Buzzmills

Gift tags by Trader Joe's...

Last year Trader Joe's had some fantastic holiday bags with festive words addorning them all over.  They were, yes I'm going to say it, pretty!  Who wanted to recycle something so nice. While I do love those Marthesque gift tags, oh, I really do...I also like saving a buck and a tree!  So,  I set out cutting apart their bags and used them as gift tags.  Brad, rolled his eyes at me.  I thought it was quite ingenious!  

Well, apparently I wasn't the only one with the bright idea...because someone must have told them.  This year their bags had all of that fun stuff on them but instead of randomnly all over, they actually have cut lines and to: and from: on them.  
Also, on the sides they had fun little strips to cut to make a paper chain.  
What fun.  Violet really enjoyed having a chance to practice her cutting and taping.  
And, of course, adding the decor to her tree!

So, while I still do love all of those adorable printables out there...I am planning on using my Trader Joe's bags again this year, because...printer ink is expensive!!   

(*Pleae note that most of the time I do bring my own bags with me, but there are the occasional trips when I forget...)

Holiday Gift Swap...

Remember the holiday gift swap I was a part of with Freshlly Picked and Ardor...Well, I've gotten all my goodies!! Yay! Lovely! 

Some beautiful handmade cards!  (Boo, bad pictures though.)

From Always in Wonder... A necklace and some beautiful ornaments.  (Sorry again, not great pics of the necklace...guess that's why I don't make jewelry, I'm terrible at photographing it!)

Not one, but two red scarves...one for me, one to share!

And from Said in Heart... a fun festive necklace

What fun it was awaiting these packages!  Thanks to all who participated!

A toy nativity...

I have this beautiful Nativity Scene that I put out every year...and,  of course, every year it attracts little hands.  

But, As with many nativity scenes it is not meant for little hands because it is breakable.  So, what to do when those little hands just want to hold baby Jesus?

Have a non breakable nativity scene.

Someday I would love to have a beautifully hand carved one like this...but for this year we settled for a hand painted peg doll nativity scene.  

Okay, so I am not a painter...but it is cute and, let's face it, little eyes don't mind how things look for the most part, just as long as they can play with it.  And they do...Of course there are some arguments over baby Jesus, but I guess that was to be expected!

The art of procrastination...

I am not a stranger to procrastination.  I have been very very good at it since, at least, the fifth grade.  I can very clearly remember my mom and I staying up way past our bedtime (yes, even past hers!) to start and complete my "Me Project".  This project was supposed to have been something I worked on for at least a couple of weeks and we had to finish it in one night!  This was the first, of many, times I'm sure my mom was quietly mumbling things under her breath at me! (Love you mom!)

So, I pretty much put the PRO in procrastination...but definitely not without the stress!

While I should have been sewing up more fabric buckets, making ornaments, and many other Christmas related things this weekend...instead I was rearranging our entire basement because of this piece of furniture. We got it for free from our neighbors.  It didn't have a top, that's a piece of birch plywood just sitting there for now.  But, I love it!  We spent the better part of Saturday, reorganizing and cleaning and, yes, even a bit of demolition because of this humble little piece of furniture.  Not to worry, I spent the better part of Sunday at it sorting through fabric scraps and cutting fabric specifically for Christmas present making, so the procrastination wasn't too terrible!  

But, yes, I am feeling the stress!  Especially when I looked at my front window on Sunday only to see not one, not two, not three...but nine deer walk their way from the back of my house to the front of my house, cross the street and walk down the sidewalk!   Yeah, I took that as a sign from Santa!  Get back to work!!!

Okay, one tiny little adorable thing did get made and finished this weekend!

Fabric buckets...

In case you needed one more last minute gift idea, or maybe you want to try to wrap your gifts a bit more sustainably this year...try these fabric buckets

This little bucket did whip up very quickly.  While I had intended on making one of the larger sized ones (oops cutting mistake) I think this one is sweet.  The down side of the tiny one...my cookies didn't fit.  The upside of the tiny one...now I have a fun little project to do with all of the "leftovers" from my market bags.  The scraps from them are almost exactly the right size for these little buckets!