Necklace making.
My mom noticed these necklaces from Garnet Hill on my wish list this year. They are no longer available through the website and easily replicable, so she bought the necessary supplies for us to make them. Here’s how they turned out in comparison to the professional stuff…
p.s. It would not be Christmas without some handmade goodness!
Velcro Laptop Tool Belt
Just wanted to show off my laptop tool belt.
In addition to bringing my replacement laptop (whoo!), Heather delivered 5-feet of sticky-backed velcro to us on her visit. Velcro is awesome.
So, the tool belt is just a strip of velcro across the back of the screen. I’ve put the reverse side of the velcro on the back of my iPod and external hard drive. It makes toting around my laptop super easy. Otherwise, I had the bad habit of getting up to move, and dumping my goodies on the ground. Scott especially didn’t like that. Apparently there are moving parts that could get jostled…
This concept wasn’t my original idea. Scott picked it up from a friend of a friend somewhere down the line. And now I’m passing it on to you.
p.s. Wouldn’t a whole SHEET of velcro on the back of your screen be awesome? I personally could not do this because I have a tablet. The screen flips around and lays down on the keyboard, and any more additional width would cause it to not latch in place.
Perpetual block calendar.
My mom and I have been working on these calendars this week after seeing the idea at a scrapbooking store. Crafting with her is a required Utah activity. Here are all of the parts:
Wood blocks
- 3 Month Blocks (Measurements: 1.5in x 1.5in x 4in)
- 2 Number Blocks (Measurements: 1.5in x 1.5in x 1.5in)
- Block A: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- Block B: 0, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9
Mod Podge & brush
Coordinating paper
- 12 Month Block Backgrounds (Measurements: 1.25in x 1.25in x 3.75in)
- 12 Number Block Backgrounds (Measurements: 1.25in x 1.25in x 1.25in)
Letter stickers or rub-ons for letters and numbers (We actually used my mom’s WishBlade paper cutter, so if you’re lucky enough to have one of these, they turn out great.)
Ta da! Gingerbread Convent.
Our gingerbread convent ended up taking us three days to complete. Aye! Here are the highlights:
Our design was inspired by the Convento de Santa Catalina in Arequipa, Peru. We wanted it to have an inner courtyard like this. We also included the white paint around the archways in our version.
We used this recipe. It also has instruction for cutting our your pieces and assembly. Recommended.
Yes, I burned one of our pieces. The inner rectangle also turned out to be too small, so Scott had to make some careful changes.
We used too many eggs in our first batch of frosting, which made it runnier but also more cement-like. Not necessarily a recommended thing to do, but it turned out fine for us.
Scott was a master decorator. He has a steady hand.
My favorite decoration is the water fountain and surrounding front patio. I also love the wreaths. And the Nerd lights.
Here’s the entire convent in all of its glory.
Super, duper fun holiday project. Yes, getting your Christmas shopping done early has major benefits.
A jump on the holidays…
I’m so looking forward to leaving for Peru in January that I feel like the upcoming holidays are an unwanted distraction. So I’m doing what I can to get them over with ASAP. (I do realize, as Jen pointed out, that they are just going to come when they come no matter what. At least this way I feel like I can direct my brain power elsewhere.)
I’ve started gift shopping, and tonight I made Christmas cards with some ladies.
Sent!
Shower Invites, originally uploaded by sparklingallison.
I got these awesome shower invites out the door today! Of course, not without realizing that I left the address off of the invite to the guest of honor. Yeah. I realized it just as I was dropping it into the mail slot. And away it went, only to be returned to me. Note to guest of honor, your invite is going to be a little late!
I can’t get over the sparkles on the tea cup handle.
Update: Our nice building manager let me into the outgoing mail slot!! Phew. Aye.