Simplifying and Organizing--my goals for the new year

Organizations 3 most important questions (and some great free PDF's).
Great TED talk on Minimalism.
15 ways to impress others (it's not consumerism that is impressive).
Four secrets to creativity for kids

Sewing

I will finally be making this awesome quilt by this amazing blogger.

Making

These gifts bags for drawing supplies (just in time for Three Kings Day)
Stamps (thanks to Santa and Gennine's art blog)
Marshmallows (finally! This has been on my to do list for some time and since a little buddy is coming over tomorrow, we will have help to eat them!)

Homemade gifts for the coming year

My goal next year is to reduce waste and one of the ways is going to be homemade gifts. So this is what we will be working on during the year:
homemade vanilla extract (we will do this in May, so that it is ready in time for Christmas)
solid perfume
peppermint lip balm
caramel and fudge sauces

Of course to reduce waste and simplifying I will be reading this blog.

Found this great new blog. It goes well with my goal for next year, which is to pare down.

Also I am reading Unbroken and it is phenomenal.

cake for S

summer is a long way off but this will be the one!

soon

make these cinnamon rolls
create some wrapping paper with potato prints
make some tees while we have the potatoes out
put together tote for teacher's present

Chronicle Books Giveaway

Chronicle Books has a haul-idays giveaway! I am posting a list of books that total $500 and Chronicle books is choosing one blogger and one commenter of said blog to win that list of books. It doesn't get more exciting than books and the holidays!

For home:
Tartine bread- an excellent companion to the Tartine cookbook.
I Love Macarons
Small Object label and stickers
Moleskine Paris
Moleskine notebook- for keeping track of all the books I want to read.

For sancho and panza, the children:
Worst Case Scenario: Gross Survival Edition
Taro Gomi: Play All Day- actually, we all want this one.
Mini lunch notes- we sporadically put notes in lunches and feel guilty that they are few and far between.
Magiacal Menagarie
Pom Pom pals- to keep the managerie company
Fairy Parties-because panza is all over fairy life like nobodies business
Every Day's a Holiday
Shadow
City Walks with Kids: New York

Nature and science stuff I love:
The Story of Snow- I love this book and there is certainly lots of snow around here!
Bee-I love bees and am so sad that people confuse them with wasps. They get a bad rap.
Apples I Have Eaten- we live in apple country, so what could be more perfect than this!
Tulip-beautiful!

Crafty stuff:
Guerrilla Art Kit- we all want to be heard and we all have those subversive thoughts that we want to share with the world (secretly).
Silhouette Art
Paper + Craft
Whip Up mini quilts
Lotta's Printing Studio- love her stuff!
Handmade Wedding

Lots to do!

Sibling gifts to make (to match the yoda slippers)
Make a gingerbread house
Kids photos/ornaments as gift tags for family
Candy cane icicles as presents for others
Some cookies I have read rave reviews about for me!
Pepermint bark in fun shapes
If there is any time left over: to deck the halls with bunting

cooking and making an ornament to match the weather:snowy!

enchiladas: this http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/enchiladas/ or that
roasting chestnuts
making crystal ornaments

make this chowder
get the stuff together for walnut candles
will the Scandinavians please adopt me for Christmas?
I love Paul Klee and can't wait to do this with my kids.
Soon there will be some mice in the house!
I need to get going on some Fairy Tale presents
off to find a stick to decorate holiday style

Things to do in December

these paper mache boats
make marshmallows
get rid of stuff so that house looks like it belongs to the Linen Fog lady.
make cloud cookies.
start teaching kids Spanish lessons
Sit down and write what I want kids to know before they leave home and plan backwards!

Get my act together!