Holiday Wishes from Idina Menzel
Despite my early holiday decorating, I attempt to save holiday music until after Thanksgiving. I say attempt because every year I try and every year an artist comes out with a new holiday album and I have to reevaluate my stance.
This year I was doing good until I saw this:
Despite my early holiday decorating, I attempt to save holiday music until after Thanksgiving. I say attempt because every year I try and every year an artist comes out with a new holiday album and I have to reevaluate my stance.
This year I was doing good until I saw this:
Straight up. I would pay to hear Idina sing the phone book. So, Idina singing some of my FAVORITE holiday classics? (Seriously, Idina belting out All I Want for Christmas? SOLD!)
Sorry, Thanksgiving.
So, the Holland family has been finishing up our decorating with Idina serenading us. Bonus for all you parents of Frozen-obsessed children: Maybe you could convince them to switch Elsa singing Christmas songs for awhile!
Idina Menzel's Holiday Wishes is available on iTunes and Amazon.
I participated in the Idina Menzel Holiday Wishes album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided an album to review but all opinions are my own.
Further Thoughts on #Ferguson
Credit David Broome, UPI
When Michael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson on August 9, two stories emerged. The first - complicated in its own right - is what happened between these two people. Some things we know for sure. Michael Brown was black, 18 years old, and unarmed. After being shot, he laid in the street for four hours. Darren Wilson was white, a police officer, and armed.
Like any other violent altercation, the evidence is anything but conclusive. Memory is flawed. Witnesses conflict each other. We all interrupt events through the prism of our own perception. However, a grand jury found that there was not probable cause to charge Darren Wilson with illegal use of lethal force.
That would seemingly be the end - at least legally - to the first story.
However, the second story is much bigger than the events that took place between those two people on August 9th. The second story is what the death of Michael Brown illustrates about black communities and white police forces, the militarization of our police forces, the legal responsiblity of police officers who use deadly force, and much much more.
What bothers me is there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding about what the conclusion of one story means to the other. When Michael Brown was first killed, the was a narrative that he was gunned down with his back turned and arms up. As the physical evidence suggested otherwise, all of a sudden all the valid criciticisms of our criminal justice systems and its treatment of the black community seemed to fall on deaf - mainly white - ears.
So, let me just say, I don't really care if Michael Brown stole those cigarellos. I don't care if he was disrespectful to a police officer. And while whether or not he charged at Darren Wilson is absolutely relevant, it doesn't change the fact that the interaction between these two people is still important to bigger issues in our society.
First, statistically, you cannot argue with the fact black Americans receive disproportionately violent responses from the police. They are stopped and frisked at higher rates. They are arrested at higher rates. They receive harsher sentences. They are incarcerated at higher rates.
Now, what I hear in private conversations, is a lot about "personal responsibility" and "culture" and "poverty." Personally, that seems to be a round about way of saying "They deserve it."
And if that's how you feel, then you let's just put it out there and address it directly. If you think based on the color of a person's skin, that person is more likely to be violent or criminal then just say so. But let's not pretend that because we have a black President, people - including police officers - have stopped making those assumptions.
Because, they. have. not.
And that's why people are so PISSED. Think back to a time when you were accused of something you did not do (if you're black, this should have be easy!) and think about how you would feel if this happened ALL THE TIME. Think about how you would feel if from preschool on you were treated as if you were bad and think about the how that would affect your pschye.
Then, think about if you were not only treated unfairly on a day-to-day basis but also if you knew you and your family were fundamentally excluded from systems meant to provide others with opportunity - historical systems like home ownership as a path to the middle class, political representation as a path to political power, or education as a path to economic independence.
These systems were big and impactful and to think that each generation starts with a clean slate with which to "pull themselves up by their boot straps" is naive at best and deliberately ignorant at worse.
To be honest, I don't know the role personal responsibliity plays in each of our lives. I struggle with this issue a lot - even within my own family.
All I do know is that it's not simple and that it's different for every person. I also know that no amount of personal responsiblity can erase the racism that still exist in our society.
So, the decision of the grand jury doesn't change anything for me. The second story remains unchanged. Black americans are treated unfairly by the police and under the law. Our police forces are over-militarized. Police officers do a very difficult job but they are still human beings that should be held responsible for their use of deadly force - something that does not currently happen in Ferguson or elsewhere.
Why I signed the Duggar petition
The Duggar family - stars of the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting - is in the news again and not because they added a 20th child to their brood. No, an internet petition on Change.org is calling for TLC to cancel 19 Kids and Counting because of the family's recent opposition to an anti-discrimination ordinance in Arkansas.
