Christmas Cards

The first commercially produced Christmas Card (London, 1843)

Image Credit: Wikipedia

For the very first time, I decided it might be a good idea to start thinking about Christmas cards a bit earlier than usual. Typically, it only dawns on me sometime around December 23rd that I should get going on that project!

Thanks to a tip on Rambling Renovators, I decided to try making my own cards this year the "New Fashioned Way," that is, online. J. at Rambling Renovators has used Tiny Prints in the past to make cute cards and I thought I would give the site a try.

I've looked at a few different sites this week that offer a similar service and I have to say that I like the designs and ease of use on Tiny Prints the best so far. My only difficulty was in uploading photos directly from iPhoto. I had to upload them onto Picassaweb, where I have an account, and then pull them from there. If you don't use iPhoto or have most of your photos online on Facebook or Picassa (etc.) already, you shouldn't have any trouble.

Here are some mockups so far, though I am keeping the one we'll actually send a secret for now:

One of the best parts is that you get something that is personalized without having to take on a major DIY project and they will even address and mail them to your friends if you have your list ready. There is a promotion on right now for these in case it is something you might think about doing! 

DIY Rating: 8

Took some time to pick out a design and the photos, 

but overall, one of the better websites for this type of thing 

and the cards were fun to make. 

My only criticism is that iPhoto was not well supported.

PS. This is not a paid promotion!

PPS. All photos are the property of Filia Artis at The Do-tique, please do not use or reproduce without permission.

Getting Ready with Eddie!

To: Eddie Ross

K-Mart

Decorator Station, North Pole

International

From: Filia Artis

The Do-tique

Kingston, Ontario

Canada

Dear Eddie, 

Your video on using materials from K-Mart to decorate for Christmas this year reminded me of my childhood. My parents saved the packaging from their K-Mart decorations from the 1970s and used them to store those decorations for years!

I had a nightmare recently that I decorated my whole house and you were coming over to visit, but then when you got here, all the decorations had disappeared!! I hope this never happens!

Thank you for your awesome ideas on how to use artificial wreaths and garlands and make them look great! The Christmas Elves here at The Do-tique will be briefed later this afternoon and I expect they will get to work very soon!

Please tell Santa that I have been a good little homemaker.

Your Reader, 

Filia Artis at The Do-tique

Holiday Planter

British Christmas Card (1880) 

I love the mistletoe wreath in the illustration. Mistletoe doesn't actually grow in Canada, and since it is a parasitic plant, it may even be banned here, which is why it is rarely seen at Christmastime. When I lived in Germany, it was a novelty for me to see it being sold at the Christmas Markets in town.

Since it is officially Advent, it's time to get started on some decorating around the house. I did put up my first outdoor decoration yesterday. I can't resist putting up fresh evergreen garlands and wreaths! My plan was to put together a holiday planter for my front walkway. I keep seeing them at the grocery store for about $20 and I was sure that I could make one myself. 

Here is how mine turned out:

Here is the how-to:

1. Take a summer planter or urn and empty out the flowers and leave the potting soil in the pot.

2. Cut 5-6 stems of dogwood (bush with red branches) or another woody bush (you can spray paint the branches to red, white or gold or leave them natural). Cut about 8 small branches from two different types of evergreen tree (I used spruce and cedar). Find something with berries and cut about 8 small branches.

3. Stand the branches in the middle of the planter in the potting soil. Add the evergreen foliage in a circle around the edges of the planter. Fill in with berry branches.

4. Take two apples (or some lemons or some pine cones) and spear them with a straw or small stick or piece of wire and then push them into the soil as well. Add a ribbon somewhere if you like. 

Total time: 20 Minutes and all the materials came from overgrown bushes in my own yard.

The added bonus, I'll have something to cheer me when the ground is covered in snow and all my flowers are having their winter sleeps.

DIY Rating: 9

Pretty easy and possible to do 

with a small child trying to help!

PS. Ok, the apples that I put into the planter were eaten by morning and not a trace remains...you might want to stick with pine cones! I'm going to try to replace them with some ribbon.

The Advent Season

 Painting by Jan Provoost         Image Credit: Secret Harbour

One of the very last holiday seasons to remain outside the purview of commercialization is the Advent Season. It tends to get buried in what I like to call the "Commercial Christmas Preparation Marketing Season," which typically starts on November 1st. The advent season, in fact, is the time of year that some Christians celebrate as a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas. Whereas the actual Christmas Season runs from Christmas Eve to the Epiphany, early in January. You are probably familiar with the famous chocolate advent calendars. 

The very word, "Advent," translates to "a coming" or "an arrival". We celebrate the Advent of the Emmanuel, which translates to, "the coming of God among us."

This year, Advent begins today, Sunday, November 28th. To me, the painting above symbolizes the meaning of Advent. In the image, the Virgin and Child are shown with St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist, and a Carthusian Monk. To me, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. St. John the Baptist's life was spent proclaiming the Nativity of Christ to come and St. Jerome and the Carthusian monk represent the praying, meditation and fasting that go along with preparing for the coming of Christmas during the Advent Season.

With all that is happening in the hustle and bustle of The Do-tique, we will be striving to take some time each day to slow down and enjoy our family and to reflect on what Christmas means for us. I hope you will consider joining us.

Photo Credit: Here

DIY Rating: 10

Taking some quiet time in the middle of the mayhem 

of the Holiday Season is always a good idea!

PS. Yes, there is an associated craft to go with the season...Check out Mom's Party Cafe for instructions!

