Christmas | kimberly ah

Dec 27 2013

A Fine Christmas Indeed…

It feels like Christmas was weeks ago…

Naoto and I enjoyed our usual Christmas tradition of sleeping in, opening gifts, going to Mitsuwa and coming home for cocktails and Christmas dinner. The day felt long, in the best possible way. Naoto had only practical (ahem…boring) things on his Christmas list, so I had to add in a little SPAM surprise. I think he liked it. (Also, I’m not sure why I picked an Instagram filter that made Naoto look like he hasn’t seen the sun in years…)

And, as always, Naoto chose the most perfect gifts for me (pictured at the top): Redemption High Rye, Burt’s Bees chapstick, a Vintage Email stamp from Wit & Whistle, a Kaweco Sport fountain pen and ink, a Paper Parcel Subscription from Saturday Morning Vintage and tickets to a Blackhawks game on January 5th!!

It was a white Christmas…by the time we left Mitsuwa, it was snowing pretty hard. Thankfully the roads were clear (and empty!) for our drive home.

In the evening, I made Aviations and Old Fashioneds and set the table while Naoto cooked tonkatsu (recipe coming soon!) for dinner. (During dinner, Presley lurked on the wine cabinet and watched us eat…not creepy at all, right?) evergreen candle from Yearbook After dinner, Karen stopped over for a little visit…the perfect end to a relaxing Christmas.

(Presley sends her holiday wishes.)

Tagged Christmas, cocktails, holidays, rubber stamp

Dec 25 2013

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Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas! We hope your holidays are merry & bright!

Dec 23 2013

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Christmas, holidays, snail mail

Another Christmas Pin

Last year my pen friend Ana showed up on Instagram wearing this amazing Santa pin. I complimented Santa’s fluffy, feathery beard and about a week later, this card–a Hallmark Santa pin card!–showed up in my mailbox! It was the best surprise! His vintage face and tiny jingle bell make me smile. (Isn’t Ana’s fancy handwriting on the envelope wonderful?)

Santa didn’t make it in time for Christmas last year, so I tucked him away until this year. (Of course, I couldn’t find him at first this season because I tucked him away a little too carefully!) Now he’s proudly among the rotation of cheery Christmas pins.

Thanks, Ana! You & Hallmark are my favorites!

Dec 19 2013

3 Comments

Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, thrifted, vintage

Whimsical Christmas Pins

I have a significant collection of vintage brooches. Most of them could be categorized as “granny chic”. (You might remember when Mary added to my collection when she sent some fabulous selections from her grandmother.) But when it comes to the holidays, I like to wear whimsical kid pins from my own childhood (and thrifted gifts from my mom!)

The snowflake on the left is vintage Avon from my childhood. (You can see a better picture here.) I actually have two of them because I misplaced mine and randomly came across one in a box of junk at a flea market. I was over the moon to find a replacement for fifty cents! Of course, a week or two later, I found mine. (Doesn’t it always work out that way?) I love the sparkle from the Aurora Borealis stones.

The other snowflake is an antique store find. (It’s unmarked, and I couldn’t find one online.)

The bear in the box is from my childhood. I kind of remember it being a gift…but memories are fuzzy from way back then. He can be found here.

My mom bought me the owl at a flea market last year. It was perfect timing, since owls felt very trendy last year. (I’m still wearing him this year.) He’s vintage Hallmark and can be found here.

I’ve had the snowman pin since first grade. In grade school we drew names and did a little gift exchange every Christmas. Kyle S had my name and gave me a tiny box. This pin was inside. I remember feeling very special and grown up because I got jewelry from a boy for Christmas. My family still teases me about my attachment to this pin. I didn’t wear it for years because the pin part broke off of it, but my handy-dad fixed it for me last year and it’s in the holiday pin rotation again. He can be found here.

The Santa is from my childhood, I think. He’s vintage Hallmark (from 1981, according to his back) and can be found here.

The fawn is another flea market find from my mom. I love this one because of the green pipe cleaner wreath around its neck. He’s vintage Hallmark and can be found here.

Sigh…vintage Hallmark and vintage Avon…two of my favorite things.

Would it be weird if I wore all of my Christmas pins once on Christmas Eve? I kind of want to do it…like my own version of the ugly Christmas sweater.

P.S. Another sentimental childhood Christmas pin can be found here.

