Another last minute gift

What do you give a 10 year old with a serious detective obsession?

How about a personalized detective notepad?



And some disguises (cut out of wool felt)?



We considered adding a trench coat and some crazy dark sunglasses, but we're trying to keep this strictly in the detective territory without letting it veer off into a scary flasher-esque costume.

Meal planning notepads, part II

Still whipping up a couple of last minute holiday gifts...

The meal planning notepads have evolved. (Click the picture below to see the full sized image.)

Want to make your own? Click the picture to see the full size image, save it to your desktop and then print it as a full page document. Print out as many pages as you would like (I make my pads with 50 sheets, which means I print 25 pages) and then cut them straight down the middle.

Bonus points: I perforate the sheets right above the grocery list portion using my beloved rotary cutter with the perforating blade. This makes it easy to simply tear off the bottom portion to take with you to the grocery store.

Create the notepad as described in this post. For more detailed instructions, see Sarah's post, where I got the idea from originally.

Use magnetic backing (I picked up some rolls like this at Home Depot) to allow you to stick them to the refrigerator for easy access.

I made a personalized version of these for each of the families on my Christmas list. Hopefully they go over well.

*This tutorial is provided for personal use only. Please do not sell this tutorial or create items for re-sale using this tutorial. Tutorial may be re-published only with my permission.

Sell out?

So on Friday I mentioned that we do not have a tree, despite our plethora of Christmas ornaments.

Well, last night I stopped at Home Depot for magnetic backing (this has been the full extent of my holiday shopping by the way, people - I have been way too busy) and I ended up walking out with a Christmas tree.

A fake one.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit it because I adore real trees, with the scent of pine filling the house. But you know what? I do not adore having to haul a dead tree out of my tiny apartment and down the stairs and out to the dumpster. Last time I had to do this it involved a hacksaw (I thought it would be easier if I took the tree apart before trying to move it) and ended in tears of frustration. Plus weeks of finding crunchy pine needles in my socks. Not okay.

So now I have a lovely, incredibly realistic, pre-lit tree that comes apart in three pieces and folds into a box. I'm officially a sell out.

If you're interested in fake trees, check out the GE Just Cut line. They are made out of some amazing synthetic material that looks and feels just like a real tree - not that weird paper confetti. Ours is something like this and it was on sale at Home Depot for $125.

I feel a little guilty, but I'm loving having the tree in my living room. I'm decorating tonight, if I can pry myself away from my craft table.

and speaking of white...

...the other day I heard a tip that you can find some great things on Craigslist by using the search term "shabby chic." Check out some of these great finds! The dining set, complete with 8 chairs is only $800...

happy chrismukkah to all!

For our blended family, ever since I can remember, we've had a combination-celebration that usually included Christmas dinner served with latkes and even a lit menorah as centrepiece if Hanukkah coincided that particular year. And somehow, way back then, I remember my mom miraculously finding holiday greeting cards with a picture of a menorah with christmas lights wrapped around it and these were our standards for years! My father always got his presents in a Hanukkah stocking completely covered with Stars of David and our Hannukah 'gelt' was hidden in the Christmas tree for us to find. It was always fun and quirky and we knew we were a bit odd but that made us all the prouder of our unique situation. A little difficult to explain sometimes, but we didn't care! I've excitedly noticed that blended families have started to become the norm and especially thanks to 'The OC' and their famous Chrismukkah episode, new traditions are on the rise. These days it seems like anything goes and as a lover of creative, odd, and innovative ideas, I was excited about what other families like ours were doing for this holiday season. I started to do some research and hands-down my favorite find was a whole website dedicated to Chrismukkah: The Merry Mish-Mash Holiday! There is so much on the site to giggle over but these are my personal faves:

Matzo House!

The latkes surrounding the Santa bowl is so awesome!

Funny "kosher fruitcake" artistically placed next to a menorah and Santa...fantastic!

And my favortist of favorites.....

Matzo Snow Man!

So in the words of the Chrismukkah gurus.....OY JOY!

winter wonderland

I enjoy changing up my displays every once in a while, and so this console table usually gets a bit of a makeover every season or so. I decided to go for a white and wonderful wintery wonderland look for the first day of winter! My mom had a huge collection of vintage doilies that reminded me of snowflakes, so they were added to the table as a bottom layer. The branch of cotton look like little puffs of snow, and I have a real thing for naturey elements like birdies and birch bark...so they were thrown on there too. Happy winter everyone!

DIY fabric tags by Inchmark

My favorite thing in the winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings are the details from a beautiful textile inspired wedding which included these amazing fabric escort cards. Come to find out, Brooke Reynolds from one of my favorite daily reads Inchmark is the creator behind them. On her website, she shares a template of how to make them into adorable last-minute holiday tags. One sweet DIY project, details here. Thanks for sharing your magic Brooke! Off to look at some fabrics at Purl Soho.


(images 1: Martha Stewart Weddings 2: from Inchmark)