Reader Question: Coat Hooks

"This reminds me of a project I have been stuck on: installing new coat hooks at the back entrance. It is possible to buy a board with coat hooks to attach to the wall, but to buy enough would cost about $300! Instead, I would like to buy a couple of pieces of wood (about 48" x 5" x 1"), screw in some hooks, and then attach the wood to the wall. But I have no saw, sander, etc. I had assumed that the lumber yard would not have appropriate wood for me. Do you think I am wrong? (Do you think they would paint the wood for me too?)" Posted by Cburrell


Dear Gentlereader,

Oh my, $300 and all that work to hang some coats? That's almost enough to employ an elf to do it for you! I am not sure whether I understand your project completely, but I think I get the idea of what you are trying to do and I am pleased to let you know that there are products on the market that have taken most of the work out of this for you.

Did you know that you can buy "boards" with the hooks mounted on them and then just mount the boards onto the wall? If you need a wider width, just purchase a few of them and hang them in succession.

Here are two carried by IKEA, both for well under $20/each. Similar items can be found at places like the Home Depot.

Leksvik Coat Hooks $16.99 at IKEA

Tjusig hooks $12.99 at IKEA

What you will need for this project are the following basic tools:

1. Drill with bits and a screwdriver
2. Stud finder
3. Small level
4. Screws and drywall plugs
5. Hammer and measuring tape

Since typically these racks don't come with hardware, you might want to take the whole thing to the store and have someone there help you pick out the right screws and advise you as to whether you need drywall plugs. Another tip is to ask that person which drill bit to use for that hardware and write it down. It will save trying out different bits and possibly drilling a hole that's too big (been there, done that!). 

It will also help to have the stud finder so that you can try to align some of your screws into the wall studs for extra sturdiness.

For those readers with more time on their hands than others, it's worth checking out thrift stores, online auctions, kijiji and the Habitat for Humanity Re-stores for second hand tools. For the rest of us mere mortals who have to pay full price at an ordinary store to save on time, the good news is that they are pretty useful for a variety of basic home projects.

To CBurrell, good luck in your mission!

DIY Rating: 7

It's pretty easy to install this type of coat hook system, 

but it involves some measuring and a level to get it to look good 

and a drill is a key power tool for this one!

Lumbering Along

Photo Credit: Life

Today's topic is about buying lumber. To be honest, I find the process a bit intimidating and usually leave this job to others. There is also a paucity of power tools around The Do-tique, so we don't often engage in projects requiring more than a couple of 2x4s or some trim. And is anyone else out there totally confused about why a 2x4 is still called a 2x4 when those aren't the modern dimensions for this piece of wood? 

Last weekend, we packed Baby up and headed out to the Home Depot to see if we could find some wood to build two shelves into the closet in our home office. (The shelves will hopefully create a place for a printer and additional file storage.) Yes, this meant tackling the lumber aisle! Hubby started out in the closet organization section and picked up two pre-fab shelves with a melamine coating that didn't quite fit our dimensions and cost $17.99 each (we would have needed 4). The advantage here was that everything was pre-finished, so just cut to size and install...

However, I insisted that we go forth into the lumber section to see if there were any options that might be a better fit with our dimensions.

Often, when I think of lumber, I assume that all I will be able to find is an enormous piece of wood that won't fit into our car, that will have to be cut to size, sanded, primed, painted and then installed. It seems like just too much work.

The truth is that someone must have figured this out and created lumber that comes pre-finished for projects. You do not need to buy raw lumber and do all the work! There were a number of sizes and colors available and even the gigantic pieces cost less than a single shelf from the closet organization section.

In the end, we came home with two pre-cut, pre-finished shelves from an off-cut bin in the lumber section for significantly less than the closet organizer shelves would have cost.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Always come with your exact measurements handy - we spent 15 minutes in disagreement over whether the closet was 31 or 32 inches wide (settled for 31 1/2!)
2. Since most of the "storage kits" have to be assembled by you anyway, consider whether you are handy enough to put your own simple shelving together out of the pre-finished wood in the lumber aisle
3. Home Depot offers a cutting service, so if you know your measurements, the store can pre-cut the wood for your project. The first three cuts are free and in our case, we only needed two cuts
4. Check the off-cut section for smaller projects - since we were only installing two shelves, we were able to find an off-cut of the wood we were looking for at a deep discount (material cost ended up being under $10 with hardware)

Now, all that is left is carefully nagging Hubby to help me install them over the weekend...

DIY Rating: 6 

Anything involving building from the lumber aisle is for the handy at heart, 

BUT if you do need something very simple, check the off-cut section, 

you might be able to find just what you need in a pre-finished, pre-cut material.

PS. I did honestly try to make a nifty Google SketchUp drawing of my closet plan for the blog, but now I don't know how to get that image onto Blogger!

Public Service Announcment

Photo Credit: Newark News Radio Club

This is a public service announcement to all readers to inform you that Knitting Addiction Disorder, otherwise known as KAD has been detected at The Do-tique. This not uncommon affliction is not deadly, but can cause midnight finger twitching should the affected person run out of yarn and be left without a knitting project for 48 hours or longer. It has caused the author of this very blog to visit Wool Tyme, a store well-known to Kingston authorities, to purchase further wool and receive needle training. Her symptoms include compulsive knitting and an escalating obsession that began with garter stitch and has now progressed to a rib stitch. Individuals affected with KAD can be heard muttering, "knit the knit and purl the purl," in living rooms across the nation. I repeat, KAD is not deadly, but citizens are cautioned to avoid yarn aisles at craft stores and elderly ladies on the internet offering knitting advice via video.

Infected individuals can often experience an over-growth of warming fluff cells such as scarves, socks and gloves eventually progressing to sweaters, a signal of chronic illness.

http://www.wool-tyme.com/

Offers materials, lessons, workshops and a knitting community.

The store clerk was kind enough to show 

me how to get started on a rib-stitch.