Without much snow to speak of, winter made it’s official beginning today. I thought I’d pop in before it’s tomorrow! Christmas is coming, but winter is here and will be here for some time. In central PA, we generally get the bulk of our winter in January and February, so we aren’t surprised when we can get some work done outside this late in December.
With winter here and Christmas a few days away, I wanted to pause everything else and wish you a Merry Christmas! I’m still working on new things for the shop, alongside baking and trying to shake this chest cold. I hope your Christmas is just the right temperature for you and full of health!
Tis the season for decorating and bringing Christmas joy to our families through our efforts, and I love the idea of bringing our coffee bars and cocoa bars (for those of us who go that way) along with us. Whether you’re an avid coffee enthusiast or just love the cozy ambiance of a well-decorated space, these simple and creative ideas will help you turn your coffee corner into a Christmas haven.
Festive Mug Display
Mugs and decor I’ve gathered over the years. The coffee sign you can find in my shop!
Start by showcasing your favorite holiday mugs. Arrange them on a tiered tray or floating shelves, and mix and match designs for a charming, eclectic look. Add a touch of greenery or tiny ornaments to each mug for an extra festive touch.
Seasonal Flavors and Garnishes
Update your coffee bar with seasonal flavors like peppermint, gingerbread, or cinnamon. Display the syrups in decorative bottles and arrange fresh cinnamon sticks or candy canes in jars for an inviting visual appeal. These additions not only enhance the flavor of your coffee but also add a delightful aroma to the space.
String Lights and Garland
Embrace the warm glow of the season by draping your coffee bar with string lights or fairy lights. Twine them around shelves, cabinets, or hang them along the edges. Add a touch of greenery with Christmas garlands to complete the look.
Themed Coffee Station Signs
You can find the digital files for this sign in my shop. It’s not specifically Christmas, but will fit all year with your other decor.
Create charming signs or chalkboards with festive coffee-related quotes or greetings. Use holiday-themed fonts and colors to match the Christmas spirit or place something simple into a Christmas space. Place these signs strategically around your coffee bar to add a personal and welcoming touch or set them front and center.
Adorn with Ornaments
Utilize Christmas ornaments and decor to creatively decorate your coffee bar. Hang them from the shelves, attach them to garlands, or place them in glass jars. Choose ornaments that complement your overall decor theme and color scheme.
Seasonal Coasters and Napkins
Swap out your regular coasters and napkins for festive alternatives. Look for holiday-themed designs or colors that resonate with the Christmas spirit. It’s a small detail that can make a big difference in tying together the overall look of your coffee bar.
Transforming your coffee bar for Christmas doesn’t have to be complicated. By incorporating these simple and creative ideas, you can infuse your space with the warmth and joy of the holiday season. So, brew a cup of your favorite seasonal coffee, sit back, and savor the magic of Christmas in your beautifully decorated coffee nook.
Can you feel the magic of the Christmas season approaching? It’s here! While I know that sometimes Christmas is hard, it’s that time of the year when we want to infuse joy, warmth, and a sprinkle of creativity into some unforgettable memories. As we kick off December, we are thrilled to introduce our latest tool for creating your own Christmas wonderland – the Pastel Gingerbread Clipart Collection, now available in my shop!
🎨 Unveiling the Delightful Pastel Palette
Our Pastel Gingerbread Clipart Collection is not your traditional festive fare. We’ve added a touch of whimsy with a pastel palette that brings a fresh and modern spin to the classic gingerbread charm. Imagine soft mint greens and dreamy pinks adorning your Christmas projects. Whether you’re designing greeting cards, invitations, or DIY decor, these whimsical gingerbread illustrations are sure to add a dash of sweetness and sophistication.
More Than Just Clipart: Unleashing Your Creativity 💡
But wait, I want to do more than just introduce our new clipart collection. We want to help you on your creative journey. With this in mind, here are some bonus tips to elevate your holiday designs and make the most of our Pastel Gingerbread Clipart:
1. Mix and Match Textures: Combine our clipart with various textures like watercolor backgrounds, glitter overlays, or even rustic paper for a multidimensional effect.
2. Create Cozy Holiday Scenes: Build heartwarming holiday scenes by pairing our gingerbread characters with complementary elements like snowflakes, hot cocoa mugs, and twinkling lights.
3. Personalize Your Projects: Infuse your unique style by customizing the clipart with personalized touches, such as adding names, dates, or even turning them into adorable holiday avatars.
