Ornaments Inspired by Land of Nod

Land of Nod has the most adorable ornaments out this year. I wanted to buy a few for the kids, but then decided that the one simple ornament that I liked could easily be recreated at home for the fraction of the cost. I purchased wooden letters at Michaels. They have more modern looking fonts available, but I was unable to find the letters I need in those types of letters there. So, I grabbed the next best option.  They were around $1 a piece, and considering the Land of Nod Version is $4 on sale a piece this was a huge savings.

I simply used painters tape to seal off an edge, and then used craft paint to cover the unpainted wood.  It took less than three minutes to do all four letters.

I did these between when everyone was going down for a nap and cleaning all the stuff that was around my house. We have had a couple of crazy days lately, and I needed to spend more time cleaning than crafting. This gave me my creative time, and still left me plenty of time to do other things. They dried fairly quickly and I plan on attaching some bakers twine to hang them from the tree for the kids.

Here they are on the larger tree to show you what they look like. When Wynn came home from school she hung them on everyone's smaller trees in their rooms.  This would be a super simple kids craft as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by as always! Do not forget to enter the giveaway on the post from earlier this week that gets you a fun gift from UncommonGoods. Thanks!

Christmas Gift Giving With UncommonGoods

The holidays are fast approaching, and I know there are people on your gift giving list that that seem to have everything. I have several people that I love to find something unique for each holiday season.  UncommonGoods has always been a place that I go to in order to do just that. They provide products that are made by artisans and creators who did not always have access to a larger marketplace. UncommonGoods is where these individuals can thrive and provide their amazing products to the world.  UncommonGoods works tirelessly to do all of this while making sure that they are making minimal on our environment.  They even give customers the ability to donate $1 of their order to a non-profit organization. This allows you as the customer to make a positive impact with your purchases.

My dad and husband always say that they cannot think of anything that they wants or even needs. When I found the section on the UncommonGoods site specifically geared to dads it made my search even easier. One of the gifts that made it into my cart was the Bluetooth Tracking Tag.   The Bluetooth Tracking Tag is an essential tool for anyone truly, but in our household where items are lost at a drop of a hat this could prove to be the most helpful tool we could own.  It will help you locate a lost item with the help of an app, and it even works in reverse if you lose your phone where you are using the app for the tag itself.  This definitely made it on my list for several people in my family, and it makes me wonder if our forgetful nature is one of our finer genetic traits.

Whenever I search for gifts I am always enamored by the personalized gift options available.  I always want to go above and beyond the typical personalized item, and there are many options here. Grandparents are especially important in our family as they are the care givers to our children while we head out to our workplaces each day.  There are always new stories that they share, and we would love for them to be remembered for generations to come. The My Life Story - So Far Journal is a great place for grandparents to share those treasured stories, and the grandchildren will love to re-read the stories over and over. This is truly a special gift for many family members.

Giving one gift to an entire family can seem like a difficult feat. However, there are many options that UncommonGoods has put together in one spot.  Here are some of the extraordinary ideas that they have curated for you. The Rory Story Cubes can be used to spark a lively discussion at dinner, and I know because we have begun to use them with my five year old recently while eating dinner. My twin two year olds are also very interested in these as well, and often times try to imitate what their older sister is doing while we create our new stories as a family. They can even be used while waiting in the airport while traveling to holiday destinations.   The perfect stocking stuffer indeed!  Comment below and I will personally send you a set of Rory's Story Cubes for your family. I love them so much, and I think you will too. 

Gift giving does not have to be a chore any more. Shopping at UncommonGoods will allow you to ensure that you are giving a special and thoughtful gift to any recipient. 

PBK Inspired Christmas Decoration

I saw these beautiful wooden signs in the PBK catalog a few weeks back. I wanted to make wooden ones, and have Rob cut them out. I am sure you can do that, but it was too far down on the to do list, and he was busy building playroom storage. Much more important to me. ;)

I painted over a canvas I no longer was using the I had purchased on clearance at Home Goods years back. You could always purchase an inexpensive canvas at Michaels. I also picked up a wooden ornament shape at Michaels for $3 on sale.

I cut out lettering on my Silhouette machine with vinyl adhesive, and used the transfer vinyl to ensure all my words stays spaced correctly and there were no tears.  I hope you enjoyed this holiday project. I still think Rob may give them wooden shapes a whirl and I could make some more of them.  He just picked up a new saw from the tech education teacher who upgraded his equipment, and he says that circles will be easy to make.