12 Days of Christmas Giveaways 2018

I'm so excited to bring another round of giveaways this year for you all! I've been so so thankful for all the love and support I've been given this year in you choosing to bring my art into your homes, so I wanted to give something back to you as a little way of saying thank you for making this season so fun and special for our little family!

I've teamed up with 12 small shops that I LOVE and ADORE to give away items for the first twelve days of December. Starting December 1st, I will feature a new shop each day with something they are giving away along with something from my shop I'll be giving too. All of this will be happening on my Instagram, so be sure to look over there for how to enter and follow along. I'll be sharing more about each shop and why I love them in my stories and on my posts too.

Here are the shops involved in case you want to start shopping early for some perfect and unique Christmas gifts this year.

Hope you enjoy!

(The order of the shops below is not the order that they will be featured, check my instagram to see which shop will be featured each day)

1. Ava Berry Lane 2. Substation Paperie 3. Plaine Jane 4. Rock Block Shop

5. Sakura Bloom 6. Quincy Mae 7. Joey Mae Handmade 8. Rose & Rex

9. Swankaroo 10. SEE Salt 11. Iconic Cocktail 12. Our Found Home

Intentional Advent

As the season of Advent quickly approaches I wanted to share a bit about the intention of this calendar I created and share a few ideas on how our family has used it over the year as my kids have gotten older. 

When I first designed this calendar a few years ago Shane and I had just welcomed out first baby and I quickly began dreaming of the family traditions we would create together. Even though she was just a baby, I knew that doing something at Christmas time with intention and teaching our kids the story of Jesus was something I wanted to bring into our home. 

A friend of mine had suggested I illustrate an advent calendar as a cute countdown to Christmas day. I loved the idea, but knew I wanted to make it more than just a little countdown--something with intention behind the countdown. As I thought of my kids and how we could teach them what this holiday was about I thought of writing simple verses to read each day of December leading up to Christmas. An activity that we could do together as they grow up, reading the verses, talking about the story, asking questions, and learning alongside our kids. 

I've made a few different versions over the years but the verses and story has remained the same. This years illustrations were meant to bring simplicity and beauty as they are hung up in the home and allowing the story written on the back to bring the deeper meaning and beauty to the season. 

In case you're curious how to do this with your family here are a few ideas I've come up with or some things we have done together in the past. 

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Idea 1:

-Leave the calendar in a pile set on the mantle or next to a place you will string them. 

-Starting December 1st, sit with your family each night to read the verse on the back aloud.

-Hang up the verse that was read for that night on the string you want to display it on.

-Repeat this each day, reading the new verse and hanging it up, using it to count up to Christmas day. 

Idea 2:

-Hang the calendar on a string across your mantle or some other creative way showing the number side first. 

- Each day, starting with #1 have your child read the verse aloud. If your kids are reading age, you can have a different child read each day alternating who gets to read. (kids LOVE to be involved in the activity. This will also create a sense of them owning the tradition with you as well instead of just being read to)

-Ask prompting questions after each verse is read to talk more about what this story means to them.

(ie. how does it make you feel knowing God loves you? why do you think Jesus was born? why did Jesus have to come as a baby? what does the name Jesus mean? Do you think Jesus is close and with us now?)

Idea 3:

Something we have done each year is have a small Christmas tree next to where our calendar is hung up. After each verse is read I ask the girls one thing we can learn from that verse. For instance we can learn from his name being "Immanuel" it means that God is always with us and won't ever leave us. After we read it together and say what we've learned we take a small ornament to hang on the tree for that day. 

On the last day of the calendar I use our Jesus story bible (a favorite of ours!) and read through the whole Christmas story from this book. I love the way this book brings simplicity and truth in a meaningful way that is tangible for kids to listen to.

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My girls get excited each year to sit and read these together (and mostly hang the ornaments haha), but even if most of what's being said is going over their head, my hope is that this is something they look forward to each year and can remember more about the story as they grow up. I think kids are usually more in tune with what's going on and being said around them even if they can't quite articulate it, so I know just doing the activity together is doing something deeper in their heart. And from there I get to trust God with how he's allowing these words of truth to be woven into their story. 

So with these simple little activities, you can probably go from here and get creative on how to use these ideas with your own family. My hope is that this calendar also creates a deeper meaning for you as you read through them as much as we hope it does for our kids. Even more that that I hope you realize more than ever before how crazy our God is about you and how deeply He loves you!

