Christmas 2011

Every year I like to post pictures of our home all Christmas"ed" out.  Unfortunately this year I wasn't able to go all out because we had to replace our floors due to a water leak.  In fact we are still installing the baseboards but at least our flooring is in and it's quite beautiful. 

We hardly have any snow this year.  Just enough to dust the trees until it melts (but I'm not complaining at all).  So here is the front of the house as you enter our main front door.  I'll avoid any snowless brown grass photos for you.  My mother in law and I made this garland many years ago and it's held up so well.  I strung lights on it this year and put it around our planter box.

The snowmen wreath is a University of Arizona wreath which my husband loves to display.  If he had it his way our whole home would be decorated in Arizona Wildcats stuff.

So come on in...

(I made this rag wreath with scraps from a quilt I made the first year we lived in North Dakota.)

The entrance is simple but I love it.  My son made the green wreath on the left.  I'm all about homemade decorations.

And continuing on to our dining area.  On the left we have our Christmas cards on display.

If you sent us a card, then it's on display here.

We love Christmas cards!

I love this little snowman.  He makes an appearance every Christmas.

And into the living room where the stockings are hanging above the tv (since I didn't finish my stocking holder I started this year, shocking...I know).  I don't know why this picture came out crooked.  I'm thinking I was trying to avoid a dog or child from being in the photo. 

They love to sneak in my pictures.

(we watch Elmo daily)

And last but certainly not least...our tree.

It looked so much nicer a few weeks back when I first put it up.  The kids decorated it and did a great job BUT over time my darling 2 year old daughter has added and removed so many ornaments that it's looking a little sad these days.  But at least it's still standing.  I was certain that it was gonna get knocked over a few times.  lol

Well, that's it for us.  I've actually enjoyed keeping the decor simple this year.  Have a

Merry Christmas!

pottery barn vase on a dollar store budget

I love Pottery Barn as much as the next gal but if I can make a similar product they carry for 90% less, I'm gonna do it. 

I love filling vases with leaves, acorns, ornaments, and well, just about anything really.

These vases from Pottery Barn linked HERE retail for $39-$59 each plus shipping.  I found another way of making them for about $3 a piece.

Here's how I did it.

1. Go to the dollar store or thrift shop and pick up a glass vase (cups work too) and a glass candle stick
2. Next go to the craft store (or Wal-Mart) and pick up glass and China glue
3. Make sure bottom of glass vase/cup is clean and dry (follow your glue's directions for best results)
4. Apply glue to candle stick top (I probably use more than really needed)
5. Apply pressure and push the vase/cup to the top of the candle stick
6. let dry
7. fill your new vase with whatever you want

This vase and candle stick was purchased at the Dollar Tree for $2 total.



My smaller vase was a glass cup and candle stick purchased at my local thrift shop for $1.50 total.

Of course my photos aren't as great as Pottery Barn's but once I get these babies filled with some goodies and displayed, you'd never know that they cost me a few bucks.  Oh, and here is another great idea for filler this holiday season.

Merry CHRISTmas!

I will keep this short since I am typing with one hand and holding baby with the other. Have a safe (especially if you live in my neck of the woods and are getting all this snow) and merry CHRISTmas from my family to yours!

oh Christmas tree!

Wanna know the secret to giving your Christmas tree the illuminating glow it deserves?

Turn off your flash (having a great camera also helps). But be forewarned that it can make the photo look a little blurry.

Even with the blur, it's still beautiful though. I hope you are taking the time to enjoy the season!

black friday

I was one of those crazy people who woke up at 2:30am on black Friday to go out and fight the crowds for the best deals. I always have a good time and usually have a buddy to shop with which always helps. This year I met up with my friend Kristin at a few stores to score the deals. She is a super duper black Friday shopper so she was a good buddy to have.


Here are my deals (well, most of them):

I avoided the crowds at Wal-Mart and bought these items online at 2:30am. My friend Kristin did however manage to pick up a Havoc Heli helicopter set for me at Wal-mart for $19. I couldn't find a picture of it online though.

This table retails for $39 but I paid $19

I bought my son 3 sets of these track suits that were $10 originally but I paid $3. The boots cost $19 regularly but I paid $7



I bough the items in the bag from Menards and Kohl's. For those of you who don't know, Menards is like a Home Depot but with household items too. I got the fleece blankets for $1.87, the pack of men's socks for $2.40, the Snuggie's for $2.99, the men's lounge pants for $4, tootsie roll box of candy for 67 cents, and the baby teethers for $2.50 and $4.50.


