enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

starting the holiday book.

I mentioned in this post that I don't focus on documenting every day in December. My book has 25 pages, but I use them whenever I feel like something holiday-ish is happening and don't worry about using just a page a day. My focus is on collecting pieces and photos of the season.

I will be sharing weekly throughout the rest of December as I fill in this book. I want to show what the pages looked like and then how I made changes. This past weekend, I got started with photos of our simple decorations so far. You can click any image to enlarge.

I decided to add a piece of red and green paper to the back of the chipboard cover which seemed more festive. I also added journaling inside the stamped shape and a piece of heart ribbon.

I wrote all over the back of the white card and flipped the patterned page over (the holes are equal distance from the edge, so you can do this with any page in the book). I mounted a trimmed photo of our wreath to the blank side of the pattern.

I added photo strips of the winter berries to the patterned side. (If you have iPhoto, you can easily print photo strips by selecting multiple photos at once and then selecting the "Contact Sheet" printing option.) I glued the strips down and then used my sewing machine to go around the edge of the page. On the backside, the stitches made a nice frame for the wreath photo too. I added a silhouetted photo of the berry vase to the grid paper.

And that's it so far! I'll continue to add to it and again, I'll be sharing here weekly. Please ask questions in the comments and I will answer them there. I do still have holiday books available if you are interested in collecting your own holiday season.

starting to feel like Christmas.

It was crazy : I dropped my parents off at the airport on Saturday morning and when I got home was completely over the yellow and orange and general Thanksgiving-ness that has dominated our apartment for the last month. I was surprised at how quickly I went from loving it to needing a change.

I switched out our orange candles for white ones and picked up some red berry branches at the farmer's market. Instant Christmas without the Santa feel.

And a wreath I had ordered from this etsy shop came just in time too. It's so understated, I want to keep it up all year long. But I imagine pulling it out every December will be much more exciting.

We are not planning on getting a tree this year. I have a feeling that we will start getting trees again when we have our first little one. No reason, it just works for us to go without. I am planning on getting some sort of evergreen branch to put in a vase or something though - we'll see.

I also have a plan for a big garland extravaganza to hang over our window. Going to be working on that later this week.

happiest thanksgiving.

On Thursday, our families flew and drove into town and we hosted thanksgiving dinner for eight. Other than a minor turkey de-boning issue and the fact that my apple pie was seriously undercooked, it went so well. We have awesome families. And we're so thankful that they get along and are willing to spend holidays together.

Above are a few pictures of our little feast. As mentioned, we didn't use a table and instead sat in a circle in chairs and on the couch - resting plates and glasses on sidetables and a coffee table. It couldn't have worked out better. And I don't think I ever want to go back to traditional thanksgiving turkey. Turkey roulade & stuffing won the day.

I hope you had a great holiday (or weekend!) wherever you are.

go time.

Good morning!

Thank you for all the sweet words about my new office and upcoming craft show! Next week is going to be insane as I prep for my first live show ever. But today, tomorrow and Friday, I am taking a nice computer (and email!) break to prepare for and celebrate Thanksgiving and spend time with our families.

On the agenda for today - bake bread, bake pie, bake cupcakes. Our oven might launch itself into outer space.

If you're in the states, have a happy Thanksgiving. If you're not, I still wish you a great couple of days.

Thank you for reading.

so excited : san diego handmade holiday pop-up shop.

Are you local? Come shop handmade! More info here. I am so excited to be a part of this!