summer's here!

how can you not visit cristin's blog and feel totally inspired to make some "summer fun?"

(good-bye, second grade! hello, summer!)

so easy lelly can do it!

(i swear, it's my new mantra!)

in the year 2005 A.D. (that would also be known as the year 1 B.B. - before blogging), i thought i was a pretty creative person. in the short time since then, i have been exposed to so many wonderful ideas, i sometimes don't know what to do with it all!

for example, we are currently celebrating *national laundry & linen week* here at the hotel (i know you are all super glad there was no spt challenge to go along with this theme!) throughout the week, we give little treats to our team to let them know how much we love and appreciate them.

in the year 1 B.B., i would have reached for a handy basket, artfully arranged the treats, and been very proud of my creative self. now, in the year 2 C.I.P.M.T.T.A.C. (as in, Could I Possibly Make This Thing Any Cuter), treat giving has reached an entirely new level at the hampton.

for instance, who wouldn't be exicted to find chocolate in their Mr. Clean box?


popcorn and sparkling water and comfy shoe inserts in a hotel laundry bag? oh, yeah, i'm gellin'!!

christmas day musings

every Christmas Day, i cover a few hours at the hotel so that other employees have a chance to spend part of the day with their families. it's a nice little routine for me... i get to do the crack-of-dawn present-opening with jack, enjoy some breakfast casserole and coffee, stop by my sister's to see the cousins...

and then, it's usually time for me to take a break from the chaos of the day. (this year, it was time for me to take a break from the 6 1/2 year old looking up his nose with the new eyeclops.)

the thing about hotel on Christmas Day is that none of the guests are actually here. they are at their family and friends' homes, enjoying present-opening and breakfast casseroles of their own. these four hours will be blessedly quiet, and i've come prepared to spend the entire time blogging!!

let's start off with some Christmas presents that we made to share with our family. first up, some *house sparkle.* i found this "recipe" at amy rue last year, and i filed it away in the recesses of my mind. it is, very simply, baking soda and essential oils - a totally natural, yummy smelling cleanser or laundry additive. you might think giving multi-purpose cleanser is an odd idea for Christmas. maybe it is, but could you resist the cute packaging?? thanks to this past year of blogging, i now have an arsenal of ribbon, canning jars (*multi-purpose jars*), graphic design ideas, and inspiration!!



on sunday, we took the cousins to portrait innovations. holy moly, what an operation! in the span of 10 minutes, we had 71 shots to choose from. we walked away with about 36 sheets of photos in 30 minutes - can you say Christmas presents galore for grandparents and far-away relatives?!? you also get a disk of all of the shots. so how could i resist whipping up some ornaments for my sisters (also known as the moms of the cousins.) once again, the blogosphere offered up an amazing idea, this time via jill.

.

who was the mom who was baking up cookies at 10 pm last night for Santa? that would be me... a slight oversight on my part yielded NO carrots and only leftovers from the cookie exchange to lay out for the jolly old elf. thanks to all of you baking bloggers out there who inspire me to have a pantry full of staples!


you can see that Santa and his team of reindeer were pretty hungry by the time they got to our house!


when i finally had a chance to sit down and relax in the glow of the Christmas tree, what a joy it was to look over the *other* tree in the room. so many new faces and families and stories represented here. hope you are all having a most wonderful Christmas Day!!

deck the halls

one of my late night projects this year was to take this

and turn it into this


it might be my favorite decor this year! i keep meaning to photo-journal my Christmas decorations. this is only our second year in this house, so we're still tweaking what we like and what we don't like. if i DO end up taking some good photos, i'm tempted to go over here and add it to the holiday house tour. what a cool idea! i'll never have time to go through all of those links, but i'll bet there's some great inspration to be found!

existential crafting

so, pink christmastime is here.

i worked on my pink christmas project over the thanksgiving holiday, and i'm pleased with the results. i'm just not quite sure it's finished.

i've had plenty of time to get ready, of course. (kind of like those final papers in college...) give me all the time in the world, and i'm still going to wait until the last possible minute. that's a big part of who i am.

creating homemade gifts is something i look forward to, and something i dread at the same time. i love the imagining, the planning, the searching for the right project. i often falter with the actual creation, fearing that it won't turn out exactly as i planned (perfectionism *is* a treatable disease, no?) that's also a big part of who i am.

i spent a good portion of the weekend looking at the gift, wondering what it needed. was something missing? was i looking at a final product, or was there more work to be done?

my family spent a good portion of the weekend looking at the gift, too. (they couldn't help it - it was sitting right there on the kitchen counter.) finally, matty said, "it doesn't say *lelly* anywhere."

and he's right. it's missing a *lellyness*. the minute the words were out of his mouth, i knew he was right. in the oh-yeah-these-socks-DON'T-match kind of a rightness.

the thing is, i don't know what my crafting "stamp" is. i know what my writing "stamp" is, the choice of words, the rhythm of the sentences. when i read something i've written, i know that it embodies my very being. can i find that same reflection in a craft project?

so before the wrapping, before the sending, i will likely spend a few more hours with this gift, searching for a part of me to share with it's recipient.

happy pink christmas to all of you creative people out there! may you find a little more of yourselves this season!!