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Our Christmas 2009

In Holidays on December 29, 2009 at 9:00 am

Overall our Christmas we a delight. It was a surprisingly relaxing Christmas. We weren’t able to make it out to Washington (state) to visit my husband’s family. Rather, we spent Christmas with my family here in the South where it was rainy and windy. All went well with the exception of all of us getting a little cold. But our poor little Elle had ear infects the night before Christmas. Our pediatrician’s office was closed over the holiday and weekend. The pediatric urgent care had a wait of over 4 hours. So she suffered through until Monday morning when I could finally get her to a doctor.

Christmas Eve, Santa made an appearance at our home. We must have been good this year.

Christmas morning the gift opening began around 8:30 for us. Not too bad. The gift opening took quite a while because the kids wanted to play with each new toy as soon as it is opened.

The sketchbook caddy was a hit. She almost forgot about her other presents.

Kaye wrapped some of Elle’s toys in tape and construction paper as my Christmas gift. She was so excited. I loved every bit of it.

Kaye’s royal coach from Santa.

Elle looked and felt the worst on Christmas Day. But she was such a trooper making it to all the family gatherings.

This and another princess dress up clothes was the cause of all the glitter in the house. It’s on every one of us, all the furniture, carpets, floors, toys and everything else in the house.

Nathan got me a charm gold necklace. Love it!

I got him a fire pit. This one fit better in our backyard. It was too big to wrap without him noticing. So I hid it in the trunk of his car.

We had such a memorable Christmas. Hope your family did too. If you have a post on your blog of your Christmas, leave a link in the comments. I would love to see how your Christmas went.

Tags

christmas, families, thoughts

▶ 8 Comments

Friday’s 5 at 5: Why I Love Christmas

In Friday's 5 at 5 on December 25, 2009 at 5:00 am

Merry Christmas! I hope you are out enjoying the day with those you love. For those of you who wished for a white Christmas, I hope your wish came true. For me, I always wish against a white Christmas. And now, 5 reasons why I love Christmas…

I believe in Christ. And it is wonderful that I can celebrate His birth. I love knowing there is someone who gives me undying and unconditional love.
All the traditions. It is something I look forward to every year. Building the gingerbread houses. Finding an ornament that represents our year. Delicious Southern breakfast my aunt makes. The tense family gift exchange game we play with my extended family. Kids’ funny photos with Santa. Sending and receiving Christmas cards. My tradition to go Christmas shopping with my dad a few days before Christmas or on Christmas Eve.
Overwhelming feeling the love. I get this abundance feeling of love this time of year. Maybe it is because people tend to be a little more generous and considerate of others. Maybe it is because I am surrounded by the people I love the most on Christmas Day.
My little girls. There is nothing like Christmas with little girls. It makes all the crazy retail shopping, gift wrapping and stressing to finish last minute gifts all worth it. Just to see the excitement and anticipation in their eyes.
Christmas carols. I love singing them. I love listening to them. I love hearing Kaye sing in her 3-year-old voice all about Santa, birth of Jesus and Christmas Day.

Hope you have a lovely Christmas from my family to yours.

Tags

christmas, families, lists, thoughts

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Twisted Paper Snowflake Tutorial

In Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials on December 23, 2009 at 9:01 am

I am being featured on Bloom today! Emily of Bloom invited me to guest post on their site and I was more than excited to do so. I even came up with a forth snowflake design for the special occasion. If you haven’t been over to Bloom before, you will have to visit. Anne and Emily of Bloom are full great articles about family and motherhood.

Back to the snowflake. I got a bit crazy with this one… probably because I have been cooped up in my house for the last few days. But did you noticed that this time I used double sided cardstock paper? Yes, I upgraded my snowflakes. This is the last one I promise. I’m sure you’re quite sick of them now. Just in case you are not, here is a picture and links to the other three previous snowflakes. The piping paper snowflake, the twirly paper snowflake and the cookie cutter paper snowflake. This twisted paper snowflake (nicknamed crazy octopus) is a combination of both the piping and twirly snowflake.

