Map Coasters

Today I have some coasters to share with you! I created these map coaster party favors for my grandpa's birthday party because I wanted to be able to make something that would incorporate the travel theme, be useful to guests, and also cost effective. Check my shop in the near future if you'd like to purchase some!

The Perfect Brownie

Vy and I were supposed to have another arts and crafts day on Tuesday, but we got distracted and ended up baking and having a mini tea party instead. Andrew gave me the Tea Forte set for my birthday and I got her the stacking red tea set for Christmas. Although she really enjoyed my present, nothing could beat the gift her friend Genevieve got her...The Perfect Brownie!!! (Apparently she let out an unexpected squeal when they were watching the infomercial, so Genevieve HAD to get it for her!)

This crazy thing really does make perfect brownies, no more scraping, cleaning, or soaking! Thanks for sharing the magic of the perfect brownie with me Vy, can't wait to try out the different recipes.

To Do: Plan Yeh Yeh's Party

Aren't these pictures of my grandparents great? My grandma gave me a stack of their old pictures a while ago so that I could gather some inspiration for planning an 80th birthday party for my Yeh Yeh (Grandpa) in June.

I found some really beautiful pictures of my grandmother taken by my Yeh Yeh in the pile. So I scanned them, so that I could have copies too.





I like being able to see the way my Yeh Yeh sees my grandma through these photographs. I hope that one day I will be able to scan and print all them so that I can frame them and put them on my walls.



Since my grandparents love to travel so much, and have so many great pictures from all of their adventures, I decided that a travel themed birthday party would be so much fun! So I put together an inspiration board to visualize my ideas and communicate them to her. There are so many details like cameras, luggage, tags, maps,globes, binoculars, stamps, postcards, photographs, etc... that I can play with! I will be sure to post updates as I treasure hunt in thrift stores and plan the party!

Oh, and on a side note : I haven't posted pictures of the tea party I was planning because it got moved from October to April. So updates on that party will be posted also!

Lake Arrowhead

Last week, Andrew and I headed up to Lake Arrowhead to spend some time with Vy and her family and friends at their winter cabin. It was so nice to get away and spend some quality time with each other.

We played lots of board games like Settlers, Scrabble, and Scattegories.


Vy kept herself entertained trying to figure out this crazy wood cube puzzle.


We got a bit of cabin fever and decided to take the g0-kart out for a little spin. It was fun, but so cold!!!





After playing with the go-kart, we warmed up and went back to playing games and sipping delicious hot drinks :)


And in the morning, we enjoyed yummy banana pancakes made by Vy.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

I know it's kind of late to be posting these, but I just finished putting up my last minute decorations! Isn't the tree pretty?!


I was going to make a christmas tree skirt out of these fabric yo yo's, but I scratched that idea and sewed them together to make some garland for the tree.


Isn't this little mouse ornament adorable?? It's my favorite one on the tree!


And here is a wreath I made out of lots and lots of old book pages. It came out way bigger than I planned for it to be, but I'm still happy with the way it came out :)
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year!