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Thursday, December 22, 2011

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas {Part 3: Outside}

 I decided to share a few pictures of the outside of our house. We do live in a townhome, so the outside decorating of our house is pretty limited. Also, I would have liked more lights, but since I don't have a full time job, we figured it was best to not have added power usage to our power bill. Ben said the trees inside were enough! Oh well...maybe next year.


We finally put down fresh pine straw, since our landscapers didn't think it was necessary!!!

 I added the red and silver balls into the trees and the wreaths on the windows. I also made the pillow covers out of burlap and used a red sharpie to draw on the letters.



I was not impressed with these trees after taking them out of the box. On the box, they looked very full and covered with lights. They pretty much looked nothing like the picture on the outside...imagine that!

I bought this wreath after Christmas a few years back for $5. I also bought the red ball garland from Target that same year for $7. So this year, I was finally able to make my wreath. I just wired the garland to the wreath.

The house at night. Not the greatest picture, but you get the point.
 I finally got a few pictures of Ben's fishing tree. So I decided to add them to the end of this post.






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Sunday, December 18, 2011

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas {Part 2: Shelves and Other Decor}

 So onto Part 2 of my Christmas blogging. These are all of the decorations from my shelves that Ben built me (I like to refer to them as my mantle) and all of the other little, random things I have done around the house.

I am going to start off with my shelves and the living/dining room. I decided to go with a red and brown theme to go with my Christmas tree in the living room. It also matches the normal decor of the living room. Yes, I am just that OCD that everything has to match. So here is the overall shelf turnout. I really like them!


I used the same old window that I got from my mom a while back. I made a new Christmas wreath to hang on the window. I used one of the $5 vine wreaths from Hobby Lobby (I used a 40% off coupon too! So it was actually cheaper!). I spray painted it red with the cheap Wal-Mart spraypaint. Then using brown, satin fabric I made three fabric rosettes and hot glued them on. At this point, I had already made my stockings, so I made the rosettes to match the ones on the stockings.


 On the left side of the top shelf, I used an old unfinished picture frame that I have had forever. I sprayed it red with the same spray paint used on the wreath. I found the vintage Santa postage stamp on Pinterest. I simply printed it and put it in the frame. On the right side, I used some apothecary jars that I had and filled them with ornaments that I had gotten on clearance after Christmas last year. One jar is small, red, glass ball ornaments and the other is brown, matte and glitter icicle ornaments. I just cut off the strings that you hang the icicles by.



On the bottom shelf, I knew I wanted to use this Merry Christmas card holder. I bought it last year at Pier 1 after Christmas for $7. I actually didn't buy it to use for Christmas cards. I just liked the way it looked. Since this was going on the bottom shelf, I needed some way to hang my Christmas stockings without giant stocking hangers. I was originally going to use those sticky hooks and try to cover them up with garland, but I found these at Wal-Mart (2 pk for $6). I knew they would be perfect to slide under the Merry Christmas sign.

 I also made our stockings. I bought some linen fabric at JoAnn's with a 50% off coupon. I cut them out, sewed them together, and then made the satin rosettes. I love the way they turned out, simple but cute.


Next I needed something for the sides of the Merry Christmas sign. On the left, I used a hurricane that Ana gave me a while back. I filled it with some glass balls that I had bought after Christmas on clearance one year. (Are you starting to see the trend of how I shop?) Then the other hurricane is one that my mom gave me last year for my birthday filled with potpourri. I just poured the potpourri into a ziploc bag for the time being and filled the hurricane with red, glitter top ornaments. On the right side, I was going to use to candle sticks that I had got from The Salvation Army this summer. I painted them and got candles for them, went to put them on the shelf and they were too big! Just lovely! So I used them elsewhere and had to come up with a new plan for this side of the shelf. I found these Christmas trees at The Christmas Tree Shop for $1.99 and $2.99. They were silver when I bought them, but I sprayed them with red spray paint and sprinkled them with red glitter. I love the way they turned out!
 In this picture, I have the table centerpiece that I made. The glass jar came from our wedding. I filled it with leftover ornaments from our tree and placed it on a .99 charger.  On the right, we have the candle sticks that I was going to use for the shelves. I sprayed them white and sanded off a few places to give them an old look. I made the Silent Night picture by designing the picture in Cricut Design Studio (thanks to Ana), cutting it out of contact paper, then placing it on a red sheet of cardstock.