Supplies:

cardstock paper
8 markers, pens or pencils
4 pipe cleaners/chenille
paper cutter, scissors
ribbon, string or thread
needle
hole punch or other embellishments for the center
glue
low adhesive tape

1. Cut 9 strips of cardstock 3/4″ x 6″.

2. Place glue at one end of the first strip. Then make a ring, only to one strip of cardstock.

3. Fold one end of the remainder 8 strips at 3/4″.

4. Tape one of the strip diagonally to the markers, then wrap it around and tape the second end. Do to all 8 strips. Allow the paper to settle for at least an hour. The longer the better.

5. While waiting for the twists to settle. Take your pipe cleaners and mark at the edge of the ring where the holes need to be. There will be 8 holes all evenly spaced.

6. Unwrap the twisted strips then apply glue to the end where you had previously folded at 3/4″.

7. Glue the strips of twisted paper onto the ring according to the markings previously made with the pipe cleaners. Make sure they are all equally spaced.

8. Use a small hole punch or scrapbooking hole punch with hammer tools to punch holes in the middle of each glued ends on the ring.

9. Pull the pipe cleaners through the holes across from each other. Then wrap the curls around the pipe cleaners.

10. Trim off excess pipe cleaner ends.

11. Use needle to attach ribbon or thread to the snowflake to hang. Optional, apply embellishments to center of the snowflake.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design

▶ 4 Comments

Kaye’s Sketchbook Caddy

In Crafts, Holidays on December 21, 2009 at 9:01 am

I have been lucky in the sense that Kaye’s Christmas wishlist to Santa has been pretty simple the last two years. Last year, she wanted a candy cane. That’s it. I got her the biggest candy cane I could find. This year, the list got longer. A horn (the musical instrument kind, not the rhino kind), paper, pencils and a book. Easy enough, except the horn.

And because I can’t just wrap a ream of paper and a couple pencils and toss it under the tree, I came up with a sketchbook caddy for Kaye. You see, we’ve been having a little problem with Kaye and her drawings. She sees me with my sketchbook and is motivated to draw, too. I love that she is creative like me. However, the problem has been she takes the crayons, pens and markers then draws on our hearth, dressers, bookshelves and my office desk. Not ideal for the resale value of our house if we ever move. I’ve been trying to drill in her that we only draw on paper. Nothing else. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.

I drafted the caddy idea in a day, then finished it the next day. And I had all the supplies at home, just needed the sketchpad and markers. What do you think? And anyone out there with an idea of how to get blue crayons out of a slab of marble?

Tags

children, christmas, design, gifts, sewing

▶ 23 Comments

Friday’s 5 at 5: Guy Gifts

In Friday's 5 at 5 on December 18, 2009 at 5:00 am

I don’t know about you, but I have the hardest time finding gifts for the men in my life… husband, brothers, father, father-in-law and grandfathers. This year, how about…

1. Fire pit. What guy doesn’t like the outdoors? Now tell me, what guy doesn’t like to burn things outdoors? There. Done. This one is from Lowes.

2. Leather excursion case. If your man travels quite a bit for work or just likes to travel in style. This one is monogramed by Red Envelope.

3. Space pen. I got this for Nathan a few years ago. What a boring gift. A pen. But a bullet space pen. It’s he favorite thing. He takes it with him everywhere. It’s short when closed, regular pen length when fully sized. It writes upside down, in the freezing cold, in boiling heat and under water.

4. SunnyBags. For the eco-friendly tech guy. These bags have solar panels that charges your gadgets while he is out and about. These SunnyBags are made in Austria. You can other solar bags on Amazon.

5. Cloud 9 Living. If you rather create a memory and give him the experience of his lifetime then Cloud 9 Living is your answer. You purchase an experience or a gift card that is good for an experience of his choice. Experiences are relative to where you live, but some examples are hot air balloon rides, race car ride along, couples massage, private golf lesson by a PGA pro, adventure film making and I could go on. This gift will win you the wife of the year award.

