2011: A year of NewlyWoodwards

2011 was a big year for Ryan and I. And here's where I tie it up in a nice little bow for you (and me).

We finished a huge number of projects on our new home this year, including -

• Tiling the bathroom and finishing it.
• Refinishing hardwood floors.
• Cleaning and painting the basement.
• Installing new kitchen cabinetry.
• Completing tile and wood countertops.
• Finishing all the house's trim work and tons of painting.
• Installing board and batten in the stairway and living room ceiling.
• Updating the new stairway.
• Building an entryway built-in.
• Painting aluminum siding.
• Completing windows.
• And pretty much everything else. 

We sold our first home and moved into our second home.

We had the opportunity to spend time in Montreal, Arizona, and took a fabulous Northwest road trip through Washington, Oregon and California.

We welcomed our first niece, Addison.

I finished my MBA, which means I tell Ryan that I now know everything there is to know. (Modesty is not my best quality.)

I did a lot of sewing - including six baby quilts, four casserole carriers, three pairs of mittens, two pairs of curtain panels for the dining room and a skirt.

We celebrated ten years of being a couple and four years married.

I'd say that was a pretty fabulous year.

How was your 2011?

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Four years

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I were at home on the couch and I was truly overcome by this crushing and humbling sense of gratitude. For my husband. For all the blessings in our lives. For everything.

I'm feeling the same way today.

Four years ago, Ryan and I became husband and wife. It is truly one of the best things that has ever happened to me. That's probably a bit gushy, but it's true.

2011 also marks 10 years of being a couple. When you are 17 and 18 years old, marriage is the last thing on your mind. And Ryan also made it quite clear that he wasn't planning to marry until he was "at least 35." (I'm quite pleased that he changed his mind.)

Our wedding day was quite lovely, if I do say so myself. But, the best part was that, at the end of the day, we were married. How lucky were we to meet at 17 and 18 years old?

Every moment hasn't been easy or even fun. But we are truly better together. And I'm feeling particularly grateful today for each and every moment.

(I know I've been off the radar this week. Ryan and I are off for the holidays and spending time doing very exciting things like taking down Christmas decorations, cleaning closets, laying tile and watching Bones on Netflix. We'll be back.)

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the NewlyWoodwards! Hope your day was both merry and bright!

Here's the blog reveal of the Christmas card for 2011.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

(Thanks again to Shutterfly for the help with the cards this year.)

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(A gift of) Mason Jar Candles

The final speedy handmade gift is this mason jar candle. My friend Rebecca and I made these last month and they ended up being pretty simple (but very messy). We gave them to coworkers and other friends.

We used small mason jars for the vessel (although you could use anything). Rebecca picked up the wax at Ben Franklin and I had some essential oils from green cleaning supplies. We used cinnamon and peppermint for ours.

If you are interested, check out the simple tutorial on Ruffled.

What do you think?

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(A gift of) Carrying casseroles

I'm super excited to be over at Maybe Matilda today sharing some of my top homemade gifts. Please visit and leave me some comment love?

And in the spirit of handmade gifting, here's another handmade gift for Christmas. This is another fast project that you really could finish before the holidays. I was done with mine in 3 hours and was able to use up supplies I had on-hand.

This is a really great gift for almost anyone. It's my go-to wedding gift (I include a couple Pyrex dishes and pot holders) or for your cousin who always brings the cheesy potatoes.

My mother-in-law had asked me for a casserole carrier this year. I really like to give handmade gifts, but I know that many of us worry that the person may not appreciate such a gift, not realizing the time and effort and accepting those imperfections. That's why I was so happy to oblige when she asked for something specific. I love to make things that I know a person will love. (That's also why I often make specific gifts after a person compliments one of my handmade items. Makes it easy.)

Anyhow, this casserole carrier turned out really well, in my opinion. The fabric is one of my favorites from Bliss by Moda. I used the same tutorial as I have in the past, via 2 little hooligans. (I do make the long side a little longer. And next time I'll also make the short piece a little wider.)

It's made with insulted batting, so it should keep the food warm in transit.

I like to make the straps long enough to put it over your shoulder. This is just personal preference. I put everything over my shoulder.

I'm still investigating a career in modeling.

And there's another quick gift, perfect for that last-minute christmas gift. =)

What do you think?

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(A gift of) Upcycled mittens

Since we celebrated the holidays with Ryan's family last weekend, I have several quick-to-make gifts to share before Christmas this year.

I know Christmas is only a few days away. But, I promise you that my homemade gifts are quick gifts. I may have even made these items within 24 hours of gifting them. (I'm a last-minute personality.)

This is probably my favorite thing I've made so far. These upcycled wool mittens were given to my sister-in-law to keep her fingers toasty this winter.

They are 100 percent upcycled - from the sweater (that belonged to me and was originally a Liz Claiborne thrifted number) to the inner fleece (which hailed from an off-white fleece blanket from Goodwill).

Here's the sweater in 2009. It makes much better mittens.

I was able to get two and a half pairs of mittens from the sweater. And I have a few other sweaters that I've already cut for mittens. So, several others will be getting a pair of these puppies. But, they will all look quite different based on the sweater.

The first pair took me about 2 hours, with the help of my friend Stephanie. I think the others will go quicker. It's a fairly simple process, with the cuff coming from the sleeve cuffs of the sweater.

I also put this green cowl together for my sister-in-law, to go with the mittens. This is cowl #7 I've made this winter. They really make great gifts and are really speedy.

So, there's one two of my handmade gifts this Christmas.

What do you think?

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Family photos

Our little family got our photos taken by a professional this year, in the hopes that we'd get better shots and have less stress (from trying to set up a tripod and timer ourselves).

