My go-to white tee is from Everlane. I love their cotton U-neck and drop shoulder tee (the one above is the drop shoulder). The quality is great and it washes well.  I’ve requested a couple tees as stocking fillers, so we will see if Ben fills the request. I’d love a U-neck in white, a boxy striped tee, or a drop shoulder in true black. Of course, my other stocking request will be more vaseline for my lips. Every Christmas, I get replenished with my supply for the year. What kinds of things do you get in your Christmas stocking? And yesterday, Everlane just came out with some goods for the little ones.

on me: tee, everlane. denim cropped trousers, zara (got it on super sale over the summer, similar here). shoes, rachel comey. bag, vintage (similar here).

As I was browsing through Creativebug classes a few weeks ago, with the girls looking over my shoulder, they saw the deer ornaments class and said, “We want to make that!” We set aside some art time this week to take the class. All the materials are things we have in abundance of at our house, so gathering supplies for this was a breeze. I set everything up on my work table, rolled the table right in front of the computer, had some templates printed out, and pressed play.

True and Brave are all about sewing and embroidery projects, so I knew that once they started, they would totally be in the zone. It is also quite evident in these pictures. We watched the video about 3 times through as they were working on it. We would pause here and there, to allow them time to complete a step, and then let it play. They got the idea, so then we would replay the whole class, but they would just keep working because they already knew what to do. Although the video is only 12 minutes long, they took a little over an hour to complete one ornament. Once they were done, they were so excited to have their finished little fawn and they said they are ready to take another class! I’m sure for art this week, we will be taking another holiday class from Creativebug (maybe clothespin dolls to make gifts or paper clay ornaments).

True made two hanging ornaments, and Brave made one, and I made one alongside with them. Though Soul and Glow started with us, they gave up quickly because they don’t quite have the hand eye coordination for hand-sewing. I pre-cut some deer from cardstock, so they could color those and still be part of the deer ornament making fun! With their colored yardstick deer, we made a little garland. True and Brave even wanted to get into the garland action, and help make more deer for it too. These kids will never turn down a good craft project.

Here’s what True and Brave have to say about the class…

I thought the class was fun. I like the part where we did embroidery. I liked making the fawn, and I really enjoyed learning how to make it. The hardest part was doing a running stitch around the fawn, and the easiest part was making the eyes and nose. – True

This is what I thought about the class … I thought that that it was going to be fun, and it was! But, it was hard in the beginning, then it got easy. It was starting to look like a real deer! Near the end, mommy had to help me finish it with a knot. Then, I hung it up in the tree, and that’s it! – Brave

This post is in partnership with Creativebug. They are many creative classes I want to take, and many of them work well as a homeschooling art supplement. Currently, Creativebug is offering two 1 year subscriptions for only $50. You get one for yourself, and get one to give!

Elf Stocking

Supplies:
– Christmas elf stocking template (it’s an oversized pattern, so you have to save and take to copy shop to get printed)
– 1 yard of wool felt
– 1/8 yard of wool felt in other colors (for heel and toe)
– Various scraps of wool felt
– Embroidery needle
– Embroidery floss in various colors
– 1/32″ x 12″ x 24″ birch plywood sheet
– Jingle bell (optional)

Tools:
– Scissors
– Sewing machine
– X-Acto knife
– Hole punch

Seam allowance: 1/2″

Directions:
1. Cut out all your pieces for your elf stocking: 2 pieces for front and back, 1 toe cap, 1 heel cap, 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ strip for hanging stocking, and pieces for the floral motif.

With a running stitch, sew on the toe and heel cap to the front of your elf stocking.

2. Lay out your floral felt pieces, pin in place, and hand embroider each piece on. Be sure to place the design about an inch away from the edge so it won’t be hidden when the sides are sewn.

3. Place the right sides together. Starting about 4″ down on one side, sew down and around the bottom of the foot and up the other side stopping about 4″ from the top. Make a small 1/2″ cut perpendicular to the where your seam starts on both sides of the stocking. Clip curves and corners to prevent it from being too bulky and puckering.

4. Turn the stocking right side out. Fold your 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ strip in half, and insert it about 4″ below from the top back, with the raw edge lined up with the raw edge of the stocking. Sew both sides of the stocking. Fold the top 4″ of the stocking down to reveal the floral design. Press your stocking and snip any excess thread.