4. DIY Gift Tags and Labels: Elevate your gift-giving game by incorporating our clipart into DIY gift tags and labels. It’s a thoughtful touch that makes presents even more special.
5. Share the Joy: Spread the festive cheer by using the clipart to create digital wallpapers, social media posts, or e-cards to share with friends and family.
Where to Find Our Pastel Gingerbread Clipart 🎁
Ready to embark on a journey of festive creativity? Visit my Etsy shop to explore the Pastel Gingerbread Clipart Collection and unlock a world of artistic possibilities.
Though Christmas is supposed to be the “season of joy”, we don’t always feel it, do we? Or is it just me? Today I have for you 24 beautiful Words from Scripture to encourage you this Christmas season.
Some causes of discouragement
So many things can discourage us at Christmas time. For some it is simply that life goes on. Maybe this has been a hard year. Loss of a job or a loved one carries into December. A child gone astray or anxiety pull at your heart. It could be as simple as being in the middle of child training and Mommy-ing… and there is never a day off. Just because Thanksgiving has come and gone doesn’t make these things magically disappear. Life can be hard, and that makes Christmas all the harder because it’s supposed to be joyful, isn’t it? That’s what our culture tells us anyway.
I remember one particularly difficult Christmas season in my own life. My 6th baby had been born in September and I had 5 other children 9 and under. I was so overwhelmed that joy was hard to find. To top it off, I felt the lack of “Christmas joy” and it only compounded my struggle. I’ve been there! I’ve felt it and I certainly could have used some encouragement that year!
What to do when it’s not
God’s Word tells to be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10)
That He keeps those in perfect peace whose mind is focused on Him. (Isaiah 26:3)
To let the Word of God “dwell in you richly”. (Colossians 3:16)
These are the Sunday school answers, right? Who has time for this? With young ones running around getting into everything, how can we be still? Wish so many of us mamas struggling to focus on our daily tasks, how can we stay focused on God? And when are we supposed to find time to be spending time in God’s Word?
First, let me remind you that this is a season… whatever season this is for you. Mamas to young ones? This is a season. They will eventually get older (I speak from experience.) Are you suffering from loss or hopelessness? Time (and God) can help heal your wounds. Whatever chaos or hardship you find yourself in, it won’t last forever.
But what about now?
“Great! It’s just a season”, you may be thinking to yourself, “but what am I supposed to do right now? How do I get through this Christmas season?”
This year, maybe it would be easier to start with little bits! I have here 24 quick and easy thoughts from Scripture to give you a little daily truth to remember, to think about through your day. If you have more time than that, spend some time meditating on the verses. Use them as a devotional time or journal prompt. Just one each day.
24 Christmas Reminders to Help You Through the Season
Abide in Him John 15:4 ~ “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
God gave you Jesus for Christmas John 3:16 ~ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In God’s presence there is complete joy Psalm 16:11 ~ “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Christ in alive in you Galatians 2:20 ~ “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
He is the Good News of great joy Luke 2:10 ~ “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'”
God’s love will never end Lamentations 3:22 ~ “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.”
Salvation is God’s gift to you Ephesians 2:8-9 ~ “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Jesus bring peace for anxiety John 16:33 ~ “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
God will supply all you need Philippians 4:19 ~ “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
God is enough 2 Corinthians 12:9 ~ “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'”
Jesus came to seek and to save Luke 19:10 ~ “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
God’s timing is perfect Galatians 4:4 ~ “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.”
Do not be anxious Philippians 4:6-7 ~ “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Peace comes when we focus on Him Isaiah 26:3 ~ “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Nothing is impossible with God Luke 1:37 ~ “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
God’s got this Isaiah 41:10 ~ “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.”
God is always faithful 2 Timothy 2:13 ~ “If we are faithless, he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself.”
Every good and perfect gift is from above. James 1:17 ~ “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
God’s gifts are free Romans 6:23 ~ “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus will give you rest Matthew 11:28 ~ “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Thank God for His amazing gifts 2 Corinthians 9:15 ~ “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
God’s way is perfect Psalm 18:30 ~ “This God – his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”
Be still and know that He is God Psalm 46:10 ~ “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
God will provide the way 1 Corinthians 10:13 ~ “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
The take away
Life is hard and too often the Christmas season simply highlights that instead of bringing the joy it promises. Use these little reminders to help you walk through the Christmas season with purpose. Read one each day, meditate on them, use them as devotions, Bible studies, or journal prompts. I hope they are a blessing.
