Sweet Sanity Designs

This Tuesday will be a wonderful day...a dear friend who has been in the hospital for almost a month will be returning home!!!  During her long stay one friend came up with beautiful idea that I just had to pass along.

We decided to send her a Jar of Happiness. The gist of this sweet idea is a jar that she could keep next to her bed.  When she felt down, or needed a distraction from the long hours in the hospital she could reach inside and pull out a little bit of happiness! 

How to Build the Jar...
We contacted family and friends and asked them to over emails of memories, funny stories, inspirational quotes, little notes or even special photos they loved.  Everything was printed out.   For added color, you can print on different colored cardstock.   Cut up the memories into separate little pieces of paper and put into a big jar.  We used a big pretzel jar all cleaned out.  In addition to the notes, you could include their favorite candies, or any other tiny items that would brighten their day.  Decorate the inside with some colorful tissue and even the outside if you'd like! 

We attached a fun label to the lid of the jar, too. As a friend pointed out "What if it sits on the floor! It needs to be cute from the top!"  We clearly were desperate to make sure this brought some cheer.  After further brainstorming the title expanded to "Jen's Jar of Jam Packed Happiness from all of her Adoring Fans!" 

Then off our little pink jar of love went!   It's a neat way to include well wishes from so many people.  Maybe you have a friend that needs a Jar of Happiness!  

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope your holidays were great.   I did lots of eating and my body responded in the form of spontaneous narcoleptic episodes on the couch. Well, some self care is always nice and it's back to reality this week!

I love checking Google Analytics this time of year. It's full of such incredible data about site traffic and it continues to amaze me that people are visiting.   I thought I would share the top posts of 2011  based on the most hits so here they are!

Hiding the Wireless Routers

* This one still continues to get tons of comments both good and skeptical ~ many people are concerned with ventilation and overheating, as they should be!  I definitely suggest making the holes in the back nice and big for ventilation, and if you can make more on the bottom and sides depending on your set up, all the better. For the first few days or weeks I would just walk by and open the boxes to ensure nothing is getting too hot and to see if your ventilation is adequate. I still occasionally touch my hand to it as I pass by and everything is a-okay on my end.

Adding Nailhead Trim to a Chair

Two Tone Treatment on a Ikea Dresser

"Jar of Happiness" Project

X Benches

And just for fun, I checked out where all of you are reading from.   Most of you are in the US but it is neat to see the next 5 countries, too!

1. Canada
2. UK
3. Philippines
4. Australia
5. Netherlands

And the top 10 world wide cities...

1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Naples
4. Los Angeles
5. Houston
6. San Diego
7. Dallas
8. Charlotte
9. Washington
10. Melbourne

Now if I could just visit any of these in 2012 we'd be off to a good start!   Happy New Year!

The countdown is on for Father's Day!  This holiday can definitely test my creativity.  Offering a Mid-Week Medley of some finds that may be a bit more fun than the usual...Tried to hit a few types of Dads!

 

Mustached Pint Glasses (these kill me, esp. if Dad does have a mustache) from Bread and Badger
For the New Daddy from Branded
Golf Soaps for the Golf Dad from Karen Soaps
Shaving Kit from Flying Bird Botanicals
Maple, Walnut and Cherry Cutting Board from Board Beyond Belief
Grill Guru Gourmet BBQ Blends from Purpose Design
Tins for totally Dad type things from Tiny Tins
Vintage Maps with Butterfly from the Region Inside from Bug Under Glass
Desktop Scrabble Message for Dad from Squares of Flair
All on Etsy...
♥