2011 Top 10 and My Favorites

    Well it has almost been one year since I began this little blog. Before this I had never blogged before. It has been a definite adventure of learning and fun. There are two things that I really like about the blog world. One, the creative chronicling of my own projects throughout the year. Two, viewing the creative blog world out there through ingeniously creative minds. I love the uniqueness of it all. It truly is a fantastic way to get to know the world. That being said, I will share with you the top 10 all time viewed posts on my blog and some of my most favorites.{Click on a Pic and it'll take you to the post.}

1. Preschool Fun

2. Summer Headbands

3. Firework Dresses

4. Organization in a Flash

5. Fabric Flower Headbands

6. Patriotic Pom Pom Sparklers

7. Printable: Christmas

8. Strawberry Pinata

9. Thanksgiving Subway Art

10. Christmas Advent Calendar

Here are some of my 2011 favorites.

Looking forward to a fun creative 

Happy New Year! 

Much Aloha to you and yours! Mahalo.

~Christie

 

Happy New Year!

   This past week of holiday fun has sent me into a happy state of exhaustion. We baked, sewed, ate, and spent time together. Friends dropped delicious treats by and carolers even graced our door. It was a pleasant time of family and remembering the reason for the season. Now as I look around my home that I spent days cleaning, organizing and preparing for Christmas...I see that the joy of the holiday has left its mark. After two days of resting and spending quality time with the family...it's time to clean house and ready ourselves to ring in the New Year. Besides the mounds of laundry and bags of paper trash, there is much to be done. We like to eat Chinese food for New Year's Eve. Yum. This year we decided to make orange chicken, chicken chow mien, Chinese dumplings, white rice, fortune cookies and these yummies...Chinese Almond Cookies.

A quick recipe for Chinese Almond Cookies here.

     As my home is quite festively decorated in the Christmas theme I thought I'd bring in some New Year Cheer and declutter the holiday haze. Here is a fun printable that I made up for New Years. Traditionally in Hawaii on New Year's Eve most everyone celebrates with food and fireworks. Most common are the Chinese red firecracker bundles that are set off at midnight to ring in the New Year. These are strands of thousands of firecrackers that send off a most loud hurrah! The streets are often peppered in red firecracker paper and the New Year Day is spent sweeping up the night of fun. I'm looking forward to a new year, 2011 was a difficult one, but we are all well and good. Here is to a bright and shiny new year full of surprises, opportunity, and hope.

Download Here

 

~Christie

Last Minute Christmas Fun

  It has been a nice week of friends, family and baking. Last year a friend gave my daughter a cute little bag of reindeer food to leave outside Christmas eve. She thought it was a fun idea, while she sprinkled it on our drive and went to bed with hopes of Santa and his reindeer would stop by, my husband went out in the wee hours of the morning and swept some of it away to make it appear as if the reindeer had stopped by for the little snack. In the morning she had to go outside and see if the reindeer had spotted the treat and to her delight they did. It's just a fun magical touch to the holiday season. I've made up some simple "reindeer food" tags for you to print out for free. Just mix up some oats, Christmas sprinkles and maybe even some glitter for your reindeer food. Fun, fun, fun.

   I've had a lot of fun putting together this collection of creativity on my blog this year. Here are a few projects that you might consider for gifts this holiday season. 

Mele Kalikimaka!!!

Tahitian Blanket

Summer Headbands

Gratitude Journal

Homemade Sticker Book

Fabric Flower Headbands

Rainbow Ribbons

Fleece Mittens

Christmas Printable

Bookmarks

Homemade Playdough

Hello Dolly Cookies

    These are just a few simple ideas for some gifting fun. 

Happy Holidays.

~Christie

Tis the Season

My husband made this Christmas star for our ward Nativity. He's so creative and exact. He cut out the eight pointed star from foam board. Then spray painted it silver. Once it was completely dry, he glittered the design in silver and adhered the star to a black painted dowel. It is very glimmery when the light hits it.  We also made up some graham cracker gingerbread houses. So simple.

     Graham crackers, candies and royal icing. I didn't have meringue powder and omitted it from the recipe. I didn't use egg whites either, just powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. It held the houses together really well. The kids had a good time designing and decorating their own confectioneries. It was a nice evening.I have still yet to do my baking and final touches on Christmas. Hopefully this week will be both fun and productive. 
Happy Holidays.

~Christie

View from the Pacific

  I saw the full lunar eclipse this morning over the Pacific. It was beautiful. It was a super clear night sky and you could see a zillion bright stars. Many shooting stars across the sky also. {Not to mention quite chilly outside!} The moon is like a kajillion miles away. These are the best photos I could get of it. Now I can say that I have seen a total solar eclipse and a total lunar eclipse. Awesome!

 

 View from our telescope. The yellowed image is the moon and the silver image is the telescope mirror plate.

When viewed through the telescope you can actually see the shadow of the sun on the moon. It's quite something special 

and quite luminous.