The ordinance - which passed by the way - prohibits businesses and public accomodations from discrimination against people based on the person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
I signed the petition.
The Duggar family - stars of the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting - is in the news again and not because they added a 20th child to their brood. No, an internet petition on Change.org is calling for TLC to cancel 19 Kids and Counting because of the family's recent opposition to an anti-discrimination ordinance in Arkansas.
The ordinance - which passed by the way - prohibits businesses and public accomodations from discrimination against people based on the person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
I signed the petition.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have never supported the Duggar's particular brand of conservative family values. I watched several of their specials before the family's reality show began and was always struck by how limited the roles for women were within their ideology.
The family belongs to the Quiverful Movement - an evangelical Christian movement that eschews birth control and believes that heterosexual married couples should welcome as many children as God sees fit to give them.
Now, I do not subscribe to that belief. I believe children are a blessing - a blessing that should be CHOSEN because of the huge psychological, emotional, financial, and physical investment they require. I have children because I want to be fully experience raising them myself. For me, that does not mean a buddy system in which older siblings raise the younger siblings - a system Michelle Duggar has openly endorsed.
I also believe that there is room at the table for every form of family - from homosexual families to single parents to unmarried couples raising children from other partnerships. In fact, I think there is room for people who chose more conservative versions for themselves.
Let me be clear - I have no problem with conservative Chirstians who chose to have large families.
That is not what this is about. For example, my love for the Brown family of TLC Sister Wives fame is well-documented. These are conservative people who believe in a VERY different version of family than I practice in my own life.
However, unlike the Duggars, the Browns do not use their celebrity to limit the choices of other families AND do not proscribe the choices of their own children - especially their daughters.
I remember one scene in particular during the first season of Sister Wives. Cody Brown was sitting with his eldest daugther with his first wife. The daughter wanted to go to the Air Force Academy after graduation. Currently, she was attending a private conservative Mormon high school. Cody was encouraging her to leave the religious high school and attend a secular public high school, which was accredited, to increase her chances of attending the Air Force Academy.
Let's contrast this with one of the few episodes I've seen of 19 Kids and Counting. Michelle Duggar was sharing how blessed she felt that God had given her all these daughters first to take care of all these little boys. While I'm as big a fan of sibling responsibility as the next person, what if the daughters had other plans. What if they didn't want to spend all their free time caring for younger siblings? What if they want to attend college?
I know the Duggar children have been afforded great opportunity thanks to their family's reality show but what if they'd also like the opportunity to take a different path? What if they don't want to get married at 18? What if they don't want to have as many children as God blesses them with? What if one of those 19 children is gay?
There seems to be very little room for belief systems outside their own - inside their family and without. And that's what I can't stomach. I am a proud feminist. If you want to vacuum every day in high heels and pearls, GO FOR IT! If you want to have 25 children and let your husband run your life, more power to you!
BUT don't tell me or your daughters or other families they have to follow in your footsteps because God says so. And don't use your considerable celebrity to promote dangerous stereotypes that limit the freedom of choice among others.
With great power - which celebrity is - comes great responsiblity, it is my opinion that the Duggar family abuses that power.
That's why I signed the petition.
Easy ways to have a peaceful holiday season
As snow falls and lights twinkle, we can all hear Andy Williams singing loudly in our ears that the holiday season is "the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year."
Unfortunately, high expectations - both internal and external - can make the last two months of the year the most stressful time of the year as well, especially for women. Over 40% of American report feeling increased stress about time, money, and relationships during the holiday season.
Avoiding Financial Stress
- Think about what you TRULY value. Setting boundaries is one of the keys to a peaceful holidays and no where is that more important than with regards to spending. What traditions are worth spending money on? What gifts do you give merely out of obligation? Can you trade out the fancy holiday party for a potluck with close friends and be just as happy?
- Give experiences not gifts. Gift-giving is a huge source of holiday spending - and holiday stress! So, this year avoid giving more stuff and consider experiences. Is there a child on your list you could take to the movies? What about an older relative you could treat to a home-cooked meal? The Simple Dollar has several other great ideas.
- Do It Yourself. With a few exceptions, making a meal, decoration, or gift yourself is usually cheaper than buying it at the store. Now, trying to make EVERYTHING yourself is a recipe for disaster. However, making a cake instead of picking one up at the grocery store or putting together homemade hostess gifts instead of buying gift cards will add up to real holiday savings over the course of the season.
