Wednesday, November 30, 2011

25 Days of Reading, a different kind of Advent Calender

I'm itching to start decorating the house for Christmas.  We are waiting until the 1st of December to get out the tree and all the other decoration goodies.  If my husband had it his way we would wait until Dec. 12th.  In his family they always waited until the 12 days before and kept up all the decorations until the 12 days after Christmas.  I think that is a lovely idea, but I am entirely too impatient to wait that long. 

Only one more day to wait!  But, today I got in a little Christmas spirit fix by making my daughter an advent calender in preparation for tomorrow.  I love advent calenders.  The buildup of something little each day is fantastic and brings out the kid in me.  This year I decided that I wanted to do something "different" for my 3 year old.  The last thing she needs is a big ol' hunk of chocolate covered sugar every day so I came up with this.








You see, I happened to stop at one of my favorite thift stores yesterday and they had a special on children's books.  I bought an entire bag {25 books} for $5.00.  Perfect!  So I took out the paper mache advent calender I had bought at Hobby Lobby and painted it with some craft paint and use the trusty Sharpie to write the numbers on the front.




Then I wrapped each book seperately and put a number tag on each one.

I made a second set of number tags to put inside each box of the advent calender.  Some boxes also have an extra treat like stickers, fancy erasers, etc.

So every night before my little Punky Brewester goes to bed she can go to her advent calender and open the box for that day and pull out a number tag.  Then she gets to find the wrapped "present" that has the matching number tag.

She gets to unwrap the book and we read that book together as her bedtime story.

I hope she likes this as much as I do!

Do you do advent calenders in your house?

 

Monday, November 28, 2011

Happy Cyber Monday!

Ooh Cyber Monday, I'm glad your here.  You are so much better than Black Friday.

 Black Friday means getting up early.  Really early.  Fighting over $3.00 plastic containers with the crazy lady with curlers in her hair and waiting in endless lines.  But Cyber Monday means leisurely shopping at your home computer {or office computer, I won't tell!} while sipping coffee.  So much better.

To celebrate Cyber Monday I have listed some new Holiday Items in my shop along with some old standbys along with a special Cyber Monday discount code for my Etsy Shop.

Just go to http://www.mudpiesandmarigolds.etsy.com/ and enter the code:  cybermondayblog20
to get 20% off EVERYTHING in my shop.  Sweet.

Here are a few of the things you can find.


Set of 3 snow covered bottle brush trees with a vintage spool base
Set of 3 Bottle brush trees with Vintage spool bases: 
Shabby Rosettes Chalkboard, wedding, photo prop, sign, office, menu board, shabby chic, cottage
Shabby Chic Chalkboard
Santa's Magic Key...perfect for homes without a chimney, FREE domestic shipping
Magic Santa Key

Vintage tinsel wreath
Vintage Tinsel Wreath
Wedding cake banner pennant bunting style topper, rustic, whimsical, shabby chic, vintage style, cottage, beach, coastal, southern
DREAM garland, vintage gold and sepia
DREAM garland

Saturday, November 26, 2011

I'm sorry... but it's almost Christmas

I have been a VERY bad blogger.  A no-good, horrible blogger.  I have been MIA for a while and for that I am sorry. 

BUT...I do have a good excuse. 

First there was planning my daughter's 3rd birthday party.

Then there was this {an amazing three week trip to Turkey for my beautiful sister-in-law's wedding}:










We had a blast and I learned a lot.

1st--  That the pomegranates that I could pick off of the tree in the back yard in Turkey{how cool is that} are very sweet and not like the ones we get at the grocery store here in the states.  And that makes me sad because my daughter LOVED eating those as a snack while we were there.

2nd--  My daughter is a beach baby.  SERIOUSLY.  She loves the beach and was fearless.  She learned to doggy paddle while we were there and we asked to go to the beach every day.  This makes me happy but it also makes me sad because we live in St. Louis...not exactly close to a beach. 

3rd-- The Ephesus {one of the ancient wonders of the world} was more that I hoped for!  And, there are hundred of other amazing ruins in Turkey that will blow your mind.  Like Pammukale {also know as the cotton mountains}.

Then I had a craft show a week after we returned to the US.  {what was I thinking!}

And now Thanksgiving is over and I back with a few Holiday themed creations.

vintage sewing drawer centerpieces

vintage spool and sheet music bottle brush trees

Santa's magic key for homes without chimneys
Shabby Chic burlap tree
burlap trees
SET of 6 Christmas Tags, vintage style beauty
sets of vintage style gift tags {that I have also used as ornaments}

      I have a handfull of items listed right now and will be adding much more this week so check back!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that all of you who went Black Friday shopping have recovered and are getting plenty of rest today.