I'm honored and so thankful that you would choose to bring this calendar and any of my work into your home and lives.

Please share on instagram how you have used and displayed yours and tag me so I can see!

@coleykuyperart  #ckartadvent

all photos by Monica Mae Photography

Christmas Tree Farm

 maternity leggings in blue // cream cardigan // black booties

We headed to the Christmas tree farm almost as soon as the turkey was gone on Thanksgiving day. There's no hiding that this time of year is my absolute favorite! One of our family traditions we  started when Raleigh was itty bitty was heading to Whitfil Nursery once their lot is filled like a pine tree forest. Now that the crisp air JUST hit Phoenix, it's the best place to walk around taking in the scent of the pine trees, drinking their complimentary hot chocolate, sitting by the fire and having the girls run around. Speaking of walking around, there's not much these day I can get around in feeling comfortable and semi-put together. I recently found these maternity pants from Preggo Leggings and I've worn them just about every (other) day ;) With my belly continuing to to get bigger and bigger, the less I feel "cute" or at least trying to, but these pants have made me feel both comfortable and put together in the simplest way. Any time I can get my hands on maternity clothes that don't look completely maternity then I'm in. 

Another tradition we have on the night we find our tree is grabbing pizza from our favorite Spinato's Pizzeria, then head home to decorate the tree, eating pizza and listening to all the holiday tunes. So the leggings are not only good for the growing baby inside me, but also a good excuse to eat all the delicious pizza I can and not feel like my pants are going to burst! ;) 

Now our house smells almost as good as the nursery and I'm ready for the rest of our family traditions to begin. 

What are some family traditions you have done or have started with your family? I always love to hear more ideas and see what others do too!

Our Christmas Season

The Christmas season came and went in a blink. We had the sweetest time over the past month soaking in all the holiday goodness. I imagine this time of year will always make me miss spending it in Germany like we did a few years ago. There's nothing quite like Christmastime in Europe, but we try to make the most of it here in the desert. Running around the Christmas tree lot with the smell of pines, free hot chocolate in hand, and seeing Santa Clause is always a favorite and started off the season just right! Since Raleigh was born we started the tradition of going to Whitfill Nursery to get our tree and spend the evening there listening to the music and sitting by the fire. Its so fun to watch the girls start to get excited about all the fun of it now. 

A new thing we did this year was family Christmas "caroling" around the block. We took treats to friends in the neighborhood and sang songs to them--well if that's what you'd call it, it was more like the girls would stare as mom and dad started the singing! We'll see if this tradition sticks, but the girls enjoyed riding around in our 4 seat stroller I decorated with garland and lights, so I guess it was a win!

This year, our Christmas felt like it went on for two weeks--which I'm definitely not complaining about. I loved doing lots of Christmases with both sides of our families and extending it beyond just one day. One of my favorite things we started this year with the girls was doing our Advent Calendar for story time before bed each night. They were so excited to pull a card down to read and get to hang an ornament up after each reading. Some of the things that would come from their mouth on what they heard was pretty comical too. But after each reading the thing they would repeat the most is "God is with me always" which was a pretty sweet thing to hear coming from a toddler! We spent Christmas day making crepes for breakfast, going to church in our jammies, then opening presents. I loved looking at our living room full of mess  after wards seeing how much activity had gone on that morning, knowing how we are making sweet memories as a little family. 

A few snaps through out the season from my Instagram

The month was also full of orders and art projects for my little business and it felt so rewarding seeing people choose my work. As the new year begins it only makes me more excited to see what's ahead. Yes, I have goals and hope and dreams, but nothing "new" or different than what my heart has prayed for and has been working for already. The new year only gives me a hope for whats to come and all the new I've yet to embrace and I'm feeling so thankful for it all!

Hope you all had the sweetest Christmas season and are finding hope in the new year too! 

Three Ways to Style Your Advent Calendar

The season of Advent is just around the corner and I can hardly wait to get our calendar out to start some new traditions. This year I decided to put together a few ways you can style this illustrated calendar for your own home. Each day has a verse on the back that takes you through the Christmas story giving meaning to each beautiful card that you turn over. 

I'm excited to share these with the girls this year and come up with way of how we can use them in our family. I always love hearing how others have used them over the years as well. If you haven't grabbed yours yet, you can shop the link here to get one. 

Be sure to tag me @coleykuyperart in instagram to show how you're using yours this year!