Woman in Real Life

December is all about getting cozy - snuggling up with a faux fur blanket and a hot cocoa to watch seasonal favourites like Elf and Love Actually. It's also the perfect time to pick up your knitting needles and knit something cozy. For me, it was something "warm" for my house - this diy yarn garland in the form of a looped chain. It's like a slightly more complicated version of those paper chains the kids like to make.

For other snuggly yarn projects, such as blankets and scarves, visit the links at the bottom of this post. Once again this month, 12 Canadian lifestyle and décor bloggers are sharing our diys using a given material - in this case yarn. I'm sad to see our #12monthsofdiy project come to an end. I have had such a great time coming up with crafts for each theme and interacting with the other bloggers and readers.

I love looking at the beautifully crafted work of "makers" on Instagram - embroidered hoop art, handmade hats, witty t-shirts, pottery mugs, lovingly hand-sewn baby clothes - there are so many talented women crafting gorgeous, unique items for others and often caring for families at the same time.

I don't have any particular talent in this regard. I like to bake, take pictures and write, but when it comes to crafting I am purely a hobbyist. That doesn't mean I won't keep at it though, just for fun. And I'd also like to inspire my children to harness their creativity into satisfying projects - there's nothing like the feeling of finishing something wonderful that you've made by hand. This month, I picked out some books to inspire us from DK's Made By Hands Boutique.

Winter is on the horizon and that means I'll soon be spending quite a bit of time hibernating. While evenings spent in front of the fireplace with a book and a hot cocoa sound pretty good, eventually all that time indoors (especially with kids) leads to boredom. That's where these books from  DK Canada's Craft Boutique come in handy.

One step in my 4-month purge involved opening up boxes of books that had been stowed away in the storage room. (And, by the way, my 4-month purge is about to become a 6-month purge, starting today, because the summer progressed very slowly.)

I was torn about these Creative Hands knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guides (which took up a whole box). I'm thinking there is a good chance I'm never going to actually make a project from these books, so they really shouldn't be taking up valuable space. But I have a positive reaction to them. They spark joy, which means I get to keep them right? (According to the KonMari method anyway.)

As much as I hate (hate, hate) to admit it, winter isn't that far away. So, when I was asked to pick a book from DK Canada's gift boutique, I went with a book that promises to help make winter more cozy, more fun, more tolerable.

DK's Winter Knits Made Easy features 40 patterns for lovely, warm knits to keep everybody in the family toasty this winter. Hats, sweaters, scarves, socks, blankets - all the items that are needed to keep man, woman and child warm inside and outside of the house.

My family knows that my perfect Mother's Day gift will always include a book. In fact, I like to get a book for almost any occasion. I favour simple pleasures over expensive gifts. Not that I would turn down diamonds, but I'm happy with a dvd, a lovely lotion, a scented candle, a sweet treat and, of course, a book.

Last year, I got the perfect Mother's Day gift. Here's what it looked like:

The first day that my daughter wore the poncho, her bff came over for a visit. She had just come from a tea party birthday celebration and she was all dressed up. I snapped these photos while the two of them were playing (until they got tired of my picture-taking and told me to stop).

 



They had a serious case of the giggles and I got a lot of blurry photos.

 

Here’s where I told them to get the giggles out with their silliest possible faces (above). After that, they gave me a couple of calmer shots.

The weeks seem to fly by. Here’s another look at my family’s cell phone pictures from the past week.

The best weeks are full of little indulgences that make us feel good, aren’t they? A little food, a nice cup of tea, a fun project completed.

Speaking of making us feel good, we actually had a couple of days of sunshine this week. Quite a pick-me-up. Still, I’m not giving up the Vitamin D drops yet.

We had another busy week, with the four of us still home for Christmas vacation. Here are some of our cell phone photos from the past seven days.

This makes it look like we were very productive, but there were several days spent in pyjamas too.

Although, like most parents, I get a lot done even when I'm in pyjamas. Let me see, there's laundry, cooking, dishes, baking, tidying, cleaning...I could go on, but you know what I mean.

I headed to a local yarn shop for their post-Christmas sale. I took an introductory knitting class there last February and have yet to finish the scarf I started then. Some ladies in the waiting room at my daughter’s ballet class have suggested we work on a lovely scarf project each week while we wait. I picked up the supplies for that and some needles for the kids. Every time I want to knit, they do too, so I figured they should have the right equipment for the job.

For the first time ever, we celebrated New Year’s Eve just the four of us. We ate some Chinese food (yum), played some games, threw some blankets and pillows on the floor and just vegged together. Believe it or not, the kids said this was the best New Year’s Eve ever. Just goes to show you once again, all they want is your undivided attention once in a while.

On New Year’s Day, the four of us went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for Family Sunday.



We saw the Chagall exhibit, and the kids were given companion activity guides, which kept them busy looking for images in the paintings. Very helpful, as they would normally be “bored.”



We also participated in art activities related to The Adventures of Tintin. My son had just seen the movie, so it was good timing.



The kids made boats and attempted to float them in a pool of water. They also created treasure maps and the (foil) “bottles” to put them in. A Cape Breton fiddler was on hand to provide entertainment, along with some step dancers. Back at home, we made an arugula salad with sautéed mushrooms on top, inspired by one we had at Bar Italia the week before. Delicious with a light olive oil vinaigrette.






I noticed my ice cream maker sitting lonely in the cold cellar, and decided ice cream in the winter wouldn’t hurt anyone. I made a cookies-and-cream recipe from Lick it! Creamy, Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love. We sandwiched it between the few remaining chocolate chunk cookies I had made before.

 

We made this “15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta” from Oh She Glows. I was hoping it would be terrific, but not really expecting it to be, since it’s so easy to make. I doubled the recipe so the whole family could have some. Turns out, it’s delicious. Next time, I have to put a little bit less of my brother-in-law’s home-grown garlic, though. I loved it, but the kids found it a bit much for their tastes. Bloglovin Have you tried subscribing to your favourite blogs through Bloglovin yet? I like the way they send daily email updates to show when bloggers have shared new posts. Plus, if you go to their website, you see a little summary with enticing photos so you can quickly choose which entries you want to read. If you want to follow MY blog ;) you can go HERE. I so appreciate people taking the time to follow me with Bloglovin, email or GFC. It truly makes my day!