Something extra
I’ve taken each of these little reminders, these encouraging words, and created little advent cards with them (examples are throughout the post) that you can use to walk through December. Read one a day, let them inspire Bible study or devotions, use them as a journal prompt, memorize them or just tuck them away to think about throughout the day. I made 24 so that you could count down to Christmas, but use them any way you like. You can find them in my Etsy shop.
Is this a particularly difficult Christmas season for you? Can you remember one in particular that was hard? Please share it in the comments if you are comfortable. I would love to pray for you! Not only might it encourage another reader, sharing your pain can be a powerful step in healing!
Do you know someone who could use the encouragement this Christmas? Please share this post.
I can’t believe I never shared last year’s Christmas Market! As we buckle down over here to get ready for the 2023 market, I can’t help but procrastinate my other work to share last year with you all! I only hope I’m as happy with this years table as I was with last years!
I was thrilled with the location of our table. I didn’t expect to have this prime location because the gal who usually has it was supposed to be there, but when she canceled at the last minute, (though I was sorry she couldn’t be there) I was happy to fill in.
We start with our tree on the left. With some of the left over product from past years, my [then] 7 year old son made those cute gnome ornaments! I hope we’ll have time to get to some of them this year, but we haven’t started yet!
Aren’t they cute? They’ve set off in him a love of all things gnomes!
Moving down the table I had these cute small book stacks my 12 year old boy made. I also set up that frame for people to find information about my shop and my computer so they could see some of the items in my shop that I didn’t have at the market.
This is right in the middle of the table. At the top is a large book stack my teen son made and one of my mini calendars (shameless plug to find 2024 calendars in my shop now!) Under that is an 11×14 framed print I gifted my pastor’s family. That is one of my “Custom Tree Lots” (also found in my shop!) I just love them! I pick and place trees to match your family (large or small… the photos in my shop show some smaller groupings and even a couple!) and add their names. It’s one of my favorite Christmas products!
At the bottom of the pic are the hot pads my teen girl made to sell from fabric I designed. Somehow I haven’t shared much about this, but I a number of fabric designs for sale on Spoonflower. These are some of my Christmas patterns. One of these days I’d like to share more, but I’m always behind around here. 🙂
Next are some of the wood bead garlands we’ve made, some of my cards, and a bunch of other cute little things we’ve made over the years. In the middle is a mug I had printed my artwork. Those little snowman salt and pepper shakers sold out last year. I really need to get some more of those so the kids can paint them!
This is the far right of our table. I’ve hung another of my calendars for people to see all the designs. More mugs are on the shelves. Those little house shapes you see on the shelves and in front I had my 8 year old paint and we decopaged some of my artwork on. The bottom one is actually fabric we put on and added some detail with the raffia and a gingerbread button. In front are some more cards and a few note pads left over from a couple years ago.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour. It’s definitely inspired me to try to get more done in the next 10 days before we have to set up for this year’s market!
I feel like I’m in full fledged Christmas gear these days, at least in my shop. I’ve spent the whole week getting as many new products created and listed as possible. (Sometimes it feels like I’m moving in slow motion though!) After my Mistletoe Bundle, I jumped into Christmas cards! In addition to all the new, I’m also working on bringing new life to some of the “older” items in the shop already with new photos and videos in my listings (still learning here!) It’s been a week of late nights and crazy days! 🙂
I’ve had chicken cards dancing around in my head for weeks, but with Peru on the calendar for October, there wasn’t much time for designing! Since we’ve been back (after the bulk of the unpacking and laundry were done anyway), I’ve been working in every little bit of time I can find.
I just had to start with my truck. I hope you aren’t getting tired of it, but I love this little truck! I love the simplicity of the white and the snowflakes, the boldness of the red and the tall skinny font.
This is actually the first card of the set I created. I had this one mostly done in September, before things got too busy. I grabbed the chicken coop from my clipart set and converted it to the black and white line drawing I have here. Then I just had to add some lights! 🙂 These lights make me happy too. I hope you like them, because here they are again!
My “Let your lights shine” card was inspired by the Christian children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine”. The chicken brings more life and fun to it, I think.
Which card is your favorite? Are you a chicken fan? I’ll take any input you have!
I love mistletoe! Am I the only one? Somehow I never have any hanging in my home, but I gravitate to all the cute mistletoe signs on Pinterest and I’ve taken to painting and designing products with it over the past 4-5 years now.
