Jen's Holiday House Tour

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Great White North stop on the Holiday Homes Tour!!! Nothing really decorates a house for Christmas like the 107 cm of snow we got last week. And it's still snowing.....can I just say here how much more I like snow when someone else shovels it?



I revamped my outdoor decorations a bit this year, go see how they used to look....I'll wait. Santa tied that beautiful ribbon on the kids' Christmas gifts last year, and I got the red polka-dot
balls at Ikea in January, 50 cents for 4!



Bad and I tracked through the woods with some friends to snip some dogwood and evergreen branches to fill up our planters, and I love love love them.



The decorations in the house are much the same as always, but the girlie and I have been making these Polish star ornaments like mad. We've made white, blue, purple, orange, green, red, and yellow. We saw some on Etsy and I loved them, but they were $20 dollars and I'm cheap, so I just googled for directions, and other than being a bit time-consuming, they really aren't that difficult to make.

And that's the tour....I can't show you anymore because I haven't washed the dishes or made the beds!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Comeback of the Day

Me to Hubs: "The difference is that the arts and crafts rarely step in dog poop."

Can you guess what we were arguing about?

Damage Control

Dear Princess,

It's about time your mother did something about her housekeeping, though it is a pity she had to choose today to start. But nevermind darling, us tooth fairies have a special magic spell to help us find missing teeth, so there's no harm done. And actually darling, after going through the dishwasher, your little tooth is the very cleanest one in my whole collection!

Don't be too hard on your mommy Princess, she just made a mistake, and your tears just about broke her heart tonight. She loves you more than the moon and stars and sun, but she's only a human....not everyone gets to be a magic fairy.

Love the Tooth Fairy

I think we can skip the soap this time....

Princess: "MOMMY! MOMMY! Bad said the 'S' word!"

Me: "Really?....what's the 'S' word?"

Princess (leaning in to whisper in my ear): "Stupid!"

Me: "Bad - did you say 'stupid'?"

Bad: "Yes."

Me: "Did you call your sister 'stupid'?"

Bad: "No."

Me: "Then what did you call stupid?"

Bad: "Ken's shirt."

Me: "Okay....Princess, you're right - stupid isn't a nice word and we should try not to use it. However, Ken's shirt IS stupid, so let's just let it slide this time, alright?"

Happy Neck

This post could also be titled, "When trying to take photos of yourself, you should try putting on make-up and brushing your hair. And learn how to use the timer on your camera. And possibly Photoshop...." But nevermind. That's not the point. The point is that I won a lovely handknit scarf from Jen on the Edge in her blogoversary contest, and it came in the mail yesterday.

It's soft and warm and lovely, and detracts attention from the fact that I haven't put on make-up or brushed my hair. What more could you ask from an accessory?

Thanks Jen, I love it.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday. We're still in lounging around in pyjamas mode, the kids playing with their toys while I try to coax a cappuccino out of mine. It was a zoo here for a couple of days, but a wonderful one, and Hubs cleaned the house yesterday while I lounged on the sofa watching 'Up' with the kids. What more could I ask for?



I love kiddos in matching jammies.

The presents were a success. Hubs built the train table and he did such a good job, I was afraid to paint it...but I think it turned out pretty well in the end.

The kids and I made a buche de noel with meringue mushrooms for Christmas dessert. I made one last year, but I didn't know what a jelly-roll pan was, so I guessed....and I guessed wrong. This year's attempt was much more successful.

I'm looking forward to a few more days of family fun, the Olympic Torch is passing near us on Tuesday, so we're going to go see that, and if the weather co-operates we'll do some tobogganing and skating. Other than that we've no plans beyond hanging out by the fire.

Happy New Year!

Cookies for Santa

Okay, I know it's a little late in the game to be suggesting a craft project, but this turned out so well that I just had to share it. I had all the supplies I needed when the inspiration struck me, but even if you have to go out and buy the glass plate, it's an easy project and your kids will love it. You'll love it. Santa will love it.



Supplies - clear glass plate
- acrylic paint
- acrylic gloss medium (this is your glue and sealer, any art store should stock it, though you could probably thin out some white school glue and use that....try 3 parts glue to 1 part water...both will go on cloudy but dry clear.)
- colourful pages ripped from old magazines

Step 1 - cut out your letters and any other decorations from your old magazines. (Most other paper will be too thick.) We made a simple tree, and used a single-hole punch to make perfect circles for the ornaments.

Step 2 - paint the underside of your plate with the gloss medium, and stick on your letters and decorations, so the good side is in the glue. Remember that your writing needs to go backward, so that it will be in the right spot when you flip the plate over. Brush more gloss medium over the back of your letters and decorations.

Step 3 - let it dry

Step 4 - paint the underside of your plate with acrylic paint in the colour of your choice. Go right over your letters and decorations.

Step 5 - let it dry

Step 6 - repeat steps 4 and 5

Step 7 - add a few coats of gloss medium to seal, and you're done! Because all the paint is on the underside of your plate, this is totally foodsafe. It is not, however, waterproof. So wash carefully, the bottom won't take more than a gentle wipe with a damp cloth.

The gloss medium and acrylic paint both dry pretty quickly, so you can complete this in an afternoon. Just let it dry well overnight before setting it down right-side up.

I hope Santa's good to everyone....Merry Christmas!!!



xo Badness