UsedEverywhere.com

7 things I learned this year about DIY reupholstery

It’s that time of year when, formally or informally, many of us begin to assess life and think about our goals for the year ahead.  Last year I had only one goal on my New Year’s resolution list: have a baby.  And if you’ve had a baby before you know that’s about all you can really expect of yourself.  Anything achieved beyond that is a bonus!  So I’m pretty happy to look back and see some of the stuff I achieved this past year, even while taking care of my little ones – including beginning the adventure of DIY reupholstery.  Through this process I’ve learned a lot and gained some awesome new furniture for my home at a reasonable price.  Here are a few tips for you, if you think you might give it a whirl…

Designer Kimberley Renner. Photograph from Martha Stewart Living. Here's an example of how great a wingback chair can look. Unfortunately mine is far from finished...

 1. Start small.  My first project was (still is) a wingback chair.  I affectionately call it “the beast” – it’s large, curvy, and no simple task.  It’s taken a lot of creative problem solving, redoing things, letting go of my dreams of perfection, and it’s still not done.  Boo.  However over the past year of working on this chair I’ve completed three other chairs and a couch.  I just picked the wrong project to start with.  If you’re really timid, try a small bench or a dining chair with an upholstered seat.  Get used to thinking through an upholstery project and build up to the bigger pieces.

A dining chair makeover by designer Eddie Ross

2. Start cheap.  This is where UsedEverywhere comes in.  Buy a cheeeeap chair.  My wingback chair was $10, so it would probably be OK if I abandoned it.  Or destroyed it.  Or decided to pay an upholsterer to do it right.  (I considered all of these things, but I’m too stubborn to give in.)

Designer Ashley Wick, photograph from Lonny Magazine. When starting out on a bigger project, use solid colours instead of printed fabrics so that you don't need to worry about lining patterns up or keeping them straight.

3. Start clean and solid.  I didn’t want to delve into rebuilding a frame, or re-webbing a seat, or shaping new foam, so I look for chairs that are already sturdy and relatively clean (just ugly, outdated or worn).

4. Start together.  I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 people, so I don’t have a ton of space to spare.  So I was delighted when my friend Lindsey asked if I wanted to bring a chair over to her house and dedicate a room in her basement to our upholstery projects and work on them together.  Not only has the space been so valuable, the friendship has been priceless.  To pass the endless hours of staple removal over good conversation and chocolate is a great thing.  And to have someone to bounce ideas off of, to help brainstorm solutions with, and to hold that fabric in place is so helpful.

Lindsey's first completed chair - a cute vintage rocker.

5. Start inspired.  The trick to seeing an old ugly furniture piece through to its glorious finish is to have vision.  Know what you want to achieve.  You can do this by collecting inspiration pictures.  (I keep an inspiration file on Pinterest)  Surf online design magazines or blogs, saving pictures of furniture you like.  Take a camera into stores and snap pictures of furniture that you love (but wouldn’t pay that much money for!).  Sort through them and figure out what shapes and colours, and patterns you are drawn to.  For example I love classic or antique chair shapes done in modern colours and patterns.

Design by Samantha Pynn, photograph by Virginia MacDonald. Here's an example of a classic french style chair with modern colours and prints.

6. Start informed.  There are tons of bloggers out there who’ve tried their hands at reupholstery projects of all kinds.  Read up on their experiences to gauge if you’re up for a similar project, and how you might go about it.  You don’t have to follow their methods exactly, but it’s a good place to start.  Some of my favourites are Little Green Notebook and Centsational Girl - but you could do a Google search for whatever project type you’re doing (I like to include “blog” in the search title) and find many industrious, creative people’s handiwork.