Tags

christmas, gadgets, gifts, ideas, shopping

▶ 3 Comments

Gingerbread Houses ‘09

In Food, Holidays on December 16, 2009 at 9:01 am

Our family holiday tradition, building gingerbread houses. It’s a contest although none of us actually declare a winner. We all trash talk each other houses and declare ourselves the winner. Enjoy our parade of homes gingerbread style. I built the one pictured above and the back of the house is pictured below. It has a pond in the front of the house and French back doors. That Twizzler sticking out of the ground was supposed to be a fountain. Didn’t work out the way I expected it to, so now I call it a small tree.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design, families, friends

▶ 2 Comments

Blanket Stitch Christmas Stockings

In Crafts, Holidays on December 15, 2009 at 9:01 am

I can’t take credit for this one. My amazingly talented and fun spirited friend, Marcie, came up with the patterns and designs for my stockings. This is actually a set of six stockings… gingerbread men and a candy cane are the other two designs. See all six designs below. They were so simple and cheap to make -felt, fleece, floss, buttons and scrap fabric. It’s a simple blanket stitch all the way around. I was able to finish all six in one day.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design, friends, ideas, sewing

▶ 17 Comments

DIY Microwavable Dough Ornaments

In Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials on December 14, 2009 at 9:01 am

A tradition Nathan and I started when we were dating was add a new ornament to our tree each year. Something that reminds us of that particular year. Last year, we couldn’t find any store ornaments that represented our year, so I decided we would make our own microwaveable salt dough ornament. It was quick and easy with only THREE ingredients for the dough.

Supplies:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
3/4 cup hot water
toothpicks
cookie cutters
rolling pin
microwavable glass plate
paint, acrylic or tempera
glitter, optional
Mod Podge
paint brushes
ribbons
cooling rack

1. In a bowl, mix together the three ingredients – flour, salt, and water. Mix well, then roll flat on a flat surface (counter or table top). You will want the ornaments to be less than 1/2″ thick.

2. Using cookie cutters, cut out the ornaments.

3. Use the toothpick to make a whole at the top of the ornament to string ribbons through for hanging.

4. Place similar sized ornaments onto a microwavable glass plate. Heat in microwave until water has evaporated from the mixture. And since all microwaves are different, I would start out heating 2 minutes, check it, then continue in 30-second or 1-minute increments. If you heat too long, the top and bottom of the ornaments may start to brown. A little browning may be OK if you use a darker paint color over it. And most ornaments will crinkle a bit at the top. There is not much you can do about that except sand it down later. The ornaments will be extremely hot.

5. Allow the ornaments to cool on the cooling rack. Then paint. Once the paint is dry, you will want to seal it with a couple layers of Mod Podge.

6. String a ribbon through the hole and hang on tree.

Tags

children, christmas, decorating, families, ideas

▶ 9 Comments

Friday’s 5 at 5: Memory Gifts Using Photos

In Friday's 5 at 5, Photography on December 11, 2009 at 5:00 am

I am constantly looking for ways to make gift giving more personal. Those are my favorite gifts to give. As we are in the season of giving, here are five ideas for using your photos…

Favorite things. This Christmas, I made photo books of my kids favorite things. It was a medium size flipbook. One for Elle and one for Kaye. It’s fun to be able to capture their favorite things at this age. I also used letter blocks to spell out their favorite things, an idea I received from Liz’s blog.
Favorite memories. This year, I hand bound personal books for our parents for Mother’s and Father’s Day. I had each of our siblings write a couple favorite memories with our parents. Then dug through old photographs for pictures to go along with the stories. We all laughed and cried taking a trip down memory lane.
While you were gone. My brother and some of Nathan’s siblings travel all around the world. We send them photo books of our children growing up while they were gone. Catch them up on some of the things they missed.
Messages. Have family members or friends hold a sign with a message of ‘I love you’ or ‘thank you’ or ‘we miss you’ in a photograph. Put it on a card or make it into a poster.
Cover an event. At a special event, take ample pictures and make a little scrapbook for them. Don’t forget to include your thoughts and feelings of the event. This is great for weddings, birthdays, graduations and performances.

Tags

christmas, design, gifts, ideas, lists

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Season of Giving

In Events on December 10, 2009 at 8:59 am

My friends, Emily and Anne of Bloom, are doing a silent auction on their blog beginning today until Saturday. The auction is for the Skinner family with two kids on dialysis due to an extremely rare liver disease. Please hop over to Bloom and contribute where you can. There are some great items in the auction, including a gift certificate to Sarah Jane Studio.

