best of 2012.

I wanted to jump on the wagon of putting together an end-of-the-year post, so I scoured my iPhoto and picked out some random, but goodies from the year. It was so nice to go through all of my memories with the intention of picking a only a few...it was apparently a good year because it was hard to pick! I could probably put together a few of these posts, which I guess is a good thing that I had a lot of "bests."

I'm looking forward to what comes about in 2013. Hoping it will be the best yet.

//all photos by me except for best picture text taken by a friend and best day ever taken by my niece//

2012 holiday tags: my pick.

One thing (among MANY) that I do look forward to around the holidays are all of the round-ups on other blogs, like the diy crafts, gifts for him/her/kids/pets, and especially the free printable gift tags. Here are some of my favorites that I collected from blogs that I follow - some are from direct artist's websites and some are curated from other bloggers. These will definitely be put to good use!! I do make one of my sister-in-laws gift tags for her gifts, but I choose to use the real cute ones I find from other artists to shake things up a bit at the family-gathering-mayhem we like to call Christmas. Enjoy!!

links: one//two//three//four

here + there

I started teaching my seven-year-old nephew three days a week, which has been so exciting!! He is learning how to read and I am learning more and more about Waldorf-inspired homeschooling...it's a win/win situation!! I used to teach Art in a public primary school, and I loved the activities, I loved being with the kids, but I certainly didn't love the restrictions and impossible pressure the state decided to put on children they've never even met. So, after three years, I retired (I love saying that in my 30s) and started working on the farm with my brother and sister-in-law. After about three years of that, I realized that was not right for me either. So now, after a year of random job opportunities, and talking with my brother & sister-in-law - we decided that I would teach my nephew! Genius! We meet at the barn office those three mornings, greeted by "Jerry Garcia" and any other cow standing around to say hello, and have our time together. I love it, and I think by the smile plastered across his face when he gets there, that he does too.

It has started to look a little more like Christmas around my house! I just love this holiday and all of the decorating that it inspires. I had my 3rd Annual Christmas Cocktail Cheer on Friday night, and literally got my tree in the stand and lights put on an hour before party-time, where it stood naked of ornaments until the next morning when I decorated it wearing a tiny headache from the night before. Tis the season, right?

holiday greens hunt.

We went out last Sunday on our annual adventure to collect greens from around the farm to make our holiday wreaths. We even added another "vehicle" to the mix to be able to collect as much as we wanted, with room to put our feet. It was not the prettiest of days around here, and certainly not a winter holiday temperature, but we donned our gloves and clippers and headed out on our search.

This is my niece opening the gate for us - I just think her little tooshie looks so cute in her new skinny jeans (which she LOVES), so I had to include it. ;)

There were TONS of pine cones, which I plan on using to yarn-bomb Rachel-style some friends' houses on Wednesday, but the trees definitely didn't look as healthy as in the past due to not having a lot of rain this season. But I think we got some good options for our wreaths/hangings.

The cedar was abundant, although not a lot of berries on some types which was a bummer, but I stuck cedar in some random vases around my house and it smells SO good! And it just puts a smile on my face with it coming out of the vases all crazy.

Here are the Blue Ridge Mountains looking very blue on this gray day.

So, thank you trees for you bounteous clippings to make our homes beautiful and smell like Christmas!

around my crib: christmas crafts.

 

Things are getting busy around here. Again, I am trying to gift handmade as much as possible, and I am loving it. I've rekindled a love/hate relationship with knitting, a very loving friendship with embossing on paper, and an obsession with cross-stitch. I already have an order in for a custom family cross-stitch and I couldn't be more excited to get started on it. Of course, I'm still in the planning process, but still, it's gonna be a goodie.

My brother always opens his "woodshop" on Christmas Eve, so I'm thinking that's going to be my busiest day yet. Maybe I can talk him into opening it some on the evenings to get me started and then he can have it all to himself on the 24th. I'm hoping to do a lot of wood-based projects, more specifically with branches and small trunks. I don't like to cut live trees, so I'll have to check woodpiles and maybe take a little jaunt around the farm for some downed ones. I'm pretty excited to execute what I've got brewing in this head of mine...and I'm pretty sure they are going to be popular with the fam. :)

My cards are all finished and ready to be personalized (I always make it a point to write a little note special to the receiver somewhere on the card). I changed my mind last minute about envelope color, so I'm going to get some more this afternoon and get these puppies mailed out tomorrow.