on my way

I'm on my way to getting these resolutions rollin'!  Today I tackled a small project that I've been thinking about doing since we started on Avery's play kitchen...making little placemats!  I found a great diy tutorial online at www.centsationalgirl.com :)

I grabbed some fabric that I had on hand at home...

Next, I pinned two different patterns of fabric together (wrong sides facing out) so the placemats would be reversible...

Then I sewed the two pieces of fabric together, trimmed and ironed the seam allowance, turned right side out, and topstitched around the entire placemat...

And voila!  A reversible placemat to match Avery's dishes she got for Christmas...

I made four placemats and all the fabric that was used was from Stampin' Up!.  The dishes and cups came from Ikea and yes, they're real!  

I was pretty proud of myself for breakin' out the 'ol sewing machine today.  It took me one placemat to get back into the sewing swing, but I know Avery won't care about a few crooked stitches :)

fresh

These are just a few pictures from 2011 that highlighted the year for my family...

2011 was a decent year, not exactly ending on the best note, but that's why I'm so excited for 2012.  A fresh start is what we need and a fresh start is what we're gonna get!  BTW, fresh is my word for this year (more on that later :) so you'll be hearing it quite often.

Here are my 2012 resolutions:
1.  Finish my projects from last year before starting new ones ;)
2.  Make time for more date nights with my hubby...at least once every couple of months, anyway!
3.  Travel a little more...far or near, just getting away a little more often.
4.  Use more of what I have on hand and upcycle more items from around the house...I'm sure Pinterest will be able to help me accomplish this one!
5.  Try some new recipes and cook a little more...this might be my hardest resolution :0)
6.  Learn to sew again...yes, again!
7.  Buy a new camera...I can't wait to accomplish this one!
8.  Stop being so hard on myself for not getting everything accomplished.
9.  Save more and spend less.
10.  Get more blog followers ;)

Sounds like a lot I know, but I have all year so I'm not worried :)  I'd love to hear what some of your resolutions are, so leave me a comment!

2012 here we go!

high res

I usually have one or two resolutions for the new year, but this year I have quite a few more.  This year I'm kicking the resolutions into high gear!  More on that later, until then...

Happy New Year to everyone!

What are some of your resolutions?

December Daily pages 21-25

Here's the last set of my December Daily album pages...

Jubal made me a sweet holiday card at school so I had to add it to the album :)

Day 22

 Day 23

 Day 24

Day 25 - Merry Christmas

I had fun compiling my first December Daily album and I look forward to making one every December from here on out.  It turned out to be an easy and fun new way to capture the spirit of the season.

That's one chunky album ;)

Here's to 2011, bring on 2012!

a simple wish

From my family to yours...

I hope all of you merry blog readers out there have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season!

christmas eve evening

We spent the day at home doing a few chores here and there, playing outside, relaxing on the couch, and I cooked a ham and a few other family favorites for our Christmas Eve dinner tonight.  It was yummy!  After their baths we let the kids open a small gift.  This year they got Slinkies and wooden farm figures to paint.

 They wanted to paint them right away so that's what we did!  It was fun :)

 Jubal working hard on his tractor.

 Garrison painted a barn

and Avery painted a horse! 

We had a great Christmas Eve at home, all by ourselves with the kids, very cozy and relaxed, just the way it should be ;)

Merry Christmas!

December Daily pages 16-20

 Day 16 - An ordinary day with a very early bedtime :)

Day 17 - I had a lot of pics from going to the Holiday Lights Fair...

 so I included them by placing them on tags and stringing the tags through the back of the page.

I love using tags for adding lots of tiny pics to an album or page :)

Day 18 - I started receiving Christmas cards so I wanted to include them in the album

 Day 19 - A little baking with the kiddos

Here's the spread where I included the Christmas cards

Day 20 - some last minute errands and preparations...the kids will be out of school tomorrow! Yikes!