I discovered when working on this chair that I find furniture that is only partially upholstered much easier to do

7. Start equipped.  As you get started it pays to have good tools.  But you don’t necessarily want to pay for good tools.  I’m super cheap, so I didn’t go out and buy anything, I just tried to use what was already in the toolbox.  As far as possible try to borrow tools for your first upholstery project.  Then if you think it’s something you’ll continue to do it’s worth investing in a couple good tools.  For example I prefer to just use a flathead screw driver and a pair of pliers to remove staples, but found upgrading to an air compressor staple gun completely worth it.  And some of the special upholstery needles out there for sewing corners or adding button tufting will make your life much easier.  So look around at what’s out there and buy things as you discover you need them.

Hopefully my experience will help you delve into a reupholstery project of your own this new year!

A final dose of Christmas magic: a real Santa story

For some of us, the holiday season just seems to end too quickly. I will confess, I found myself reduced to sobby tears on December 26^th—a day I loathe every year because I’m not a Boxing Day bargain hunter—when I realized that we could legitimately take down the tree already. Perhaps you’re the same, or perhaps you just had one of those Christmases that was lacking a little in magic. Well, for whatever reason you’re hankering for one last dose of yuletide magic, I want to share a very special story with you.

My father, Bill, loves to tell this Christmas story from my childhood. He will swear it’s a true story, and as far as I’ve ever been able to discover, it really is true. Here, for all to read and take into your hearts, is my father’s favourite Christmas adventure:

“THIS IS A STORY for all those people who have foolishly lost their belief in good ol’ Saint Nick. Both my wife and I will swear on a stack of bibles that this is a totally true story. My children had reached that time in their lives (10 and 12) when the Santa Crisis occurs: friends, school, and television, coupled with pre-teen observation, had brought them to the conclusion that perhaps their parents were somehow involved in the gift-giving process.

It was December 23^rd. My wife and I decided this might be the last time we could visit the ‘mall Santa’ and have any chance of rebuilding Jordan and Mike’s flagging belief. We set out in our minivan after convincing the kids we needed to do this as a family adventure. Of course, Sue had told them I would be heartbroken if we didn’t go and I had played the same guilt trip on them only moments before. I think they came along just to shut us up.

Our first stop was our favourite shopping mall, but all that was left was an empty throne. “Oh,” I said, “Santa must be feeding the reindeer!” To the parents out there, let me ask: do you remember those times when your kids give you THAT LOOK? You know…the one that says ‘you’re a complete lame-o’? Well anyway, we went to three other malls and no Santa was available at any of them. Of course, I continued to point out that this validated my hungry reindeer theory, but we were getting desperate. It was 8:30pm as we raced towards the Lincoln Fields mall. “Give up, Dad, they never have a Santa here!” “The Santa, not a Santa!” I said, indignantly.

As we walked through the mall, Sue and I were truly sad that we had missed our last kiddie Christmas with the kids. Just then, we turned the corner and there, sitting on a chair, was Santa Claus. No throne, no cattle corral, no elves; just Santa. Well, not just Santa, but the best Santa we had ever seen. Even his beard was real. Santa hollered, “Jordan, Michael, where have you been? I have been waiting all night.” Now I must admit, I have run some great scams on the kids in the past but as they gave me the evil eye that night, both Sue and I insisted we had nothing to do with this. “Come on and get up on my knee you two, I don’t have much time!” Santa said.

For the next 10 minutes, he talked to them like he had known them all their lives. Then he said he had to get home to the reindeer (Ha! Feeding time, I smirked). As we piled into the van, the kids thanked us for organizing such a great Santa. We told them we had nothing to do with this, and it was true! We truly had no hand in this. With little patient smiles, they said thanks once again.

Later that night I asked Sue if she had organized this. She pointed out it had been my idea to go to Lincoln Fields, not hers. The next morning, Sue called the office at the mall to thank them for having such a great Santa. The secretary said, “Sorry ma’am, we didn’t have a Santa yesterday.”

To this day, none of us can explain what happened that night; but I have never heard a single word of doubt about the existence of Santa after that.

Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!”

Baby's First Christmas: A Survival Guide for Parents

Awww…our first Christmas with our six month old son Grayson is over and while it was a bit more stressful than past Christmases with just the two of us, it was well worth it!  I’m sure part of the stress was the fact he’s been teething since December 1st but we still managed to get through it with very little scrapes and bruises.