Avoiding Relationship Stress
- Setting personal boundaries. Much like financial limits, we have to understand our relationship boundaries to avoid holiday stress. We cannot be responsible for other people's happiness during this time of year. All we can do is understand what situations trigger our own stress and do our best to avoid or defuse them. Self-care goes a long way in this area. Can you take a walk before you react in anger? How about volunteering for dish duty to stay out of fray?
- Give empathy this holiday season. Many times those who are difficult to be around during the holiday season are experiencing their own personal troubles. Maybe an angry relative is lonely themselves? Or a competitive friend is feeling insecure? Remember their reactions are usually about them not you.
- Embrace the chaos. Instead of trying to control everyone or avoid any unexpected changes, embracing a certain amount of the chaos that comes with this time of year can make you happier in the end. Keep an eye on your boundaries but also try think about when your expectations are getting the best of you. Are your kids ruining your perfect Christmas cookies or are you missing the chance for some messy - but happy - new holiday memories?
If you're interested in more ways to avoid holiday stress and create a peaceful holiday season, then check out 21 Days to a Peaceful Holiday consists of 21 days of emails beginning December 1st and running through Winter Solstice on December 21, as well as membership in our 21 Days to a Peaceful Holiday Facebook group.
This course is basically like an online holiday season life coach and support group.
Imagine starting your day with a dear friend who just wants the happiest holiday season for you. Or how would you like to share your morning coffee with a friend who gently asks "Are you taking good care of yourself?" or has conveniently scoured the Internet for quick and easy Advent ideas to make you feel like a Christmas queen with minimal effort?
That's us!
Nurtured Mama and I have written gentle reminders and inspirational ideas on how to decide what holiday memories are important to YOU, how to capture those Christmas moments that come and go so quickly, how to keep the consumption and indulging to a healthy minimal, how to simplify gift giving, and much, much more!
We tackle everything from the emotional, like how to deal with difficult people during an already stressful time and how to embrace the romance of the season, to the practical, like simple gift DIYs and easy traditions to start tomorrow.
Nothing is required. You can give as little or as much energy to our suggestions as you want. What WE want is to make this holiday season brighter, easier, and yes more peaceful!
Toys that help your kids learn to code
Steve Jobs once said, "Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think."
Learning the language of computer coding was once thought to be a niche skill needed only by those wanting to pursue a career in programming. No longer. As our world (and economy) changes, computer literacy as valuable an asset to anyone in our information age as a second language and parents want their own children to learn this important language along with reading and writing.
Luckily, a degree in computer science is not required to teach your kids how to code. Initiatives like Code.org have touched off a wide variety of products that remove the intimidation factor and teach the basics of coding to children as young as 4.
Steve Jobs once said, "Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think."
Learning the language of computer coding was once thought to be a niche skill needed only by those wanting to pursue a career in programming. No longer. As our world (and economy) changes, computer literacy as valuable an asset to anyone in our information age as a second language and parents want their own children to learn this important language along with reading and writing.
Luckily, a degree in computer science is not required to teach your kids how to code. Initiatives like Code.org have inspired a wide variety of products that remove the intimidation factor and teach the basics of coding to children as young as 4.
Robot Turtles™ by ThinkFun®
The first board game to teach coding to children beginning in preschool, Robot Turtles™ was invented by Seattle software entrepreneur Dan Shapiro who wanted to spend quality time with his then four-year-old twins and share what he feels is "the single greatest superpower – the skill of programming." Robot Turtles began as a Kickstarter project where it became the most-backed board game in the history of the popular crowd-funding site.
Learning to code begins with the basic idea of using simple command to produce a result. Robot Turtles™ is a great screen-free way to let kids explore this concept by teaching children to move their turtle across the game board and to their goal by using simple steps.
ThinkFun® is giving away Robot Turtles™ to one lucky reader, who can start tackling the basics of coding in a fun and screen-free way using this coding board game! Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.
Dash & Dot from Wonder Workshop
Dash & Dot were my first introduction to toys that code. Launched under their former names of Bo & Yana with another successful Kickstarter campaign, I was immediately impressed with the idea of programmable robots that can teach the basics of coding to children as young as 5 (the company describes the product age range as 5 to infinity). Clearly, I wasn't the only one as Wonder Workshop received 11,000 preorders of the programmable robots.
By teaching Dash & Dot to move, play the xylophone, or even build Lego™ creations using a wide variety of accessories, kids learn that computers are merely machines that they can make do what they want using simple commands. Dash & Dot have sensors that make them interactive with your child and connect wirelessly over Bluetooth with four iPad and Android apps.
