maguire was excited to make this match box car. (found at www.soulemama.typepad.com). we decided that a few of his friends would enjoy making them too. we found some white boxes (in mommy's stash, of course) and got started on a fun homemade present. each friend is getting a kit on how to make these little match box cars. all the pieces and instructions in a cellophane bag wrapped up with a pretty ribbon. also they are getting a small bag of magic noodles (email me if you don't know what these are....they are sooo fun for kids!), 4 pencils wrapped with a ribbon, and a few candy canes. the box ended up being full of fun things to do and maguire is so excited to give these to his friends. he also decorated the top of each box with a race car and the friends name.
while cooper napped and maguire worked on his friends gifts i did a little project of my own. i've been wanting to try and make these cute sock pets from a book called Sock and Glove (by Miyako Kanamori). this is dog and he's made out of two gloves. not bad for my first try. he was easy to make and he looked cold so i wrapped him with a scarf. dog is a christmas gift for cooper. and he is simply named 'dog' because at 16 months that is one of the words that cooper can say. maguire says he wants one now too.
it's so fun that cooper is now joining in when we do art projects. i just love to watch his little chubby hands grab the markers and scribble away. he likes to pull the lids off of every marker and try them all out. nice mess to clean up in the end, but what else have we got to do today?
maguire. my car freak....always has been and always will be. every time he gets to draw, he draws a car or a train. he can play cars and trains for hours. here he has drawn a race track for his cars to race on. ready, set, go!!
mr. cooper all happy doing his little art project. what a fun day we had just hanging out and playing. and in between all the projects i even managed to make a pot of soup for dinner. all in all a great day, i will definitely go to bed feeling fullfilled tonight. i love no school snow days. thank you , can we have another!
i kept my decorating simple this year. this is the table in my entry way. i love that it sparkles and the simplicity to it. 
again, trying to stay simple. i just added to what was already on top of my entertainment armoire. some lighted greenery, a star in a jar and a candle.
our tree. never can seem to ever get a good photo of it. but i love the leopard packages under it!
i decided on a brown, white and silver color scheme this year for christmas. i was getting tired of the traditional red and green and am thrilled with the results. it's simple and soothing and fits more with the colors of my house. my decorations look more like they belong this year than in the years before. so out with the old green stockings and in with these new handmade, by me, stockings. i love them! they are created out of white denim and have a soft flannel lining. i love the weight of them and think the fun, fake, fur cuff sets them off nicely. it's times like this that i'm glad my mom was insistant that i take sewing in junior high. my old trusty sears sewing machine doesn't get much use, but i blew off the dust and was glad i have it tucked into a corner of my basement. i'm also glad that my local walmart has a fabric department with great but inexpensive fabrics and notions. these beauties only cost $5 each to make. and with only 2.5 hours of time to create them, i think they are my favorite addition to my holiday decor this year.
the mantel in my family room. i recycled some small brown urns that i had and used them to hold some green trees. lots of glass, silver and the brown pinecones add a nice natural feel to the ensemble. 
my dear friend christine was going to sell this sled that was in her family in a garage sale. i don't think so! she gave it to me and i'm thrilled to have it front and center on my dining room table. i wrapped some boxes with brown and white papers. an inexpensive way to continue my color scheme.
santa's watching! one of my all time favorite christmas decorations. i picked him up at a summer garage sale one year for a mere $4. he's big and he hangs with some greenery and vintage ornaments on a mirror in my front entry. i should keep him up all year....the kids behave better when he's up there.
i created an entry way with shutters (two from my attic & two from a recent dumpster find). this way it felt like people were actually walking into my space. the check out table and bins full of trays and fun paper goodies were in front of the shutters. (click on photos to view larger)
so glad when i found this old shoe rack at a garage sale this summer. it held lots of trays and gave me a base to add some height.
i gained height with galvanized buckets (filled with beans for weight) and tree branches. simple silver ornaments added sparkle and looked simple but festive.
the 5th annual gift gallery is:
