Quick, Easy, & Interchangeable {Christmas Décor}

Hey guys!


I wanted to share with you a super quick and easy project I did to add a little extra Christmas décor to our family room!


I didn’t really go crazy with the decorations this year for some reason.  There were some bins of Christmas stuff I didn’t even go through.  For some reason, I just wasn’t into going all out with the Christmas décor this year. 


But, there was one project that I wanted to tackle (mainly because it was super easy and super quick). 


I had this wall hanging that just didn’t go with my house anymore.  It’s sweet, but just doesn’t go anywhere in my home.





So, I measured it out and cut some canvas drop cloth I had in my stash to cover it.  I cut it a few inches longer on each side in order to be able to wrap the drop cloth around to the back.  I used some spray adhesive to adhere the canvas drop cloth to the art piece. 







I just hot glued the fabric to the back of the board.


Then, I cut my fabric scraps into strips of different lengths.  To adhere them to the canvas, I used a really complicated and rather exhausting method………


I used double sided tape to stick them on.  I know, I know!  That part is really going to take some time and you’re really going to have to be diligent but just stick with it and you’ll love the end result! 





I’ve had it hanging up for a couple of weeks now and not one single piece of fabric has fallen off!  I love that come January I will be able to just peel those fabric scraps off and adhere a big snowflake or something else.  In February I can do a cute Valentine’s Day heart and/or cupid.  In March I can do a big shamrock with some fun green fabric. The possibilities are endless.  I would have hot glued them down since that isn’t necessarily permanent either, but I was afraid it would have damaged my canvas drop cloth, so I went with the double sided tape!  And it has worked like a charm!


This project took me all of about 15 minutes!  Oh....and did I mention FREE!!!  Love it!


Have you done any quick and simple Holiday projects around your home?  Please share!!  I’d love to see!  I love pinning new ideas to my Pinterest board!

Our Christmas Card

Hi Friends!  Are you all almost ready for Christmas??  I cannot believe it’s only a few days away!  I’m pretty much ready.  I just have a couple gifts left to wrap and I’ll be done!  My in-laws are coming in tomorrow night so I’m preparing a grocery list right now.  It’s rather lengthy! 
I wanted to share with you the card we sent out to friends and family this year.  I had a cute one picked out on Tiny Prints and had it all personalized and ready to go, then got to the checkout part and my jaw just about hit the floor.  It was going to be almost $70 for 30 cards!!  No way was I spending that much.  I don’t know why, but for some reason that price tag just shocked me!  So….I set out to make my own!  I set the camera up on the tripod, got 5 minutes out of my husband one morning before he went to work, and took the picture “myself” (thank goodness for the self-timer)!  With a little help from Photoshop, I had our cards done in about 10 minutes.  I took them to Office Depot to be printed.  $15 for 40!  Not too shabby.  I had to cut them myself, but it wasn’t a big deal.  $15 is MUCH better than $70!!

I love how it turned out!  I found a box of envelopes at Walmart for $3 that fit the cards and it was a done deal!  I also designed a little return address label and printed them on the envelopes!

I used the chevron pattern piece from Sprik Space to create it all!  I just love all of Aimee’s pattern pieces and use them ALL THE TIME! 
Anyway, that’s it!  What did you do for your Christmas cards this year? 
Oh – don’t forget to go enter the Cutting Edge Stencils giveaway!!  It ends December 30th!

Our Christmas Tree & Mantle

Hi, Friends!
Happy Friday!!! 
I have to say, I am super, super, super happy and excited today.  My husband has been in Las Vegas for an entire week!  He flew out last Friday and is coming home today!  He had a training for work out there, but went out a few days early for some fun boy time with one of his friends that came over from L.A.  I have to say….I have missed him terribly.  Sometimes I forget how much I need him.  He’s the peanut butter to my jelly.  The bacon to my eggs.  The ying to my yang.  The elastic to my granny panties.  He’s Donnie, I’m Marie.  He’s Ross, I’m Rachel.  You get the point.  I miss him.
Anywho….I didn’t mean to get all mushy gushy on you!
I have been slowly bringing out our Christmas decorations.  I’ve kind of had to start from scratch on a super tight budget since I went with a neutral theme this year.  I wanted to use lots of silver & gold and natural textures, with lots of white and ivory.  Remember my Christmas décor inspiration post?  I also wanted to incorporate some pops of red, which is what I did with my Christmas pillow covers in the family room!
So….here is our tree this year.  We bought a smaller tree and put it up on a table.  It’s definitely not my favorite but we had to.  Emily just started walking and she just loves to explore.  I could see the tree just being a disaster if we would have put it on the floor.

