TRENDING TUESDAYS : WOODEN TOYS

Wooden toys. Something about the material of wood fascinates me. The organic quality and the lines of the wood showing age an wear. Beyond the traditional wooden toy blocks (an yes I've included some blocks above too) there are so many new wooden objects out there for either play or personal display. Here's a few I've spotted and love. We own a handful of number 5, an each of us has a different color we personally love. Do you own any wood toys you fancy?

IMAGE SOURCES ▸▸ 1  /  2  /  3  /  4  /  5

FOOD // MINT CHOCOLATE BLACK BOTTOM PIE

I love sweet treats - cookies, candies, cakes, pies, oh my! There's no hiding that I have a huge sweet tooth, that just loves to be filled. An with the holiday season up us I find myself making so many sweets I just couldn't help but share one. I thought I would share a recipe that I have made a few times again an again and just love! It's a bit rich for some but if you love chocolate this recipes perfect for you. Also if you're not a big mint fan, you can minus the mint by modifying the chocolate chips back to 8 oz. of regular chips. Enjoy and Happy Holidays! 


MINT CHOCOLATE BLACK BOTTOM PIE
Approx Time 4 Hours (due to chill times) // Serves 6-8

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 ounces andies mint baking chips
1 teaspoon of mint extract
1 tablespoon of spiced rum (we used captain morgan)
1 chocolate cookie pie crust
1/2 cup toasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons or confectioners' sugar

Directions
1.) In a medium microwave safe bowl, heat 1 1/4 cups of cream until hot, approx 3 minutes. Add chocolates and let stand until melted, approx 5-10 minutes. Whisk to combine, then whisk in rum. Pour chocolate mixture into pie crust and reserve a little for the topping later. If you don't care to decorate your pie just add all of the mix into your pie filling. Sprinkle nuts over top an refrigerate pie 3 hours // or up to 2 days.

2.) In a large bowl, use and electric mixer ( I used my food processor), beat 2 cups cream, mint extract and sugar on high until stiff peaks form, approx 2-3 minutes. Top pie with whipped cream. Used reserved chocolate mixture to decorate your pie. I also shaved some andies mints on top of the pie when I was done.

Modified recipe from Everyday Food // Issue No. 77 // November 2010 // Page 69 

ARTIST // GALIA BERNSTEIN

Loving this cute holiday inspired illustration (above) by New York based, Israelian artist Galia Bernstein. I enjoy her bold graphics, especially when she uses minimal colors as in the mermaids piece below. To see more of Galia's work please link over to her personal website below. Happy Monday! 

WEBSITE ▸▸ GALIA BERNSTEIN

FREE DOWNLOAD | 10 PRINTABLE HOLIDAY GIFT TAGS

Did you realize Christmas is 5 days away, FIVE!! Ahhh, I can count that on one hand, crazy, right?! But needless to say, it's time to wrap gifts, and get all the last minute details in order for the big day. I have a tough time finding gift tags that I love, so I usually make my own and thought I'd make a few extra. Feel free to download (link down bottom below), print and cut out these yourself. They are approx. 2 x 3.5 which is business card size. If you need to make them smaller or bigger you should be able to adjust the setting on your own printer.  Enjoy and happy decorating.

DOWNLOAD the FULL SIZE FILE HERE

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY DECOR : 4 EASY DIY PROJECTS

Did you decorate your home for the holidays? Maybe you did, but even if you didn't (or even if you did) maybe you still need or want some last minute holiday decor before Christmas. I'm always excited about a good DIY project, an today I'm sharing 4 links that I found and love. All of these seasonal pieces seem simple enough that you could create in no time an you may even have a few of the supplies already on hand. All links are listed down below. Enjoy and happy decorating.

