Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Monday, December 14, 2015

Family Christmas Card Ideas, 2015 #Shutterfly

This post brought to you by Shutterfly.// Happy Monday! Can you believe how close we're getting to Christmas? Are you in the holiday spirit yet? Receiving cards from friends and family during the holidays always brings a smile to my face and some cheer to our space, as I display them for us to enjoy throughout the month. This year, I partnered with Shutterfly to create a personalized Christmas card to send out.
Family Christmas Card Ideas with Shutterfly, from Serenity Now


For me, the beauty of browsing Shutterfly's selection of holiday cards is that it's a "one stop shop." This is such a busy time of year with birthdays, dance team, Nutcracker rehearsals, school projects, and more. I love that Shutterfly makes shopping so easy with quick ways to search and filter through the many colorful and trendy designs they offer.

This year, Shutterfly has a gorgeous add-on option of lined envelopes, which I think is a lovely little detail. They also have matching address labels, gift stickers, and new ornament cards! Quality paper, pretty detailing on the edges, very sturdy. You can really tie in the whole package with your holiday theme.
Family Christmas Card Ideas with Shutterfly, from Serenity Now


My favorite feature is that you can add photos, quotes, verses, greetings, and more to the back of your cards now.
Family Christmas Card Ideas with Shutterfly, from Serenity Now


I chose the Beautiful Bough Border design this year. It took me ages to make up my mind, but I decided on this one because I loved the whimsical garlands. The quote I chose to add to the back of our card design is from Dickens.

“Christmas time! That man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not roused— in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened— by the recurrence of Christmas.”

I took the photos again myself this year, no small feat in that it was just myself and the three kids, wandering the grounds of a local historic home. It's never easy to get a shot where all three are smiling and looking in the right direction, but I managed a couple.

If the idea of holiday cards makes you nervous, I highly recommend letting Shutterfly give you a hand. I consider our cards to be a keepsake that I can treasure in our family album years down the road.
Family Christmas Card Ideas with Shutterfly, from Serenity Now


If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments.

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 Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Shutterfly, but all opinions are 100 percent my own.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

10 Delicious Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes

T and I have been married for a little over 13 years, but it's still fun to celebrate Valentine's Day, even if we don't do big, extravagant gifts or outings. I usually try to make him a nice dinner or bake something tasty. With that in mind, I rounded up 10 simple and delicious Valentine's Day dessert recipes for you to try.
10 Delicious Valentine's Day Recipes to Try! at Serenity Now

*Be sure to Pin from the original sources!


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

Another year! A fresh start. Do you write down goals, plans, dreams, or resolutions for the New Year? I haven't done that yet...today brings taking down the Christmas tree ornaments and decorations and toys and knicks knacks that have spread across the house. But I love the idea of a new page to write.

I hope 2015 is off to a grand start for you! The weekly link party will be up tomorrow morning at 8 am EST. Bring your best post of the week to share with my readers. Please take a moment to add a link back to your post, and I would love to consider it for a feature.

Happy New Year!

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments.

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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Best Posts from Serenity Now in 2014

Hello, hello! As 2014 draws to a close (can you believe it?!), I wanted to share some of the best posts from Serenity Now over the past year. Some of these were big hits with traffic, and some were just my own personal faves. Please feel free to Pin, share, Tweet, comment, etc. I love it when readers spread the word!
List of some great crafts, recipes, home decor projects, and tips & tricks from Serenity Now in 2014








Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Our Christmas, in Pictures (2014)

How was your Christmas? I can't believe it has come and gone again. I'm recovering from a virus, so I thought I'd use my "quarantine" time to share some photos from our family Christmas. I hope yours was every bit as special!

We went to the early Christmas Eve service at church, and then welcomed both sides of the family over for appetizers and desserts. 





Obligatory shot under the tree in new Christmas pajamas:


And when the family was gone and the kids tucked in bed, I began the "business" side of Christmas. 


Christmas Morning started with stockings and a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, followed by seeing what Santa left under the tree and opening gifts together. 












The girls each got a new American Girl doll (Samantha for Michaela Byrd and one of the "choose your look-alike" dolls for Natalie), and Harris was most pleased with his baby cell phone. T got some gun part that I ordered online for him and still to this day have no clue what it is. I got a new (gold!) iPhone and a laptop, as the one I am typing on now is almost dead and will go to the kids to do schoolwork on.

While this month was restful for me in that I took time away from blogging, I kept busy with two birthday parties, a trip to NYC, a Nutcracker weekend, helping with a big third grade project, class parties, and prepping for family gatherings. I'm hoping the past two days I spent in bed recovering from this icky virus were enough...it's time to start organizing new toys (and donating some of the old!).

What was your favorite Christmas gift this year?

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments.

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Tuesday, December 9, 2014

I'm Not Having a "Pinterest Perfect" Christmas

Do you stress out when the holidays roll around? Do you worry that your house isn't sparkly and glittery enough? Not clean enough? The gifts you give aren't expensive enough? Not handmade enough? The food you're serving on Christmas Eve isn't organic enough? Tasty enough? Enough, enough, enough. It's never enough, is it? Be my friend today. Let's pat each other on the hand and smile and I'll tell you why I'm not having a "Pinterest Perfect" Christmas this year.