It definitely was different for other reasons this year, partly because of our own expectations of how his first Christmas should go and partly because we had to work Christmas around his 6-month-old schedule.  From it, I gained some insight on what I would do differently or things I learned and so I thought I’d pass it on to the other first time parents out there who will have a baby before next Christmas.  (Note: if your baby is under 3 months old next Christmas, very little of this will apply to you as he or she will most likely sleep through the entire Christmas! Merry Christmas to you!)

1. Try to go get the picture with Santa done early in December.  If not, you will be standing in line for a long time and most likely lose your small window of opportunity to get a picture of your baby smiling (rather than crying) on Santa’s lap. We learned this the hard way as we waited in line for 45 minutes at the mall only to have our son start rubbing his eyes and whining just before we got to the end of it. And that was it… Window closed! We had to come back the next day and do it all over again and miraculously managed to get a smiling photo (although I believe this was his “I’m so tired I’m starting to go crazy so I smile and laugh for no reason before having a total meltdown” smile.)

Santa told us Grayson wanted an electric drum set for Christmas

2. Don’t wrap too many presents.  It takes your young child about 10-15 minutes to unwrap a gift as well as look over the present. Since most babies under a year need a nap every 1 ½- 2 hours, this only gives you…hold on…let me do the math..okay…enough time to do about 8-10 presents.  And really how many presents does a six month old need?? As we found out, wrapping paper and boxes the toys came in are way more fun to play with (and eat).

Barely touched the piano but spent 10 minutes playing with the box. Go figure!

3. Babies will put everything, I mean EVERYTHING, in their mouths so make sure to grab that wrapping paper quick before it becomes baby’s lunch. We were a bit late and before we could grab a small piece out of his mouth, it was gone!  I thought about checking later to see if it had made its’ way through him but then decided I wanted an appetite for Christmas dinner and just let it be. He was fine.

The moment before it happened...only took a second!

There it goes...those two teeth of his sure came in handy for him!

4. Space out present opening….and give yourself at least the whole day to get through them all. (If your baby is teething, add another day). After we managed to open a few presents at our house, we made our way to the grandparents house for more gift opening. Needless to say, we had to come back on Boxing Day so Grayson could finish opening his presents.

5. Don’t eat too much turkey as the tryptophan combined with the sleep deprivation will knock you out and leave baby to roll or crawl around the house by himself. We were in bed by 7:30am on Christmas day.

6. Take toys out of boxes and put batteries in them before wrapping so baby can play with them right away…they don’t have the attention span at this age (or any age really) to wait for you to read an instruction manual and put the toy together before play time. (and stock up on batteries as I’ve learned that basically every toy you buy needs at least 3-4 double AAs.)

7. If you have the room,  save the boxes the toys came in as well as the manuals so you can reuse them when you sell your toys used online.  This always adds appeal to your item and makes it sell quicker.

8. Calling all Breastfeeding Moms! If you want that glass of wine with Christmas dinner, make sure to remember to pump that morning so you have some food for baby before dinner. Thank God for electric double breast pumps!!!

9. Make sure that camera of yours is charged on Christmas Eve and has adequate memory for the 1000 pictures you plan on taking on Christmas morning. But don’t worry, if you run out of room, those grandparents will always be there to pick up the slack…each with their own camera.

And lastly just try to relax and have fun. Your baby may be all smiles on Christmas Day or all tears but either way his first Christmas will be special for everyone. And remember there are still the next few magical years where your child waits in antipation for Santa to come and put all the presents under the tree… just don’t forget to put out the milk and cookies.

Coupon tip of the week:  Right after Christmas day is the best time to stock up on items for next season.  Most stores sell off their Christmas decoration at 50-70% off.  As well, they do the same for gift baskets so stock up on these for birthday gifts for the rest of the year.  You’ll save a bundle and have tons of new items to enjoy next season.  Also if you want to dress your little one up in a Santa sleeper again next year, now is the time to buy it as they also go on sale drastically after Christmas.Happy New Year!