Tags

announcement, christmas, friends

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Twirly Paper Snowflake Tutorial

In Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials on December 7, 2009 at 8:59 am

Last of the 3 part snowflake tutorial series. Hope you have been having fun making the other two snowflakes, cookie cutter paper snowflake and piping paper snowflake. Then a surprise forth snowflake, the twisted paper snowflake.

Measurements and sizes are according to the snowflakes I made for this tutorial. You can adjust to make a snowflake bigger, smaller or fuller.

Supplies:

cardstock paper (must use a thick type paper like cardstock)
paper cutter, scissors
pens, pencils or markers
stapler
ribbon, string or thread
low adhesive tape
hole punch or other embellishments for the center
glue

1. Cut your paper into 1/2″ x 6″ strips. Cut 6 strips.

2. Tape one end of the strip diagonally to a pen, pencil or marker. Twist the rest of the strip around the marker, then tape the second end. Do to all 6 strips. Let it sit for about an hour or so.

3. Unravel the paper from the marker.

4. Take two of the curled paper and join them together in the center, they are across from each other. Then take two more curled paper and space it evenly between the previous two strips.

5. Staple that first portion in the center.

6. Take the last two strips and space it evenly on the open part of the snowflake. Staple it again. You may want to staple a few more times to keep the strips secured.

7. Hole punch a different colored paper and glue the punched circles to the center, covering the staples. Or add other types of embellishments.

8. String it with ribbon or strings using glue or tape on the back.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design

▶ 23 Comments

Friday’s 5 at 5: My Christmas Wishlist

In Friday's 5 at 5, Products on December 4, 2009 at 5:00 am

I always have a hard time with my Christmas list. It is difficult for me to distinguish a difference between what I want and what I need. Maybe there’s not much of a difference. Ha.

No. 1: Letterpress by Lifestyle Crafts. I watched the tutorials, read some reviews and I think this would be the perfect introduction into letterpress for me. It is simple to use and extremely affordable as far as letterpresses go. I just think about all the cute cards and paper stuff I can make with it. My mind is going wild.

No. 2: Necklaces by Lisa Leonard. She is all the rage right now and you can see why. I have tried to win one of her jewelry pieces from every giveaway out there. No luck. One day, I will have to own the Be Still necklace. I’m quite found of the family crest, too.

No. 3: Magic Mouse by Apple. Uh, yeah. My computer is really not that old, 2 to be exact. But the mouse is all ready not working well. It’s mainly the scroll ball and the pointer has a mind of its own. Maybe one too many licks by Elle (she’s 10 months). This takes care of the scroll ball problem and its wireless.

No. 4: Ekby hensvik by Ikea. I have been looking for white wall-mount shelves for our master bedroom. A few of these would do.

No. 5: White photography lighting. Our house doesn’t get much natural lighting inside. One of the few things I don’t like about it. So when I try to take pictures of things inside, it’s impossible to get good lighting without using flash. And I’m not a flash person. Couldn’t find a good picture for this one (ironic).

Tags

christmas, lists, shopping

▶ 3 Comments

Start a New Holiday Tradition

In Holidays on December 1, 2009 at 8:59 am

Our 2nd annual gingerbread house contest with my parents and brother.

There are so many great ideas for family traditions out there floating around the blogosphere. One of our family traditions at Christmas is our annual gingerbread house building contest. It was a tradition that Nathan and I started our first Christmas together as a married couple where we spent it with my family. Every year, the houses get more and more elaborate. And every year, we find numerous creative ways of using graham crackers, frosting and candy decorations. My little brother is notorious for building the craziest stuff.

Here are some other ideas for family traditions you may want to try…

Have a guest of honor each night at the dinner table. Everyone says something nice about that person.
Visit a local nursing home to cheer up those less visited – carol, do a puppet show, karaoke, play games.
Anonymously donate items to the homeless shelter or to a family less fortunate.
Have a family outing to a museum or a play.
Start a traveling package with a family member out-of-state by filling a shoebox or a flat rate box with little gifts or homemade items back and forth to each other.
Make a special meal or treat and only make it around the time of the holiday.
Write a year in review letter to your future self or to your children/grandchildren and talk about the lessons learned that year and the things you are grateful for.
Look through old family photo albums or scrapbooks and laugh at old memories.
Do a Christmas treasure hunt by hiding all the gifts Christmas morning and having the children hunt for them.

