I want to be the kind of mom who . . .

Oh, we are overdue for one of these posts because I have all sorts of good ideas stored up to share with you.

I want to be the kind of mom who continues to put together my kids Halloween costumes (preferably characters from our favorite books).  I am completely in love with this Max, The King of All Wild Things costume that Denise Sharp made.

I want to be the kind of mom who assigns chores to each of the kids and teaches them to work a bit.  I love this simple idea from Martha Stewart for a chore chart (spotted on Stephmodo)

I want to be the kind of mom who helps her kids see all the creative possibilities in simple things like white paper.  I think I need to make Creed a Santa Beard like this one also made by Denise Sharp, don't you?

I want to be the kind of mom that helps my kids become responsible for themselves and enables them to do small tasks on their own.  I love this idea for a hand-drawn packing list to help your kids pack before a trip.

I want to be the kind of mom that sends my kinds off with cute accessories that help them stand out from the crowd.  I love this darling backpack with Percival the Dinosaur.  I can already see her the conversation, "Why would you want a Diego backpack?  EVERYONE has a Diego backpack.  Don't you want to be different?"

Or what about a little scarf/tie like this.  It seems like I've seen it on a million blogs, but I love it so much I had to post it too.

I want to be the kind of mom who reads beautifully designed, free online magazines for parents that feature creative, high-quality products for kids like LMNOP and Small.  Oh wait, I already am! (Ok, maybe I'm stretching things a bit on that one, but I wanted to share the links with you in case you haven't come across them).

I want to be the kind of mom who seeks out really cool toys for my kids.  Did you know that you can design your very own Muppet through FAO Swartz?  I think that would be the coolest kids' gift ever!

And When I was little I would have gone crazy over a princess and the Pea doll like this (who are we kidding, I'm still going crazy over it!)

I want to be the kind of mom who designs whimsical bedrooms for my kids that are all about what they enjoy, but still manage to be beautiful places that both of us would love to spend time.  Check out this amazing little girl's bedroom. 

I want to be the kind of mom that makes amazing original clothes for my kids.  I know that I've said that before, and I'm not much of a clothing seamstress so it's not likely to happen, but how could I resist the chance to show you this little red coat?  It's one of the the many items that the mom behind Grosgrain has created and given away.  Seriously, she does this about once a week and all the clothes that she makes are amazing!  You have to check it out.

And of course, I also still want ot be the kind of mom who makes a least one homemade gift for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. For example this is such a cute Snail Racing game.  

And I am absolutely IN LOVE with the idea of making a quilt like this one from the creator of A Small Object.  She wrote a letter to her niece and used the service Spoonflower to print in on fabric for her quilt (Their prices are expensive (I think around $18/yard) so I've been looking for a project special enough to warrant designing my own fabric and this is it!)

I have more links saved, but I have to get on with my holiday projects so I hope that you enjoyed these.

GIVEAWAY- The 12 Days of Christmas designed by Candice Stringham

So you didn't start your advent calendar on December 1st and now you figure it's too late?  Not so, Candice just put together a class to create and 12 days of Christmas countdown full of ideas for fun family activities and directions to make some cute tags. Candice has put a lot of thought and hard work into this project and it really shows.

It's available for sale on Jessica Sprague's site, and for the first few days it's up it's discounted so if you're interested, you might want to buy it now.  That way you can get it ready to go and start using it sooner too.

Here's Candice's description:

I don't know about you, but I loved Christmas as a child! I loved everything thing about it; the smells, the food, the lights, the cheery greetings, and all the family traditions. As an adult, however, it seems as if Christmas has become hectic and sometimes overwhelming. Add the pressures of making the holidays perfect for our children, and Christmas becomes more stress than fun.

When I was little, I loved our advent calendar. Every day, we would anticipate the moment we would get a piece of candy to count down the 25 days of Christmas. My Mother would create a little piece of magic each day for us! As an adult, I want to create that same kind of magic minus the high sugar factor. I wanted to make the advent calendar more about family tradition than treats, but I knew I couldn't keep that up for 25 days with everything else the holidays bring. Thus was born the 12 days of Christmas count down garland.

