New Years Eve Activity Balloons

3 more days left in 2014!  Where did the time go?  

This New Years Even we will spend the evening with our children, like we do every year.  

While I love spending time with my kids, I am always looking for ways to have fun and keep everyone entertained.  

So I came up with New Years Eve Activity Balloons.

Each balloon has an activity to keep everyone entertained all evening.  

I made this list of activities and a topper, that I printed it out.

Feel free to right click on the image to save and print it out for your family.  

Here is a gold one if you rather have that style.  

I cut the activities into narrow strips.  

Then I rolled each one up...

and stuck it into a balloon.  

Then I blew up the balloon and stuck them on little plastic ends for balloon sticks.  (amazon link)

Then I stuck the sticks in a tall vase.  

I used some really high tech vase filler.  

The topper on the printable goes right on the vase.  

Through out the evening on New Years Eve, 

I'll let my kids pop a balloon and we will do the fun activity as a family.  

Happy New Year!  

Merry Christmas!

At this most wonderful time of year,

 it is my wish that you and your family have a most Fabulous Holiday!  

Last Minute Gift idea- Christmas Coupons

CHRISTMAS is only THREE days away!  

  And I couldn't be more excited. 

But that also means it's crunch time.  

Are you a last minute shopper/gift giver like me?  

Then you'll like today's post-

free printable 

Christmas Coupons

Christmas Home Tour part 2

Today I'm sharing the rest of my Christmas Home Tour.

C'mon and I'll show you around.  

On the outside, we have candles and wreaths at every window.

Our front porch with our new front door!!!    

Twine and Yarn ball wreath that I made.

Right inside the front door is our living room.  See the full tour of this room here.  

The next room is our dining area.

This room is where our mantle is.  See the full details here.  

The view looking into the living room.

The view looking into the dining room from the kitchen.

Onto the decor in the kitchen.

We even got a few things up above our cabinets.  

I'd love to add lit garlands about my cabinets.  Maybe next year!

Even our small bathroom, that doubles as a mudroom, got a few Holiday touches.  

That's it for my Christmas Home Tour this year. 

I will be back with a few last minute Christmas posts.  

linking up to:  Paper and Fox, The Shabby Nest

Living Room Christmas Home Tour

Hi Everyone!!

I love seeing homes all decked out for the Holiday's, don't you?  

Today I'm sharing my Living Room Christmas Home Tour. 

Our front door opens to this room, so I wanted to make it warm and inviting.  

We have big oversized furniture, that I love, but makes decorating this smaller sized room a challenge.

This spot is the favorite in the entire room.  

This chair is super comfy, it's view to the tv is perfect and it's right by our Christmas tree. 

 My children race to sit in this chair every day after school.

We put another tree in our playroom for all of our kids' ornaments so I was able to decorate this one how I wanted.  I used burlap, grapevine, snowflakes and various red ornaments that we've used in Christmases past.  

The handprint tree skirt is one of my favorite things.  

We started it the year our youngest was born.  

So we have 7 years of handprints. Love it!  

I added 2014 handprints after this photo was taken.  

Every year I trace my kids hands onto white felt and cut them out.  Then I hot glue them onto the tree skirt and add the year with puff paint. 

Our stockings with the lighted garland I added evergreen to.  

I've seen little snow jars all over blog land so I had to try some myself.  

I love how they turned out!! 

The red truck in front is a toy that my husband used to play with as a child (I added the mini tree).  

The other 2 are from Target.  

You can also see our Christmas countdown blocks.  

Another little corner in our home.

I added real Christmas tree clippings to my grain sifters and a Jenni Bowlin print.

The snowflake art in the gold frame is a burlap/snowflake placemat that I loved so much I decided to frame it.  I pinned and taped it without cutting, 

just in case I decide to do something different another time.

I made the plaid pillow cover from a skirt that I got at Goodwill.  I loved the fabric so I pieced it all together and made a pillow cover.  

Over by our front door is a shelf with our nativities.  

The bear one on the box is my fave!  

I think I bought it when I graduated from high school. 

It's practically vintage now!  

We also love have the Little People Nativity that my kids still randomly play with.  

And I can't help but push the angel down to hear "Away in a Manger" each time I walk by.  

I will be back later this week with a tour of the rest of the house.

Here's more on our Christmas Home Tour:

Christmas Mantle

See the rest of our Christmas Home Tour here.

linking up to;  The Nester, Skip to My Lou, Snap, The Style Sisters

Christmas mantle

Up first in my Christmas home tour is what I call our mantle.

