decorating for New Year's Eve

What are your plans for tonight? Staying up to welcome the New Year? Crashing early? Celebrating with loved ones, yummy munchies and board games? Snuggling up warm and watching a movie? Doing some online shopping of after Christmas sales (if so, don't forget the coupon code for 15% off of the shop - maybe a good time to pick up the Garland for Every Holiday set?)? If you're online, stop by the temporary landing page for our new website - still can hardly believe it's actually happening! - and sign up for the newsletter so you can stay up to date on sales and things :)

Right now, crashing early sounds really good, but I'm looking forward to a fun evening with extended family, maybe a game or two and some delicious goodies. And enjoying watching it snow. :)

 (one of the lovely bits of living in the midwest is having a snowy mailbox :D)

Have you seen the glittered votives making their way around Pinterest? I made some after seeing them and now think I need to make a few more - maybe in pinks and red for Valentine's Day ... :) These have been adding such a festive touch to our Christmas and New Year's decorations!

The rest of our New Year's decor is centered around our upstairs window. I recently found a small disco ball on Etsy (probably one of my most frivolous purchases yet :D) and combined it with a Snowflake Garland from the shop and a printable Happy New Year banner from theTomKatStudio.

Last year's version of the same window (minus the disco ball) - I made up the twinkle star garland as a last minute way to add a bit of festivity to our house and it ended up going in the shop and becoming quite popular! Kind of fun to see how God uses some of my random ramblings and spurts of creative experimenting :)
I'm thinking that some large balloons (maybe like these) and twinkle lights would round this out nicely - maybe next year!


I've been reflecting back on 2012 for the past few days (and would enjoy making up a year-end round-up post here) and can only come to the conclusion that God is amazing. And, because He doesn't change, that amazingness will continue in 2013.

Here's to a wonder-ful new year!


xo

Merry, Merry Christmas!

What a day to celebrate! The day that God, in His infinite mercy and love, sent His only Son to earth to live among us and be our Savior, ultimately dying (and rising again) in our place. Yes, indeed a day to celebrate.


I'm taking this Christmas a bit slower than usual. In fact, most of my Christmas cards are quickly becoming New Year's cards. : ) There are so many things that I wanted to do that didn't get done, so many things I wanted to make (a bunch of them are on my Pinterest board) that didn't get made. There's always next year, though! This year I spent most of my time cuddling our three(!) babes and learning Olivia's moods and preferences. Which is just as it needed to be : )

It seems that Christmas (not to mention December) has come around again so quickly this year. I'm hoping/planning to put up an end of the year recap post - so much has happened in the last twelve months! God has blessed us beyond our dreams, and are so, so very grateful. This next year is already shaping up to be even more incredible! (one thing being a new website - amazing! We're hoping for it to be live by the second week of January - while you're waiting for the real thing you can see our landing page at www.pltmarket.com sign up for our newsletter {yet another new thing!})


My gift to you this years is a shop coupon code (CHRISTMAS2012) for 15% off of your entire order, good until January 30, 2013. I hope you enjoy it! You have each been so wonderful, and I've been privileged to be able to serve you. :)


Blessings to each of you and your families this Christmas! May you make memories to cherish and enjoy the wonders of His amazing love.


<3

weekly shop update

So, the weekly shop updates haven't quite as weekly as I had planned. :)
But then, I've been a bit busy with other things!

The other day I took advantage of a certain baby girl sleeping and made up (and listed - such a feet to get both things done on the same afternoon right now!) some snowflake and Christmas-ey things that I've had in my head for a while. :)

Here are a few photos and links to them - there's still time to place an order to enjoy them this Christmas!

The snowflake chair garland - to coordinate with the 10-foot snowflake garland

Christmas Star Cupcake toppers - the idea for these came while we were driving just before Thanksgiving and saw the neighbors' lights. One of the decorations was a star that had the word "JOY" in the middle ... and I knew I needed to make something out of it. :)

Snowflake Cake/Pie toppers (or you can use them as wands for little ones pretending to be snow fairies!)

Merry and Bright cupcake toppers

So, there you have it! 4 new items and one more week to place an order to enjoy them. :) And there's still a few more things I wanted to make for the shop this Christmas ...
Oh well! Here's to enjoying our sweet, darling baby girl and celebrating the wonder of our Savior's birth with Em and Ian.

What are your plans for celebrating with your loved ones?


<3