Confession: I’m an unashamed fan of Hallmark Christmas movies. It all started for me last year. I sort of feel like maybe Hallmark Christmas movies made a leap into pop culture last year? All of the sudden it felt like people were watching and talking and slightly embarrassed by the cheesiness and yet not able…
holiday
Christmas Essentials (free art print!)
Merry Christmas, my friends! I’m so happy to share this watercolor illustration with you! The Christmas Essentials print has been on my ‘can’t wait to make’ list for a while. I did a winter essentials print (found here) to go along with the seasonal essential prints (here is the spring, summer and autumn designs), but…
Jingle Bell Garland DIY + Christmas Studio
While I haven’t done a full house Christmas decoration yet, I did play around in the studio to make it all cheerful and Christmas-y. The studio space sits atop our garage and is where I work most days. It is bright and open and has turned out to be such a good use of this…
Our favorite November Tradition: the thankful tree (with free tags)
Each year, on November 1st, we pick back up with a favorite family tradition of creating a thankful tree. You may remember this from years past … here’s the first post I wrote about it (from 2011!), and another a few years later. We missed doing a thankful tree last year – with the chaos…
Fall touches in the studio
I told myself I wasn’t going to get into Fall mode until after last weekend. Audrey had her first soccer game, we celebrated Brady’s 12th birthday (what?!) and the Seahawks played (sad loss, but I’m trying to forget it). I saw my first falling leaf of the season and our hydrangeas have changed into the…
get your free set of valentine note cards + envelopes
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to share a few freebie love note designs. What’s not to LOVE about watercolor hearts, arrows, rain clouds raining down hearts? My illustrations were scanned and formatted into sweet little note cards with matching diy envelopes. Keep reading for the how-to and to download the files!…
A little peek at our house this Christmas
I hope you had a lovely Christmas! We have spent the past two days doing absolutely nothing and it feels amazing. Especially after the weeks of non-stop work on the house to get it ready for hosting. Whew! It was a marathon that turned into a sprint on those final few days. Thankfully, my mom…
My soundtrack for the Christmas season
We are music people. Ryan, especially, but me and the kids, too. If we’re home, its very likely that there will be music on in the house. When we moved in to our new house, there were a few weeks where we had no idea where anything was. Our speakers were buried in the mess…
Favorite Christmas House Tours from Around The Internet
I was supposed to be part of Lindsay’s Blogger Stylin’ Home Tour today. Sadly, I had to drop out. I had a moment last week when I thought maybe I could pull it together in time, but I was having a moment of insanity and then I came back to reality. I know moving takes a…
Free Nutcracker Gift Tags
Happy December 1st! It was so nice to have a few days between Thanksgiving and December … sometimes it feels like they just melt into one another and this girl needs a few days to adjust! I’m still far, far from the wrapping gifts phase, but if you are anything like my sister (her motto…
A Bountiful Thanksgiving Table
This post is sponsored by Pier 1 Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday. I know I say that about every major celebration, but truly, Thanksgiving ranks high (like right at the top with christmas and easter). We have the best memories of Thanksgiving from when we were kids – big family gatherings, weekends at my…
White Pom Pom Wreath DIY (for under $20)
How festive is our stag in his new pom pom wreath?! Last year I made a bunch of pom pom garlands to hang around the house (see an example here). This year, I thought I’d take the yarn pom pom thing a step further and make a big, fluffy, wintery wreath to hang around the…
Let’s talk about Christmas Cards
You may not know this about me, but I designed custom Christmas cards for the first 10 years of my business. By fortunate connections between my sister and a very talented local photographer in Seattle, I worked on projects for some wonderful Seattle families including a pretty famous one by the name of Gates. Each year they…
Look what made it into the pages of BHG Christmas Ideas Magazine! (and free gift tags)
I’m so pleased to share that our home is featured in the 2015 issue of Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas magazine (on newsstands now). The photos were taken last January. I know, forever ago. We did our family Christmas like normal last year and then I started fresh with a new tree in a different spot…
from our family to yours
Our cards are sent (we chose this one from minted this year), the kids are done with school and the finishing touches are being put on our plans and menus and tables and (hopefully) hearts. How did this Christmas season fly by so quickly?! A new favorite tradition is having our family photos taken –…