SO LONG, 2012: PART TWO

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And now for the last half of 2012. It was a good one.
We had lots of fun with family.
 Preston experienced the drive in for the first time!
Elliott turned 3.5.
There were some dry erase mats for download.
Elliott went to his first day of preschool.
I made these chalkboard speech bubbles for a party.
We took a little road trip down to Tuscon.
Embroidered this geo notebook.
Made this color blocked picnic blanket and loved it.
We had our first and second CRAFT nights!
We moved into our new home! Complete with claw foot tub.
Made a lot of garlands.
Introduced my new line of cement jewelry!
To ring in the new year, I made this pretty ball! Happy New Year, friends! I know this year will be the best yet. Thank you so much for reading our little blog, it wouldn't be the same without you! 

SO LONG, 2012: PART ONE

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So long, 2012. Hello, 2013! 
This year has been very good to us. We're kind of sad to see it go but are really excited for this coming year. We have a lot of plans for both Ardor as well as in the shop and in our personal lives. Here is a little re-cap of the first half of 2012. Thank you so much for reading, we look forward to sharing 2013 with you!
 One of my favorite DIYs of the year, these surprise ball valentines and printables.  
  Elliott turned 3 and we had his horse party.
   My mom came for a visit and we played hard at central park.
 And we explored brooklyn and had a grand time.
I made some new business cards...
 And kept up the watercolor trend with these DIY mirrors.
Elliott became more of a ham and we loved every minute!
 I made Elliott a new scalloped pillowcase.
 We hit up the bronx zoo with some friends.
And had our flower party popper boutonnieres in styled .
 This boy just kept growing and surprising us.
 We enjoyed earth day with these spring grass glasses.
 For cinco de mayo I made these mini pinatas for some little friends.
 2012 was the year for painting. We painted an awful lot.
 We got lots of visitors and took them to the park...
 And ate great food.
 I made these monogram napkin rings .
 In the warmer months, Elliott slipped on his shorts and was constantly wet.
 We made a table top puppet theater. Oh, and remember when I shaved my kid's head? Ugg.
 And did some exploring with these binoculars.
 We took on potty training and won!
 Then we suddenly made the decision to leave the NYC area and moved out west.

Phew! And that was just the first half of the year. Part two of 2012 is coming soon!

OUR LITTLE CHRISTMAS

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I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. We sure did! Elliott was more into this year than in years past. He was the best to watch open presents. With every gift (even boring clothes!) he gasped and said something along the lines of "Oh, wow! That's so cool!" What a champ. We had a great time in the morning as just our little family. In the afternoon we headed out to spend the rest of the day with family and had a wonderful time. This year we made a few gifts, bought a few gifts and were gifted a muppet! Our dear friend sent us this muppet for our whole family to enjoy and we definitely have been! We made sure to include all of our traditions from previous years including our sausage in a blanket breakfast and watching "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas eve. Christmas is such a magical time and this year was the magical-est (not a word - I know). Merry Christmas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

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We are taking the next few days to get our Christmas on. Some last minute holiday shopping, going to see Santa (help!), making cookies and rocking out to Christmas music. I didn't get around to sending out our cards - though we have had the same ones on hand to send out for the last 3 years! Here is our virtual card. It was an incredible struggle trying to get Elliott to pose the way we wanted. In the end, this is what he wanted to do so we went with it. We sincerely wish you all the merriest Christmas filled with loved ones and warm memories and a whole lot of fun. Happy Christmas!

GIFT GUIDE: LITTLE MAN

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Of course there has to be one for Elliott! Most of these are needs (i.e. jeans, hoodie and socks). The horse toy is beautiful! I wish I had seen it sooner. Maybe for his birthday. And the shoes, well, they're super stylin' and his favorite color. Can't go wrong there! The tree tops are gorgeous and would make a great stocking stuffer. I actually got a few of these for Elliott and his cousins (and me) to play with.