 This is the living room coffee table. I painted an old frame with the chevron pattern using masking tape. Then I printed out the Merry Christmas clipart (found via Pinterest). The basket came from The Dollar Tree. I painted it white and distressed it. Then used left over balls to fill it. The mercury glass candle holders came from the dollar rack at Michael's last year.

 These are the end tables in the living room. On the left, the 25 block numbers came from the dollar bin at Target. I sprayed them red to give them a Christmas feel. The pedestal dish behind them came from Goodwill for $1. Then I used ornaments that I had to fill it. On the right, is a jar that I use in my normal decor. I found some tree branches and sprayed them red, then hung some snowflake ornaments on them.


 Okay, so now onto the master bedroom. I know this is just crazy, but I love to decorate for Christmas! This is why it has taken me 3 weeks to decorate! haha...For the bedroom, I just did a couple of things on the dresser. I sprayed some more tree branches and hung ornaments on them. I filled some apothecary jars with snow and placed ornaments in them. I love the way this turned out!
I finally got the mirror on the wall! So here is our finished dresser!
The last thing I have to show is my snowmen. Like I said in my last post, I have been collecting snowmen since 6th grade. I have ornaments for my tree and figurines that I put in a bookshelf. So here we are...welcome to kinck-knack city! Just kidding...well kinda. They are knick-knacks but I enjoy them every year. I love to get them out because I always forget what I have and it is kinda like Christmas morning every year when I open them. I have received these snowmen as gifts and have bought some myself. I have written on the bottom of every snowman who gave it to me and what year. So that is always fun to look back on too!


 So this concludes my 2nd Christmas post. I promise my next one won't be this long!

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas {Part 1: Trees}

I have really been slacking on my blog lately! I have actually been working, and it has been GREAT! Of course, then I come home and don't get anything done because I go to sleep early! haha I am already back to my old routine...I am definitely an early bird! So I got up this morning and have been editing all of my photos so that I can finally reveal all of my Christmas decor! I have been decorating since the day after Thanksgiving. It takes me a while to get everything done, especially with so much to do! Since there is so much, I decided to split my Christmas blogging into parts. Hope you enjoy!

So to start off, we will begin with the living room. A few years back, I was in Target after Christmas and noticed they had marked their Christmas stuff to 75% off. I decided to walk over to the trees because I know eventually we (me and Ben) will need a large Christmas tree for the living room. Boy was I shocked when I saw the perfect 7.5 ft tree for only $32 (reg. $129)!!! Of course, I don't have a buggy or anyone with me and there was a swarm of people around waiting to pounce on this tree if I didn't grab it! So being the big, strong woman that I am..ha!...I pick up this giant box and struggle to carry it through the store. I find a desolate place in the back of the store and hide my tree so I can run and get a buggy! So I end up getting my tree and boy is it beautiful! I have also been collecting the ornaments for a few years now. I bought everything for this tree after Christmas on clearance. So it was great to finally get to use this stuff! My mom came down after Thanksgiving to help me decorate! Let me just say, she is pretty much a professional at this! She needs to do this for money! So here it is...

The glowing tree
Pictures just don't do it justice!

 For this tree, I decided to make a tree skirt that I found on Pinterest. I used brown felt. I first cut out the skirt itself, then cut 300 flower petals. Then I hot glued all of the petals together to make flowers. I was going to sew them on but after about 3, I thought gluing would be faster. Yes, this took forever. Would I ever make one again? NO! Yet, it turned out beautiful and I love it!

Here is my inspiration via Pinterest

Here is mine! A lot prettier in person. Can you tell that I don't love how my camera takes pictures? For some reason brown felt doesn't photograph well. If you take a picture up close it looks like it is covered in lint. I covered some buttons and sewed them on and made loops to loop around the buttons.