5. On the top portion of the stocking, add a decorating stitch that lines the scallop.

6. Trace your skate blade onto the birch plywood sheet and cut out with an X-Acto blade. Sand the edges to smooth. Punch two small holes 1/4″ on the wooden skate blade.

7. Using embroidery floss, attach the skate blade to the stocking. I let mine dangle about 1/2″ – 1″ below. Sew on a small jingle bell (or pom pom) to the tip of the toe.

I think these elf stockings are a fun and quirky take on traditional Christmas stockings. If you want another tutorial on an elf stocking, I did this one a couple years ago with pom pom trim. I love looking up at our mantel to see all our six elf stockings lined up together.

Now, all our stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and our kids are waiting for Saint Nick to soon be here…

My Soul turns 6. SIX! Insane! She was my assistant when I did a family shoot of some friends and she was so good at helping me. She can read short vowel words now, and she wants to be a singer. Soul is our California girl, and no matter the weather, she likes wearing shorts and a tank, or a dress.

Her requests today involve a hotel stay, swimming, and Star Wars everything. We are trying to make it happen, so I’ll report back soon on what we end up doing!

Happy birthday Soulie! We love you!!!

This was our second mini Thanksgiving (here is last year’s). We have a little feast on Wednesday night, and it gives us time to talk about Thanksgiving with the girls and we all share what we are thankful for. Thursday is spent hopping around and catching up with family, so we feel Wednesday night together really helps us savor the holiday a little more. I spent Monday and Tuesday prepping the pies and side dishes, and on Wednesday morning I put the turkey breast in the crock pot (this recipe). We had green looking mashed “potatoes” due to Ben buying broccoflower because it was cheaper. Despite the green tinge, it was just as delicious as your regular buttered up mashed potatoes (well, at least to us).

The girls helped set up the table with the place cards we made together. Once Ben got home from work, our mini feast started. Dinner was delicious, the girls were sweet and hilarious with their thankful lists, and we all discussed new ideas for next year’s mini Thanksgiving feast. Soul even entertained us with a puppet show for. We treasure our mini Thanksgiving feasts, and I’m already excited for next year’s!

Then, on the way to Ben’s cousin’s, we pulled over to get a quick family picture to commemorate the day. We knew once we saw family and all the festivities with them started, we would totally forget to take that family picture. We had such a good time catching up with our loved ones and stuffing our tummies silly. Hope you were just as filled up with love, thankfulness, and turkey as we were!

When putting together gifts for teachers, co-workers (Ben’s), or neighbors, I go for simple and usually something edible. For this month’s Michaels Maker’s challenge, I put together three easy gift ideas that I think send some holiday cheer.

I created gift labels from black card stock and wrote on it using a fine paint brush and calligraphy ink. Each present was topped off with glittery gold ribbon to give it that bit of holiday pizazz.

For the first gift idea, I thought it would be fun to give a set of star lights. Michaels has a few different star types, and the larger stars are my favorite. Twinkle lights always add such a festive vibe, so I thought this would make a wonderful gift. On the tag I wrote, “Oh starry night!” If giving this to a teacher, you could write “You deserve a star!” or “You’re a star!” I changed out the original card stock store label that was in the box with the one I created from black card stock.

The second gift idea is to give a beautiful ornament. I saw these gem stone ornaments and thought they would be perfect with a tag that said, “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree …” I put the ornament in a craft box and it makes a simple, but stunning gift. You could also write, “You rock!” or “You’re a gem!” on the tag to go with it.

Last, but certainly my typical go-to gift idea: get a pretty stocking and stuff it with chocolate! I would do a happy dance if someone gave this to me. I love this sparkly stocking Michaels had, and since they always have a nice assortment of chocolates on hand, I picked up a few, and voila! I have a gift ready to go. And of course, “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care …” is what I wrote on the tag that went along with the gift.

There you go … these simple gifts are perfect for their school teachers, dance instructors (music, karate, soccer, etc.), or neighborhood postal worker. You may not know those people  really well, but you appreciate them and want to give them little something to let them know they are appreciated. These gifts and the messages that go along with them are fantastic for spreading that Christmas spirit!

Supplies for this project were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series. 

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