At first, I felt a little silly getting professional photos taken when we don't have kids, but I'm so happy we did. It's nice to have some "good" pictures of us, regardless of whether we have a little one.

We were really happy to work with Erin with Candid Moment Photography. She was wonderful and was able to capture some great family photos for us - which is a huge accomplishment when we have two squirmy and uncooperative pugs and a husband who really isn't a fan of getting his photos taken.

Here are a few of my favorites.

I just sent my Christmas cards with a few photos. I'll share the card soon.

If you are in the Quad Cities, I highly recommend Erin. Check her out!

Do you get family photos taken?

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Dare to ... have traditions! (Week 6/6 link-up)

Well, it's the sixth and final week of the Dare to DIY blog parties. I hope you had as much fun with this as I have. There have been so many amazing ideas, and new people to "meet."

But before we say goodbye to this year's blog parties, let's talk traditions.


This week is your opportunity to share how you celebrate the holidays with traditions.

Dare to … have traditions!
Everyone has traditions for the holidays. Tell us all about your favorites or start a new tradition to share.

My turn
I've shared our Christmas traditions over the last few years (2008, 2009 and 2010). Most are the same.

But there's something I've realized about traditions. I've learned that it's okay to change and adjust traditions. Life changes, and your traditions need to change with it.

Usually, we spend Christmas day with Ryan's family. But, this year, Ryan's brother and sister-in-law came home last weekend for Christmas festivities, so they can spend the holiday with our niece Addy at home.

So, since Christmas is changing, I embraced it. Ryan and I are hosting a Christmas lunch at our home for our families on Christmas Day. I'm very excited about this brand new tradition! (And, in case you are wondering, I think I'm serving lasagna. No need to be traditional, right?)

We'll spend Christmas Eve at my grandpa's house, as per usual.

Here are some of our other holiday traditions:

• We exchange ornaments for Christmas. We also pick up an ornament on our trips. It's fun to put them up each year and remember all our travels and memories.
• Ryan and I both have the week after Christmas off. It's so nice to have some down time at the end of the year. No big plans this year! (Unless you count cleaning and purging, which I don't.)
• We keep track of all our memories, gifts, entertaining and Christmas cards in our Christmas memories book. I get lots of questions about this book. It's really neat and a good way to organize your thoughts. You can buy it here and have it personalized with your name. (It's available elsewhere, as well.)

Your turn...

What did you DARE to come up with?

A couple of guidelines:

1. Please link to the specific post, not your general blog address.

2. Please include a teaser of your post.
3. Please visit at least one other blog below and comment! This will help us all meet each other.

4. Link your post back up to NewlyWoodwards with text or this button. Just pull the code from below.

<a href="http://www.newlywoodwards.com"><img alt="Dare to DIY" width="240" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4060076946_f42bf7d673_m.jpg" height="160" /></a>

 I'm so excited to see what you come up with. 


Thanks for playing along with the Dare to DIY blog parties this year. 

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Did you dare? (Dare to ... deck the halls!)

Wow! There were so many great projects this week at Dare to ... deck the halls! I am so thankful to everyone for linking up to this blog party. I think I was able to check out all your projects and I hope you know how excited I was about all your great ideas! I just wish there were another few weeks months 'til Christmas so I could try some of them myself. (And maybe to finish Christmas shopping.)

Here are some of my favorites this week ...

Gumdrop wreath by Ducks in a Row.

Felt monogram ornaments at Longbrake Living.

Noel sign at Davenport DIY.

Snowflake art at Decor and the Dog.

DIY Sharpie Christmas plates by Sense and Simplicity.

Stag head pillow at Keller Creative.

DIY holiday chalkboard at Welcome to Heardmont.

Handmade stockings at His and Hers.

Red and aqua homemade ornaments at Keri & Brian.

<a href="http://www.newlywoodwards.com"><img alt="Dare to DIY" width="240" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4060076946_f42bf7d673_m.jpg" height="160" /></a>

I hope you had a chance to check out some great projects this week. And don't forget to comment!

The final week of Dare to DIY (Dare to ... have traditions!) goes up on Sunday night. Make sure to link up with your favorite holiday traditions.

What was your favorite project of the week?

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A very Woodward Christmas (Kitchen)

The final room in a Very Woodward Christmas is the kitchen.

Not a ton of decorations, but a fun little Christmas tree with cookie cutters, a potholder tree topper and my favorite bubble lights (circa 1970).

And our little Woodward snowman, made by my great aunt.

And even a little cheer on the back door. The apron was a gift from Ryan's Aunt Joanell. It's so cute.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without paper whites, right? I started them a month or so ago.

And that's Christmas at the Woodwards!

Do you dig it?

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A very Woodward Christmas (Dining Room)

It's time for the dining room Christmas tour...

Starting with the most recent love of my love of my life. I have been lusting over a silver tinsel tree at a department store for the past three years. When the display was 75 percent off last year, I snatched that baby up. I love her.

I didn't have much in the way of ornaments that would go on the silver tree, so I just went with a lot of my most colorful ornaments. Like my 12 Days of Christmas ornaments from Crate & Barrel.

And the lighthouse ornament from the Oregon coast.

And the fabulous NewlyWoodwards ornament a friend made me.

All of the silver, when combined with the colorful glass ornaments, makes quite a lot of sparkle in the room.

I also put up our little village above the dining room hutch. And our Christmas dishes inside the hutch.

Only the Woodwards would put our hardware-store-of-choice (Menards) as part of their Christmas Village.

Just a few changes to our table to incorporate my favorite Fiesta Christmas dishes.

Don't you love them, too?

And let's take one more look at my pretty silver tree.

What do you think?

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