The four apps are incredibly engaging, beautifully designed, and user-friendly. We had the robots rolling out of the box - ready to play - within minutes of opening the shipping box. However, Wonder Works likes to say they "set a low floor but high ceiling for coding" so while they provide apps to program the robot, older children can also use Wonder Work's API (Application Programming Interface) to create their own unique apps.
The Wonder Pack, including all robots and accessories, is $365 and available for purchase at the Wonder Workshop website.
Sphero and Ollie
Receiving Spero or Ollie isn't like opening a new toy. It's more like entering an entire new world. App-controlled robotics has been a passion of the company since 2011 and experiencing the incredible range of options they present for these two robots makes that passion abundantly clear.
Sphero is an app-controlled ball. Ollie is an app-controlled robot "driven by adrenaline" (seriously, it can reach a speed of 14 MPH!). Both connect to your smart device (and a wide variety of user-created apps) through BlueTooth technology and offer a universe of fun from simple obstacle courses to complex video games.
What I really love about Sphero is the company's commitment to coding education. This year the company launched the SPRK (Schools, Parents, Robots, and Kids) program. The program puts the power in school's hands with lessons already written to teach kids the basics of coding using math and science. Sphero has even joined Apple and the ConnectED initiative to provide products and support to 114 schools across the country and put technology in the hands of students who need it the most.
One lucky reader will win a Sphero of their very own by entering below!
There are also loads of great, free resources online to get your kids started coding!
20 Things That Can Make A Pregnant Woman Cry in 48 Hours
Earlier this week, I posted this status on Facebook.
Earlier this week, I posted this status on Facebook.
All my incredibly caring family and friends expressed their concern. As I've gone through my week, I've had several people ask if I'm ok and said they were worried about me after reading my status.
Let me just tell y'all. There is no reason to worry. Highly emotional is not the same as sad. As way of example, I thought I'd take y'all on a little tour of what has actually made me cry in the last 48 hours.
1. Garth Brooks singing "The Dance" to this lady.
In my defense, my friend McCall justified my reaction. "Well, that was just sad."
2. Going to therapy
Let's see. I TALK about my emotions for an hour. I was pretty much crying before I sat down.
3. Listening to Act One of a This American Life on discipline in school.
4. Writing a blog post inspired by Act One of said episode of This American Life.
I cry a lot when I write. I figure if I don't cry it's not that good.
5. Listening to Act Three of a This American Life on discipline in school.
"Oh, I live here. I live in Brooklyn." Whew. Just trust me.
6. The sight of the sunlight through the autumn leaves as I stood at my kitchen sink.
7. Watching Amos and Carrie, my awesome hairdresser, converse for 15 minutes straight.
8. Recounting Amos and Carrie's conversation to Nicholas later that day.
9. Singing "The Dance" in the car by myself as I looked at the sunlight through the autumn leaves. (See #1 and #6)
10. Thinking about my friend Donna as I put on my purple dress for World Pancreatic Cancer Day.
11. Amos running up to me and yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" when I returned from my morning walk.
12. Griffin telling us that he thought he hadn't been good enough for Santa to bring him presents.
13. Which led to THIS conversation, during which I also cried.
14. Finding this turkey Griffin made on the walls of his elementary school and seeing "My Mom" as one of the things he was thankful for.
15. Thinking about how lucky I am as I drove Amos to school ... triggered by the sun and the damn autumn leaves (see #6 and #9).
16. Facebook's WILD insensitivity to my delicate emotional state.
17. One of my awesome clients giving me a little unexpected present.
Let's all try to replicate this one!
18. Checking on my babies sleeping peacefully in their beds before I turn in for the night.
At least there are no autumn leaves?
19. Basically every 5th kick from the baby, when I stop and think about this little guy and his impending arrival.
20. Seeing how concerned y'all were about my crying fits.
A bit self-perpetuating but still!
Don't leave me hanging. What's the silliest thing you've ever cried over in an emotional state?
Is your child racist?
Recently a friend of mine shared an incident involving her son that left her extremely upset. Her young son had innocently expressed a preference in playmates based on the color of another child’s skin. My friend was horrified and wondered where he had gotten the idea that we would judge one another based on the color of our skin.
I absolutely understood her reaction. No parent wants his or her child to express racist attitudes or stereotypes. However, the reality is that racism pervades our society and children – while maybe not tactful – aren’t stupid and are perceptive. They understand that race is important. So important in fact, that the adults in their lives don’t often talk about it and when they do they tiptoe around it.