Where to find free moving boxes

We’re getting ready to move out of our house in the Spring. We’re prepping for a massive renovation and need to get most of our stuff out of here. But first we want to spend some time going through our things and paring them down. For this we need cardboard moving boxes. LOTS of cardboard moving boxes. The question is, where can we pick some up for cheap, and preferably free here in Ottawa?

I put the question out to my friends on Twitter, and they totally came through. They came up with a lot of great suggestions including checking the local grocery stores such as Food Basics and the LCBO. Photocopy paper boxes make good ones too (I hadn’t thought of that)! FrogBox was also suggested to us, and I like the idea but it’s not cost efficient over the 6-8 months. But then someone suggested I check UsedOttawa (doh) and I did. And you know what? I found someone who was getting rid of 40 new moving boxes. And right after that someone on Twitter offered her moving boxes as well. It took about 10 minutes to find more moving boxes than I will ever need.

Twitter wins!

DIY Borax Snowflake Ornaments

Here’s a great project you can do on your own, with kids, or whomever! It’s no-fuss, little mess, and in 24 hours you can create amazing crystal ornaments for less than $1 each!

Recently I learned how to create crystal ornaments, which are much sturdier, quicker to make, and turn out more consistently than the standard sugar-water-string projects I used to fill the kitchen with growing up. The secret is sodium borate—Borax.

Used mostly as a laundry booster (softens hard water and leaves your clothes cleaner and brighter), it’s actually one of those old school “do it all” products. You can use it as a cleaner, a deodoriser, an insect repellent, and for crafts!

In concocting the perfect recipe for Borax ornaments I realized it really could be tailored to suit any level of crystallization you desire. However, the general rule to follow is this: three tablespoons of Borax to one cup of boiling water.

To make this snowflake ornament, follow these steps.

You will need:

• Pipe cleaners
• Borax
• Glass jars
• String or yarn (remnant pieces)
• Sticks or pencils (to suspend the ornaments from the jar into water)
• Boiling water
• Measuring cup and stir stick
• Food colouring (if desired)

Instructions:
Bend and shape pipe cleaners into desired shape (follow chart for snowflake, using two pipe cleaners)

Tie string or yarn to pipe cleaner at top—this also acts as the ornament hanger

Affix string to stick or pencil, hang ornament in jar (or other heat resistant container) being careful to avoid the shape touching the sides or bottom of jar

In a separate container, mix three tablespoons of Borax to one cup of boiling water. Mix until Borax is dissolved (if you want coloured crystals also add a few drops of food colouring, keeping in mind the colour of the pipe cleaner will show a bit)

Pour mixture into jar, covering pipe cleaner completely

Wait 24 hours.

Remove from jar. Leave on towel until dry (only a few minutes), wipe off excess crystals and display your beautiful handmade ornaments for all to see!

The best part about this craft is watching the crystals form before your eyes!

Can’t-miss Christmas Songs

It’s inevitable: every Holiday season our ears are assaulted with Christmas carols. They fill the shopping mall halls as the Halloween decorations are coming down and don’t stop until Baby New Year fills his diaper. They’re on the radio at work, home and in the car. They’re on every TV show and commercial break. There’s simply no escaping it. And for some people it’s maddening. Fortunately for me I am not one of those people – I love Christmas music and can put up with most of it (except for the Mariah Carey and Bob Dylan albums – both aural abominations. The Dylan one hurts me the most because I’m such a fan, but it sounds like your drunk uncle doing Christmas karaoke.). But fear not, I’m here to help those of you who are driven to near insanity with the saccharine seasonal songs that bombard us every year. I’ve delved into my extensive Holiday music collection and ear marked 10 songs that will let you celebrate the season without losing your mind.

