Project Life...

I'm pondering doing something like Project Life this year. Not so much buying Becky Higgins' albums / pages, etc, but the same general idea. Basic layouts (or even divided page protectors) that sketch out the year for me with places for journaling cards, etc. Has anyone out there done Project Life? What are your thoughts?

Daily December Downloads

As I'm putting together our Daily December activities, I'm also creating some printables you are welcome to use for your own Daily December activities! Some are specific to what we're doing, but perhaps they will inspire you or be something you can adapt for your own purposes. I already shared my Christmas Planner cover sheet with you. Here's my snowman certificate...


And here's the printout I used of our Daily December activities.



I hope you enjoy them! I will (hopefully) be posting more downloads as we go!

Daily December 2012

First off, I am going to apologize for the less than stellar pictures. I took these pictures with my phone late last night in low light, so I'm actually surprised they turned out as good as they did! But given the options of poor pictures or no blog post, I chose the former. And now.... on with the show!

From Christmas 2012

I made this Advent-style calendar in February. I find that I don't have time during the bustling holiday season to make all the brilliant ideas I come up with during the season, but that I get in the mood to do holiday things around February. Perhaps that's normal, perhaps that's strange, but I say seize the motivation and do it! What a wonderful surprise when I unpacked my holiday boxes this year to find this little gem!

I have done a Daily December album in years past, and even created a list of activities to do in advance. The problem is that I have either done all the activities / done an activity every day but not finished the album, or I've finished the album (I think 2008 is actually the only one I've completely finished, since it's the only one I could find in our Christmas boxes) but had to stretch to make some of the activities. It sort of ended up with me saying, nightly, "Hmm.... what did we do that was Daily December worthy today?"

So this year we have a plan. Every day I have an activity planned to do with Eliana to celebrate the season. Here's an overview of what we're doing...

From Christmas 2012

I have this page in my Christmas Planner. I hand-wrote what thing was in each of the gifts on the calendar so I would remember what we were doing that day.

My grand plan is that each day when Eliana comes home from school, she will get to open one of the Daily December containers and see what the day's activity is.

From Christmas 2012

Some activities are events, like going to the downtown Christmas Stroll or seeing the Nutcracker (which is gift #11, since she is getting a Nutcracker book with paper dolls to play with - that I got on clearance last year!), while other activities are things like making a snowman or drinking hot cocoa and playing games. The days that say "Open Gift #____" she has a corresponding gift under the tree to open.

From Christmas 2012

In  years past I have done a gift every day for the 12 days of Christmas, but found that there were too many trinkety toys around my house, then. This year the gifts are books we already had (like the Primer Christmas Carols book I used as a child that Eliana can probably play out of now), or books / puzzles I got on clearance last January, or holiday movies we only watch this time of year. I think she will enjoy opening gifts and doing activities, and I will enjoy not having extra things around out house to clutter things up, or the cost of buying trinkety things.

As for the album, we'll see how that goes. I'd love to make one this year, but I haven't started it yet, so we'll have to see how it works. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. Either way, I will get to spend quality holiday time with my family, and that's what really counts.

What activities do YOU do in December?

Candy Land Birthday Party... from 6 months ago.

I just looked through my last few posts and realized that I never posted (on THIS blog) Eliana's birthday party. While I **have** taken a bit of a break from crafting, I have not given up on all My Inner Martha's endeavors!! So, while it's belated, here's a look at Eliana's Candy Land birthday party....

From Eliana's Birthday Party

For Eliana's 6th birthday party, she wanted a CandyLand theme. What she got was 10 friends hyped up on sugar. =D The party was today and it went well. The kids got CandyLand tattoos...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And made candy themed necklaces...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And walked down the candy path...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And laughed a lot...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And got goody boxes...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... complete with toothbrushes...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And ate LOTS OF CANDY!!

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... And cupcakes...

From Eliana's Birthday Party

From Eliana's Birthday Party

... and generally had a great time. Happy Birthday Party Day, Eliana!! I can't believe you're almost 6 already!

2012 Christmas Planner

I have not been crafting much lately, but on Sunday afternoon I got together with a couple friends and I made my Christmas cards. I love having them finished! More than that, I love our craft get-togethers. I miss crafting.

And now, having my Christmas cards finished means I am thinking about the next steps to make this holiday season merry and bright. And, well, not only this season, but next year's too. So today while I was piddling around on the computer, here's the cover I made for this year's Christmas Planner.

I'm excited to create printables as the season progresses that I can use year after year. I have used other people's freebie printables for a couple years, but find that the mish-mash doesn't make me nearly as happy as everything matching does. =D So that means creating my own! Click the picture above to download the cover sheet for the planner.

I'm debating doing a Daily December album this year. Part of my problem is that there are 33 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I don't just want to do daily DECEMBER, but a list of the activities between the holidays. So we'll see what happens with that. I'm okay with making it simple this year, but I don't want to lose all documentation. I've been bad about recording things this year or taking pictures, so I don't want that to happen over the holidays, too!

Cowboy Cookies and Chocolates

Yesterday I threw a baby shower for a friend having a baby boy. Her nursery is cowboy themed, so we had a cowboy diaper roundup! I made cookies, cake, a diaper cake, chocolates... it was kitchen mayhem! But the shower was fun, so here's a peek at the cookies and chocolates I made...