It's a simple garland made of really cute tags full of family friendly activities, things like visit's from the sugar plum fairy, official notices from the North Pole, and snowflake parties.

You get:

• Step-by-step instructions and photographs of 16 tags.( that way you can chose which 12 you want.)
• 4 of the tags are already designed digital tags that only need to be printed!
• 16 family friendly activity ideas.
• 12 printable number tags.
• And print out activity journaling to add to the back of the tags.

As a bonus with purchase of this class you get 10 percent off any purchase of supplies at Twopeasinabucket.com!

And lucky you, I get to give one set of directions away for free.  Leave a comment here before 6 pm on Thursday, December 11th and it might be yours!

What would you do?

So I have this giant semi-odd shaped frame on my mantel that I pulled out of my grandma's trash and I was thinking it would be fun to put a big Christmas poster in it.  I found a White Christmas movie poster that I love, but it will not fit in my odd frame without being chopped dramatically.  So onto plan two, to design my own print, but then I remembered that I have a million Christmas projects going (that I wish I could show you) so why do that when I could move onto plan three, blow up one of my favorite Christmas illustrations from a children's book?  But how can I choose just one?  Which one would you choose? (Pardon the horrible photos, as stated, I'm being lazy so I was not about to put much effort into when I will only be using one).

The Grinch by Doctor Suess is a Christmas classic, of course, but I always think of him as being green even though he's not in the book.
I like this one, but poor Max wouldn't make it into the frame
Happy ending?
I love Olivia so Olivia Helps With Christmas is a good option.

I think this is probably my favorite Olivia option. Do you?

I like the idea of a religious book, but most of them have cheesy illustrations.  This was my favorite option from my collection.  It's The First Night by B.G. Hennessy with paintings by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher.  I really want a vertical picture, but this horizontal one is my favorite.
This vertical picture of Mary with Jesus is so sweet, but I would have to crop it way too much to make it work.
There's also something sweet about the Tomie De Paola illustration from Santa's Crash-Bang Christmas by Steven Kroll, but again, it's horizontal.
And If I was going to go with a horizontal option, this illustration from Santa Calls by William Joyce.  It's just so magical.
This title page from Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Siebold is one of my favorite options.  It's simple and cheerful.

And my other favorite option is from Santa Claus the World's Number One Toy Expert by Marla Frazee. The cover would look good.
And I also love this page of Santa listening to children's requests.
So do you have a favorite?  Which one would you choose or would it be another option?

mat giveaway

Eva and I teamed up to create two new frame mats, one for square, medium format pictures and one horizontal frame. Eva also just reprinted all the mats in two new colors; grass green and bright cherry red. 

 The best news of all is that Eva is doing a giveaway on her blog today so three frame mats of your choice could be heading your way.  Just head over to her blog and comment to enter the drawing.

Got Books?

Every December and May, Scholastic Books holds a HUGE warehouse sale for teachers in appreciation for them participating in book orders.  Remember getting book orders in school and how affordable the books were.  Well take the book order price and cut it in half and that's what you get at the warehouse sale.  It is THE PLACE to stock up on books.

People who see my library often wonder how I could afford so many books, well now you know my secret.  What's that?  You are not a teacher.  Well, neither am I so I never registered for the sales online. Even though my friends swore that they didn't care if you were actually a teacher, I always went to the door and told them that I am not a teacher, I just love children's books and they always said I was still welcome at the sale, but I did have to register online and they would sit me down at a computer in their office and have me fill out the online registration form.  They told me to just register as a home schooler.  The form asks you for a school address so they just told me to put "home" as the name of my school and my home address.  They said the registration is just for marketing purposes so they can let you know when the next sale is.  After going through that at every sale for years, I now feel comfortable just filling the form out online, and bonus, when you register online, you will get a coupon for $10 off of a $50 purchase.

If that's not enough to make you feel comfortable, note that I went to this sale this morning (a Friday morning when teachers would be in school teacher) 

and the warehouse was packed with shoppers.

Now, it's not like a Barnes and Noble, this sale made up of books from book orders and book fairs. They sell the rest of already open cartons so you never quite know what titles you will find, but you can be sure they will be a bargain.  

The newest releases are only 25% off of the Scholastic price, but that is still a fantastic deal.