1. Donna & Blitzen, Badly Drawn Boy – from the About a Boy soundtrack, this song gets stuck in my head for days, but in a good way.
2. Xmas Time is Here Again, My Morning Jacket – their whole holiday EP, My Morning Jacket Does Christmas Fiasco Style is great, but this song is a standout for me.
3. White Christmas, Otis Redding – sure, the Bing version is great, but Otis injects so much soul into this standard. He doesn’t just dream of a white Christmas, he begs and pleads for it.
4. Toy Jackpot, Blackalicious – hip hop legends inject swagger and cool into the anxiety kids feel as Christmas gets closer. A song both my kids and myself love. Also used in this Target commercial!
5. Electronic Santa Claus, Blazer Force – if Daft Punk did a Christmas song, this would be it. Great song to dance to with the kids. (Also used in a Target commercial, see vid above)
6. Tiny Tree Christmas – Guster – a nice jangly and poppy song that will make you tap your toes and put a smile on your face.  Annnnd, I bet you know what’s coming… go Target!
7. If Christmas Can’t Bring You Home – Reigning Sound – great holiday heartbreak song from garage rock god Greg Cartwright’s awesome outfit. This is my favourite Christmas song period. Listen here.
8. Calling and Not Calling My Ex, Okkervil River – a bit of a stretch as a Holiday song, but it does have jingle bells and a verse that paints a lovely Christmas picture. Watch a live version here.
9. Maybe This Christmas, Ron Sexsmith – a sweet and soulful seasonal song that is equal parts hope and melancholy – like a modern day Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Listen to a preview here.
10. The Ventures Christmas Album – OK, it’s a whole album, but if you want to arm your collection with the standards, this is the album to get. From the first to last song, this album from the surf rock superstars is awesome, tying in popular riffs from 60’s hits into Christmas classics. And it’s instrumental, so it makes the perfect background music to any Christmas party. Just be sure to pick up their original 1964 album, and not the more synthy version recorded in 2003.

 
Happy listening,

Brodie

Macaroni Angels: a Tutorial Not for the Faint of Heart.

When I was about nine years old, my mom went on a Christmas ornament-making binge. This in itself isn’t unusual; Mom is very creative, though she doesn’t let it out nearly enough, and Christmas has always been an opportunity for her to shine. I remember that particular Christmas, however, because that was the year of the macaroni angels.

Mom slaved away for hours. Days, in fact. At the end of it, she had produced several dozen perfect little macaroni angels, made of four different kinds of pasta, white enamel paint, and wooden beads. I was too young to understand why I wasn’t allowed to help with this specific craft, and I have wanted Mom to do this one again now that I’m older and am certain I would be a better helper. So last Christmas, as the last two surviving macaroni angels were visibly chipped and damaged, I demanded we craft these anew. With a turn of good luck, Mom found the right sized farfalle, and we were ready to go.

In the end, this craft took:

-three days of crafting

-four adults working on them

-one-and-a-half tubes of smelly glue

-enough ingenuity to create something far more useful, like a cold fusion machine.

I’ve shared the tutorial below; if you’d like to see the ‘director’s cut’ account of how the crafting went, complete with fumbles and bloopers, head over to the NEST to see the post in all its glory.

Let me walk you through it.

 YOU WILL NEED:

-farfalle pasta

-penne rigatoni pasta

-gorgonzola pasta (or chop up macaroni into quarters)

-macaroni pasta

-E-6000 glue

-glue gun and glue

-wood beads for heads

-small beads

-white enamel paint (not acrylic)

-extra-fine tipped sharpie or other permanent felt tip pen

-fishing line and scissors

DAY ONE: ASSEMBLY

1. Use your E-6000 glue to:

-attach the head bead to the penne body,

-roll the head in the gorgonzola, after applying glue to the head, to make hair,

-glue on the farfalle wings,

-glue on the macaroni arms.

