More Advent Ideas

I am loving the advent calendar and Monkey digs it too (he just loves a surprise). Here are some other great ideas for advent calendars:

Recycle Bin Advent Calendar

Crafty Crow Advent Calendar Smorgasboard

Or just spend some green!

Better late than never - they won't know!

Countdown's On

The advent calendar is finally finished (just in time)!

Lately Monkey has been really into the trappings and traditions of holidays. Birthdays are all about cake, candles, parties and presents. He's got that down. He even knows that Santa brings him a present (not sure why but he's down with it). He doesn't want to go near Santa mind you - but he wants him to bring him some loot. Monkey has decided he wants a marble maze. He's been looking at catalogs and that's what he's landed on the past week or so. Today in the car he spied some Christmas lights and he spontaneously shouted, "I want the marbles that go round and round and round for Christmas. I so excited!" So this year he gets it that we just had Thanksgiving and next is Christmas - more food, fun, family and presents. What could be better? To capitalize on all this excitement (and to maybe slow down the, "is it Christmas yet?" questions) I decided to start a tradition with an advent calendar. I originally wanted a little house with drawers and such but they cost an arm & a leg and we're attempting to tighten our belts.

Luckily, I got some great ideas from Kids Craft Weekly. My goal was to use only paper and materials I had on hand. I dug up enough paper but couldn't round up enough ribbon to match. So I decided to make the handles of the cups out of the paper I was using. It would have been great if I had a mini stapler (or wasn't out of staples) but I had some double-stick tape. I was home free! But the next day I saw the tape wasn't holding and half the handles had popped off. So time for regular tape on top of the double-stick (so for those playing at home use a mini stapler!). Finally, to top it off, I did buy some 97 cent ribbon and a package of mini clothespins. So I spent about $2.50 for this project and that's well below the over $100 for the coveted house advent calendar.

It turned out pretty good and was relatively easy. You could still get one done if you're so inclined. I'm filling each cup with a small slip of paper with an activity and a small treat. Some will be inexpensive toys and some will be edible. Many things I already have won't fit in the cups so I'll put "look in your toy box for a surprise" if it's too big. I put it up after Monkey went to bed so I'm excited for him to see it this morning!

Photomania

If you're like me you take WAY too many photos of your little one (and before that I took way to many photos of . . . everything) but now I have an audience (Grandparents) so I like to give them photo gifts when at all possible.

I thought I'd compile some interesting options. We all know the main players (Shutterfly is my favorite, Kodak Gallery and Snapfish) but here are some off the beaten path ideas:

Photobooks (okay, they are all over the place but this site (MyPublisher.com) gives you software to download so you create the book on your own computer and then upload - no waiting for pix to render, etc.) I was so frustrated when I made my free Oprah book on Snapfish (not a book about Oprah - but the deal was from the Oprah show). Everybody and their dog was on the site so it took forever!

Notepads, shopping lists, lined pads, etc. PicPads makes cute little notepads for pure Grandparent pleasure. Great for a fundraiser, big birthday or wedding chotchkies too.

Inexpensive (and green) photo mounting at Plywerk. They mount your photos on plywood and voila, instant art ready to hang. Check out this weeks Seattle Picks for a 25% discount until Dec. 5th.

There's more but I have to go get ready for the influx of parents picking up wreaths from my garage! If you have any great photo gift ideas please comment!

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving all! I hope your bellies and hearts are happy and full.

Check out my latest pick (Doing Good - One Bite At a Time) on Seattle Picks and I do hope you'll attend a Guest Chef Night at FareStart. FareStart is one of my favorite organizations. They help disadvantaged & homeless men & women get back on track through a great training program in food services. They even have a barista youth program. Seriously, check them out. If you have a tradition of giving to a charity each year - FareStart is worth a gander.

She's Crafty

Don't worry, not like in the Beastie Boys song (Stacey, I know you're reading this and chuckling) and now that song will be in your head all day - you're welcome. And since I'm crafting and have no time to blog . . . I thought I'd give a shout out to some cool sites so you can get your craft on. I'm desperately trying to finish an advent calendar and I'm determined not to buy anything for it (luckily, I have a lot of card-making items that I'm scavenging through but it's getting harder - I may have to cave - I'll write about it all when it's done).

The inspiration (and directions) for the calendar are from Kids Craft Weekly. I highly recommend this site and e-letter. Amber puts out a free email newsletter with all sorts of great ideas for crafting (with kids of course). She also just put out a Christmas Craft book for $5.00. It's a great way to kick start the season. Seriously, check out this site and get to it!

Another one you may already know about is the Crafty Crow. They pull from all over the blogosphere and grab great crafty ideas. I love this site just for the awe (and ahhhhh!) factor. I am SO not as crafty as these people! But I aspire and it's nice to read and think - someday. Maybe.

Enjoy! Oh and here is a direct link to the directions for the advent calendar I'm attempting. It's the one with the origami cups. Wish me luck! All the ones to buy were too far out of the budget - paper is just right!

Girl Meets Burger

Sorry I'm so lame and haven't been posting . . . real life (and facebook) gets in the way!

Click to read my latest my latest pick on seattlepicks.com (Designer Burgers). I originally titled it "Girl Meets Burger" or "Chem 101" I also had written a blurb for Asher Anson but another writer snaked me. Dang!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Monkey enjoyed putting our absentee ballots in the ballot box. He got to be a part of history!

For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5minutesformom.com or Wordless Wednesday.