Several years ago I designed this wall art, but as Christmas is approaching, I wanted to do something more with it.
In this new bundle you can get cards, tags, bookmarks, stickers and clipart in various styles. Click over to see details of what’s included at my shop!
Here’s my favorite part… with my cards in the past, and even with the card I have in this set, I always felt like I was restricting things to couples… romance. That leaves a whole lot of people out! I don’t like leaving people out! I Know a lot of people who might already feel left out at Christmas and I don’t want to be responsible for that! I love how these bookmarks and tags open things up a little.
I can see these being gifted to all the members in a book club! Or to that friend who loves to read! Or stuck in a stocking! Or tags tied to a book on Christmas morning! Or maybe it’s for you!
Speaking of you… I still have my “In this house we do mistletoe!” wall art. Don’t want is this big??? Print it out any size you want and set it on a shelf or mantle. Or gift them to your mistletoe loving friend! The set also includes this as a PNG file with a transparent background! Put it on a mug… I did and it’s so cute (hmmm… a pic of that would be great right now!)
There you go… right in the middle of this pic from last year’s Christmas Market (how did I never blog about that???). My mistletoe mug! I just love it! I give you permission to have it put on a mug! (for personal use… please don’t sell anything you buy from me. If you are interested in that, we can talk about a commercial license!)
Where were we? Ah, yes… mistletoe. Don’t think I’m against romance and actual kissing! (Have you seen my bedroom wall art? That should be back in my shop soon. If you want it now, message me and I’ll get it done!) I’ve still got a cute card you can slip in to husband’s lunch or into the mail for that love far away! Come over to see my updated Mistletoe Bundle. I can’t wait to hear how you are going to use these!!
Did you see my Mini Chicken Calendar and love it, but not care so much about the chickens? I hear you. Chickens aren’t for everybody. And while trucks aren’t for everybody, I know that a bunch of you do love old trucks! I hope you love this little calendar with all their whimsical illustrations just as much!
I love to tie these little cuties (mini size) onto a package or plate of cookies for a Christmas gift. It’s what I’m doing for our pastors’ wives again this year. The first year I included a mini easel from Hobby Lobby. They make a great stocking stuffer too and fit perfectly. If you prefer the larger sizes, place them in a frame and switch them out, clip them to the fridge, or slide them in the front of your school binder! So many options!
Whether they are for you or for gift giving (both?), you can find them in my Etsy shop right now!
What do you think? Do you like them? Which month is your favorite. Tell me in the comments!
This is one of my favorite designs to date! (And with 2 colorways!)
Happy Advent Season, and Merry Christmas to you all! Things have been busy at my house of late, which means they’ve been slow here! I have some posts I hope to get up in the next couple weeks, so we’ll see what happens! 🙂
This is the latest version of my custom tree lots. I love my old version (one like it here), and it’s ironic claim that my family of 8 is a “little” tree lot. Sorry… I find those sorts of things fun. 🙂
This latest version was originally designed for my pastor’s wife to replace the one I hand painted for her several years ago. Almost right after I gifted it, their family decided to adopt again… a set of 4 siblings! Then their oldest married! And a baby! It was clear that I needed something that would be easy to adapt for a growing family! This is what I came up with.
These are great for large families, but you can also get them for small families. You can see several other family groupings and the second colorway at my Etsy shop.
While you are there, use coupon code TREELOT30, to get it at 30% off through Decmeber 8, 2022. I like to give my readers this exclusive discount whenever I list something new. (In fact, if you ever see something new that I haven’t talked about here yet, message me about it and I’ll give you a special discount code to save you even more! –Hint Hint). You can also click here to have the discount automatically added.
As we come to the end of our Christmas in July, I have discovered that there are a couple items in my shops that I haven’t highlighted here. One of them is this “Seek Him” wall art. I love this one for a mantle or hung over the couch. It’s a little moodier than what I usually do… I love that too!
This is based on something I did years ago on wood (a lot of my stuff started hand painted on wood!) I also turned it into a vinyl project for our Christmas market a couple years ago (you can find it in the middle of the white cube shelves in this post. Not sure why it didn’t get highlighted that year.)
The focus of this piece is Matthew 2:2, the words of the wisemen: “We have seen his star in the east and are come to worship Him.” I hope it reminds all who see it that Christmas is ultimately about seeking and worshiping the King of Kings!
It is now available in large (or small) format for your digital download pleasure in my decor shop! Available for 50% off till the end of the month. It’s also available in a 1×2 format.
