HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

family photo 2017

Photo by Amanda Haddow Photography

Just like that...another year comes to a close. WINTER DAISY will be closed through the end of this year and will be back January 15th, 2018.

If you're looking for some inspiration for your kids spaces over the holiday, please sit back and read some of my favourite posts from this year!!!

Rooms:

  1. Rafa + Leo’s Shared Baby and Toddler Room
  2. Ella’s Big Girl Room
  3. A Neutral Nursery (staged to sell)
  4. Christmas Playhouse

Décor for Kids Rooms:

  1. 10 of the cutest night lights
  2. Super cute hooks for kids
  3. Pillows!
  4. Baby Cribs
  5. 6 wooden playhouses

Books:

  1. My Color is Rainbow
  2. Mindful 1, 2, 3
  3. Over and Under the Snow
  4. Tap the Magic Tree
  5. Bee
  6. It Starts with a Seed
  7. Holiday Books for Kids

2017 has been such a great year juggling the blog, designing client spaces and being a hands on Mama to my three little ones. I can't wait to show you some of the spaces that are in their final stages that I will be revealing next year. As always, thank you so much for being here! Happy holidays from our family to yours; I hope you enjoy celebrating in whatever way makes you happy. 

Melissa Signature
 

 

 

PRETTIEST PERSONALIZED DIY STAR ORNAMENT

DIY personalized clay star ornaments
sydney star ornament
clay for making ornaments
clay star ornament
embossing letters

Looking for a quick, personalized DIY gift you can achieve by Christmas (yes really!)? This easy clay star ornament or gift topper is sure to make anyone on your list feel special!!! I love how these turned out!

Items needed:

How to make:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit
Step 2: Warm clay in your hands
Step 3: Roll clay to 1/4" thick
Step 4: Use cookie cutter to cut out star shape
Step 5: Emboss name on star (be sure you have the letters inserted correctly) and poke hole for string
Step 6: Bake according to time on box (I did for a few minutes less)
Step 7: Remove ornaments from oven, allow to cool
Step 8: Tie on string and voila!

GIFT GUIDE FOR KIDS UNDER 7

A little gift guide for kids with items that kids will love and look great in your home too! Last month, I shared my favourites from Etsy and then last week shared our favourite holiday books. These picks are toys we love or are on our list. As we all know, what our children truly want is our time, energy and love. That and more food than I ever imagined, HA! If you are like me and feel your kids have all that they need, please use this guide simply as suggestions of fun ideas you can give to friends or family who insist on buying something for your kiddos. There are prices ranging from $15 - $275 so hopefully everyone can find something that suits what they are looking for. Please note all items below can reach you before Christmas if you order today (some even later)!

Gift Guide for Kids 2017

01. // Soft Doll; 02. // Cloud Rug; 03. // Pull Bunny; 04. // Translucent Magnatiles; 05. // Wood Tetris; 06. // Lamb Pillow; 07. // Castle Blocks; 08. // Hazel Bunny; 09. // Robot Clock; 10. // Cool Speedster; 11. // Art Subscription; 12. // Mini Guitar; 13. // Puppet Theatre.

HOLIDAY BOOKS FOR KIDS

Kids room with Christmas books on shelf

If you've been following along for a while, you will know that I LOVE children's books as much as book walls and try to encourage reading in every way I can in our household and in client spaces. 

19 days till christmas.jpg

Book walls provide an easy way to display different toys and of course, books! At this time of year, I switch up the every day books for books about winter, Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever else that feels like December and holidays for your family!

Little boy reading Christmas story

A few years ago, we wrapped up books for an all-book advent calendar and it was the perfect way to start a family collection of stories for this time of the year. The following years we have given the kids a new book on December 1st to launch the holiday fun. If introduced right from the start, books are loved by all. They will make the perfect gift for your own little ones but also make lovely gifts for cousins, nieces, nephews and any little friends.

Here are some of our tried and true favourite Christmas / holiday / December books!

Melissa Barling Vancouver blogger picks holiday books for children

01. // The Christmas Quiet Book; 02. // The Polar Express; 03. // Snowmen at Christmas; 04. // A Christmas for Bear; 05. // Christmas Wombat; 06. // Bear Stays Up For Christmas; 07. // Belle & Boo A Very Merry Christmas; 08. // Little Blue Truck's Christmas; 09. // Twas The Night Before Christmas; 10. // Hannukah Hop; 11. // The Jolly Christmas Postman; 12. // The Little Reindeer.

We also LOVE 'Little Robin's Christmas' but I couldn't find it in stock anywhere online. It is a lovely story so check your local bookstore to see if it is there.

Happy reading...

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KIDS CHRISTMAS WOODEN PLAYHOUSE

Kids Christmas playhouse cubby house

GET THE LOOK…

Kids wooden playhouse decorated for Christmas

Our little wooden playhouse is all decorated for Christmas!!! You may remember the summer makeover of this cubby house from last year and I finally got a few things together to decorate it for the holidays. I had this idea to surprise the kids with a fun afternoon outside eating shortbread cookies and drinking hot cocoa and I am so thankful we did it before the crazy rain started because they LOVED it!

kids in playhouse

The white lit birch trees were such a fun addition that I will move inside later; one for the girls' room and one for Xavier's.

playhouse cafe menu

We swapped summer lemonade for hot cocoa and the menu changed to include cookies, brownies and candy canes (kids dream menu!). All three kids wanted to take turns 'serving' the others and the shortbread cookies were gobbled up nearly instantly.

playhouse cafe
playhouse cafe at christmas
mini shortbread cookies stars and trees

I just love the unexpected colours in the peppermint garland from Pearl and Jane. It's so cute for the playhouse and would be equally as adorable as holiday decoration in a children's room!

playhouse cubby house decorated for christmas
playhouse hooks
JOY garland

I adore the little details in our playhouse: the tiny HO HO HO banner, gold drop garland and JOY banner are all from Etsy. So many creative makers that I love to support! I just had to include this photo of our youngest smiling broadly and poking over the door. 

Xavier front door playhouse

If you missed the original makeover, you can find that post here. I hope you find inspiration and a little fun from our holiday playhouse.

 

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