What are some of your most cherished family traditions?

Tags

children, christmas, families, ideas, thanksgiving

▶ 1 Comment

Piping Paper Snowflake Tutorial

In Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials on November 30, 2009 at 8:59 am

Continuing with the 3 part snowflake tutorial, this is #2. Here is the cookie cutter paper snowflake, the twirly snowflake and then a surprise forth snowflake, the twisted paper snowflake. See all three in the picture below. And if you make this, please link up in the comments so I can check it out!

Measurements and sizes are according to the snowflakes I made for this tutorial. You can adjust to make a snowflake bigger, smaller or fuller.

Supplies:

cardstock paper
pipe cleaners/chenille
paper cutter
ribbon, string or thread
needle
hole punch or other embellishments for the center
glue

1. Cut cardstock paper into 3/4″ x 6″ strips. Cut 7 strips.

2. Glue the strips into circles.

3. Use the hole punch to punch holes into the circled strips. I used a scrapbook hole punch and hammer for smaller holes. Gently bent the circle in half then punched a hole through both sides so it comes out even. Do only to 6 circles.

4. To do the holes for the center circle, lay the chenille over the circle like the picture below and mark with a pencil where all 6 holes will go.

5. Then repeat step 3, but do it three times ending up with 6 holes.

6. Pull chenille through the holes, aligning the circled strips in place. Trim off excess chenille.

7. Glue the outer circled strips at their touching points.

8. String it with ribbon or strings using a needle.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design

▶ 15 Comments

Cookie Cutter Paper Snowflake Tutorial

In Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials on November 24, 2009 at 12:38 am

It is winter, meaning snowflake season. I designed three simple paper snowflakes you can use as decorations, tree ornaments or just something to get you in the mood for snow. I am not a snow person myself, however, I do like decorative snowflakes. I made these snowflakes with single colored cardstock. Next time, I’m planning on using designed double sided cardstock.

I am doing each snowflake tutorial separately to prevent extra long posts. Here’s the piping paper snowflake tutorial, the twirly snowflake and then a surprise forth snowflake, the twisted paper snowflake. If you make some snowflakes, please leave a link or email me so I can see these snowflakes in action.

Measurements and sizes are according to the snowflakes I made for this tutorial. You can adjust to make snowflake bigger, smaller or fuller.

Supplies:

cardstock paper
paper cutter
ribbon, string or thread
needle
hole punch or other embellishments for the center
glue

1. Cut cardstock paper into 3/4″ x 6″ strips. Cut 7 strips.

2. Fold one end of the strips at 1/4″. Do to all the strips.

3. Keeping the 1/4″ folded, fold the strip in half.

4. Open the half and fold in the two ends, with the 1/4″ still folded, into the center.

5. Apply glue to the 1/4″ portion of the strip and glue the other end to it. It should be diamond shaped.

6. On the outside of the diamond, apply glue to the center point and to the left point of the strip. Then attach a second diamond strip to that. Continue until all diamonds are glued together at the center and the touching points.

7. Hole punch a different colored paper and glue the punched circles to the center. Or add other types of embellishments.

8. String it with ribbon or strings using a needle.

Tags

christmas, decorating, design

▶ 26 Comments

The Winter Days Giveaways

In Giveaway on November 23, 2009 at 9:01 am

Winter Days Giveaways logo 2009

**Scroll down to see the line up of sponsors and links to their giveaways!**

Huge announcement! Simply Modern Mom is celebrating our first Christmas and we have YOU to thank. I started this site in July of this year and it has all ready surpassed all my goals and expectations I had set for SMM this year. And it is because of your support, your interests, your comments, your time here on SMM that has made it what it is today. What began as a site with only 20-30 pageviews a day in July, SMM has grown to over 1,000 pageviews a day in just four months! I just can’t express enough gratitude to all my readers.

