New Year printable and mantel

2 more days in 2013.  It's hard to believe!  I'm so excited for 2014 and all that it has to offer.  


I made a New Year printable to celebrate the occasion.


printable in 5x7


printable in 8x10

Just right click on the image above and save it to your computer.  Then you can print them on your home printer or send them to a photo developer.  


Mine didn't print so great, the glitter circles came out discolored, so I decided to add some circles that I punched from gold glitter cardstock.


Luckily I had a punch the exact same size as the circles in the printable.  


I put the printable into a frame that I had in my stash.  


Here is the printable up on my New Year mantel.  



Happy New Year to you!  I hope 2014 is a great year for you!!





Christmas Home Tour 2013

It's just a few more days until the Big Day!!  We could not be more excited in our house!  

Please come on in,  grab some hot chocolate and a cookie and look around.  Stay a while.  I'll even share my stash of white chocolate peppermint M & M's.  










Also see our mantel here.  



linking up to:  Craft O Maniac

Favorite Things 2013

One of my blogging idols does a favorite things post every year and I like to link up with her.  
So here are a few of my favorite things for 2013!


Through out the year I read about and then try different beauty products.  I'm no expert; I just think it's fun!  These are the products I've used and loved this year!


1.  PORE fessional by benefit.  I love this stuff!  It smooths out my face and preps it for foundation.  Sometimes I even use it without foundation.  I also really like the way it smells.  (Is that weird?)
2.  NAKED basics by Urban Decay.  We went to a wedding in Oklahoma in September and I forgot my make up bag.  Luckily for me there was an Ulta down the street and that's where I picked up this palette of shadows.  It's so good!!!  It's kinda more than I was expecting to pay (as I normally buy $7 drug store eye shadow) but a little bit goes a long way.  I've been using it for about 3 months and my pallet looks like I haven't used any at all.  I think it was totally worth the investment.  
3.  Super Saturated High Gloss lip color by Urban Decay.  It goes on like a lip pencil, but is glossy like, well a lip gloss.  I like it lots.  I used the color Naked.  
(none of these links are affiliate links- I just provided them to be helpful)



My favorite project that I've done this year is painting my kitchen table.  I wish I hadn't waited to so long to do it.  The paint has held up so well-  even to my crazy kids bumping the legs and abusing the table top.




It's kinda chilly in TN and our house has spots that are extra cold.  Sure I could crank up the central heat, but I really only need a little space heater.  I purchased this one (amazon affiliate link) and love it.  It sits right by my desk in my office.  My entire family ends up in my office sitting next to the heater because it feels so good.  


A few weeks ago I was shopping for Christmas gifts and wandered into Kirkland's.  I haven't had a ton of experience with this store, but decided to give it a shot.  First of all, I found tons of great gifts for friends and family and second, I found this super soft throw.  Everyone in my family loves this blanket, and we all like to steal it from each other.  


Most of the time, the only camera I use to take pictures is my iPhone.  So I love me some photo editing apps. One of my favorites is the A Beautiful Mess app.  It was only available for the iPhone at first but now it's available for the android as well. 

During the summer the girls behind the A Beautiful Mess app and blog came to TN and I had the chance to go meet them at Urban Outfitters.  I was able to get their new photo book (amazon link) and have them sign it.  They are the sweetest and so very talented.  


My other favorite app is Rhonna Designs.    It has the funnest filters, words and designs to add to phone photos to make them works of art.  Like the other app I shared, it used to only be available for iPhone, but now androids can use it too.  Rhonna is crazy talented.  I had the chance to take a class from her at Snap earlier this year. 

That's about it for my faves.  What are some of your favorite things?


linking up to:  320 Sycamore

Christmas Mantel

Tis the season, fa la la! I'm loving my home all decorated for the Holidays!

Today I'm sharing my Christmas Mantel.

 

 photo minitreesgoldchalkboardchristmasmantel_zps1b388da6.jpg
 

The theme I decided to go with in my decor is gold and silver with touches of red.

 

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I brought back my gold chalkboard and wrote a Christmas message on it.

 

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I also used my little bitty Christmas trees that I have used in years past.

 

 photo minichristmastreesonmantel_zps7004b0e2.jpg

 

I didn't change the colors of them at all. They are exactly the same as they were when I purchased them here and there over the years.


 photo minichristmastreesonmantel3_zpsca3538d6.jpg


For the background of my mantel, I painted a large piece of birch plywood white, then painted gold dots all over it. And since I'm such a huge fan of garlands (see here and here), I had to add one. I sewed a simple circle garland from gold and red card stock and book page paper circles to drape over the board.

 

 

I like how simple it is!!!