It is a shelf in our dining room and it is one of my favorite places to decorate!!

I jumped on the snow globe bandwagon and put one together.  I love the way it turned out!

I reused the JOY letters from my mantle in years past.

The greenery is from Joann. 

I purchased the tobacco stick star at a craft fair here in Nashville many years ago.  

I tacked lights around the edges of it.

My obsession with chalkboard continues with this Christmas chalkboard!

What is your favorite place to decorate in your house? 

linking up to:  Paper and Fox, Tatertots and Jello, Sweet haute

Christmas countdown blocks

I've been frantically working away (this is such a busy time of year) 

Finally, today I have a Christmas project to share!

Christmas countdown blocks

I started with a 1x4 that I cut down to around 6 inches long and 2 wooden blocks about 2 inches.

I wanted a little bit different color scheme so I went with black, red and white. 

I gave each of the wooden pieces a few coats of regular acrylic craft paint.

After everything was dry, using the paint pens, I wrote the numbers and the words directly onto the wood.  Then I gave everything a good sanding, being careful not to sand the writing off too much.

To seal the painting, I wiped on some furniture wax.  (amazon links)

I've been busily decorating and Christmasing around my house.  

I'll be back soon with a Home Tour.

linking up to:  Paper and Fox, Shabby Nest

Holiday Parade of Homes- Kings Chapel Tennessee

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Parade of Homes.  

In a cute town just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, 

the community of Kings Chapel opened up their gates 

and rolled out the red carpet for us bloggers to come take a tour!  

In each of the Holiday homes we visited, we were able to see Christmas trees 

decorated by bloggers according to actual wishes from Make - A-Wish children. 

I came away so inspired!  

First up, I had to take a selfie with Rhoda from Southern Hospitality. 

She was the driver of the golf cart I was riding in.  How fun is that!!  

This post is VERY picture heavy!  

I loved all of the details in each of the homes and  

really could have included many, MANY more photos. 

So grab something to cozy to drink (or a nice cold Diet Mountain Dew, like I would) 

and enjoy the eye candy.

HOUSE 1

This home was built by Drees Homes.

The garlands and holiday decor were absolutely stunning in this house!!  

Great Room

The fireplace did not have a mantle so the designer used a curtain rod to hang the banner.  

What a fantastic idea! 

Kitchen

I love the cocoa stations at each setting and the small trees made with various yarns and twines.

Breakfast Nook

I loved the fruit tower!  It was made from bowls, glasses and plates glued together.

Master 

Bonus Room with a tiny glimpse of the media room on the left

This is Jenna from Rain on a Tin Roof.  

She decorated with an Oscars theme.  

HOUSE 2

This home was built by The Gregg and Rains Building Group.

The dining room had the most interesting textured walls.  It was a multi-layered, aged and distressed faux finish.  I LOVED it so much!  I kept petting it!

Great Room

"Great" really doesn't even do this room justice.  I could have sat in here for hours taking in every detail.  The ceiling is lined with tobacco sticks.  LOVE!!!

Charming bench in the entry.

Kitchen

I loved the hood (made from steel and wood), the lighting and the backsplash!

This tiny, moody powder room had HUGE impact wall treatments: 

gold gilded arrows and faux mercury glass tiles.  

Master bedroom- check out that barn wood ceiling!!  

It also had the most amazing en-suite bathroom with a pedestal tub and wrap around shower!  

This is the stairway leading to the Bonus Room.  

I love the wall of brick!

Bonus Room

This room is so fun and playful.  It also had a small loft accessible by a ladder on the side. 

Kari Anne from Thistlewood Farms decorated this fun circus themed tree.  

She was just as Bubbly and Fun in real life as she seems on her blog!  

I was thrilled to finally meet her! 

HOUSE 3

This home was built by Arnold Homes.

Dining Room

I loved the wall treatments!

Breakfast nook

Kitchen and Great room

I loved that stone arch and the tile/wood flooring! 

This tree was decorated by Kristie of the Decorologist

It was a Greek theme.  

Bonus Room

This room was my favorite.  I think this garage door is such a neat idea!

Outside the bonus room is this darling porch with hanging rockers.

HOUSE 4

This home was built by Tennessee Valley Homes

Great Room and Dining Room

Breakfast Nook with spool table

I took too long in the other homes, so only had just a few minutes at this one.

This is Lesley from Chaotically Creative.

Her tree was a super model theme.  

If your local to Nashville or the surrounding area, checkout the Parade of Homes, 

running December 6-21.  You will be glad you did!  

See Kings Chapel for more information. 

linking up to:  Craft Frenzy