I love staying home for vacation (although though the term “staycation” grates on my nerves for some reason) because it allows me a chance to nest, to reconnect with my home and spend some extended time in a creative mindset verses trying to cram all of my creativity into the hours after work or on the weekends.
I cooked a lot this week. Beyond the holiday fare I made food that takes longer than an hour after work to put together. That alone is incredibly fulfilling creatively.
I started a writing project that is still in its infancy.
And I made some things with my hands. First, an Advent Calendar to hang on the mantel above the fire. Each day we will add that day’s date until the calendar is full on December 25th.
Awaiting December One
I kept to a very limited pallet which not only goes well in my home, but is neutral and could work with many decors. Until the start of Advent we have a black grosgrain ribbon stretched across the fireplace below the mantel with a basket of date tags sitting in wait, each with a tiny brown clothes pin to clip it to the ribbon.
Each date tag is slightly unique. I stamped the dates on Kraft and manila tags, brown and white doilies, and a couple of custom shapes I had in my stash.
I embellished
with punched snowflakes in red, white and brown and some stamped images. On just a few I used red sealing wax and and a seal and on others paper butterflies made from book pages and custom paper
The final tag, for Christmas Day is an envelope. I won’t be home for Christmas. I will be off in New Hampshire with my middle child and the two who will be home in Denver can open the envelope for a surprise. Even adult children deserve unexpected surprises on Christmas.
I will share more tomorrow. Happy holidays!
Autumn Journal 