2. Let them dry, preferably for a couple days to be sure the glue is set and isn’t off-gassing.

DAY TWO: BEADS AND PAINT

3. Pull out your glue gun and glue a bead onto the head of each angel. This is where the string will go through.

4. String fishing line through each bead and tie a good knot. If you still have E-6000 glue (and your partner hasn’t hid it on you), you can dab the knot with some glue to make it permanent.

5. Hang the angels off of a dowel, broom, or other stick-like thing. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it helps detangle the fishing line.

6. Dip each angel, one by one, into the enamel paint. You may need to take a paint brush and fill in little areas that somehow elude the paint.

7. Hang each angel onto a dowel, broom handle, etc. Beware: the angels will require more ‘breathing room’ from each other than they did before. Let dry for at least a day.

DAY THREE: FACES AND TOUCHUPS AND GLAMOUR

8. Inspect each angel, now dry (and no longer soggy, if you accidentally used acrylic paint), for any exposed pasta. Use a paint brush to fill in these little spots.

9. Grab your Sharpie and draw a little pair of eyes. If you look at our troops, every angel is a little different because no one could follow instructions; but I have more faith in you out there, so here they are: draw two smiles from two happy faces for eyes. Add some eyelashes if you feel like it. Now put the pen down.

10. Hot glue fun things into the angel’s hands: harps, books, holly, pompoms, etc.

SUCCESS: A HOST OF ANGELS

In the end, we had one hundred perfect little angels. Do you remember that scene in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones when Obi-Wan Kenobi sees all the lines of identical storm troopers that those weird tall aliens have been manufacturing? Take a good look at the rows of angels. Yeah, there’s a parallel there. What I loved about this craft was doing it with my mom. I agree wholeheartedly with her that this is not a kid’s craft, so I completely understand why I couldn’t help out when I was little, though even then, it was fascinating to watch her work. But now, as an adult, learning one of my mother’s secrets arts, the experience had a feeling of deep importance. I have inherited my mother’s ability to MacGyver a pile of sequins, pipecleaners, pompoms, and toothpicks into an adorable chotchkie; and for this I’m eternally grateful. Mom’s ability to craft something out of nothing has always been an enviable brand of witchcraft that I hope I will one day master as she has done.

Finally a Christmas toy worth standing in line for: The Elf on the Shelf

With only a few a days before Christmas, hopefully you have finished your shopping for everyone.  I have yet to wrap my presents but am thankful that at least I’ve bought them and don’t have to go to the mall, currently filled with last minute shoppers freaking out over whether to buy their loved ones dress socks or fruit cake…cause everything else is sold out! (Quick hint:  get the dress socks!  Nobody likes fruit cake and the only time they say they do is if someone gives it to them for Christmas: “Oh Fruit Cake!!! Thank you so much…it’s my favourite!”) Uh-uh. No. Not true.

And if you are thinking you can still get the “it” toy of the season, forged aboud it (insert Italian accent here).  Every year there is one toy or gift that is the must-have of the year. People stand in line for hours outside stores waiting for the doors to open so they can climb over each other in order to snag the “best gift this year!”

Personally, I usually can’t see what all the big fuss is about for these “it” toys or who has decided they are the best gift to buy each yer.  Plus how is it in the spirit of Christmas to play tug-a-war at the mall with a stranger over a toy that their child will play with for maybe a few months and then sell at next summer’s garage sale?

I actually have a memory of watching television when I was six years old and during a commercial, there was a breaking news story about mothers fighting over Cabbage Patch Dolls.  People had actually been injured trying to outrun each other in the store to the display case in order to snag this “it” present.  I admit that I did get a Cabbage Patch Doll that year and loved it but I don’t think it would have been worth my mother breaking her arm over it if she had.

Funny story: my husband accidentally told me that even HE got a Cabbage Patch doll that year because his mom had found out it was the present that every kid had to have for Christmas.  Unfortunately he was twelve years old so the doll didn’t bring on the squeals of glee his mom was hoping for.  ( He wanted to make sure that I mentioned it was a BOY Cabbage Patch Doll he received although I’ve never actually confirmed this with his mom…have to remember to check this fact next time I speak to her.)