With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the plethora of Christmas crafts and recipes and home decor, you probably didn't even notice that I didn't post last week, except for the weekly link party. I hardly noticed myself. I was busy around here, fluffing and baking and prepping for two birthday parties that we hosted for our newly turned one and nine year olds. By the time the cupcakes were baked, the presents wrapped, and the favors set out on display, I realized that I hadn't bothered to write a new post for the blog.

And I was okay with it.

A year ago, two years ago, the thought of not having a brand-new fresh blog post for eager readers' eyes would have given me hives of epic proportions. Like the kind of hives you need a prescription for and then some heavy drinking to forgot the whole thing. 

Maybe it was adding a new family member last December. Maybe it was a shift in priorities. Maybe I'm just tired. 

Whatever the reason, I found myself less and less twitchy about sitting down every single night for an hour or so to edit photos, type out a post, edit, schedule, and then spend the next day relentlessly plugging said post on social media.

What's fun about that?

My hang-up has always been comparing myself to the gorgeous and inspiring homes I see on my friends' blogs. I do my best to find inspiration rather than let the discouragement get a hold of me, but it is a struggle. I love celebrating our fun little family traditions, but I have hesitated to share them because I know they just don't measure up.

Don't get me wrong. I love blogs, blogging, and bloggers. I just don't love the stress of it anymore. We have enough stress with pleasing in-laws, mothers, and children during the month of December. We have enough stress making sure everyone is clean and wearing pants to attend the preschool Christmas pageant. We have enough stress over those grocery store trips with all three kids to pick up the ingredients we forgot for the special Christmas cookies. We have enough stress with German Shepherds who EAT ORNAMENTS OFF THE TREE.

I can't tell you how many social media posts I saw last week where bloggers were in SUPER HIGH STRESS MODE over Christmas home tours going up this week. I have been that blogger...trying to festoon and adorn (and clean) every square inch of the first floor of our home with Christmas decor so I could have a pretty tour to post on the blog. Usually this involved yelling, kids crying, and an overall irritated demeanor that settled over the house for several days.

Yep. Super Christmasy, right?

I couldn't hop on board this year. I have certainly had my moments (the tree lights and I always have a disagreement at some point). But stepping back from the stress and worry of having creative tutorials, recipes, and tips up on the blog every single weekday this month has helped me appreciate this time. 

I enjoyed a week of (relative leisure) putting out decorations a bit at a time, prepping for those two birthday parties, and fitting in regular day-to-day-life stuff with three kiddos. I'll probably post an abbreviated tour on the blog at some point this month, and I have some other things to share too...but I'm not going to worry too much about it because I'd rather enjoy some special moments with my family than sit at a computer every night. And you probably do too. 

Take a deep breath with me and know that Christmas will still be there, even if you have Goldfish cracker crumbs on the floor and you don't have a custom holiday vignette on your dining room table.

Doesn't that sound nice?

No, our Christmas won't be "Pinterest Perfect" this year. But the first Christmas wasn't either. I highly doubt the baby Jesus had a handmade glitter polka dot pennant banner hanging over his manger that Mary made with the Silhouette/Cricut machine she lugged along with her all the way to Bethlehem.

I challenge you to shut the laptop tonight. Stick your phone in another room. Sit in front of your Christmas tree with its haphazardly hung paper and popsicle stick preschool ornaments and enjoy the quiet. Watch a funny Christmas movie with your husband. Read a good book. Drink some hot cocoa. Snuggle with the dog.

Your blog can wait. But Christmas can't.

While we're distracted with hanging lights, positioning that Elf on his shelf, snapping perfectly lit photos of peppermint cookies to be rePinned by 12,000 followers, the Christmas season is passing us by. 

The "perfect Christmas", I am learning, is not the one you'll see on my blog. It's not the one you'll find as you scroll through Pinterest, or Instagram, or Facebook. It's the one you celebrate quietly at home in the glow of the Christmas tree lights. It's the moments you take with your children to thank The One who made all of this possible in the first place.

Enjoy your perfect Christmas!

Love, 
Amanda

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all love our turkey, and stuffing, and football, and parades. I know I do. But don't forget to take a moment and let some gratitude wash over you today. We are blessed. I am blessed. You are blessed. 

Have a beautiful, warm Thanksgiving!



Tuesday, November 25, 2014

10 Simple, Last Minute Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes

Raise your hand if you're ready for Thanksgiving! I'm getting there. I (think I) have all of the ingredients I need to do my prep work tomorrow, but we all know that saying about "best laid plans...." I thought I'd round up a few easy side dish recipes for anyone who might need a few last-minute ideas for the big holiday meal this week! So, without further ado, here are 10 Last Minute Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes.
10 Side Dish Recipes you can make this #thanksgiving at the last minute, from Serenity Now #sidedish #sides #recipe


These should all be easy dishes with simple ingredients...the hubs can run out to the store for you and not spend 30 minutes on the spice aisle trying to find ingredients he's never heard of. Enjoy!








Thursday, November 20, 2014

10 DIY Thanksgiving Place Card Ideas

The countdown to Thanksgiving can officially begin! Can you believe it's only a week away? We're not hosting this year, but we will be in town (yay!!!!), having dinner at my in-laws', along with my mom and my sister's family. I thought it would be fun to share a quick round-up of DIY Thanksgiving Place Card Ideas to make your table a bit more festive.
10 DIY Thanksgiving Place Card Ideas, rounded up at Serenity Now #thanksgiving #placecards
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