Holidays Archives - Page 6 of 51 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

The Joy of Christmas

December 27, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

I don’t know if anything exhibits the raw joy of Christmas as much as this video. You would think that Boo had never received a gift before:

A video posted by Ashley Hackshaw (@lilblueboo) on Dec 25, 2016 at 5:28pm PST

I love that she still enjoys her dolls so much. Her list for Christmas included the Native American doll Kaya and the sloth she opened above, and a bunch of doll accessories. She opened up all of her other gifts and I could see some disappointment in her face that Santa didn’t bring the Kaya doll. Then she found a package behind the couch. When she cried we all cried:

A video posted by Ashley Hackshaw (@lilblueboo) on Dec 25, 2016 at 8:21am PST

We spent Christmas at my sister’s house with my mother and my brother too. Her beautiful tree all ready for Christmas Eve:

Beside Boo’s grateful present opening my second favorite part of Christmas was my little niece Leighton meeting our new senior rescue Happy.

Leighton: I like this kitty cat.
Me: She kind of looks like a kitty cat doesn’t she, but Happy is a dog.
Leighton: She’s not a dog.
Me: She’s not? Then what is she?
Leighton: She’s a Happy.

And every time Leighton saw Happy she’d declare, “There’s the Happy.” I love that. Happy is like the Lorax, only a Happy.

Happy trying to make a permanent memory of her favorite tiny human:

We all ate Christmas Eve dinner at Carmel, a place my dad loved, and a place in all my childhood memories. My brother wasn’t feeling well and my sister-in-law had to work at the hospital all day but at least my two nephews were there:

Boo watching the golfers come in after we ate:

Leighton and my nephew Carter inspecting one of the many Christmas trees:

Christmas Eve candlelight service. This is probably my favorite Christmas photo…it reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting. My little nephew Cameron would have been the perfect Norman Rockwell model:

On Christmas morning we all opened up our gifts and my mother had a cake for Jesus, and my sister Perry. Jesus is always listed first:

The only thing I asked for was a metal detector and Brett surprised me with one (the Garrett Ace 200) with the help of my brother Swen. I thought it would be fun to have one to comb the lake bed with. We spent the day digging up my sister’s entire yard and when we found the metal end of an old garden hose we jumped for joy:

We finished up Christmas Day at my dad’s grave. We know he’s not there but we still wanted to visit:

Hope everyone had a joyful holiday, Christmas and Hanukkah! Now I just need a few days to recuperate…like Happy:

P.S. I started a Facebook page just for Happy the Happiest Dog photos….so I can post as many as I want!

DIY Stamped Wrapping Paper

December 1, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

This month I wanted to make some DIY stamped wrapping paper to go with my rustic farmhouse tree and I couldn’t think of a better theme than chickens! I love the personal touch of this wrapping paper and it’s so easy to make with any theme you want…plus you’ll have a stamp to use on other projects as well!

I love how bright and cheery this chicken paper turned out:

The first step is to make a custom stamp. To trace it I draw or print off an image and rub pencil all over the backside of the image:

Then I turn the image over onto a Easy Carve Stamp Block by Speedball and trace:

When traced the image will be left behind:

Then you can slowly carve out around the image using this Speedball carving tool:

I used a rubber brayer to apply block printing ink to the stamp. Press the stamp down onto the paper and you have a print!

Don’t worry about being perfect…I think the more imperfections the better! I just print onto white or brown paper rolls from the wrapping paper section at Michaels:

I use card stock to make my little matching cards with. A tiny hand carved chicken foot stamp makes the footsteps:

A little holiday ribbon adds the holiday spirit:

The presents under the tree:

Make sure to check out all this year’s Michaels Dream Tree at the link below and all the handmade ornaments and decor that goes along with it!

You can find all the ornaments here or by clicking the image below:

Michaels has everything you need to make your holiday merry. For more quick and simple DIY holiday ideas, check out the projects on Michaels.com. Looking for more holiday inspiration? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the rest of the Michaels Makers’ DIY holiday project ideas. You can also see more ideas today at the links below:

An InLinkz Link-up

How to Make a Chicken Weathervane – with Template

November 16, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

As part of my rustic farmhouse Christmas tree series I promised this How to Make a Chicken Weathervane tutorial and template download so here it is!

This was one of my favorite parts of this year’s tree and it was very simple to make:

First I drew a chicken for my template and traced it onto thin craft plywood that I picked up at Michaels:

I used a small jigsaw to cut out the shape. (If you don’t own a handheld jig saw you are missing out on all the small projects you can do with it!)

See the tiny blade? It easily cuts out the image. If you don’t have a jigsaw you can also cut it by hand with a small detailed saw or ask a neighbor! Someone near you probably has one.

You can cut in all different angles….so you don’t have to turn the saw so much:

I drew out the end of an arrow and cut that out too:

These are all the pieces needed for the weathervane. I used wood glue to attach them all, letting them dry at least two hours.

To create the faux metal finish I first sprayed the weathervane with a glossy gray color. It doesn’t really matter what shade because it’s just a base color. Black would also work.

DecoArt makes this metallic paste paint called Metallic Lustre (also available at Michaels). I used the color Silver Spark:

I coated the entire weathervane with a few coats of the silver paste:

Once the weathervane was coated in the paste I didn’t even wait for it to dry. I used a bronze metallic spray paint and lightly sprayed random areas of the chicken, concentrating on darkening the edges too.