Photo Credit: Lennart Tange via Compfight cc
Recently a friend of mine shared an incident involving her son that left her extremely upset. Her young son had innocently expressed a preference in playmates based on the color of another child’s skin. My friend was horrified and wondered where he had gotten the idea that we would judge one another based on the color of our skin.
I absolutely understood her reaction. No parent wants his or her child to express racist attitudes or stereotypes. However, the reality is that racism pervades our society and children – while maybe not tactful – aren’t stupid and are perceptive. They understand that race is important. So important in fact, that the adults in their lives don’t often talk about it and when they do they tiptoe around the subject.
Now, I wish I was smart enough to have come to this realization on my own. In actuality, I read a book several years ago that changed almost everything I thought about parenting and child development and PARTICULARLY affected how I felt about children and race.
In 2009, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman wrote an amazing book called NutureShock: New Thinking About Children. The authors cover a variety of topics including the myth of praise and why kids lie, but one of the most revolutionary topics that got a lot of press at the time is why white parents don’t talk about race.
In a Newsweek cover article entitled “See Baby Discriminate”, the authors specifically addressed a 2006 experiment at the University of Texas by Birgitte Vittrup involving 100 white families with children 5 to 7 years old. The experiment was set up to address the fundamental assumption that children are “colorblind” and, if we don’t point out race as something important, they won’t see it.
So, what happened?
“They wanted their children to grow up colorblind. But Vittrup’s first test of the kids revealed they weren’t colorblind at all. Asked how many white people are mean, these children commonly answered, “Almost none.” Asked how many blacks are mean, many answered, “Some,” or “A lot.” Even kids who attended diverse schools answered the questions this way.
More disturbing, Vittrup also asked all the kids a very blunt question: “Do your parents like black people?” Fourteen percent said outright, “No, my parents don’t like black people”; 38 percent of the kids answered, “I don’t know.” In this supposed race-free vacuum being created by parents, kids were left to improvise their own conclusions—many of which would be abhorrent to their parents.”
The study goes on to explain that many white parents specifically instructed to discuss race with their children failed to do so. When questioned by the researchers, they admitted they simply didn’t know what to say.
Also, the authors found that additional research called into question another basic assumption about children and race, specifically that raising children in a diverse environment – so often held out as the gold standard among parents – created racially tolerant kids. Again, not so much. In fact, the more racially diverse the environment the more likely the children were to self-segregate.
Knowing all this, I have tried to discuss race openly and honestly with Griffin. However, I am the first to admit that is an incredibly difficult task. I wonder when I should bring it up. Should I wait until the occasion arises naturally? Or should I create conversations myself? I worry I will say the wrong thing or confuse him. I worry I will unconsciously pass on my own prejudices to him.
However, I was recently reminded how much I see the “burden” of this discussion through my own experience and how vastly more challenging this is for parents of other races. I realized how my central concern was that my white child not be perceived as racist.
I hadn’t even considered how these attitudes change the perception of children of other races.
I was listening to This American Life (shocking, I know) and the theme of the episode entitled “Is This Working?” was discipline in school. The first act began with the story of Tunette Powell and her son’s disciplinary problems in preschool. Tunette is black and had been a problem student in her youth. She worried that she had passed along her bad attitude to her children, despite all her best efforts to avoid exactly that. That was until Tunette attended a birthday party and heard story after story of white children in her son’s preschool acting much worse and receiving less harsh punishments.
Loathe to play the “race card,” Tunette began doing her research, as had some social scientists that This American Life interviews, and the results were disturbing.
Preschoolers.
Maybe it’s because I have one child that recently graduated from preschool and one currently in preschool, but that statistic left me in tears. Suddenly, my focus on how my white child perceived his black classmates became a much smaller part of the bigger picture of how black children are perceived and how they perceive themselves.
Griffin and I talk a lot about shame and guilt. We talk about how it is fine to feel guilt for something you did that is bad. However, it is NOT ok to feel shame that because of what you did you ARE bad. It is a discussion that always leaves me emotionally raw because I can’t imagine anything worse than my child feeling shame.
The thought that I would be in a constant battle against an entire system – even with a system with good intentions – that is teaching my child every single day that they ARE bad breaks my heart.
