Holly Doodle Designs

It really is, isn’t it?  The holidays are such a lovely time.  I so enjoy being with family and friends, remembering years past, watching my kids’ eyes sparkle with excitement.  That’s the good stuff for sure.   Everyone around here is in such a great mood.  Excited for the time off from school and work, we all seem to be in high spirits!

My husband is usually a pretty….. ahem…… no-nonsense guy, but he likes to harrass people from time to time.  I think our lack of internet access is driving him to the brink of insanity.  He can’t play his favorite video games with his pals across the country and so instead, he is focusing his attention on annoying, uhm, I mean, spending quality time with me.  Shout out to the “Ponchos Of Death” which is the name of his group of gamers (don’t really know what that name means, but I hear there’s a story behind it), and also to his Rock Band pals who call themselves “Diva and the Helmet Heads”.  I’m not kidding.  It’s 3 or 4 guys (the helmet heads… so gross) and one of their wives (the diva!).  They have lots of fun and even have T-shirts!  *sigh*  I’m married to a 13 year old.

Here I am minding my own business, mid-decorating…..

and here he is harrassing me….

Sorry for the poor picture, I had to hurry to snap him in action and I had the flash on!  I took the other right after, but he had already removed one earring.

I joke, but I really love this side of him.  He’s such a great husband.  Truly a blessing to me and our kids.

I also hung some ornaments from my chandelier, just for fun.

Every year, I always say I’m going to make our family stockings from felt.  Every year I fail to do it!  So, this year, one week before Christmas, I decided to actually DO it.  I found these vintage hand-made felt Santas at the flea market for $1 so I set to work making him the star of the show for the kids stockings.  I never did get mine or my husband’s finished, but the kids were thrilled with their’s.

The Santas had this weird cross-slit area in the middle, I don’t know if they were originally napkin holder thingies or what, but I just added a strip of white for the fur and a belt and buckle to him and he was cute as pie.  A right jolly old elf!

My sewing machine is broken, so I hand-stitched them.  It was so nice to hand-stitch something.  I sat in the chair in the evenings and just stitched away.  I took the opportunity to add a beaded pattern along the edge as I went.  I really like how that looks.  Still need to add their names to the top in glitter, I just ran out of time, but that’s an easy addition.  I was going to do them in embroidery, but kinda forgot and now it’s too late!  Oh well, glitter will do just as well.

The boys loved them.  It’s so sweet, they’re very sentimental and really love when someone does something especially for them.  I’m so glad I got them done.  Maybe I’ll actually work on the other two throughout the year, so it’s not such a stress inducer!

I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Christmas.  For my friends celebrating Hanukkah, I wish you a happy holiday.  May God bless you all this season and in the new year.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, which is Christ the Lord” Luke 2:11

Hey sweet friends.  I am going nuts here!  My internet has now officially been down for 2 weeks.  Yes, that is TWO WEEKS of no internet service!  Can you believe that?  I am stunned.  *sigh*.

It hasn’t been really too bad, though.  I’ve been snuggling with my kiddos a bit more, which is always a good thing!  I wish I could say I was caught up on my laundry (I’m way behind….husband needs underwear….must do laundry), or that my house was clean and shiny (uhm, no) or that I had gotten an early start on my taxes (ugh), but nope.  I’ve been just hangin out!

I know this is two posts in a row with no pictures, but it just takes forever to upload on my borrowed dial-up connection. I’m forcing myself to take some time and do a real and pretty post for you this week, I promise.  In the mean time, let me at least announce the winner of the tinsel nest ornament.  It’s Wendy!  Wendy, I just emailed you, I need your address and last name, please!

Thank you guys for all the ornament love.  They really were so much fun to make.  I’m so happy you like them.

On Friday my oldest is having a little Christmas play.  Not really a play, they’re kinda just singing and reciting “Twas The Night Before Christmas”.  I’ve been practicing my little guy’s part with him.  I dunno, folks, we have about a 50/50 chance of him actually SAYING the line.  He has to say “On Comet, On Cupid, On Donder and Blitzen” all by himself.  He said I need to give him a cheat sheet to keep in his pocket.  And I said “but honey, you can’t read” (he’s in kindergarten) and he said “oh yeah.  Uhm, can you just write “C” “D” “B” and then I’ll remember the first letter of their names?”  Smart little guy.  I hope this isn’t a sign of future test cheating! He’s such a cutie patootie.

OK, I gotta go do laundry.  Which I completely abhore.  Yep, I whipped out an “abhore” on you there.  Cause “hate” just seems too bland for how I feel about laundry.  It just is such a never ending chore!  But then when I start thinking like that, I always try to remind myself how blessed I am to have clothing to wash, to have a family to tend to, to have a washing machine in my home instead of having to lug it all down to the laundry mat, to have a home to hang my clothing in, and then all of a sudden my whining seems so ungrateful.  So, now I think I’ll go do laundry.  I’m so blessed to be doing laundry.