See the rest of the home tour here.

linking up to: The Nester, Craft o Maniac, Skip to My Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sweet Haute, Brambleberry Cottage, Liz Marie, The 36th Ave, Tatertots and Jello

 

Monogram paper mache' ornament

I made some stockings and after some persuasion from my son decided to make some ornaments for the stockings with the initials of each of our family members.  


This is how I made monogram paper mache' ornaments for our stockings.


Here are the supplies I used:
(amazon links)

scrapbook paper
circle cutter
chipboard letters


I dusted off my circle cutter from my scrapbooking days and cut some circles from my favorite red snowflake paper that I've been hoarding for a long time.


I glued the paper circles to the ornaments, then added a strip of 
ric rac to the outer edge of the ornament.  



I punched the letters from these sheets of chipboard letters I've had in my stash forever.  


I sprayed the letters with adhesive...


then dumped a whole bunch of glitter onto the letters and let the glue dry for a bit.  


After tapping off the excess glitter, I glued the letters to the ornaments.  And there it is!  


I hooked the ornament string on to the hanging loop of our stockings.


The ornaments finished our stockings of nicely!  And most importantly, Santa will know 
which stocking is for which person!


linking up to:  Home Stories from A-Z

Handmade Stockings

It seems like we get new stockings every year. What can I say? I get bored with the same things every year. I had a spare drop cloth laying around so I decided to make some myself.


They turned out simple- just the look I was going for.


I hand drew a stocking shape on kraft paper. I pinned the pattern onto a double layer of drop
cloth fabric and cut the shape out.


Once I had the 2 stocking shapes cut, I pinned them together. First I double folded the top, open edge of the stocking and sewed it to make a hem for the opening. Then using a straight stitch, I sewed all the way around the stocking, leaving the top open.


I cut small slits all the way around the stocking so when I turned the stocking right side out,
the hem would lay nicely.


For the hanger, I used the pre-sewn hem of the drop cloth. I cut the hem off of the drop cloth, then cut a piece that was about 6 inches or so. Then I folded it in half to make a loop and sewed it to the
outside of the stocking.


I turned the stocking right side out and rolled the cuff down. I'm ok with the raw seams hanging out on the cuff. But if you're not, you could easily add some contrasting fabric to the cuff to cover the seams. The loop hangar is on the inside so it makes the stocking hang nicely.


I thought of many different ways to decorate these stockings such as painting a pattern like stripes or polka dots, adding ribbon or fabric to the cuff, monogramming them, etc. In the end, I decided to glue on a simple piece of gold ric rack.


It's a simple touch for a simple stocking. I like the way they turned out lots!


My son was concerned that Santa wouldn't be able to figure out which stocking was his. So to ease his little 6 year old mind, I added some monogrammed ornaments (tutorial coming soon) to the stockings. He was happy when he saw his initial. I hung the stockings from command hooks (amazon link) underneath my lighted ribbon garland.


Lighted Garland all tied up with strings

It's Christmas time, it's Christmas time!!  
There is nothing I like more at Christmastime than lots of twinkly lights all around our house!!  
So that's why I made this lighted garland all "tied up with strings".


It goes right above our (unfinished) stockings.  
To go along with my project of a Garland all tied up with strings, a few of my blog friends and I are hosting a favorite things giveaway.  
 Check it at the bottom of this post!   


For my garland, I used lots of different patterns of ribbon in gold, silver, burlap color and red.


Then I just snipped pieces of ribbon and tied them onto a stand of white Christmas lights.  
And then kept tying and tying and tying!  It was super simple, mindless work.  So much so that I was able to evaluate my Christmas list and all of the projects I still need to do while tying the ribbons on.


Once the garland was done, I hung it above our stockings.  


To hang the garland, I used command hooks (amazon link).  They are the best!!  Command hooks are temporary hooks that are easily removed when the holiday is over.  If you've never tried them, you totally should. They will change your decorating life!!  


I love the way the garland turned out!  


It's so simple, yet so festive!!  

Now here's for the exciting news- my blogging friends and I are hosting a big fat giveaway.


We are hosting a giveaway for a few of our favorite things!  


Here are a few of my favorite things:  
People magazine, peppermint chapstick, red polka dot ribbon, red ric rak, 
clothespins on a Christmas card, a small matchbox notebook and a $10 Target gift card.  

Click on the link below to take you to the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And be sure to check out all of the other blogs to see what they are giving away too!

Andie @ Maybe I Will
Kaylynn @ Among The Young
Ashley & Meegan @ Flats to Flipflops
Rebecca @ The Crafted Sparrow
Emily @ The Benson Street
Adrienne @ Free Time Frolics
Melissa@ Hollyhocks & Honeybees



linking up to:  Snap