       IMAGE SOURCES  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

TRENDING TUESDAYS : ADVENT CALENDARS

So occasionally, on Tuesdays, I thought I would take a stab at sharing a few things I have seen lately, an I enjoy. Be it a few different trendy DIY's or maybe something more holiday/seasonally appropriate, but needless to say, today's grouping is that of Advent Calendars. We have a few (3 lego advents + one candy advent) set up in our home this year but I love these takes on an advent. The handmade feel, an paper craft is just more personal to heart. After seeing such inspiration, I think next year I'll be rethinking ours a little calendar to make it a bit more special. Do you do a daily advent leading up to Christmas? What's it look like? If you have a photo of something creative you do or care to share link it below in the comments for us to see.  

IMAGE SOURCES ▸  1  /  2  /  3  /  4  /  5

COLOR PALETTE 66 : ELYELYILUSTRA

What a wonderful color palette an fabulous illustration by freelance illustrator an designer, Ely of ElyElyIlustra. Check out more of her work thru the links below. Enjoy and Happy Monday (new week ahead)!

ELYELYILUSTRA ▸ WEBSITE  /  TWITTER  /  FACEBOOK

BLACK & WHITE / HOLIDAY GIFT WRAP

So I have a thing for Black & White. I love the clean bold contrast of the two colors. An lately, I see a ton of gift wraps out there in the market place and online this Holiday Season. Which makes me all excited! Here are a few black and white trendy looks that got me feeling really inspired to maybe create my own wrap (an personal tags) this year. Oh, an numbers 3,4, 5 & 6 are free (FREE!!! so awesome!) printable version too. Link on over below. Happy Friday!


IMAGE CREDIT  1  /  2  /  3  /  4  /  5  /  6

MUSIC : BØRNS

What about some new tunes?! An why not from one of my newer favorite artists BØRNS aka Garrett Borns. In October ’15 his debut album Dopamine was released which features some amazing songs. His acoustic solos are equally impressive, but don’t let me be a judge an have a listen for yourself. You can find most of his other music on his personal page (linked below) or over on YouTube. Enjoy!


ARTIST WEBSITE >> BØRNS

WHERE'S THERE 12 : KAKSLAUTTANEN ARTIC RESORT

Wow, just WOW! While hunting for winter wonderlands I came across the Kakslauttanen Artic Resort in Finland and felt an excitement come over me. There are places I would love to visit some day and this one just made the high list. An enchanting holiday resort, covered in snow and glass igloos an log cabins. Sled rides by dog or hiking about the wilderness. You can see more photos on the link below, but looks so magical, doesn't it? I had a little hiccup when I glanced at their reservations, but a girl can dream, right? 


▸ KAKSLAUTTANEN ARTIC RESORT

ARTIST // TERESSA ONG

Loving these illustrations by the talented Teressa Ong. Her cute characters which have a naive but stylish illustration I just love to pieces! Please go check out more of her amazing work on her personal page or better yet, follow her in Instagram to see what she's up to daily. Enjoy!


LINKS TO ARTIST ❯❯❯  TERESSA ONG or follow her Instagram @chopsticksroad

SANDIDOODLES : DECEMBER + GOALS

December!?! How is it December, an the 3rd to be exact. I was mentioning to my better half last weekend that the year has just flown right by and what have I done with myself? Though my blog hasn’t been as updated as I hoped it would have been for 2015, I have been busy on the back end with family, life, home projects, work, doodling and more… To say that I haven’t been busy would be an understatement. As 2016 is almost here I started thinking about the year(s) behind me and all the ideas of things I’ve hopes to achieve. My goals lists have always been both big and small, an when I finally finish my list I’ll share some of it here...

One of my goals for the year behind us was to doodle something new every week. There were a few weeks I was off, because of schedules and poor timing I'm sure but all in all I tried my best. Am I'm pretty proud of myself for doing so. In October I challenged myself to the online #Inktober craze an felt very successful after it too. You may see those doodles over on IG under my hashtag #sandidoodles. My yearly goal of doodling will continue, but in the year ahead I hope to challenge myself more an in few new ways. I'll share more about this later.

So what are some of your goals from the year past? Did you achieve your goals? 
Do you have goals for the year ahead you'd care to share? 

I hope you're December started off well.
Much love,