advent calendar garland: finished!

this was a fun project to work on, and I finished it just in time!  the garland is hung with some clear command hooks in our entryway, but I'm hoping next Christmas, in our new house, we'll have a better place to hang it.

I wasn't sure how to hang these up to begin with, but after I finished them all off I decided to just make a long chain and attach them at each loop.  I might do something different with them later on, but I'd just have to undo to chain and they'll all be detached again.  maybe when the kids are older they can be hung on the tree after each day.

I used some number beads and buttons on each one, which are also easily removable in case I brainstorm a different way of hanging and numbering them in the future.  Leo has been good at keeping track of what day it is, so if nothing else I'm really glad to have this to help him understand dates!

I stuffed each one with a small goody for the boys to have everyday until Christmas, and the boys were already excited about it after the first day.  they wake me up early each morning to see what is in the next one.

The 'Burbs

we showed The 'Burbs for my backyard movie night this year - I wasn't sure how many people were familiar with the movie, but we had a good turnout of fans as well as some first-timers.  such a good movie!!

every year I think "maybe this will be the last one" so I can get that giant 8' x 16' screen out of my backyard, but everyone has such a good time and I'm always glad we did a movie night that after it's over I say "okay.. we can leave the screen up and do another one in the fall..." and then after that one it's like "well.. we're not that far from June so lets keep it up a little longer."   I guess until the HOA complains, it might just stay up until it falls apart or brings the fence down!

Matt made his famous corn dogs like he always does - they just keep getting better and better!

I made "something for the ole sweet tooth" but I decided against dropping them on the ground.

I had to have sardines and pretzels, so I made my own chocolate mold from Alumilite mold putty and Swedish fish.

I made some juice drinks to put in containers Matt and the boys got me for Mother's Day - I just love them :)  and I made some tags to write on with dry erase markers so everyone knew what they were.

it was a great birthday celebration :)  thinking about going with Arachnophobia next time...  but we'll see. 

pretty beans

I've been watching OneVeryHappyBird on youtube recently while eating lunch.  she has some simple and cute ideas, and her voice is soothing to listen to!  I loved the doily gift bag she made and was able to try it out finally on a bag of Boston Baked Beans for my Nana's birthday basket.

I got the candy that comes in a box since it's already in a clear bag, and I glued a small doily on top and added the tag I cut from the end of the box so she knew what they were.

I think it looks a little more special and it was quick and fun to make :)

advent calendar

I totally went in a different direction than little boxes like I was planning on doing for my advent calendar when I saw these pictures!

I found a hanging basket hidden in the lawn and garden section that I hung from my kitchen light, took some gold floral wire and wove little swirls around it, hung some fillable ornaments from ribbon with number tags on them, and loaded it down with candy, cookies and some other surprises for Matt and Leo :)

I ran out of time (I was still working on it last night!) so I just pinned the ribbon with some decorative straight pins I made a while back.

it's not quite what I had in mind, but I still like it. maybe next year I'll decorate the ornaments so they looks prettier, find better ribbon and put Velcro or some other closure on them, and have a better design of how they hang. they look sorta jumbled to me, but I was trying to make them look random... I dunno. it was fun to make and it'll be fun to eat on all month long!