Mistletoes

I found this super cute image on Pinterest and immediately pinned it. Such a cute idea that I knew I needed to recreate it as Christmas gifts for my mom and mil.

Even though mine turned out a lot more simple, I still love it. I think the grandmas loved it, too.

 

Side note: An 8 and 4 year old footprint are a lot harder to "stamp" nicely on a plate. And I never took a final picture after I fixed the zero in 2012. Oops!

More Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Yes, I realize that Christmas is over, but the last half of December ended up being crazier then even I anticipated. I got a new calling at church, yea! It is a big calling, eh...

 

Time to finish off most of our Elfie ideas. You can just tuck this away for next year.

My kids started the "my daddy's gone again and I am not going to listen or do what I am supposed to" kick about half way through the month. Elfie had to send a little note from Santa. 



Elfie got caught in the Wyoming wind on the way back from the North Pole that night and didn't quite make it back before the doors locked.

At this point in December we still didn't have snow so Elfie improvised.

The kids loved when Elfie turned our milk pink.

Spending the night outside finally caught up to Elfie, he slept most of the day.

And then ended up with a pretty bad cold.

By far my favorite: Elfie apparently didn't realize that the Barbies were already in relationships.

And finally, the "mom forgot to move Elfie so she panicked".

Ornament Balls

I'll keep this simple since I can assume that everyone is as busy as I am. Why can't December be like 45 days long? My friend sent me a couple pictures back at the end of November of the ornament balls she made. I died! They were adorable! So I ran out and bought everything I needed and made them that night. Super cute and super easy.



Elf on the Shelf Ideas

We received our elf last year as a gift from our favorite Grandma Karen. The kids named him Elfie but we never really got around to using him last year. This year, I pulled out all the stops because I knew the kids would get such a kick out of him. And, sure enough, every morning I hear them laughing and giggling about where Elfie ends up.

Day 1: December 3rd

On our first day, we found Elfie hanging from our lights in the kitchen. Savanah laughed hysterically while saying, "Elfie is so berry silly!"

Elfie also brought a letter with him. I found the letter heading on the Elf on the Shelf website. I used the letter to remind the kids about Elfie and that he was watching them for Santa.

Day 2: December 4th



 We found Elfie having a little snack on the second morning. Everyone knows that elves love to eat sweets and drink maple syrup. Elfie must have been pretty thirsty!

Day 3: December 5th

I am pretty proud of this one. Landon brought home this blow up guitar from saving up his points in speech. Elfie got a hold of it that night and was serenading the ladies. He is one smooth elf.

Day 4: December 6th

Elfie decided that our family pictures were a little boring. So he found a dry erase marker and "fixed" them himself. Thanks Elfie!

Tomorrow's Elfie is already in place. He has a message for the kids, reminding them to be good. They are having a slight problem going to bed lately. Gah!

*** Apparently I was quite awake when I scheduled this post. I chose 7pm instead of 7am.

Letters for Santa

I found this cute, little bucket in the Christmas craft section at Hobby Lobby. Originally it was only $1.99 but I got it half off making it even cheaper. I thought it would be a cute addition to our tree and something the kids could put this letters to Santa in. I cut the Dear Santa part out with vinyl on my Cricut. The font is super cute, because it has ornaments hanging off of the letters. I bought it off of Lettering Delights. If you haven't checked out that site you must! Such fun fonts.

The Stockings Were Hung

I went a little unconventional this year when hanging our stockings. We have a fireplace but I didn't want to add any more clutter to it. We also have a small blank wall that needed some love. I stewed and stewed, until...

I had an idea! I called a friend and asked for a branch from her tree. We have exactly one tree on our property, and since our house is only a few years old, the tree is a wee little one. My friend thankfully obliged and brought over a HUGE branch. Like half a tree! So I hacked it into more manageable pieces and found one I liked.

I hammered in some nails and was about to call it good. Enter my genius of a mother. She suggested that I add a little more character with some fake snow.

Off to Hobby Lobby I went and a $1.25 later I had some "snow". I slapped it on with a plastic spoon and let it dry for a few hours.

I truly love it! LOVE it!

Now to add vinyl over the top?

Christmas Mantle

I was so excited to decorated for Christmas this year. It was really, really hard for me to wait until Thanksgiving. I might not have made it. Maybe I decorated the day before Thanksgiving? Pretty close right?

My mantle last year was nice, but a little plain. I found a few new things to add this year and it is coming together. Still love my clock. And my new owl pitcher. Everything is still really simple with muted colors, but I love it.



Can you believe that owl was only $6? And it is huge! I might have picked up one for my sister as well.

My favorite piece from my Christmas decor is definitely this sled. I picked it up at the Christmas Store at Garner Village for about $10. A close second favorite would be the stars I snabbed at the Yellow Rose in Prosser after Christmas for half off.

And the ever changing wreath with our friend Elfie. Quite an original name isn't it? My kids are clever!

I swapped out the ribbon for this nice, velvety one I picked up at Hobby Lobby. And I added a little bird friend, which my sister informed me was creepy looking, but I love him!

Jingle Bell Frame

I found this pin on pinterest a few months ago and knew I wanted to use it for Super Saturday. I kept it more traditional for the ladies at Super Saturday but wanted something a little more fun for Savanah's room. The link on pinterest doesn't lead anywhere, so not sure who the original creator was.