Tagged Christmas, holidays, memories, thrifting, vintage

Dec 17 2013

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Christmas, crafty adventures, holidays, Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

Christmas Card Writing Party

On Sunday night I hosted a little Christmas card writing party. I sent out some (last minute) vintage invitations from Saturday Morning Vintage. Aren’t they cute? It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but I added a touch of glitter to each wreath using my favorite glue pen and some Martha glitter. I typed up gold labels for the addresses (some were mailed, some were hand delivered) and embellished the envelopes with some washi tape. Fun stuff. I started collecting my holiday-ish supplies all last week. I have loads of things, mainly from making my own cards in the past. On Sunday morning, I covered the table with kraft paper and set out the stamps, tapes, inks, Stickles and stickers. (I learned from the best by attending so many LWA socials!) On Sunday evening, the ladies came over and we ate funeral buns (I told you they would be a new party staple!) and salmon dip and caramels. We enjoyed mulled wine and got more done than I thought we would! Jackie already finished her holiday cards, so she painted some ornaments. Karen and I wrote our cards. I got through the L’s…not including my pen pals (because their envelopes are more involved than some of the rest of my list). Tonight, my goal is to finish them up…I’m in a mail art kind of mood, so it should be a fun project!

I’ll report back on the cards soon. I want them to make it to their destinations before sharing on the blog.

Have you finished your holiday cards? Have you been getting a lot in your mailbox?

Tagged Christmas, crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Dec 16 2013

6 Comments

adventures, Christmas, homemaking, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Oh Christmas Tree 2013

We got our Christmas tree the week after Thanksgiving. Naoto has been taking Thursdays off, so it was the perfect day to head over to Menards for our usual $15 tree special. We were going to splurge on a $25 fir. Their branches hold heavier ornaments better and we had a pine last year, so I thought it would be a nice change. But when the tree guy shook the firs, needles flew everywhere. When we shook this one, not a single needle fell. Decision made! Plus, there is just something so soft and fluffy about the longer needles of the white pine.

The tree guy at Menards was in good spirits and laughed at our “backseat method” of carrying the tree home. It felt like the tree stuck out a little further than normal this year…Naoto did all of the heavy lifting and I did all of the decorating, as usual. (He doesn’t mind it that way one bit…)After last year’s leaning tree debacle, I am happy to report that this tree is standing straight and tall. I lost my ornament hooks and had to improvise with a limited supply of bent paperclips, so fewer ornaments made it onto the tree this year. The ones that made it are the most special ones, so the tree is all right with me. And the sage green bedsheet/tree skirt is lame…you would think I would have a real tree skirt by now…but really, Presley attacks the tree skirt on a regular basis, so something not-so-precious is really the best decision. Presley approves (and simultaneously tries to destroy).

Tagged Christmas, decorating, holidays, home, homemaking

Dec 11 2013

3 Comments

adventures at the library, Christmas, crafty adventures

Block Printing at the Library

On Saturday afternoon, I went to a block printing class at our library. The class was taught by Liz and Gabe from Hoofprint Workshop in Chicago. They brought their portable press, made from a car jack (!!!) and had small 3×4 inch blocks for each of us to carve. The class was advertised as a holiday card printmaking class, but Liz made it clear we could carve whatever we wanted. I decided, since I cannot draw (and because I have a little bit of PTSD from a previous printmaking class I tried and promptly dropped out of–a story for another time…or a therapist), that I would do a candy cane striped H. I wanted something with simple lines so I could practice making deep, thick stripes and shallow thin ones and getting comfortable with the tool. I was the first one done cutting my block (most people had more intricate designs) so I inked and printed my block. My first print was okay, but you could barely see the thinnest lines so I worked the rest of the class widening those lines and fussing with the other lines. In the end, the one above was my best impression. It’s more challenging than it looks to get the right amount of ink and the right amount of pressure on the press. Practice, practice, practice! That’s Liz above working the car jack press. I’m obsessed with how genius it is…and Dad, do we have a spare car jack?

I have two linoleum blocks in my craft cupboard and now I have the confidence to tackle them and an idea that involves a little bit more drawing skills than our monogram…wish me luck!

For a better picture of the car jack press and a great article about Hoofprint Workshop, go here. Their workshop is in an old funeral home!!

And, for more Adventures at the Library posts, go here.

Thanks to the Forest Park Public Library for hosting another awesome event and to Liz and Gabe of Hoofprint for sharing their expertise with us!

Tagged adventures, crafts, forest park, holidays

Mar 09 2013

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Christmas, holidays, homemaking, in my library, what's for dinner

The BEST Christmas Gift

A long time ago, I was pilfering through my mom’s cookbook drawer searching for some recipe I’d loved as a kid. My mom hasn’t bought a cookbook in years. Nope, you won’t find a Rachel Ray or a Giada or a Barefoot Contessa book in her drawer. She does have plenty of old-school pamphlets filled with recipes promoting things like Philadelphia Cream cheese and Eagle Brand condensed milk and of course she has the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. (Does everyone have this cookbook? Naoto and I each brought one to the marriage and neither of us is willing to part with the copy we brought.) While I was looking through the drawer I found her old Methodist Church cookbook. I flipped through it finding all of the usual church cookbook fare: plenty of jello salads, punches and casseroles. I loved seeing familiar names from our small town and seeing which recipes my grandma and her church lady friends contributed. I told my mom that I wanted a copy of the cookbook.