I made the burlap & tulle garlands.  I took inspiration from the amazing ladies over at Do It Yourself Divas.



Our mantle this year is very simple.  It’s not very deep so I’m limited to what I can put on it with the garland.  But I just love the look of garland on a mantle. 

The vase on the left is filled with a $3 sprig of pinecones and berries from Target.  The silver owl was a $5 find at Ross several months ago.  I got it for Emily’s birthday party, but he has become a staple on the mantle.  I made the wreath that is hanging from the mirror.  It is made of tulle and is accented with a pretty poinsettia flower and some gorgeous cream and gold glittery ribbon.  The gold reindeer on the right was a $1 spot Target find.  Although it was $2.50, not $1.  Still not too shabby!




And of course, we put up Emily’s little tree!





So that’s it!  What do you think?  I’m really liking the whole “neutral” thing and I think I might stick with it again next year too.  Maybe next year I’ll get around to making the burlap & linen tree skirt I wanted to make this year.  What does your décor look like this Holiday season?  I’d LOVE to see!  Please share!
Thanks for stopping by!

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Simple Christmas Pillow Covers

By now you have probably realized that I have a thing for pillows.  And my new found love for these easy envelope pillow covers (the tutorial that I follow can be found here) just took my crush to the next level!!  Pillows are such an easy way to update your décor.  They are a great way to add just the right amount of a pop of color to any room!

Like I mentioned, I usually follow the super easy tutorial from Texas Cottage.  But, the other day I was in Hobby Lobby and found some really pretty kitchen towels for $2.50!  It was a gorgeous canvas that had Merry Christmas written all over it in different fonts in red.  The 2nd kitchen towel was plain red.  I snagged up 2 of these for a total of $5!  I knew these would be perfect pillows and still neutral enough to go with my neutral Christmas décor this year. 
I really wanted to make these envelope pillow style so I could easily slip my existing pillows in them (like I did in this post).  Pillow covers are also so easy to store!  Once a season is over, you just take them off and fold them up and store away for next year.
The problem with the kitchen towels is that I couldn’t really use the tutorial that I usually follow to make these covers.  Then I saw Shelley from The House of Smiths post about their Christmas décor.  She used napkins and towels to make envelope style pillows for her home too!  She told me that she just cut the back piece of fabric into 2 pieces and overlapped them to create the “envelope”.   DUH!  So easy!  So that is exactly what I did!

The red & green plaid pillows are napkins from Target and I used the same method with those.  The only difference is I used pieces of canvas drop cloth for the back!  I am LOVING canvas drop cloth right now!


I’m loving how they turned out and I love the pop of red!
I am slowly but surely finishing up the rest of our Christmas decorations.  I’ve had a lot of orders from my Etsy shop to work on lately so I’ve been super busy with that.
Thanks for stopping by!

Kids Christmas Crafts {Inspiration Files}

I just love to see kids around the Holiday season!  Their innocence.  The light in their eyes.  Their excitement.  It’s just so contagious.
I have seen so many cute kids Christmas crafts floating around the Internet, that I just had to share some of my favorites!  I cannot wait until Emily is old enough to do some of these crafts!  I think this time next year will be a BLAST with her!
Ok, on to my fav’s…..
These cutie patooties are a classic hit with the kids.  I’ve done a similar craft with my first graders.

Source:  Sweet Home Design & Space via Pinterest

I used to do these handprint ornaments with my first graders as well.  The parents really loved getting these as gifts.  It took a while to do 20-23 of them though!

Source:  Pinterest

This one would be fun to do each year and see how much bigger their hands and feet have gotten each year!

Source:  Allkidsnetwork.com via Pinterest

I just about died when I saw this one!  How stinkin’ cute!

