Since it’s officially been fall for almost a month now, I guess I should get on board. I will admit that I did try a PSL the other day (since they changed the recipe and all), and I have to be honest. I didn’t love it. I didn’t really even like it. I’m starting to wonder if I’m even American.

But, in honor of said season, I figured I’d put together a little fall craft. And I say that lightly, because I’m not entirely convinced that this is a fall craft. I figure wood slices aren’t really a summer thing…so we’ll go with fall. If it works, it works. Stop judging.

Being from the Midwest, I have a lot of family members that have cabins ‘up north.’ And if you didn’t read that as, “cabins up nort,” you’re clearly not from Wisconsin. More power to you. Seriously. The Yooper accent is a bit much, even for me. Every time I visit back home, I pick up a little of it. Especially when drinking. Okay mostly just when drinking.

One of my aunts is building a new cabin in the woods up north. I had seen wood projects around the block (or on Pinterest), and thought about making her some photo coasters as a little cabin-warming present. On wood, of course. I couldn’t find a tutorial online that was as easy as I like ’em to be, so I made up my own…

You can buy the wood slices at Michael’s, or you can cut them on your own. This would depend on how much of a lumberjack you are. Obviously, I bought mine. I know that may come as a shock to you, since I’m so outdoorsy – but I was short on time.

Print photos on regular printer paper. Trim your photos to fit each wood slice. Using a thin coat of Modge Podge on the bottom of each photo, stick it to the wood slice, being careful to push out any air pockets. Wait for that to dry, and then apply another thin coat to the top. After that is dry as well, you should apply at least another 2 layers to the top. You want to make sure it has a good seal, so the photos don’t bubble when wet. If you want to tie them together with the same tag (or one like it), you can find it here.

Overall, I think they turned out pretty neat. Since I’ll probably never see the cabin myself, at least I can know that she’s protecting her table surfaces with these coasters. Seriously, what’s more important than that?

Clearly I am not the best person to ask for advice on how to raise your children. But to be fair, I did work in a children’s museum for five years, a daycare for two, and was a nanny for several families. And (almost) all of those kids turned out okay. Or mostly okay. Fine. They’re all still alive. That means something, doesn’t it?

I always thought I’d have about six of my own kids to ruin, but time changed that. Now I can’t even ruin my best friends kids, because they all live so far away. I guess they’ll all have to find other “aunties” to buy them their first beer in high school college. They’ll have to settle for someone else to teach them how to sneak out of their bedroom windows when they want to see their boyfriends besties. And they just will have to buy their own itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polkadot bikinis. Okay, that, I can do. Thank heaven’s for Amazon.

One of my best friends has a toddler (I’ll give you one guess at her name) that I would love to show the ropes. But since she’s still pretty little, I’ll settle for just teaching her some of the basics. Like how to spell her name. This is very important because when she eventually goes on to become the President of the United States, she will need to know how to spell her name. And then I can say I taught the President how to spell her name. I’m really just hoping for a tax break.

So in honor of Avery, I sewed some letters out of different colored felt and stuffed them with a little stuffing. I printed out her name in big black block letters on some cardstock, and sent her the little kit. My bestie assured me it really helped her. She got the hang of it right away (just like a future President would), and she learned the letters of her name quickly. Gosh my kiddos are the smartest.