 Next to the master bedroom. This tree was the tree that I had in my bedroom when I lived with my parents. It was originally brown and green, so this year I altered it to make it match the bedroom. I moved the brown ornaments to the living room tree and kept the green. I added some blue and white, changed the ribbon and here we are...




 I also made a tree skirt for this tree. I used a light blue, flat twin sheet from Wal-Mart. I cut out the circle for the skirt, then cut strips to make ruffles. I glued them down starting with the outside and then moving in.

On the left, I made the white, yarn balls using balloons and glue. (inspiration via Martha Stewart)  On the right, I found those cute owls at The Christmas Tree Shop for $1. I also filled those clear glass balls half way with snow. I spray painted other ornaments to make them the colors I needed.

 Another tree we have is my snowman tree. I have had this tree since I was in 6th grade. It has grown since then. I think it is about time to get a larger tree because you can barely find room to hang the ornaments. Maybe a white tree...



I also made the skirt for this tree using felt. It was very simple. I just cut white stripes and added them to the red. Then I sewed ribbon on to make ties.


I like the snowman on the top of the tree but something just seems to be missing. My mom and I decided he needed a red scarf. So I am currently knitting him a scarf to wrap around his neck.

We have one more tree. I decorated a little tree for Ben's office. It is a fishing tree. I used dark green ribbon with bobbers for balls. Then it has some different fishing ornaments. It is simple and manly. Sorry there isn't any pictures. I am currently not allowed in his office because he has my presents hid in there. I will post one later.

So this concludes my Christmas tree post! Now you can see why I am doing several Christmas posts!

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Sunday, December 11, 2011

A Visit from Family

Ben went back to Gainesville this weekend, so my mom, my nanny, Mattie, and Jaxon all came to visit me in Augusta. Originally just Mama, Nanny, and Mattie were supposed to be coming. Yet, when Mama said she was coming down here, Jaxon invited himself. No one really believed he would come because he never stays with anyone. When it was time to leave he had his bag and was ready to go to Jill's house. I was excited! Of course, Ben was so jealous that Jaxon was coming down here when he wasn't here. So the plans for the weekend changed a little bit to better suit Jaxon's needs. He did great the whole time he was here, and we had a blast! Here are a few things we did.


 We started out the morning with a game of baseball. One of Jaxon's surprises we had for him was a baseball bat, helmet, glove, ball, and bases. Ben would have done a better job with this than I did, but I tried. I also think the backyard would have been a better place for a baseball game!



 Next we went shopping. We tried this cute owl hat on. Then we even had stop to let him read a Toy Story book. When we stopped by Wal-Mart, Jaxon insisted we look at the toys. So of course he had to do his usual inspecting of all of the toys.


 After shopping for a while, we stopped and ate lunch at McDonalds. This is one of Jaxon's favorites. He got his usual, milkshake, fries, and ketchup. Next we went down to a park near my house, the Savannah Rapids Park. We had to let this boy burn some energy! Our good friend, Ken Sellers and his boys, Trey and Peyton, were there. First we played on the playground!




 Then we went down to the river to take a walk and see the water. This was the challenging part. Jaxon likes to run and there wasn't any type of fence along the river, so we had to keep a close watch on him. He is also quite rebellious and doesn't listen when you tell him to stop! The poor little guy ended up falling down stairs trying to run from my mom. He skinned his nose and his forehead. :( We were able to get a few pictures before his little accident.

Jaxon and Mattie

Jaxon posing in front of the river

Jaxon and his Nana

Me and my little cutie!

Too cute!
After a few pictures, Ken showed the boys how to throw rocks into the river. It is amazing how something so simple can be so entertaining to a kid.



Jaxon and Nanny looking for big rocks!

Jaxon throwing rocks!

I even managed to get a picture of Jaxon, Trey, and Peyton. Let me just say this wasn't an easy task. There may have been a little bribing involved. (Maybe a Cowtale when we got back home...haha)



So the park was a hit! We decided to go back home for dinner. Then our plan was to go look at Christmas lights, then come back and watch The Polar Express and drink hot chocolate. These plans were changed when Jaxon went to sleep at 7 o'clock! He was just so worn out! So we just hung around watched movies. I had a great time with everyone this weekend! I love to have company, especially my family!

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