El Nacimiento {the Creche} at Tucson Museum of Art

Around this time last year, my husband and I were on vacation in Arizona. We both love Arizona -- for it's incredible beauty and history, as well as for the lovely people who live there. We met and fell in love while attending college in Arizona, and it was really special to revisit some of the places that were important to us.

I love handmade, human scaled architecture, so we visited La Casa Cordova, part of the Tucson Museum of Art complex. What a delightful surprise to find El Nacimiento (the creche) on display in La Casa Cordova.

Easy Washi Tape Cards or Tags

Here is an easy last minute card or gift tag idea that helps bust your stash of decorative tapes and paper scraps, and diverts old book pages from the landfill.

The use of classic holiday ornament shapes, allows you to successfully use non-holiday papers and tapes to create lovely Christmas cards.

Paper Mache Father Christmas Tutorial

Don't you just love old fashioned Father Christmas decor?  Father Christmas ornaments always seemed a bit intimidating to me, so I never tried making them myself, until I discovered how easy this papier mache method is.

I was watching some of my favorite YouTube bloggers last year, and found that Emi, at Hectanooga1, has several papier mache tutorials.

Make These {Easy} Snowman Hat Ornaments!

These adorable little snowman hat ornaments are easy and fun to make, using recycled cardboard tubes and boxes.

Last year, on a trip to Arizona to visit family, I wanted to bring my sister-in-law a set of handmade ornaments with her kids' names on them. Of course, they weren't finished when it was time to travel, so I brought supplies and finished them when I got there.

Upcycled Altoids Tin Travel Spicy Farkel

A good friend was recently visiting from Colorado, and she gifted me with a Spicy Farkel game. This was the same friend who gifted me with a regular Farkel game a few months ago. I loved that game, and decided to alter a little round mint tin to make a travel Farkel game.

When my friend gifted me with the Spicy version of the game, I knew it needed it's own travel tin, as well.

Make This Scrappy Christmas Tree Card!

Do you need to send out some last minute Christmas cards? Did you run out of cards before you made it through your mailing list? Here is a simple card idea that does not require special Christmas papers or dies or stamps. Making these cards couldn't be easier!

Gift Card Holder From Paper Towel Tube!

Do you love making cute stuff, and love upcycling, too? If so, you will love learning how to make gift card holders from paper towel tubes.

Start by gathering some decorative paper (I used pages from an old music book), a paper towel tube, adhesive, ribbon or twine, and embellishments.

Make This Easy Pumpkin Card!

I don't seem to own any pumpkin or harvest related dies, but I wanted to make a pumpkin card the other day.  

Turns out, it's not too hard to make a cute pumpkin card for Thanksgiving, using just a few scraps of decorative paper and a card base.

Make These Easy Beautiful Fire Starter Gifts!

A year or two ago, my sister-in-law, Carinae, turned me on to Scentsy products. I was explaining to her that sometimes our beach house gets a slight musty, closed-in smell when we haven't been there in a while. While we do keep it heated and dried out all winter, and keep the air circulating all summer, it's hard to shake that hint of  Pacific Northwest mustiness.

Carinae explained that Scentsy wax pots are heated by those tiny little nightlight bulbs. Well, I leave nightlights on all the time, especially when we have guests, so I ordered several. Carinae recommended some scents that she thought would be a great counter to the musty smell.

The Scentsy does its job well. When we walk into the beach house, we now smell something refreshing and citrusy, or something cozy and piney, or something Christmasy!

Quilting Retreat at a Franciscan Monastery

Around this time last year we were traveling in New England. We were having one of those rare vacations, where two of our children and our granddaughter were able to join us. Now that we're empty nesters, we grab at any opportunity to spend time with the kiddos!

When the kids were growing up, we liked to stay in interesting places when we traveled.