And of course, who can forget the Tickle Me Elmo frenzy of 1996 where people were selling them on the black market for hundreds of dollars as the demand was so great.  Again, it’s a fun kid’s toy but was it really worth giving up a small education fund for? (I just saw a used one at a garage sale last year for $2 dollars…need I say more! I’m guessing this was from the new and inproved Tickle Me Elmo of Christmas 2008).

I was watching the news a couple of weeks ago waiting to find out what this year’s “it” toy was and to my utter surprise it isn’t a giggling doll or a video game console or even the new I Phone 4S (I know..shocking!)  This year there’s finally a children’s gift that embodies the spirit of Christmas and holiday magic that’s worth standing in the freezing cold for hours for. And guess what?  It’s a book! That’s right, this is not a typo!  An actual book about Christmas that families can use every year as a holiday tradition called “The Elf of the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition.”

Even the story behind this book is magical:  “After sending out The Elf on the Shelf to major publishing houses, only to receive rejection letter after rejection letter, Aebersold and Bell decided to self-publish. They created CCA and B, which stands for Creatively Classic Activities and Books, alongside Bell’s twin sister, Christa Pitts. Starting with only 300 copies of The Elf on the Shelf, CCA and B has since sold over 1.5 million copies.” (Courtesy of Wikipedia.Thank you!)

The book comes with a small pixie elf scout that the children can name and adopt.  The plot and premise is that this little elf observes the children during the day and then flies off back to the North Pole each night before Christmas to report to Santa whether the kids have been naughty or nice. (Can’t you just picture it now? Your kids are putting up a fight not wanting to clean their room and all you have to do is point to the elf scout on the shelf and presto…the room is clean! I told you this book is magical!)

The elf comes back each morning before the family wakes and never lands in the same spot so the kids have to go find him each day.  As well, they can’t touch the elf or he will lose all his magic and be unable to tell Santa if the children have been good or what they want for Christmas (they can’t touch him but they can tell him what they want for Christmas so he can report this back to Santa).

I know what you’re thinking right now, “I gotta have this for Christmas this year!!” But unfortunately because it is the “it” gift of the season, it is sold out everywhere. Trust me, when I heard about it I started researching online and couldn’t find it anywhere except from the Scrooges who demand five times the retail price. Now how is that in the Christmas Spirit? Their elf is not going to have a very good report to give to Santa this year!

But even if I can’t buy this gift for Christmas this year, I’ll be making sure to create a reminder for myself to look for it early in the New Year for my family. Because unlike those “it” toys that cause riots and injury each year only to end up on the front lawn, this book can become a yearly tradition that reminds the whole family to be nice rather not naughty.  And isn’t this what Christmas is all about anyway?

Coupon tip of the week:  In the spirit of Christmas, I would suggest, to those of you who have a stockpile in your house from couponing, to lighten your load this week and consider donating some items to the less fortunate.  A bottle of shampoo or a deodorant may seem an everyday thing to most of us, but to someone struggling, this is a luxury and would be wonderful to receive for Christmas.  Plus it will give you more Coupon Karma for 2012!  Happy Holidays!

Where do you stand on Christmas cards? And where do you put them?

A few years ago I had to do a serious Holiday Reassessment. I was taking on too much and buckling under the pressure of it all. I had to decide what would stay and what would have to go.

Holiday baking, pretty much, had to go. I don’t really enjoy baking cookies (although I do love baking bread), and don’t have patience for finicky decorations. Besides, this is something that can be easily outsourced.

Shopping and gift buying had to stay. Obviously. But I could pare it down by buying fewer things and shopping online.

Decorating was pared down to a tree and some greenery on the mantle.

And then there was the issue of Christmas cards. I love receiving cards, but in order to receive I realized I had to send. And so I found myself returning to this tradition year after year, and quite often the kids got involved too, even when they were too young to write:

Sadly, it’s rare that I’m able to get the cards out on time. In fact, I still have a stack of them right here, almost ready to go. Oops. Perhaps I’ll just call them “New Years” cards instead of Christmas cards. That way I can send them anytime in January!

