Charming to be 13!

Kaitlin & Breana's dear friend, Julia, celebrated her 13th birthday last week. We pulled out our pearls & beads and took a moment to feast our eyes on all the open cases. Thankfully when you have a certain purpose or a special person in mind the creative process flows easily. Kaitlin designed the necklace above and I knotted the silk thread between each pearl. I hadn't knotted pearl necklaces in quite some time which made me a bit clumsy in the beginning but once I got started I got into a smooth rhythmn and the necklace was finished in no time. We made the necklace 17" so that it will sit right above a crew neck. I wanted this jewelry to be a piece that Julia could wear for years to come. I even added a bigger sterling silver ring at the clasp to help make it easier to put on.
The necklace is truly Julia ~ sweet & classic.

Breana chose beads from her own collection [she has quite the array of beads!] She made a single charm that hung from clear elastic. I suggested hemp yarn or colored yarn but Breana wanted the piece to be sweet & simple, "like Julia" she said. If you don't know Julia you were just given a solid glimpse of her by the 2 necklaces that Kaitlin & Breana made for her. For the 'clasp', I double-knotted the ends and glued them into a red bead.
The girls also wanted to add a Harajuku bag that we found the afternoon before her party. I was a bit embarrassed that I didn't know what a Harajuku Lover bag was {I was told by my 12 & 11 yr olds that everyone knows what harajuku is!} - I googled 'harajuko' and came up with the website above...how adorable! Ah, to be 13!

Constantly creating...

Years ago I made the sock advent garland inspired by Martha Stewart's garland in 2003. In the beginning I took my time finding socks which I would store in a box. I wanted the socks to be unique, kitschy, vintage & fun - but the project was taking too long! Along with the socks, finding 25 zany, significant and sweet ornaments was becoming a headache in disguise! I wanted each day to have an ornament that was special to my girls & to our family - an ornament that represented us as individuals and as a family - an ornament that would bring back memories. Trying to keep with the spirit of Christmas I knew I had to keep it all in perspective - my daughters were going to love this Advent garland. After finding 25 ornaments I fell upon 2 minature fake trees and I knew that my project was over!

So far every morning in December my girls take turns pulling an ornament from a sock and hang it up on their tree. Every morning in December they pull out an ornament and remember it from last year, sometimes a story ~ a memory ~ is remembered and shared.

Some ornaments are unique to our family and make us laugh at its significance to us. Some ornaments just have the beautiful aspect of sweet adoration to it. Some are simple, plain, and perhaps were snatched up to bring my total close to 25, but somehow have grown on us and become special in its own right as the years pass.

It's all about creating memories then sitting back and reminiscing.

No snow days here - just sick days :P

My girls & I have been under the weather the last few days. The first day we had sore throats so we were sitting up around the Christmas Tree playing games and getting some knitting done.

As years go by, and as our girls grow older, we have been able to focus on what Christmas truly means to our family ~ it's celebrating the Holiness of Christmas and acknowledging our blessings. Our gifts concentrate on creating memories and are full of sharing our love for one another with our hands & from our hearts.
That first night into the next 2 days we were miserable :( the most we could do was lay on the couch, watch movies and fall in & out of naps. We caught up on "The Hills" and "Project Runway" - it was as if the little man in our tv knew we were home! {he communicates with the man in our CD disk changer, we know he does!} ;)
Thankfully our foggy brains have cleared up this morning - the girls went to school and I can finally spend my day upright!

Afternoon delight

On the last few days of November while I was changing the beddings & laundering the sheets, I was thinking of how I looked forward to spring & summer when I hung my linen outside to dry...then it dawned on me...why not during Autumn? Why not?! The sun has been out, the sky has been blue - the nights cold and scarves are worn - but the sun still felt warm on our cheeks. So out the linen went on the line. I felt like I was defying rules of the household...but it felt good!
In no time, the sheets were dry and smelled fresh. Autumn-air fresh!
On my needles is my third hat - Christmas is coming - shhhhhh!

Weekend busy-ness

I steal pockets of moments to read, "All Passions Spent" - suggested by Cornflower - between
knitting a few Christmas gifts
and working on our sunroom.