a pinterest christmas: keepsake ornament.

this is the first post of my pinterest christmas series and i am so excited to share. 

{sidenote: i have a few more projects up my sleeve & the list of projects keeps growing - i blame pinterest!} 

as soon as i saw this picture on pinterest, i knew i had to do this (honestly, what else am i going to do with the rest of our wedding invitations? any ideas?).

{this is the original pinterest link: wedding invitation ornament.}

this project was pretty simple. the hardest part for me was cutting the paper strips since i had a new paper trimmer and was still learning how it worked. 

supplies:

wedding invitation, baby announcement, etc.

paper trimmer (you could measure and cut with scissors, but it would take forever.)

clear ornament (i used plastic ones from michael's)

pencil (or something to curl the paper around)

ribbon

charm (optional)

{our wedding invitation. i fall in love with it every time i see it.}

{i decided on 1/4 inch strips so i made marks before i cut so i wouldn't be cutting thru the letters.}

{most of the strips had the important stuff like date, time, place, etc.}

{every strip got curled around a pencil.}

{clear plastic ornament with removable top.}

{curly-cue.}

{i decided to use a small charm for the top of the ornament. this is a fleur de lis.}

{i thought that i would need to string the charm onto thread before it went on the ribbon, but you really don't need the thread (unless you want the charm to hang way down). for the other ornaments i made, i just thread the ribbon thru the charm.}

{on the tree!}

i had two birth announcements on my bulletin board and decided to make these babes an ornament to celebrate their first christmas. {jen and kendra: i mailed the ornaments on monday so be on the lookout!}

{for kenley dee. check out her mom's blog here.}

{for deacon clifford. check our his mom's blog here.}

this was such an easy and quick project, so start saving those keepsakes and make ornaments!

have you tackled any pinterest projects for christmas yet?

M

o christmas tree!

we got our christmas tree this weekend! normally i wouldn't have rushed out to get a tree right after thanksgiving, but since we are headed out of town for the holiday, i wanted to ensure we had some quality time with the tree. 

{sidenote: i begged aaron for a christmas tree the weekend before last so we drove out to a little tree farm in woodinville - like 30 minutes away - where we bought our christmas tree last year. they have hot cider and this awesome tree shaker - it is really an experience! the tree farm, however, was closed. yep, no trees before thanksgiving. so we turned back around empty-handed. sad.}

we ended up buying our tree from a little lot near our house (i couldn't bear the thought of driving all the way out to woodinville to be possibly rejected a second time!) and got a little douglas fur that was cut down in bremerton (pretty close to seattle). 

{teeny christmas trees can fit in the back of cars. sidenote: those big scratches and dents are being fixed as we speak!}

{the tree and i were standing on a slope, but it still is really teeny. sidenote: i got this coat from anthropologie a few weekends ago when they were basically giving it away - $200 off! i thought i recognized it in the store, but thought it was just because i had been wanting it for a few weeks. then i realized its the same jacket taza wears.}

 {we don't have an angel or a star for a tree topper, so i have been using a ribbon for the past two years.}

 {our little christmas tree. i am thinking of adding red ribbon all around the tree - thoughts?}

{this was our first family ornament from last year. awww...}

{all lit up!}

do you have your christmas tree yet?

M

my weekend in pictures.

{b.l.a.t. at oddfellows. it was time for a change-up from turkey.} 

{does anyone know how to darn a mitten?} 

{pouring down rain = wellies.} 

{apple cup. bow down to the huskies!} 

{thai take-out.} 

{you know it's the holiday season when TJ's carries candy cane green tea. my fave!} 

{thanksgiving leftovers.} 

{hot cocoa & a walk around the neighborhood. don't know what we would do without a coffee shop right down the block!} 

 {baking the apple pie.}

{this is how sadie sleeps. all. the. time.} 

{after making turkey stock, we made turkey stew with wild rice, pancetta and crimini mushrooms.}

{date night at the nutcracker.}

we had the laziest weekend ever. but then today i got a million-and-a-half things done before noon. does that ever happen to you? how was your weekend?