Since the cookbook was published in 1984, I knew finding one would be pretty impossible. I sifted through eBay listings of church cookbooks for weeks, but gave up and kind of forgot about it for awhile. When we were celebrating Christmas Thursday, I opened a box that had some new kitchen towels and new measuring spoons inside and there it was, tucked under a kitchen towel–the church cookbook! Apparently my mom told my aunt that she was searching for one and my aunt offered up her copy for the cause! (Thanks, Aunt Karen!)

My mom and I spent a good amount of time looking through our books and discovering recipes that include outdated ingredients (Have you ever used Dream Whip before?), many cans of cream of mushroom soup, oleo (aka margarine) and lots of Jello. I’ve already picked out a few recipes to try. I’m starting with a Jello salad, since Naoto and I have been in a Jello groove lately and I’m super-psyched to see several lima bean salads and casseroles!! Limas are my favorite and who knew they were the star of so many dishes!!

Tagged books, celebrations, Christmas, food, holidays, home, homemaking, memories, parents

Mar 06 2013

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adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafty adventures, handmade=happiness, homemaking

Monogram Tea Towel

I whipped up a quick tea towel for my parents last night. It was a last minute craft, one where I didn’t even iron all if the wrinkles out of the tea towel…

I keep a stash of plain white flour sack tea towels in my closet for craft emergencies. (Mine are from Target, but you get the idea.) They are the first things I learned to embroider (I made a sushi towel for Naoto) and the fabric is thin but not too thin for little stitches. My mom has several of these towels that she’s had for years, and like most things, the ones made today are much thinner than the old ones. (They don’t make things like they used to.)

Because I wanted to keep things simple with a monogram (A for Adami, in case you didn’t put that together…), I just practiced writing a few cursive A’s until I found one I liked, then I traced the A onto the fabric with a Pilot FriXion Pen. I use the FriXion pens in my calendar, I love they way they write and the eras-ability factor. So imagine my delight when I heard from Mollie and read a great tip here that the ink disappears when it’s heated, making the FriXion pen perfect for embroidery and quilting (and probably other crafts). I didn’t have to worry about heating up my A to remove the lines because my 6-strand split stitch covered the thin (0.5) line perfectly.

Sidenote: I do have first-hand experience with the disappearing ink. I left my FriXion pen on my balcony on a sunny summer day last year and when I went back to use it again, the ink flowed clear instead of black. Huge bummer for me, but thankfully I had about ten back-up pens…

I think my parents liked it–my mom told my dad he should use it when he bakes bread–and I think the red variegated floss (Anchor #1206) matches their kitchen just enough. All-in-all I think a quickie tea towel makes a nice little gift, don’t you?

Tagged adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafts, diy, holidays, home, homemaking, parents

Jan 03 2013

14 Comments

Christmas, crafty adventures, holidays, Merry & Bright, snail mail

My Holiday Cards Were Ridden With Guilt

I do believe all of our holiday cards for 2012 have been mailed…finally. A few stragglers are making their way through the mail right now, hopefully to arrive as New Year greetings!

I’ve been making my own Christmas cards for years now…they always start as an elaborate project, then, by the time I sit down to do them, they morph into something simple. It’s harder now because December is my busiest time (with work and holiday hullabaloo) so if I don’t get them done early, they don’t happen in a fantastic way. But it’s hard to get into the mood and find inspiration for your Christmas cards during the dog days of summer… In 2010, I met up with my friend Holly in November and we worked on our Christmas cards together….crafting in that hotel room in the Dells was one of my favorite memories that year! And my cards were simple, yet nice and I lined each and every envelope…sigh…those were the days…

Our cards this year were simple enough. I used a CHEERS stamp (from here) and washi tapes on some 4-bar cards (from here). I like making things, but I detest making the same ol’ thing over and over and over and over again… To alleviate boredom, I used a few different colors of cards and envelopes and mixed in different styles of washi tape (and some Martha Stewart tapes leftover from last year).

I really do think this might be my last year making the holiday cards…it’s just not fun anymore and I think my results show it. At this point in my life, I would rather focus on writing a nice note in each card than making each card. When I sat down to do my cards a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to write more, but the urgency of getting-things-done took over and I just went through the motions. I hate going through the motions…especially when it comes to my letter-writing friends and favorite family members. But I will hopefully alleviate my letter-writing guilt by staying on top of my mail in 2013 (a hint to my favorite 2013 resolution).

So I’m curious…do you write letters with each of your holiday cards? Do you expect letters?

Tagged Christmas, crafts, holidays, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape