening I put together a little cardboard gingerbread house for her to color, decorate and play with.  It actually turned out to be a lot of fun (and a lot less messy)!

I used one of the random boxes we had in our recycling bin.  I basically just filled a box inside out and cut a little door.

Then I used two other boxes and shaped them into a point for a roof.

Sweet Girl colored it with markers.

And then added some "gumdrop" stickers and windows.

I pulled out our stash of Christmas stickers which actually included a lot of candy stickers.

Then we added two little candy canes made from pipe cleaners.

And a gingerbread man....

Oh...and even the princess got a chance to visit the gingerbread house.  What gingerbread house is complete without princesses??

Peppermint Playdough

We've made homemade playdough before but have never used any type of scent or extracts.  With Christmas being in full force at our house, I thought it would be fun to try and make playdough. 

I originally had planned to make red and white "candy cane" playdough, but Sweet Girl had another plan in mind.  She reeeeeally wanted to add pink and red candy sprinkles to the playdough so basically we ended up with pink playdough that smells like peppermint.  Regardless....it was still fun!!

The playdough recipe I use is from here and really seems to last for a while.

There she is....adding sprinkles to the cooled playdough.

And here is our pink "peppermint" playdough.

Totally recommend using sprinkles in playdough.  We both had a blast!!  And our hands smelled like peppermint for the rest of the day!



December Daily Days 1-8

I am so stinkin' excited to share my December Daily pages.  I am absolutely.in.love. I am having so much fun with this project.  I've tried to keep it super simple for me and really have been trying to keep my OCD self from getting in the way.  One thing I'm really loving is the full page pictures and Ali's layered templates.  Love. Them.

So here they are!!

Day 1

Advent calendar and birthday

The left side is Ali's layered template and pictures of my daughter opening our advent calendar.  The right side is Ali's overlay and picture/journaling of my son's first birthday.

Day 2

Nativity

Pictures of our nativity scene of the left side and some journaling on the right side.  I had a hard time adding just journaling to the right page, but am so glad I did.  I included a conversation my daughter was having with the people of the nativity.

Day 3

Breakfast with Santa

The left side of the page has two pictures from our Breakfast with Santa with one of AE's Christmas Twill strips in between.  The right side (with the overlay) isn't completed yet because I'm waiting for the picture we had taken with Santa.  I also include two 4x6 pictures adhered back to back of my son's birthday party.

Day 4

Christmas tree and letter to Santa

Full page picture of our tree with AE word art and a some written journaling (quote was stolen from AE's page).  Right side is AE overlay with another full page picture.

Day 4 (continued)

I added two 5x7 pictures adhered together in between my day 4 pages.  On the left is my daughter writing a letter to Santa and on the right is her putting the letter in Santa's mailbox at our post office.

Day 5

Christmas crafts

The left side is another one of Ali's awesome layered templates (seriously in love with these) and the right side has the overlay with some journaling printed directly onto it.

Day 6

Sigh.

My favorite day.

Love my kiddos!  The left is a full page picture of them cuddled on the couch watching The Polar Express.  I used AE December date overlay and some of her word art on the picture.  For the right side I printed the journaling directly onto the cardstock and then printed out a picture from The Polar Express.

Day 7

Twinkle, twinkle!

It may have taken us a few days, but we finally decorated our tree.  The left side is a bokeh picture I took of our tree with AE word art.  I really had fun playing around with my camera.  On the right side I included two pictures taken of our tree (again...I was playing around with my camera!!). 

I had a hard time trying to figure out which pictures of our tree and kids to use on this day so, again, I decided to add two 5x7 pictures adhered back to back. 

Day 8

Making cookies

The left side is a full page picture in one of AE layered templates.  The right side is also one of the layered templates, but I just modified it to fit my page and pictures. 

So loving every single minute of this project.  Thank you Ali for creating this project and sharing all your amazing ideas!!



Oh Christmas Tree

I saw this and this on Pinterest several months ago and bookmarked them immediately!  I've been counting down the months until I could try them out for myself.  Totally love playing around with my camera!!

This truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas Tree Craft

Here's another fun and easy Christmas tree craft for you!!

Start by cutting out a tree shape from either chipboard or cardstock.

Then let your little one color the tree green. (Sweet Girl got tired of coloring it so she asked me to finish it for her.)

Next, add some glue for your ornaments. 

Then add your ornaments and a tree topper.  We used sequins, buttons, pom poms, and yes....googly eyes!

The finished tree!

Christmas Pom Pom Crafts

Here are a few fun Christmas crafts to make with pom poms. 

Start by cutting out your shapes from chipboard or cardboard (it holds up a little better than cardstock or construction paper.) 

I cut out a candy cane and a Christmas tree shape.

Then either let your little one add glue or you can add it for them.  Sweet Girl didn't want to do the glue so I just did it for her.

Then let them add the pom poms.

Candy cane!

I did them same for the tree.  Sorry it's a blurry picture!  She was done before I knew it!!



DIY Wrapping Paper

Sweet Girl and I made wrapping paper today and it is so perfect for wrapping little gifts!

Here's what you need if you want to make some too:
Glossy white wrapping paper (finger paint paper works great too!)

Christmas cookie cutters

Red and green paint

I poured the red and green paint into two different plates so the colors wouldn't run together.

Then Sweet Girl dipped the cookie cutters into the paint and pressed them onto the paper.

(Can you tell she hates to get her fingers dirty???)

She stamped all the different cookie cutters over our paper and we ended up with some pretty wrapping paper!

Guess it's time to get wrapping!!



25 Books of Christmas

Welcome December!!  What a wonderful month for us!  Full of first birthdays, holiday traditions and Christmas! 

We officially kicked off our month by opening our first book of Christmas on December 1st!  I started the tradition of wrapping 25 Christmas related books last year with Sweet Girl and I'm so excited Little Man is old enough to participate (that is if my little lady would let him!!).

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!!