 

I bought the shadow boxes at Joann Fabric when they were 60% off. Shadow boxes can be a little pricey and Joann's seemed to have the best prices. Mine are the 10x10 inch frames. The Jingle bells were purchased at Hobby Lobby when they were half off. I was able to use one container of bells for two frames.

 

Start by opening up the back of the frame and gluing a piece of paper to the inside of the frame back. I chose a bright pink, sparkly paper from Hobby Lobby. Next, fill your frame with about half of the bells in the container (about 37 bells for mine) and try to arrange them before putting the back on the frame. This is because the bells will fit snugly in the frame once the back is on. Lastly, wrap your frame with coordinating ribbon. I used dabs a hot glue to keep it secure to the frame.

Cut out the words "jingle all the way" with vinyl and a super cute font and slap it on the front of the glass. I definitely suggest using transfer tape with vinyl because it makes it about five thousand times easier.

 

Savanah was pretty excited when she woke up and found it in her room. Now Landon has requested a boy one, better get going on that!

This Just Pinned

This wreath was the first project we did for our craft group. It was pretty easy, especially if you have a die cut machine. Fast, easy, and super light to hang anywhere.

And, because this made me laugh so hard I almost peed!

The Man Mug

My husband likes his milk.  He REALLY likes his milk.  We are always on the look out for really big cups.  We have a few from Ikea, but I was looking for bigger.

I happened upon these huge glass mugs from Dollar Tree.  For a buck each they were worth a try.  And it was a good thing they were only a dollar because I totally messed up one of them.

I bought a tiny bottle of Armour Etch (which is ridiculously expensive btw) and went to work.  A little tidbit of information, do not follow the instructions on the back of the bottle.  I did not leave it on long enough the first time, so I had to try again.  Sad day.

I labeled one "The Man Mug" and the other "The Chuck Norris".  My husband and I have a little joke about Chuck Norris, so I decided to squeeze that in.

I paired the mugs with cases of his favorite soda.  It was a big hit.  Not to mention easy and cheap.  My kind of gift!

The Quilt of Doom

I cannot seem to locate my memory card... thus the all impressive camera phone pic.

This quilt was almost the death of me.  Not that is was hard, just monotonous.  In the end I decided to skip the traditional bias tape binding.  Instead I cut the flannel piece bigger and folded it over the top.  A lot easier and a lot of time saved.

All I know is that he better love it!

Oh Christmas Tree

I might suffer from a slight case of OCD.  Maybe.  Probably.  And every year when it is time to decorate the tree my OCD comes out in full force.  My kids always want to help decorate and so I appease them until they are out of the room and then hurry and move the ornament to its correct location.  The joys of being crazy!

I have been collecting ornaments and pieces for my rustic tree for a couple years now.  Adding things here and there, usually after Christmas when they are super cheap. 

I struggled for a little this year when it came to the wrapping paper.  I wanted it to flow.  While grocery shopping at the commissary one day, I came across large rolls of shipping paper for only $0.77!  I love how it looks old school and blends in so well.  I also love that I could just write on the paper without using a label.  Fun and cheap!

Here is a close up of a couple of my ornaments.  I found the banner a few years ago at Tai Pan.  I had seen something similar in the Pottery Barn catalog, but the price was much, much, much higher.  The strand of berries and the felt snowflakes are from Target's after Christmas clearance.  The red stars are from Cracker Barrel of all places.  The yellow stars and the suede bells are from the Christmas Store at Gardner Village.  They are always doing sales.  And the large, wooden snowflakes are from Roberts after Christmas clearance.

There are truly so many options with decorating your tree and really inexpensive ways to do it.  You could also mix it up every year with a new theme.

Christmas Mantle

I love Christmas almost as much as I love Halloween.  Everything about Christmas makes me so happy.  My Glee Christmas CD blaring in the car, the fun holiday movies, and ALL the candies and treats.

It was a sad day when I opened all of my Christmas decor to find it a little lacking this year.  And even sadder when I realized that there was no Tai Pan, Roberts, or Quilted Bear that I could run to.  Not a whole lot to work with here in Wyoming.  Also not a whole lot to work with, with that darn hole above my fireplace.  Curse you wasted space!

I like to keep my decorating simple and themed.  My Christmas decor is definitely vintage rustic.  I love the muted colors.

The garland is from Roberts.  I bought it for super cheap after Christmas.  Best time to shop for next year.  The big sign is also from Roberts.  So sad that they are going out of business.  The fun stars are from this nursery in Prosser.  I bought them after Christmas for about $2 a piece.  My mom bought me the cute tin tree and the nativity plaque.

The bird cage is from Tai Pan and was only $18 full price.  I use it all year.  The little frame is also from Tai Pan.  They have a variety of them for every holiday.  They cost about $3 each.  The sled is from the Christmas store at Garner Village.  It was one of those items that was coming home with me no matter the cost.  Thankfully it was only $10.

My most recent find is something I have been looking for.  I only wish it was bigger.  I just bought it at HL the other day for only $3.  I threw in some pine branches and red berries, also from HL.

Once I find some giant piece to hide the ridiculous hole I will be 100% satisfied with mantle.  Until then.