Links for 3 December 2010

 Have a look at these recent posts on my new blog, www.bluebadgerbaby.wordpress.com.

Vintage Christmas Postage- Where to buy vintage stamps for your Christmas cards.

Christmas Craft Kits- Everything you need to keep your kids occupied during Winter break, pre-cut.
Pinhole Press Christmas Cards- Beautiful graphic photo cards
Super Mamika- The coolest photos anyone has taken of their grandmother...ever.

Happy Christmas

Pretty Boxes

I never knew that the Twelve Days of Christmas came after Christmas (26 Dec-6 Jan). The Twelve Days of Christmas Kit was inspired by a San Francisco family's tradition of hanging little boxes filled with gifts on the Christmas tree. The kit comes with everything needed to hang 12 heirloom quality boxes, a booklet describing the history of the 12 Days of Christmas, a gift givers guide, and a handy card to carry with you to see if a gift will fit in the box.

If the $70 kit isn't in your budget, you can always do the same thing with almost any tiny gift box or bag.

And don't you just love the little boxes hung over the fireplace.

Christmas Decorating Ideas

Here are more Christmas decorating ideas that I have clipped.

You don't have to have a huge tree to make an impact.

 

I think this a project I will do with my boys during Winter break.

source

I love the candy canes.

source

Some Of My Favorite Christmas Decorating Ideas

Over the next few days I'm going to try and post some of the Christmas decorating ideas that I have clipped over the years. I will start with the photos that I don't have source information for. If anybody knows where these photos came from leave the information in the comment section so I can post it.

 

 

Another Christmas Card

Blue Note Press' Very Merry Christmas cards. $15 for a set of 8.

Holiday Cards By Letterpress Light

Letterpress Light has some lovely holiday cards in their Etsy shop. And they don't have just Christmas cards, they designed some pretty Hanukkah cards. The cards are priced $9.50 for 6.

Snowflake

Dreidel

Menorah

Disney's Prep & Landing

I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided to watch television. I saw the following commercial for Disney's Prep& Landing. It's a modern take on what the elves do to prep for Santa's trip. They are there guiding Santa onto roofs, taking care of horrid dogs, and checking the weather. It's very modern, but reminds me of the Christmas specials I watched as a child. I'm really excited to watch it with the wee tyrant. It airs on ABC, 8 December at  8:30pm.

Letter From Santa

The US Postal Service will postmark letters from Santa. You are responsible for writing the letter. Put the letter in a stamped envelope, and then put that inside another stamped envelope and mail it to: North Pole Christmas Cancellation, Postmaster, 5400 Mail Trail, Fairbanks, AK 99709-9998. The deadline is usually 15 December. My youngest loves it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah

Another Christmas Card

I received the coolest card yesterday.




Yep, that is a packet to make chili. How cool is that

Another Handmade Christmas Card

I received another handmade Christmas card. This one has a pop up reindeer. I will have to start planning next years card soon to match the creativity of the cards I received this year. I feel rather untalented.

Other Christmas Posts

Milk Carton Gingerbread House

My son's school has a long standing tradition of making gingerbread houses with the kids. Well, they actually use graham crackers instead of gingerbread, but it allows the kids more freedom to be creative. All you need is a plate, a small empty milk carton, graham crackers, icing (a recipe can be found here, but one of the special ed classes used cake icing instead), and some candy to decorate with. It is a simple, simple project.

The candy is what excites the kids the most. Imagine walking into a room with three cafeteria tables filled with candy. They fill up their trays with candy and off they go. But whatever candy is left on the tray stays in the cafeteria. What teacher wants to deal with little children hyped up on sugar. And the school has a no candy policy. And the unopened candy is donated to the local shelter.

The children are allowed to build whatever they want around their milk carton. A small milk carton is house shaped if you look at it. What you end up with is rarely pretty, and a lot of the time the results seem to defy gravity. But the kids love it.

If you are looking for a project to keep the kids busy this week I highly recommend this one.

The picture is the house my son created.

Other Christmas Posts

Handmade Christmas Cards

Here are photos of the first cards I received in the handmade Christmas card exchange. Aren't they really creative. The trees are stitched down with thread. Such a lovely and simple idea.

Other Christmas Posts

The Christmas Cards

Here is the Christmas card that we made. They needed to be simple enough for my nine year old to do most of the work. I cut a store bought card in half and printed "happy holidays" in red ink. Then I handed them over to my youngest to apply snowflake stickers on.

I started out making five for a handmade card exchange, but we were having so much fun that we made them for everyone on our list. And every one is slightly different just like a real snowflake.
Other Christmas Posts

Save Your Marriage Tree Stand

Orvis is selling a Christmas tree stand designed to make placing the tree easier. It has a foot pedal and clamp that allows you to place the tree in the stand (and straight no less) without bending over. It will hold a tree up to 12 foot tall and up to 7 inches in diameter. It also has a water gauge to tell you when the tree needs refilling.

Now I don't know if it will save your marriage (I am a commitment phobe who manages to get engaged all the time, but has never been married.), but it should reduce the time it takes to put up the tree. And the more time it takes to do a project as a couple, the more bickering there is. So I guess it may save your marriage after all. $89

Other Christmas Posts

I Wish Santa Would Bring Me This

I'm currently lusting after the Ultimate Coffee Cup by Lux-Delux. The ergonomic cup is made of translucent porcelain, and costs $20. But I'd even settle for a cup with a small flaw, those are just $14.50. But of course I never get what I want for Christmas.

Busy Making Christmas Cards

I'm busy making Christmas cards. I signed up for a homemade card exchange and thought that it would be great to send out homemade cards to everybody on my list. Which wouldn't be so bad if I was good at crafts, but I'm not. My youngest son helped me this weekend with my very simple cards. I will post pictures after I mail out the cards.

Fin+Roe Christmas Cards

It's still not too late to order your holiday cards. Fin+Roe has photo cards for those who want something bold. And they cost just $1.59-$2.29 each.

Other Christmas Posts

Target Mirrored Advent Calendar

Target has brought back the mirrored advent calendar that sold out so quickly last year. You can put little presents behind each of the mirrored doors.It's on sale for $31.99 so get it before it is gone.

If your aren't into the whole mirrored trend, they are also selling an advent calendar that features a stack of brightly colored presents. $19

Other Christmas Posts