Peek at My Week (Nov 29-Dec 5)

It's been one of those weeks that absolutely disappeared on me. Maybe this review will help me remember what I did with it.

Sunday was a complete loss. It rained almost all day long. I spent the time inside packaging orders and doing a little online Christmas shopping. I was thankful that after a rainy, dreary day I had bright and yummy pork ramen on the menu for dinner.

After the rain, the temperature began to drop on Monday. I knocked out chores, packaging more Etsy orders, and the grocery shopping. And, we found a reason to celebrate.

Tuesday was the first of December. It took me a little waking up before I realized that also meant it was the first day of Carve December! I'll share each day's stamp a little further down in this post so you can see them grouped together. I worked on and off all day and finished it with a disaster of a desk. I'll spare you the pictures and instead share our yummy dinner.

Getting potstickers to turn out always excites me. They're a little fussy to make, but not really hard at all. And, they're so tasty!

We woke to freezing temperatures on Wednesday. 

You can see that my app said there was snow - there wasn't, thankfully. I'm a beach girl at heart and can't handle the cold and snow. It's pretty and all, just not for me. 

The freeze wilted a lot of our delicate plants and even most of our ferns. But, I discovered this one that was working on clinging in there.

I spent the morning working on several business tasks. Once it warmed up, I helped Pat paint primer on the shed until we rain out of paint. This is the before.

I was exhausted from painting and convinced Pat to order out for dinner (woohoo!)

We thought we might get more painting done on Thursday, but rain was predicted. We did take a look at the paint swatch on the shed.

Since the shed is now near the pool, we're going for a beach/poolhouse vibe for it.

Before trying to head out to shop, I noticed that the camellias were blooming. I had to stop and admire them.

This is my only bush on the property. It's HUGE and took a hit when a tree fell on it during the hurricane. Fortunately, I think it's going to be okay. From there, I had some car issues that took a little while for Pat and me to resolve. But, once that was handled, I headed out for a little Christmas shopping. I even got Pat to come out with me so we could shop for the Giving Tree Child we sponsored. It felt nice to be doing something for someone else after the year we've all had. 

On Friday, I handled a few tasks at home and ran to the Southern Antiques and Accents to update the booth. 

After that, I spent the whole afternoon knocking out more Christmas shopping. While I hate putting myself at risk out in the public, there were just some things I couldn't purchase online. 

Since most of the shopping was done, I spent some of Saturday decorating in the house.

We still haven't decided if we're going to get a tree this year or not, I feel a little more festive with at least a few baubles out. I'm hoping to make a few things too if I can ever decide what!

I also decided to begin Kasia's Advent Calendar course from Everything Art. And, in true "me" fashion, I first created a new journal.

I'll likely just be sharing my work from this course on Instagram. But, we'll see. 

While I did that (and a few other things on my to-do list), Pat and his sister were outside tearing the tin off one of the lean-tos attached to the pole barn. Somehow I was able to get out of that task!

Here's a look at the stamps I've carved each day this week for #CarveDecember.

The prompt for Day 1 was "Love", and I really tried to work with that prompt. I scrapped several partly-carved stamps and became overly frustrated before finally just letting myself play.

"Float" was day 2's prompt. I chose to do something that resembled water ripple reflections. I found myself in a better place for creating and was quite happy with this design.

It took a little thought on how I wanted to use the prompt of "Layers" for Day 3. I kept coming back to that line from "Shrek" about onions and parfaits having layers. I don't know what that has to do with my stamp, but it worked out.

I seriously fretted over what to do with the "Insect" prompt on Day 4. It finally dawned on me that butterflies are insects, and I went from there.

The "Bird" prompt for Day 6 also had me befuddled until I recognized that owls are birds. What the heck is wrong with me!? In any case, I was able to knock out this little cutie after a bit of doodling to find just the right owl shape.

And, that was my week! 

I stayed so busy that I didn't have much time for other inspiration but did find a few things that might spark your creativity.

• As I said above, I'm feeling the ich to create some Christmas decorations and keep stumbling on great tutorials. Here are 21 Free Patterns for Felt Ornaments. 
• Jen at EPBOT always finds the best stuff. She recently shared 10 Christmas Crafts that Inspired Her. 
• If you're looking to make some of your gifts this season, Sadie Seasongoods has a list of 150+ Creative DIY Christmas Gifts. 
• For good measure, here's one more ornament pattern. This time, it's embroidery hoop ornaments. 

Alas, that's it for this week. I hope you've found some tasks to keep you busy and inspired. Let me know what's keeping your spirits up right now.