From My Inner Martha

There were lassos with "Howdy" (that matched the invites and top of the diaper cake)...

From My Inner Martha

There were stars with little cowboy babies on them...

From My Inner Martha

There were plaid stars...

From My Inner Martha

And there were chocolate and white chocolate stars with dulce de lechce filling!

From My Inner Martha

Do you see how SPARKLY everything is???? I love my luster dust!! SO fun! I used blue and white sparkle!! Hee hee!

Another Baby Album

Right now all my friends seem to be sprouting babies! I had a baby shower last night to attend, so I sat down yesterday and whipped out this album for the mom-to-be and her precious baby girl!

From My Inner Martha

From My Inner Martha

From My Inner Martha

Lots of pink and brown!! I have to admit, it's nice to be able to whip something like this up in a matter of a couple hours. It makes gift giving so much easier! I used to agonize over every single page, but now I have learned what works and what doesn't, and the process is so much more streamlined! I watched a few episodes of Cake Boss on Netflix and crafted away. It was awesome!!

Inspiring Myself...

My treadmill is in the dormer of the craft room, and it's my little workout nook. I have been wanting to make shadow boxes for my craft room for a few years now, but this phrase made me think that it would be nice to have a shadow box in my workout corner!! Inspiration in more ways than one! I also made this one, which I can write on with a dry erase marker... From My Inner Martha LOL! It's fun! I got this sheet off a "goals" pad from Staples that I thought was fun and refreshing. So now I have a little reminder of the couple things I want to accomplish each day! I won't change it every day, but putting up general things inspires me. Like... "Today I will Work Out and Be Happy" Yes, I am awesome!

From My Inner Martha

Peppernuts!!

Do you know how hard it is to find Anise Oil in the town of Bozeman, MT? Very. We even looked online, but had a hard time finding it in the quantities we wanted (read: less than $30 worth). We did find it at a natural market here, though, and Christmas was saved!!

Ah, the smell of peppernuts makes the holidays officially here!

Sneak Peek of the Christmas Cards!!

I am crafting again!! In fact, I even made Christmas Cards again this year!! Now, with 5 days to Christmas, we'll see if they get sent out, but they have been made!! Here's a sneak peek for you!

From My Inner Martha

Merry Christmas!!

Last Minute Baby Gift...

Friends of ours are having a baby and their shower was last night. I realized yesterday morning that I didn't yet have a gift. They aren't finding out if the baby is a boy or girl, and I hate generic baby gift shopping, so here's what I put together yesterday afternoon to give...

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Teacher Cookies

Eliana was excited to present the cookies we made to her teacher the first day of school. These are the ones we picked out to give her...

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We packaged them up in cellophane like so...

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and then put them in a popcorn container along side a cute card!

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I hope her teacher liked them! If not, I guess that's fine... We had fun making them together!

Feels like FALL!!

It's starting to feel like fall here in Montana, and the crafty crafter in me couldn't help but make some fall cookies to celebrate! We have some...

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Plump Pumpkins

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Wise Old Owls

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And Polka Dots and Plaid

Eliana is very excited to present some of these to her teacher on the first day of school. I guess that means I'll be coming up with some creative packaging, then! In the meantime, it sure was fun to play with frosting again!

This is why I don't sew...

I believe I have shared with you my guidelines for sewing in the past. If I...

1. Don't have to measure

2. Don't have to use a pattern

3. Don't have to use pins

... then I will consider making it. Of course, the real reason I don't sew is that my brother, Robert, can take a sheet of plywood and some fabric and do the sort of magic that turns this...

... into this.

Yep. That's why I don't sew. Because who is going to compete with that?? He made the bed skirt, comforter, pillows, and headboard, plus a matching window seat cushion. Eliana's room is now fit for a princess, all thanks to Uncle Robert. Best. Uncle. Ever.

New / Old Necklace

I played in my craft room a bit last night and came up with this fun asymmetrical necklace using a vintage necklace and some new beads. I've had all the components for a while, but it wasn't until Tuesday that my friend, Amber, and I decided that this is what I should do with it. And I love it!! I'm wearing it today, in fact!

I told you...

I told you I would make these cookies....

Then I couldn't find a snowglobe cookie cutter and I couldn't find any snowflake sprinkles... I finally found the snowflakes... and decided to make my own snowglobe cookie cutter! It really ended up being quite simple... just take a circle cookie cutter and bend it in 4 places to make a base. The top sort of adjusts itself, so it's easy to get the right shape!

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, though you can't fit too many on a cookie sheet!

Of course, the best part for Ellie was watching them bake. She just parked herself in front of the oven for a while!

Looking good, Mom!

The baked cookies...

This year I did something different than I've ever done before... I put my frosting in bottles instead of in decorator's bags. It was a great way to decorate quickly! I will definitely use this idea again if I'm working with color flow frosting!

One step at a time... first the base of the snowglobe, frosted and sugared immediately.

Then the top of the snowglobe, complete with gingerbread men, snowflakes, and course sugar snow!

Finish it off with some white frosting and non pareil snow and you have a very fun cookie!!

They were very fun to make, and pretty darn cute, too!!