My camera battery is dead so I have no photos, but be aware that this sale is in a functioning warehouse, not a good spot for kids to play, and you will be going up and down rows of enormous metal shelves of open cartons of books (although the Sandy sale was much more organized than the ones I went to in Ohio and employees seemed to know exactly where titles are located if you have questions).

Here are just I few of the titles that I spotted today that I highly recommend.

Picture books

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (this book is only out in hardback in regular stores, but they had a paperback version at 25% off, which made it only $3.00)

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry (this is another book that is only available in paperback through Scholastic)

Early reader

I am Invited to a Party by Mo Willems

Middle Grade Fiction

The 39 clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Get Thee to the Beehive Bazaar!

So twice a year, Provo has a craft fair that is actually cool. No, seriously, hear me out. Theh Beehive Bazaar is not your grandma's craft fair, it's a small indie craft fair with only local artists and it the BEST. Lucky me, now that I live in Utah, I actually got to go. My mom didn't believe me when I told her the fair opened at 9 pm on a Thursday night and from the website she didn't think there would be much that would interest her, boy was she wrong! It was crazy crowded and things were selling out so quickly because they had so many cute things I had never seen anywhere else. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

My friend Darcy had a booth called The Sleepy Fox. Unfortunately she doesn't have a website or Etsy shop that I know of and my camera battery was dead so this is her only item that I have a picture off. She made the cutest stuffed foxes, but I fell for the alligators. Be sure to check them out if you go.

Everything made by Persimmon & Pink, but especially their new religious line of prints. Larry and I were recently talking about how we don't have a lot of Mormon themed artwork in our house and I said that it wasn't that I didn't was religious things hanging in my house, it was that I didn't want UGLY things hanging in my house. Finally a solution to the problem! Larry often sings the church song "I Am a Child Of God" to Creed and he puts him in bed and that print is so simple yet brilliant. Not to mention she makes the cutest stuffed animals ever! Check out her blog here or her Etsy shop here.

And speaking of cool prints, I really loved Fall Down Tree. He had so much great work to choose from and his 10" x 10" prints were only $15.00. This one was probably my favorite.

These cute felt watches for babies and toddlers by Evie Ivy Overstreet were so cute! Don't you think Creed needs one? Though I can't explain why, he LOVES clocks, but he can't tell time so this would be perfect for him.

I also liked the alphabet prints by Leadbottom Press, but I don't think she has an online shop and her website is not so helpful so just keep your eyes peeled for them. Each one has a big letter in the center and a repeat pattern of the head of an animal that starts with that letter in the background.

I brought my friend Mary Ann along for the show and her favorite table was the vinylicious design table. I have to admit I was really tempted to by Creed a red vinyl covered notebook with a lighteningbolt on it to stash until he gets a little older and loves superheroes.

There was much more so you really should head on over and check it out. If you're closer to Salt Lake and not up for the drive it looks like Art Market has a lot of the same vendors. I'm hoping to check it out today.

Stubborn

Yesterday, Creed refused to get dressed, but was very insistent that he needed to wear his snowboots, even though it was warm outside.  We didn't have anything planned for the morning so I let him go for it and we went for our morning walk around the neighborhood like this.

And he even ended up eating lunch like this.

Where oh where has my little blog gone . . .

Ok, before I get anymore emails from people wondering what happened to me, here's a quick update.  Larry worked ahead in his research so we could have Thanksgiving vacation off.  We spent the whole time staying with my parents in Provo and visiting Larry's grandpa.

We had Thanksgiving at my grandparents with a big crowd of friends and family.

So we did thisAfter some marathon shopping on Friday, my dad held Thanksgiving number two so my little sister and Mike could come (they had Thanksgiving with Mike's family).

So we did more of this.And then this (it's a Borup family tradition to always decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving).  Larry said let this photo be a reminder that I need no more Christmas decorations or I'll rick turning into my mom.  It takes her days to decorate the house.  DAYS!
So while the boys did this (yes the dug out the original Nintendo)

We did some of this.
And my mom did this (she always has perfectly coordinated gift wrap that changes every year and if you bring presents that don't match, she'll hide them)