Mug Rug

Living far away from family means your close friends essentially become your family away from home. Our close knit group of friends started to gather for the holidays a couple of years ago and it's one of my favorite traditions. The kids love spending time together almost as much as the adults do! We enjoy planning the menu, coming up with crafts for the kids and organizing gift exchanges. This year we started a new secret santa tradition and the kids pulled names from a hat and got each other books. We had them inscribe the books to each other and got teary eyed when they each read what the others had written. I love making presents for my girlfriends and decided to make them each a monogrammed mug and a quilted mug rug. I've seen these on Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted too! Follow me!) and was dying to make some.

The mugs are plain white mugs that I got at the Dollar Store. I loved the look of them as they reminded me of these ones that I love from Pottery Barn. I have had my eye on the Emma Monogrammed Mug since getting the catalog and I knew that I could create an easy copykat DIY version with ease.

One Dollar Store Mug + Porcelain Marker = Copykat Emma Monogrammed Mug. I did my best to free hand each initial and then followed the instructions on the marker which required 24 hours to dry and then a quick 30 minute bake in the oven to set the ink.

Then came the fun part, the mug rugs! I followed THIS tutorial which was wonderful. I had never done any sewing of this sort and I was able to complete three mug rugs in about an hour.

I had a really fun time picking out the fabrics and then deciding what order to put them in.

I decided not to quilt the main part of the mug rug and instead just did the borders.

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BlogHer Book Club: The Lake of Dreams

The Lake of Dreams is an insightful book that takes a look at the history of a family. Kim Edwards, the author of “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’, takes us on a journey as the protagonist learns about her roots. Lucy takes an unexpected trip back home when her mom hurts herself and soon dives into learning more about where she came from. While initially it seems like the objects found are just interesting, soon Lucy discovers that they are the key to a very dark secret that will change her family forever.

The scenarios covered in the book hit close to home for me as my mother passed away in May. I know what it’s like to return to your childhood home after losing a parent. Lucy is faced with some difficult changes as upon her return she notices that her mother is well on her way to moving on with her life after her husband’s death. That transition is not so easy for Lucy as she hasn’t been home since her father passed away. Her mother is thinking about selling the family home which is unheard of to her. As Lucy starts to uncovered objects and facts found she learns things about her family that no one else knew about. She realizes that women have always been strong in her family and realizes that while she is in a difficult time in her life, she is dealing with her issues much like her ancestors would have done. As the story unravels we get to know Lucy and in a way take part in her story. This is a beautiful tale!

Please join me at the BlogHer Book Club page HERE for more discussions about this book.

This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

Holiday Bow Tie

In our family the tradition is to decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. As I started to sort through our ornaments this morning I began to ponder what the kids will wear for Christmas Eve. My daughter will probably wear a red silk dress with rosettes that I ordered online last week. But what about my son? He could probably wear his navy trousers with a dress white shirt... boring! I needed something to spice up the outfit. Quick search online and I found the perfect tutorial @ the Lemon Squeezy Home blog HERE.

The fabric was gifted to me in a pile a couple of years ago and it seemed perfect for this project. I didn't have fleece and didn't feel like heading out to the store so I used a piece of jersey from my 'old clothes waiting to be recycled' pile. What I'm saying is that this project took less than 30 minutes and cost me NOTHING.

My model is teething and has a bit of a cold, so he wasn't very into the photo shoot. I can't wait to see the bow tie on him Christmas Eve. I know it will look perfect with his crisp white dress shirt and blue pants. Bonus: he'll match his sister :) Thanks for stopping by!

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