Displaying the cards has also been an ongoing issue for me too. Some years we’ve strung twine across our faux fireplace or across the window, but there are a few other options that I’m considering for next year:

• I like the idea of creating a giant collage
• Pinning them to ribbon on the back of a door
• Making a fun wreath
• … or a tree (!)
• Stringing them along a bannister with pine boughs

Do you send cards to family and friends this time of year? Why or why not? And how do you display them? I need more ideas!

An Easy Holiday Centrepiece

a beautiful, but over-the-top centrepiece. Photograph by Laurey W. Glenn for Southern Living

I was watching a show the other day where the hosts and guest designer created a table centrepiece (not the one pictured above).  It was lovely – laden with lush pine boughs, enormous pine cones, long sprigs of berries, a giant silver ornament and some stars wrapped in twine for a rustic touch.  And this lovely centrepiece took up nearly the whole freakin’ table.  I thought, “Wow, what a mess.”  Unless you had no plans to do anything on that table all holiday long, it would be a terrible centrepiece.  Where would you put food?  Or dishes?

So many “festive touches” this time of year are lovely in theory, but really impractical in practice.  Especially for me with a loveable but active two-year-old running around.  So I give to you: how to build a practical and lovely holiday centrepiece.

START WITH A TRAY OR PLATTER

The idea here is to contain your centrepiece within a tray so that it is easy to move whenever needed.  It also means the pieces won’t scatter all over, or fall off your table.  What kind of tray you use will decide what style of arrangement you create.  A brighty-coloured lacquer tray could create a whimsical or modern look, or a sculptural carved wooden platter could create a rustic look.  For me, I used this pretty white ceramic tray I found at a used store.  It has a sort of pretty country look that suits my style.

My $9 Mikasa tray from Value Village

ADD SOME LIGHT

If you have no children or pets (or mature children or lazy pets) you could use any kind of candles you like.  (I tried taper candles at Thanksgiving and they were tipped over like dominos in under 5 minutes…)  For me I used candles in tall votives and in a tea light lantern because the flames are contained.  If that still makes you nervous you could buy battery-operated candles or even a string of Christmas lights.

That’s already pretty nice on it’s own, and might work for the post-holiday need for a pared-down look, but the beauty is in the layers at Christmas time, so…

ADD SOME DETAILS

For me, it’s as easy as a bunch of Christmas tree ornaments without their hooks.  I buy the plastic “non-breakable” kind from Superstore on clearance in January.  They hold up really well, but may eventually break (they weren’t intended to be used as hockey pucks, I guess).  However, if they do break they won’t be in a million tiny glass shards that threaten to devour little toes.

You could use pine cones, or branches, if you want, but I like these because they add extra sparkle and are super easy to arrange (and to clean up!)

And there you go!  A pretty, sparkly little centrepiece for your holiday table.

And if you need to use your table to have a cookie decorating assembly line, or play board games, or, you know, eat, you can easily move it out if the way in under 30 seconds.

And it's just as pretty on the sideboard!

And say it’s time for the big Christmas dinner, or you want to set out a table of appetizers for a party, you can use all the same pieces for a more elegant look.

Use any fabric you like, or a scarf, or some ribbon, or whatever, and add a table runner down the centre.  You don’t even need to sew – some fabrics look great with raw edges.  I just ironed the edges of my fabric underneath.

Fabric from Ink & Spindle

Then take all of the other pieces and spread them along the runner.  The nice thing about the random arrangement of ornaments is that they can be pushed aside to make room for platters or pitchers.

The display with pillar candles for "mature" households

Or use lanterns to keep candles away from curious fingers.

And it’s as easy as that!  Now, why don’t you start surfing your UsedEverywhere site for used trays, ornaments, or candle holders, and voila!  Your trouble-free Christmas centrepiece is done!