M

the day after thanksgiving.

or black friday. or the day that you can officially put up christmas decorations and listen to the christmas pandora station, and not get crazy looks.

but back to thanksgiving. yesterday was such a wonderful day filled with family, friends & food! aaron and i started out the day with a little breakfast, knowing that we would be eating a big turkey dinner. though probably not the healthiest - hey, it was a holiday!











then i got to the baking & cooking stage of my day. i promised our thanksgiving host (my grandmother) that i would bring two pies and cranberries. the first of my pies was the pumpkin pie. (sidenote: i actually baked the pumpkin pie on wednesday night.) i was a little nervous since i normally don't make the pumpkin pie in my family (mom usually does, and an amazing job at that), and i was using the TJ's (that's Trader Joe's for you that are not in the know) recipe on the back of their canned pumpkin and not the recipe on the back of the usual canned pumpkin that you buy at the regular grocery store. everything went well and the only difference between the usual pumpkin pie and the TJ's pumpkin pie was evaporated milk versus whole milk & half-and-half. i served the pie with creme fraiche as opposed to cool whip mostly because my grandmother thinks that all whipped cream is "shaving cream." (this is totally true even though it sounds like i am making it up. when we are out to dinner and she orders an irish coffee, she will tell the waiter "now i don't want any of that shaving cream on the top," and we have to explain to the waiter that she actually means whipped cream in a can. but i digress.)











the other pie that i made this year was an apple pie, which is the kind that i normally make for holiday meals, so nothing too tricky about it.

i also decided to make cranberry sauce this year. cranberries are one of my favorite parts of the thanksgiving meal (do people really use cranberries outside of thanksgiving and christmas? i think not.) and when i saw a simple recipe for fresh cranberry sauce in the november cooking light, i knew i had to give it a try. plus, the recipe specifically said that cranberries are one of the easiest sauces to make. boy were they right, it was so easy - you basically just add things together and boil them. the color was gorgeous and the sauce was so tasty! (plus, there were no ribbed "can lines"!)

as i had mentioned earlier, my grandmother was hosting thanksgiving this year. she has always loved hosting dinner, especially thanksgiving. she makes the most beautiful centerpieces you have ever seen, and always with food (her fave!) - plantains, grapes, clementines, pineapple. we (aaron, my grandmother and i) were joined by old family friends for the evening which we spent a lot of playing cards (spite & malice, a family favorite). it was such a great evening, though aaron and i were both missing family celebrations in other states (idaho and indiana).

the turkey continued as a theme even into the day after thanksgiving thru leftovers (yum) and a very successful attempt at  making turkey stock out of the turkey carcass. i have to admit that we were a bit peer pressured into taking the rest of the turkey home, but after a little chopping and straining, we have some amazing homemade turkey stock. we are planning to make a delicious turkey soup for tomorrow night's dinner. (and the turkey theme continues!)

despite the turkey-themed weekend, we also spent today doing a teeny bit of shopping. it is black friday after all, right? after aaron and i were in paris this spring and borrowing my parent's SLR camera, we decided that we were going to get one for ourselves for christmas. we spent some time looking at the different cameras available a few weeks ago - nikon, canon, sony - and decided that the sony a55 was the one for us. while it isn't a nikon or canon (which is what most SLR choices seem to be), the sony just felt perfect for us - not too bulky, good grips, nice swivel screen. we bought the "black friday edition" of the seattle times to scour what the deals would be, but aaron ended up finding the best price online. though there won't be any surprises as to what christmas has in store for us this year, i am still so stoked to get this camera!

what a great thursday & friday. can you believe we have the entire weekend still? bliss.

how was your thanksgiving? did you do any damage during black friday, or avoid the crowds?
M

happy turkey day.

this year i am thankful for so many things. just a few of the things i am thankful for today: my husband, umbrellas, furry little feet, doggie kisses, warm mittens, fires in the fireplace, real christmas trees, cupcakes, fall leaves, crisp fall weather, iPhones, catching up with old friends, text messages, our (perfect) little townhouse & the internet.

if i was hosting thanksgiving dinner this year, i would hope the spread would look like this:

{via the merriment blog}

{via pinterest}

{via pinterest}

{via pinterest}

what are you thankful for this year? do you have big plans for turkey day?
M