The other day I received a package in the mail.  We received our first ever (drum roll please) FAN MAIL!  And of course with any fan mail, comes fan presents.  Someone (oh ok, it was Nana) saw our post about our different holiday decorating and couldn’t resist.  The runner, she said, not only complimented my holiday decor perfectly, but illustrated Katie and I succinctly.  Burlap with sparkles.

Sparkles and Burlap. What better combination?

Sigh. And no blogger with a blog entitled Hard Hats High Heels could be complete with out holiday heel inspired tea towels.

Holiday Heels on tea towels!

The glow continued into the night and even the next day.  The perfect thoughtful gift can do that.  A few weeks ago, we had you take the handmade pledge.  Now let’s give you the thoughtfulness pledge.  All week we will be giving you ideas on how to find the perfect inspired gift for your loved one.

With young children, I’m always searching for the totally appropriate “capture their littleness” gift for the grandparents and myself.  But like I told someone today, I still vainly cling to my pre child days of stylish snobbery (or at least pretend to).  Straddling the cliche kid yet stylish adult chasm:  difficult, yes.  Impossible?  Don’t know.

I saw this pin on pinterest (oh how many conversations start this way!).  And thought maybe I could do this.

So I went to a craft store and bought the following:

The tools

I sponged the canvas with a variety of colors to make them look like sky.  I then took a cut out of a trunk (I found a printable through Pinterest) and decoupaged it on the canvas.  It then look liked this.  I had high hopes.

This may be possible

After all is said and done, I let the kiddos decorate the trees with their tiny cute little fingers. I was hoping for restrained elegance of child like enthusiasm.  What resulted was more like child like restraint.  But my kids are cute, and I think the grandparents will still love it.  Or at least hang it up before we come over.

"The leaves are falling mom!"