One of my favorite quotes regarding race is from novelist Chimamanda Adichie's Ted Talk "The Danger of A Single Story (which you should stop and listen to right now). She says,
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”
The complicated "story" is that many of the black children in Griffin’s kindergarten class will act up more in class. However, due to a variety of societal problems I am not smart enough to solve – problems like poverty, lack of educational and economic opportunity, and other problems inextricably tied up with the racial history of this country - the story can't begin and end with that child's behavior.
And how the hell am I supposed to explain that to a five-year-old?
Just like so many other seemingly impossible subjects we have to teach our kids about – things like sex and money and mental illness and religion – it’s really, really, really hard.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Do you talk to your children about race?
5 Easy Projects to Update your Holiday Decor!
This weekend I confessed in my weekly email (subscribe if you haven't already!) that I've been preparing for Christmas for months. The presents are bought and wrapped. The Christmas cards are ordered, addressed, and stamped. And this week I started decorating.
Instead of killing myself to get my entire house decorated the weekend between Thanksgiving and December 1st like I usually do, I'm taking my time decorating each room at my own pace. The biggest benefit so far is I've had time to redesign my decor and complete projects I've been wanting to do for years.
Pinterest is a great source of inspiration but I'm hoping this post to be a great MOTIVATOR. Here are the projects I pinned - primarily holiday themed - that I completed this weekend!
This weekend I confessed in my weekly email (subscribe if you haven't already!) that I've been preparing for Christmas for months. The presents are bought and wrapped. The Christmas cards are ordered, addressed, and stamped. And this week I started decorating.
Instead of killing myself to get my entire house decorated the weekend between Thanksgiving and December 1st like I usually do, I'm taking my time decorating each room at my own pace. The biggest benefit so far is I've had time to redesign my decor and complete projects I've been wanting to do for years.
Pinterest is a great source of inspiration but I'm hoping this post to be a great MOTIVATOR. Here are the projects I pinned - primarily holiday themed - that I completed this weekend!
White-on-White Holiday Canvas
I saw this canvas on Inspiration for Moms and thought it would fit really well in my winter wonderland themed dining room.
Since I love all things related to Christmas music, I chose a line from one of my favorites "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".
"Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more."
A quick trip to Michael's for the wooden letters and some hot glue and white spray paint letter and VOILA!
Pinned: TWO YEARS AGO!
Ease of Completion: SUPER easy. Counting trip to Michael's, it took maybe an hour.
Christmas Reindeer Wall Mount
I have a new gallery wall surrounding my TV and I knew I wanted to substitute some Christmas decor on it. I thought this little reindeer I found on Tidy Mom would be perfect.
I used chalk paint for mine and subtracted the glitter on the antlers and pom pom nose but otherwise I stuck pretty close to the original.
I'm SO happy with the result and he looks perfect on my gallery wall!
Pinned: One Year Ago!
Ease of completion: Another EASY project. Counting the trip to Michael's, this one probably only took about 45 minutes.
Gilded Reindeer Vases
I've had some vases from my sister-in-law's wedding sitting around waiting to be infused with new life and I knew this project from Sew Can Do would be a great way to pretty them up and make a great centerpiece for my holiday table.
I made quite a few adjustments to her material list. I used white chalk paint and gold craft paint that I already had on hand. I also cut the reindeer using my Silhouette, which was much easier.
I absolutely love how they turned out!
Pinned: One year ago
Ease of Completion: The craft paint was tricky. The gold leaf might have been easier truthfully.
Rag Wreath
A couple of years ago I made this Paper-Doily Wreath from Martha Stewart. It looked great for a while but the paper doilies were starting to show their age and it was basically falling apart. So, I stripped it down and decided to reinvent the wire wreath frames as rag wreaths.
I needed a new wreath for my front door and a smaller wreath for my OTHER gallery wall (No judgment! I like gallery walls!) so this tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous was perfect.
Unfortunately, I looked at tutorial that used regular fabric when estimating how much burlap I would need and I ended up with WAY. TOO. MUCH. I used a bow I already had for the larger wreath and used this tutorial Refresh-Renew to create a bow for the small red wreath.
Pinned: TWO YEARS AGO!
Ease of Completion: There's a lot of cutting and tying and a lot of mess from the burlap but otherwise not that bad.
Mr. & Mrs. Claus Pillows
I have been meaning to add some holiday pillow covers to our decor for a while but never had time. I absolutely loved these pillows from Sabbe Interior Design.
I had planned on buying some plain white pillow covers but since I was now covered up in burlap I decided to make and paint my own. I used white chalk paint to outline the silhouettes. It's a little bit different look but I was really happy with the result.
Pinned: A year ago
Ease of Completion: Their version would be easier than mine.
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