Crafty's Christmas & New Year's Catch-Up

Hello Friends~ I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season. I know that we certainly have. It has been far too long since I have blogged, and as can happen when friends don't get time to chat... much has transpired.
Like yours, my little family has been very busy over the holiday season. Lots of crafting, decorating, cooking, partying, visiting, gift exchanging and the usual fare- both magickal and mundane.
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We have been blessed with good health, good fortune and great food- my only regret is that I was too busy to get it all in here! I did manage to get a few photos of some of our fun times and a bit of my crafting, which I will share bit by bit, as I can in future posts. And since Winter Break is still in full force, I will likely have new adventures and escapades to share.

A quick recap of our December 2009 highlights~

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~December is a big birthday month in my Family full of Saggittariuses. We celebrated my Father's Birthday on December 6th, (along with my Uncle In-Law); my Daughter Makayla's 10th Birthday on December 10th, (a big one- double digits and all- and a big one for me, as it marked the end of my first 10 years of Motherhood. A happy and bittersweet milestone.)

And finally we celebrated my own 34th Birthday on the 21st of December, (I'm a proud Solstice baby.) My Father helped my Kids treat me to breakfast in bed, complete with a garden fresh flower bouquet; and then later that night we had a delicious Roast, finished off with Apple Pie and Coldstone Ice Cream. I was surprised to receive a brand new digital camera among my birthday gifts. (A very badly needed digital camera, might I add!- and no...these awful pictures were taken with my old camera! LOL)

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~We had a lovely night hosting Santa & the Fire/Poilce Department at our neighborhood park. We spent the night doing Christmas crafts and caroling, and then I had the pleasure of escorting a good 200 children on & off of Santa's Sleigh. It was great, exhausting fun!

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~I did my usual share of crafting Christmas decorations, ornaments and gifts; along with plenty of holiday baking. My main handmade ornament series this year were embroidered felt ornaments, along with a few paper & glitter ones that I hadn't gotten out of my system from last year's series(!) I baked iced & plain sugar cookies, fudge candy, brownies, cherry chip cupcakes & pineapple upside down cupcakes, and my Baba's Famous Rum Prune Cake, for the first time ever. (It was scrumptious!)

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~The Kids wrapped up their 1st quarter of the school year with high marks and great Teacher reports. (Yay Makayla & Jeremiah! Way to go guys!)
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~We visited "Christmas Tree Lane"; which is a neighborhood that decorates their homes to the nines for the holidays. They have been doing this for at least 40+ years; and have it down to a science The homes in this neighborhood rival any of the ones you might see on HGTV's Christmas Lighting Specials. They have mechanical, blow up, handmade, professional, musical and lit up decorations; as well as Hot Cocoa, Cappuccino and Treat Stands, were the proceeds go to local charities. It is always a good time, and gives a crafter like myself much inspiration for my own little home.
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~We welcomed a new baby girl into the Family, (a neice); and watched as she took her turn as the Church's baby Jesus, and her Parents as Mary and Joseph. (Yes...they have had 2 female Jesuses now- and both have been in the same Family! And my son J.D. was the 2003 baby.)*
~We are planning a trip to visit our favorite snow spot next week. We go up for the day to play & sled. (These photos are from last season. I can only hope the snow will be that good!) This year, because of my healing knee injury, instead of the usual snow play- I will stay off to the side, and fire up the hibatchi for some hot snacks! I figure on some transported crock pot chili, cornbread, and some hot cocoa & coffee. Maybe some s'mores if the Kids are good. (he he.) I also have a couple fun ideas to try with the kids this year; like making colored snow, some natural ice ornament offerings and a little Snow Spell I came up with for the me & the Kids to do together.
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I did a lovely Yule/Solstice/Birthday Ritual on the 21st. Then Christmas came & went amongst a flurry of Family Gatherings, gift exchanges & delicious meals. And I have spent this last week tying up loose ends,fixing up the house and yard, and preparing for a bright 2010. I even treated myself to a new revesible Black, White & Pink bedding set and a DIY haircut- I gave myself the Bettie Paige bangs that I have been pondering for the past few years, but didn't have the guts to try. (I think they came out pretty cute. I will try to get a decent photo to show them off.) And the photos of the bedding are from Target,not my bedroom(!) But I will take some soon, to show you how it looks, all set up with my other stuff. In the meantime, here is a peek of what they look like. I think it looks much better with my black fur throw to break up the intesity of the colors and patterns.

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New Year's Eve will be a quiet one for me this year; and I am looking forward to a relaxing evening with good friends. (It is hard to believe that the first 10 years of the millenium are already over!) Here is to wrapping up 2009 (THANK THE GODS!) and starting a new year and decade off right! I hope you all have a wonderful & safe New Year's Holiday wherever you are & whoever you spend it with. I look forward to a spectacular 2010!

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~Danae the 'Crafty Chick' :o)

My Christmas Planner Project

Here is the little Christmas Planner that I made. This is a great project for any type of book, planner, BOS or journal. I upcycled a hard cover spiral journal from the 99 cent store; and added scrapbooking papers and stickers. (The paper peiced bird is my own design.)

I like to start my books off with a title page. In order to create the sections in the planner, and the dividers, I gather a few pages togther and cover them with cardstock for strength. I also add tabs to the divider pages, and pockets for keeping loose papers, photos, recipes and receipts.

I made this Christmas Planner to gather together my ideas, projects and party plans to be used for many years to come. Anything that is specific to one year, but not others, is kept on a loose sheet of paper in the pockets; everything else is written in the actual journal.

For this particular Planner, I created 3 sections, and labeled them Decorations, Party & Gifts.

In the first section- Decorations, I keep a running list of ideas for decorating my home & yard. I collect photos from magazines, color schemes, tips, ideas and tutorials. I also plan to take photos of my own holiday decor projects, and keep them here.

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The second section is used for my Holiday Party Info. I usually have a Birthday Party in December for my daughter Makayla, (and sometimes a combo one that includes my own birthday as well!). Since we spend the actual Christmas Holiday away from home-with Family; our December Birthday Party is our time to open our home to our Friends & Family for the holiday.

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In this section I keep all party related information. I have my general Party Outline; my Recipes; lists of the places we use to order food, cakes and party supplies;an ongoing list of people we invite to our parties; Games, Crafts & Activities; a list of themes I have used; and ideas for future parties. In the pocket, I keep an invitation from each year's party,a list of gifts received, and any notes I have on how that year's party went.

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The last section is for Christmas Gifts. I keep a running list of my Handmade Gifts that I have made over the years, and ones that I hope to make in the future. This comes in handy (even throughout the year) when I am at a loss as to what to make for a gift. I make so many different things, year afer year- that many times I forget just what I made, and when. This list jogs my memory, and often provides inspiration for new creations. I plan on keeping a photo record of my creations here as well. In the pocket, I keep my Christmas Shopping Lists (dated), the Children's Christmas Lists (and notes to Santa!), as well as the final yearly list of Gifts Given & Received. (This last list is invaluable when it comes to writing Thank You's as well as avoiding re-gifting a gift to the person who gave it to me!) It also makes a sweet rememberance as to the everchanging interests of my growing children. Oh...and don't forget to add this little Holiday Planner Project onto your 'Gifts To Make' (next year) List. I am sure we all have a few people on our gifting list who could use a Planner like this of their own! (And remember, it can be customised for any type of use- not just for the holidays.)
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So that is it for my little Christmas Planner Project. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it provides plenty of inspiration for creating your own projects.

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~Danae :o) the 'Crafty Chick'