Regular view.

~Christie

Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka Printable

{"Mele Kalikimaka" was written in 1949 by Robert Alex Anderson.}

 Dreaming of a white sand Christmas?

 Sail away on the ocean breeze ...

feel the warmth of the sand 

between your toes?

Sending you some warm wishes from the Pacific.

Mele Kalikimaka!

~Christie 

Castastrophe! Broken stoneware.

      I have had this Pampered Chef muffin stoneware pan for 11 years. It busted in half. I was so upset that I couldn't comment on it.I didn't yell or pass blame...it was my fault. I set it in the sink and as I moved away it slipped and split in half. On the bright side my son said, "Well, at least it broke clean in half and not on the cups. I guess you could still use it." I was so disappointed.You might say that it's just a pan. But, it's a $36 pan...one that has aged 11 years. Beautiful stoneware, even heating and easy to clean. Oh well. {So not happy about it!}

~Christie

Printable: Christmas Subway Art

 

Printable

    I really like how this one turned out. 

I have it framed on my bookshelf. It matches my red Christmas berry star that I so love. It's been a crazy time over here. I've been so busy trying to tie up the semester with my kiddos.{They are virtually home schooled}Let me tell ya...it's not easy. Time consuming for sure. I will be more than glad when next week is over and our brains can take a much needed rest.Although, I am very excited for the upcoming season and hope to enjoy every moment of it. The baking, the sewing, the singing and movie watching. Yes, I said movie watching...something we don't do a lot of around here. I wish we had a fireplace,it does get cold up here on my Hawaiian mountain, to cuddle up by and eat popcorn. My grandfather had made a fireplace out of black lava rock a long time ago. It was huge and the warmth of the fire was inviting. This time of year brings memories of loved ones that have passed on. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful memories. I hope that I can transpire some sort of holiday magic in my own home, so that my kids will have wonderful memories also. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and celebrate with them over the holiday. 

Happy Holidays to you!

~Christie

Printable: Christmas Advent Calendar

 Christmastime is such a wonderful time of the year. It is a time of giving and making family memories to last a lifetime. We finally put all of the "orange" away and brought out the Christmas colors. Trimmed the tree and remembered all of our loved ones. And...it's not even December yet. It's just around the corner and I thought I'd make up an advent calendar. The challenge was to only use what I had in house.

    I painted some frames turquoise and added red polka dot paper behind the glass of the picture frame. I then glued some twine around the back and clipped my numbers on. On the back of each numbered card is a fun thing to do as a family.

 Small as reading a favorite Christmas story and big as creating a ginger bread house from scratch.

You could totally put clues on the back of the cards for your family to find small treats or fun activities to do together this December. I didn't put treats on the cards because I think some people around here might just get to them before the intended date. Ahem....no naming. ha. Anyway, I love how it turned out. I hope you will be inspired to make one of your own and have lots of holiday fun this season!  {Below is the printable I created.}

~Christie

Christmas Advent Calendar

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Happy Thanksgiving

           My dear daughter drew this sidewalk chalk masterpiece. She has a good sense of humor. I love to watch my children through their creativity. They are so imaginatively inventive. I look back on my many years of motherhood and remember all of the special moments I have shared with them. Their endless questions, boundless energy and  laughter fill my memories of our family. My husband has always been a constant and my best friend. We embarked on this crazy thing called parenthood together more than a decade and a half ago. We are still learning and growing together. For this I am thankful for his love and giving spirit. I have so many things to be thankful for. I feel so blessed. May your holiday be filled with special moments, laughter and good food! 

~Christie

Printable: Santa Letter

   I just can't believe it. Holiday flair everywhere! Christmas lights up around the town, Christmas music in the stores and Christmas trees decked out. Where did the turkey go? Because we busy mom's have a turkey to roast this weekend, I thought it would be fun to have the kids fill out their Santa letters for the upcoming holiday. This might help some of you Black Friday shoppers. Good luck...and Happy Holidays.
{Click on the link below to download this free Santa Letter Printable.}

 Santa Letter Printable

 ~Christie

Gratitude Journal

        Tis' the season to take the time to remember all of our many blessings. There are so many small and simple things to be thankful for. This gratitude journal idea is not new. I just wanted to share the way I created these ones for our young women in our church group. The idea is to keep a daily thought of gratitude. To help us remember and see our many blessings  and to keep our perspective in how truly loved we are. 

    I measured and cut scrapbook paper. I then adhered it to the front and back cover, as well as the inside of the cover. The bookplate I designed myself and adhered it to the front of the journal. I also added black dots for a dandelion look. If you would like a copy of the gratitude journal bookplate then you may find it below. Hopefully, you will create your own gratitude journal or give them as gifts this holiday season. Let us give thanksgiving year round and develop an attitude of gratitude. Mahalo.

 Gratitude Journal Bookplates

~Christie