Just Make Stuff

2017 Favorites...

This year has been fairly sparse as far as blogging, but there were still some favorites. Over the years, I have loved putting together these end of the year posts.

Favorite Gift...colorful gummy bear snacks with a teeny tiny scoop.

Favorite Mantle Decorations...I made a new banner with Irish flag colors for St. Patrick's Day.

Favorite Recipe...I think I actually only shared one recipe in 2017, but it was the one I have had for breakfast five days a week this year.

Favorite House Project...2016 & 2017 have both been the year of the shelf around here. We hung them in six different places in the house, but the "bar" shelves make me extra happy.

Favorite Moment with Mac...I loved when he suggested this then-and-now photo as he shopped for 21st birthday supplies.

Favorite Moment with Sean...even though he's not in this photo. We played about ten rounds of golf this past summer and cannot wait for more in 2018.

Favorite Craft Project...I started a scrapbook. Granted I only made a few pages, but oh was it fun to get back to.

Favorite Blog Post...It wasn't exactly a post full of pretty pictures, but I was so happy getting to share this. Thankfully, 2017 has been the year where I have really added a bunch of exercise to my life.

Here's hoping that I can really get back to sharing around here in 2018.

December Daily-ish 2017: 01

I started this year's little 4x4 book right before Christmas and still need to finish it up. 

I was a little snarky on a couple of pages, but happy as can be to be crafting and can't wait to complete the last pages.

Sloppy Santas...

We decided to make a big entree salad when we hosted Christmas dinner this year, but it occurred to me at the last minute kids were probably not going to be too excited about that.

I needed something kid-friendly that I could put together quickly and easily, and sloppy joes are perfect for that. However they are not very festive.

Until you make little sloppy joe sliders on hawaiian rolls and add a super simple Santa hat with red cardstock triangle with a white dot on top.

And call them Sloppy Santas.

Merry Making 2017...

I came up with the "merry making" idea instead of twelve days of Christmas activities, since realistically we would struggle to keep it up for a dozen days. This way we can do any number, which I am really taking advantage of this year, as I have only prepped four things.

Mac was actually surprised this year that I am keeping this tradition going.  I told him no matter how old he is and as long and I am alive and all there will be some merry making.

Here are the tags for this year and, even though I am only doing four things, I made twelve... download merry making tags.

Christmas gift tags...

For a few years now (2014/2015/2016) I have made super simple gifts with alphabet stamps. It's a way to have them still be homemade, but homemade pretty quickly.

The alphabet stamps I picked were pretty big and weren't going to work for the bunch of small gifts I had to wrap, so I used my typewriter, circle punch, and some patterned paper for those.

And, although last year I made tags that teased him, this year Sean got simple, small cards in envelopes sealed with a little washing tape.

Christmas Cards...

This year's cards were deceivingly complicated.

It seemed simple enough...a 5x7 photo (snapped in our backyard when my father-in-law was here visiting over Thanksgiving) backed with navy cardstock. There is a simple strip of photos with a sentiment adhered to the back and "merry" die cut out of various blue patterned papers. 

The complicated part ended up being adhering the letters. We (thankfully Sean helps me with the sixty cards) decided to use foam tape to give them a little dimension and cutting a million (or so) tiny pieces of tape got a little tedious. But, it gave me a couple hours to sit in front of the television and cut and stick and cut and stick and cut and stick some more. It ended up being pretty relaxing.

I made address labels to match the card and got them off in the mail last week. 

Love this time of year when the mail is extra fun to see and receive. 

Holiday Bath Salts Gift...

This year, for two of the three schools I work at, I made some orange peppermint bath salts for the administrative assistants. I have loved using salts & essential oils as a foot soak for the last couple of years (plus have given them as a gift) and peppermint is always really energizing. The scent of orange is just pure happiness. I know that sounds corny, but it really is.

Instead of just using epsom salts, I also ordered a big bag of pink Himalayan salt too. I mixed both essential oil scents with both kinds of salt and then layered them into the jars.

For the labels I actually used the design from last year's Christmas card and added a snowflake with matching colors.

I also made a little bigger jars and added the cutest little wood scoops ever.

Hopefully everyone will get to use them and relax a little over the holiday break.

Here are the happy holiday tags in case they come in handy...  download Happy Holidays Tags

Christmas blogging...

I have been super-duper slacking as a blogger this year...granted I never have really been an actual "blogger" as much as I have just been a sharer of occasional crafts and other random bits of life.

Either way, I have not really been much of anything around here this year. 

However, I have been doing my usual Christmas crafting, so it's all going to be shared with just a few days to go before the holiday.