Classroom Christmas Gifts

 Although we school our kids at home, our daughter attends a small homeschool co-op two days a week. This morning we've been making gifts for her classmates.  The bottles of coke are from Stuff-Mart Wal-Mart and the re-usable straws are from Dollar Tree.

She thought this was the MOST genius idea!  I wish I could claim it but I found it on Pinterest (of course! Do you waste spend as much time there as I do?) and since there's no oven involved, she can make dozens and dozens all on her own.  You can find the how-to Here.

Hope you are enjoying your Friday morning!

Starting Small - Ornament Decor

 I thought I'd start small with my holiday decor so today I went treasure hunting through my friend, Kim's, handmade ornaments. 

Ok, she didn't make the Eiffel Tower but all the rest were handmade.  And I'm really trying to surround us with handmade holiday stuff this year.   It might be fun to give the kids their own tree and have them make all the ornaments for it.

I spent the majority of today's 3 minute Christmas makeover attempting to make it look like the evergreen naturally fell into a neat pile.  I was not successful.  But it smells really good.

Just a few small ornaments, some farmhouse tatter and a white wreath.  But when I pass by, this corner winks a bit of Christmas at me.   Maybe tomorrow I can attempt something larger.

3 Minute Christmas Corner

 With all the markets that we have set up at, we have been surrounded by gorgeous Christmas displays since September.  But our home doesn't have a single bit of holiday cheer yet.  And I've never been good at Christmas decor.  Every year I really want to have beautiful decorations but I never quite pull it together in time.  So today I decided to do a 3 minute Christmas makeover on an empty little spot at the top of the stairs.  We have a huge old house that usually has more toys and school work and half finished projects on display than pretty things ("Hoarders With Glitter", as Jen Rizzo says).  But I'm determined!  It's December 1st for goodness sake. I'm not going to let all the loveliness that Christmas can be slip by! So I grabbed some Christmas-y things from a box leftover from the Hens market.  I fumbled up the stairs with an awkward armload, kicked the hotwheels out of the way and decided to give it a go.   

My tattered french chair from Anne Marie has a new spot.  I'm not sure that I'm in love with the result of my on-the-fly Christmas corner but maybe that's because it's a lone beacon of holiday cheer. So I'm challenging myself to do a 3 minute Christmas makeover each day in the hopes that I'll actually have Christmas decorations in time for Christmas!

Christmas at the Chick Barn

(Holiday Lace Banners) 

The Blessing Farmhouse is bursting at the seams!

We are getting ready for all the holiday barn sales coming up in the next few weeks.  This weekend we will be at the Kane County Flea Market in the Poultry Bldg (aka: The Chick Barn).  We are loading up our space with handmade holiday gifts and Mr. Blessing will have a new stock of vintage furniture pieces!  I'll try to post some photos over the next couple of days of some of the things that you can expect to see this weekend.  Here are few...

( A sweet variety of handmade tags) 

 (Simply Beautiful Lace Accessories for you and/or your home.  Inspired entirely by my fav designer, Magnolia Pearl.  The beauty is in the simplicity and versitility)

 (Gloves with built-in ruffly cuffs - love these!)

(Gift Toppers / Tree Trim)

(As requested, Ruffle Leg Warmers in cream & black)

And to top it all off, we get to be next to Traci and Mark.  They will have an amazing Christmas display.

Please come by and visit us as we kick off the Christmas season in the "The Chick Barn".