To celebrate, I put together SMM’s first The Winter Days Giveaways. I have 10 amazing sponsors each doing a giveaway here on SMM in a four week event. This back to back giveaway event begins the Monday after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Day, Nov. 30 – Dec. 25. The first two weeks, I will feature a sponsored giveaway a day. The last two weeks the winners will be announced. All you have to do is show up and enter to win. There will be jewelry, stationary, patterns, handbags, decorations, children’s clothing, and more.

Start spreading the news! It starts next Monday! Look for different ways of sharing this announcement below under ‘Share’.

P.S. There will be a little surprise, too.

Line up of giveaways & sponsors…

Tags

announcement, christmas, gifts, offers

▶ 2 Comments

Christmas Cards & Newsletters

In Holidays on November 23, 2009 at 9:00 am

Yes, it it not even Thanksgiving yet, but if you are planning on sending out Christmas cards or newsletters this year, you might want to think about this. Christmas cards do require some preparation.

Make a list. Begin by making a list of friends and family you will be sending cards to this year. Email people for updates of their addresses. To save time next year, you may want to keep this list somewhere safe or type it on a spreadsheet. You need to know how many cards to purchase or order. Narrow your list by taking off those you see all the time. You may also want to think about those you can email a holiday greeting to and save on paper and stamps.
Order soon. Dec. 21 is the last day for you to send first-class mail and have it delivered anywhere in the U.S. by Christmas Eve. If you are ordering cards, photo cards, or personalized stamps, you will want to order them soon. Most orders take 3-5 business days to process then another 5-10 business days to arrive at your house. You will also need time to write a note, insert newsletter, address and stamp.
Check the deals. It is that time of year where everything goes on sale and deals are everywhere. Check sites such a Retail Me Not for printable coupons or online codes.
Size matters. Consider the size of the envelope. The maximum letter size for it to be $0.44 is 6 1/8″ x 11 1/2″. If you are unsure, you can check USPS rates here.
Forgo lines. Don’t wait in the long lines at the post office. Order postage online or ask your mail carrier for an order envelope (see pictures below). You place your order on the envelope, insert a check, and the mail carrier deliver it to your mailbox the next day or two. No shipping or handling charges.
Simplify newsletters. You don’t have to do it all in one sitting. Break it up, think ahead, write notes of things you would like to mention.
Be creative. Have everyone write their own portion. Better yet, draw names and write a tidbit about that person in the family. One year we did a newsletter emphasizing numbers (number of trips we had taken, number of movies we watched, number of visitors in our home). Last year we used the alphabets to talk about our year.
Family photos. Hiring a professional requires you to schedule early. This is one of their busy seasons. Alternatives may include asking a friend or neighbor to do some candid shots with your camera. Using a tripod and the camera’s timer.

Tags

christmas, design, ideas, lists, tips

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Simplifying the Holidays: Table Centerpieces

In Holidays on November 9, 2009 at 9:00 am

We are two and half weeks away from Thanksgiving and seven weeks away from Christmas. Are you stressed yet? From now until the holidays are over, I will be focusing articles on simplifying all the worries that surrounds this time of year. I am going to throw ideas at you, make up a few lists, and inspire you to have a delightful holiday season. Are you ready?

Simple 5-minute table centerpieces. Click on picture for details, descriptions below. What are your centerpiece ideas and tips?

Floating fruits in glass vase. Also good to mix the colors or use fall colors.
Bold color fruits in serving bowls.
Gerbera daisies in wheatgrass box.
Pinecones in glass vase or other glass serving bowls.
Fall wreath hanging from a ribbon.
Pumpkins and foliage on cake dish and table runners.
Vegetables tied to candle with ribbon.

Tips for centerpieces:

Use what you have around the house — serving bowls, antique china, glass vase, cake stands, platters, bottles, trays, candles.
Use what is outside of your house — leaves, twigs, thin branches, berries, nuts, seeds, sand, rocks.
Use what is in your grocery bag — fruits, vegetables, candies, nuts.
Think colors — bold colors, fall colors, shades of white.
Table runners can be made from anything — wrapping paper, tissue paper, colored plastic wraps, scrapbook paper, butcher paper, fabric.
Don’t make it too tall. It blocks people’s views and slows conversations.