Goodnight! xo

First of all, thank you so much for making the Sugarplum Market and the Holiday Fun Day so much fun and such a success.  I’ve received lots of emails from people saying they’re excited to try the craft-with-your-kiddos projects.  That makes me so happy!  If you do them, will you please email me a picture or send me your blog address so I can see them?  Thank you.

I will be back later this evening or possibly tomorrow morning to announce the winner for the give-away of one of the tinsel nest ornaments.  I’ll include comments until 6 pm central time, so feel free to still enter.  I’ll show you pictures of the special ornament I made just for the give-away.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…    My internet is still down!  It’s been 12 days since it worked properly, and 10 days since it went down completely.  I cannot believe that a company would let an entire town or area of town be without a service for SO long!  It’s sort-of comical at this point.  We live in a rural area so this company is the only game in town for high speed.  Very frustrating.  I’m logging in to my mother’s AOL account just to check on things here and there, but I don’t want to hog it so I don’t stay on long.  That’s why I’ve been missing lately.  If you have emailed me or sent a question through the comments section, I am not ignoring you!  I just am on dial up and can’t get stuff done!  ha ha… I promise to answer your questions.

All orders have been shipped, except one that accidentally got left behind on Friday but it will ship in the morning.  I’m so excited for everyone to get their orders.  I’ve had requests for more ornaments, but I think I’m not going to make any more, at least right now.  I think I want to relax and enjoy my kiddos and make them new felt stockings and hot chocolate and do the mommy thing for a couple of weeks.  I know you understand!   Those sweet little faces are calling my name.

But, I will have lots of fun Valentine stuff in about a month or so, so I hope you’ll check back for that.  Oh, also, I’ll be teaching a class at Paper Crown on how to make my crowns!  I think we’re having the class in mid to late January.  I’m thinking of doing a Valentine crown.  Queen of Hearts, you know!  So if you’re in the OKC metro area and you’d like to sign up for that class, please call them at (405) 848-2389.

OK, I gotta go get my munchkins ready for church.  I don’t think they should wear their Transformers jammies and Indiana Jones hats.  Although, they do look downright adorable.

I hope you all liked my kid-friendly craft ideas today.  Now, it’s MAMA time!  Let’s take a peek at what will be in the Sugarplum market this evening (7 PM central time), shall we?

I made lots of ornaments…

and a couple of photoboards…

and some crafty goodies….

there will be vintage goodness too…

and please leave a comment here for your chance to win a lovely Tinsel Nest ornament of your own!

Thank you for coming to my little fun-day today.  It was such a joy to do the crafts with my kids and get to share them with you, and fun to make things for grown-ups too!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and a Happy Holiday to my friends who celebrate this season for different reasons than I do.  I truly am so grateful for you and wish you the best during the Holidays and beyond, my friends.

Hey there, all you holiday-lovin friends of mine.  Can I tell you how much fun it is to have the name Holly this time of year?  It’s way fun!  I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL, my internet has been down since Friday.  FRIDAY!  I’m here at my sister’s house (bless her!) doing this today.  Whew.  Don’t worry, all orders have been shipped and now I’m ready for the Sugarplum Market tonight!  But first, let’s do a little kid-friendly craftin!

Both of my boys, ages 3 and 6, helped me with both of these projects.  You will need to do the little bits of hot-gluing, unless you have the patience to wait for craft glue to dry.  My kids and I are both lacking in patience (for glue drying anyway), so I helped them here and there.

Our first project is the EASY one.  My kids loved doing this.  Here are the supplies you’ll need:

white chenille pipe cleaners

beads (i cut up a beaded garland)

wire snippers

helpers!

Cut chenille stems in half.  String one bead on each stem.  Bend around to form a circle and twist ends onto each side.  Link your next stem through and on and on until you are pleased with the length.  Ta-Da!  Fun and pretty little garland that your kids will be so proud of. And it lasts a lot longer and is much easier than stringing pop-corn.

The beauty of chenille is that most beads will string on easily, but won’t slip and fall off.  Perfect for little hands and fingers.

The next project has more steps, but still kid-doable.  Here is what you’ll need for this fun little ornament or table decoration:

white chenille stems

one red chenille stem

beads (again, the same cut-up garland is what I used)

2 sizes of wood craft beads (to make snowman)

bottle brush tree

thick paper or chipboard (I used watercolor paper)

cotton balls

craft glue

markers

hot glue gun

tiny top hats (I got mine in the doll-making section of Hobby Lobby.  If you can’t find any, make santa hats out of felt or fashion earmuffs out of pipe cleaners)

First, cut (or allow the child, if he or she is old enough) or punch out an oval shape from chipboard or thick paper.  I used a scalloped craft punch.

Let the kiddos pick out and string beads in a pattern along full length of chenille stem.  Set aside.

PARENT: Hot glue the two wood craft beads together to form a snowman shape.  Put a tiny dab of low-temp glue on a piece of cardstock and set the snowman there so it’s easy for your kiddo to paint.

Allow kids to paint the snowman (use non-toxic paints, please).  Don’t worry if it’s gloppy, glitter will make it perfect!

Glitter the snowman while paint is wet, wiping away a little area so you can draw the face on when it’s dry.