Source:  Oopsey Daisy via UCreatewithkids via Pinterest

These footprint snowmen are adorable as well!

Source:  Craft, Interrupted via Pinterest

This paper plate snowman is great too.  This would be good to work on fine motor skills by having them weave yarn through the holes.

Source:  Merry With Children via Pinterest

Aren’t all those ideas so much fun??  Are you doing any Holiday crafts with your little one{s}?  If so, what are you doing?  I’d love to hear your ideas so I can get some more inspiration!
Thanks for stopping by!

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Burlap & Felt {Christmas} Pillow

It has officially begun!  My crazy obsession with Christmas that rolls around each year.  I just love Christmastime and all the decorating, the cold nights (the days are still pleasant here in Florida, for the most part), hot chocolate, sweaters & scarves, and my boots!  This year is no different!
The hubs and I are going to go pick out our tree this weekend!  It’s so weird to think back to last year.  Last year, Emily was a month old.  I remember carrying her around the tree farm in her car seat while she was snoozing away!  Crazy how time flies!
I’ve been doing some Christmas crafting, too!  I’ve been making some really pretty wreaths for the shop!  But aside from that, I sat down the other night and made this super cute burlap & felt Christmas pillow!

I got the inspiration from the BHG Christmas Ideas mag I picked up at the grocery store the other day!  I just love how it turned out!  I told you guys in my last post that I wanted to go with a neutral color palette for Christmas this year.  This pillow will go with my Christmas décor perfectly this year!
This pillow is an envelope pillow cover that I just slipped over an old Ikea pillow I had in my stash!  I followed this amazing tutorial from Texas Cottage.
I used a ruler to kind of “freehand” the trees.  It was pretty simple.  There was no measuring involved or anything else that I had to actually stop and think about.  Those are my kind of crafts!  The fool-proof kind!!  I usually use my handy Heat N Bond for these types of projects, but I didn’t even bother with it on this one.  I simply pinned the trees to the burlap and sewed them on with a straight stitch!  Easy as that!


I just love how it turned out! 
I can’t wait to pull down the rest of my Christmas stuff this afternoon while Em-Dawg is napping!  For now, I’m off to JoAnn’s for more burlap {can you ever have enough of that stuff??}!   
Have a great Friday!! 

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter

T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework

W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Not Just A Housewife

Th: Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor

F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading

S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,

Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

Thanks for reading! 

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Christmas Décor Galore

I am getting so excited about Christmas!!  I can’t wait to wrap everyone’s gifts in pretty packaging, create handmade gifts for neighbors and friends, spend time with family, and see my little girl’s eyes light up on Christmas morning!

I have been thinking a lot about what direction I want to go in for Christmas décor this year.  I am so torn because there are so many cute color combinations!  But, I think I have decided on a “neutral” Christmas using ivories, golds, silvers, and of course…..burlap!

So, to prepare for my “neutral” Christmas décor this year, I have turned to none other than my bestie, Pinterest!  Here are some of my favorite finds………

I love this neutral tree!  I will definitely have a burlap garland on my tree though!

Source:  BHG via Elisha/Pinterest

 

I love, love, love this tree!  This is exactly what I’m going for!

Source: DIY Divas via Ucreate via Hannah/Pinterest

Even though we ordered personalized stockings from PB last year, I am thinking about making some stockings like this!  I just love them!

Source:  Make It & Love It via The Crafting Chicks via Erin/Pinterest

This pillow is just to die for!  So cute, but can easily be made with some drop cloth and a Goodwill sweater!

Source:  PotteryBarn via Karen/Pinterest

I just love this simple décor!  Seems so easy!  I would love this on my mantle or buffet table!

Source: Shanty2Chic via Andrea/Pinterest

I also love this simple burlap tree!  This would also look great on the mantle or in a grouping as a centerpiece!

Source: Shanty2Chic via UCreate via Jennifer/Pinterest

 

This post has officially made me realize that I need to go buy more burlap and get busy!!  ‘Tis the season!  The best season ever!

So what are your décor plans for Christmas this year?  I’d love to hear your ideas! 

 

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