Using a black permanent marker, make the “coal” eyes and mouth.  Use orange for a “carrot” nose.

PARENT: Once snowman is dry, hot glue his hat on.

PARENT:  Using hot glue, affix the chenille stem with beads in an arch shape onto the oval paper or chip-board.  Tip: use the final bead on each end to glue onto the paper, it’s a larger area and will be more stable.  You can dab a bit of glue into the hole to keep the chenille stem in there.

PARENT: Hot glue the snowman and bottlebrush tree onto the oval, under the arch.

Now, allow the kids to glue on small bits of torn apart cotton ball onto the oval, to make a bed of snow.

Let the child squirt glue all over the “snow” and a little on the tree and even the snowman’s hat.

Using a paintbrush, help the child to smoosh the glue and cotton balls down a bit, and make sure there is good covereage over all the snowy parts.

Let the child put the little snow scene in a large bowl and pour glitter over the whole thing.  Tamp to get off excess glitter and set aside to dry.  When dry, fashion a bit of red chenille into a “scarf” for frosty.

Isn’t it darling?  Here is a picture of the sample I made, as well as the two my kids and I made together.  So cute and fun!  And they’re so proud of them.

Here’s another picture of one I did with a reindeer.  Isn’t she sweet?  Same idea and process.  I got my vintage reindeer from sweet Jennifer (a charming life).  Her etsy shop is full of wonderful things.

I hope you enjoyed my little craft ideas!  My kids and I sure did.

I’ll see you at 7 pm central time for the Sugarplum Market.  Stop by then for a chance to win one of my tinsel bird ornaments.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I thought I’d share a few peeks of the things I’m doing around the house.  Pretty for the sake of pretty.  I love that.  These pink ornaments are just lumped in a basket right on top of some millinery that was already in there.  Isn’t it pretty?  I love that olive green velvet ribbon on the top.  Loverly.

And I thought this was so delightful!  I made my family a couple of the tinsel bird ornaments.  I had this vintage wedding or Christmas glittered bell decoration but it had a really ugly paper flower on it.  I made myself get OVER the fact that I was defacing a vintage relic and finally removed that flower and replaced it with some pretty sprigs from my collection.  I had them piled in this box, just playing with them.  I was thinking of using them with a swag of ribbon on my mantle or somewhere.  I was kinda walking around trying to find a place for them when I realized how gorgeous they looked in that old box.  I had to snap a picture to show you. 

I love the vintage ornaments.  The faded mercury glass, the tarnished tinsel… so endearing.  What’s funny is my husband and sons completely hijack the Christmas decorating every year.  They want RED and GREEN decorations, with colored lights on the tree, very traditional and fun but not what I would do if I had my way!  So, I give them the living room tree.  But the dining room and kitchen are ALL MINE!  I’m working on a pretty display now that I will show you over the next several days (ok, well, maybe a week…).  I’m having so much fun with my girly colors.  I told them that we are ditching our Charlie Brown Christmas tree after this year (it’s the same tree we’ve had for about 10 years.  It’s like a just-married-first-apartment-broke-but-in-love kinda sad little tree) and that we’re doing something different next year.  They are humoring me for now.  We’ll see.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you a sneak peek of the Craft-with-your-kiddos free tutorial I’m doing on Monday.  They’re SO fun!  One is SUPER easy, the other a bit more detailed and they are darling.  I’m finishing up on the ornaments that I have ready for the Sugarplum Market on Monday night too.  It’s going to be a busy and fun day.  I hope you’ll join me.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I’ve been working away on some really fun and special Holiday treats.  Please do come by on Monday, December 8 for a…

“Visions of Sugarplums Holiday Fun Day”!

I’ve made two kinds of special vintage-inspired ornaments for you.  I had so much fun with them!  The first is a fun little tiny glass cloche encasing a little bottle brush Christmas tree adorned with pink pearly beads and sitting on a bed of glittery snow.  I love these sweet little worlds under glass.  I’ve made them in several colors.  Also made more of the lovely tinsel bird ornaments that sold out in about 10 minutes at the Silver Bella Vendor Faire.  They’re made with vintage millinery, vintage mercury glass picks and all manor of delightful glitter and goodness.

I’ll also have some fun sweet shop collage boxes, all tied up like a present for under your candy colored tree, a couple of lovely photo-boards perfect for gift-giving, a few vintage items including amazing tutus.  What sugarplum fairy worth her SUGAR would be caught without her tutu twirling? 

I’ll also have one or two fun craft-with-your-kids ideas that are super easy and cute.  Nothing crazy complicated, both my 3 and 6 year olds helped me make them.  Just some fun things to do on a snowy Saturday while you watch a funny old Christmas movie or listen to some old standards by a crackling fire.

There will be a couple of give-aways too!  Can’t have a Christmas party without presents!  So I’ll be doing a drawing for one of my ornaments and a special pack of wallpapers. 

Please do come by and join me!  The crafty blog posts will be up Monday around noon, and the Sugarplum Market will open at 7:00 central time.   I hope to see you there, my sweet friends.  Merry Christmas!