I got wood laminate floors at Menards too. They were 67 cents a sq. ft. which is a fantastic price for their quality. We are redoing my craft room and these babies will be going in there.


My favorite black Friday deal was this steam mop I got at Target. Regularly $100 but I paid $50. I have already used it and LOVE it. Never mind my dog's ear in this photo.


I got these bath towels at Kohl's. They were regularly $7.99/each but I paid $2.49/each for them. They will be going in the kid's bathroom.


I got the stainless steel crockpot and candles at Menards as well. The crockpot was a measly $4.99, and I bought 3 candles (here is the Christmas tree scent) and they cost me $1.88 each. The shade on the candle is from Bath and Body Works and that was already mine.


I stopped in to my local True Value store to use their 50% off coupon on some paint for my craft room. How ironic that the paint color name is Soft Twilight (team Edward here).




I got these pants in a navy blue color for $10 at Old Navy. Re. $19.50



Old Navy-I got my husband 2 tees. This one and a grey colored one for $5 each. Reg. $15 each

Old Navy- I got myself some new fleece gloves for $2.50. I wanted the matching scarf but they were sold out. Reg. $5.00

My son scored big at Old Navy. I got him 3 pairs of fleece pants for $5.00 each. Two of them were supposed to be $10 but a very kind but not too bright employee told me they were $5 and so they honored that price. They were reg. $16.50.

Last but certainly not least, I got my son 2 of these fleece pull overs. One in grey and one in blue. They look great on him and cost $5 each. Re. $14.50

So there you have it....all my deals. It was stressful and exhausting but I have a whole year to rest and be ready for next black Friday!

ahead of schedule

I am on a roll this year. Seriously. I have gotten all but 2 or 3 presents ordered and most are already wrapped. I took the kids in to get their Christmas photos a couple of days ago and I ordered greeting cards while I was there so that's done. I can't avoid showing you at least 2 photos. Aren't they cute?

I have even managed to put up most of my Christmas decor. (patting myself on the back) Here are two photos I took with my camera phone as I was putting it all up. It's a work in progress but you get the idea.

Dear Santa...

I have been a pretty good girl this year and would appreciate your consideration for these items this Christmas.

My husband and I bought our home this year and have been doing countless improvements and updates to it so we decided to save some dough for the house and just fill each other's stockings this year. That and we are buying a ride on mower (my husband's long time dream which I find a little odd but it results in the lawn being cut so who am I to judge). And to be honest, we buy what we want when we want it so with the exception to a new Mercedes convertible that I want we don't really want anything that we must have this Christmas. This Christmas is about the kids and teaching our son the true meaning of Christmas.

On that note, I did come up with a modest list for my darling Santa so that he would have some stocking stuffers ideas. Why hint and beat around the bush...here is my list and a copy of it is going to Santa's e-mail address. You can click on the pictures to go to the store where I found these items.

I'm not the most organized person but I strive to be as organized as I can be. I saw the author of this book on the Martha Stewart show and she seemed to have some good advice so hopefully I can learn something from her book. There was some mixed reviews so this would probably towards the bottom of my list but still a worthy mention.


And next are these slipper boots from Old Navy which I REALLY want. I bought myself some last year in a similar style and I loved them so much that I wore out the sole on them so I need some new ones. I think the ones I own are shorter but they these are pretty similar.


And who can have slipper boots without a cozy robe? I know I can't. In Arizona having a big cozy robe was a joke and it just wasn't needed but here in the Arctic, um, I mean North Dakota it's a must.

The Perfect Shower Cap is one of my must haves this year. When I work hard straightening out my curls I don't want a shower to mess that up. This shower cap is supposed to keep the humidity out.

Ok, so this Bible isn't out until March 2010 but it's still going on my wish list. I hardly have the time to shower these days (yes, I do shower) so this Bible is right up my alley.

Ok, so there you have...my modest wish list.

someone got lucky

For Christmas I got this fabulous perfume:

and this gorgeous mixer:

and some other fantastic gifts as well. Everyone had a blast and got some good stuff. I will quote my 4 year old and say, "I got everything I ever wanted!"

One of my husband's gifts was a handmade softie and came as no surprise thanks to my big mouth son. My husband had been bugging me for a while to make this sad little odd shaped puppy that must have reminded him of a toy from his childhood (pattern from this book) and so I finally did it. But I will add that I tried to proportion him out a bit and was somewhat successful.

Meet Lucky.

Merry Christmas!

If you are wondering how much time you have until Santa shows up at your home you can check out where he is right here: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html. Luckily for us, we still have some time so we are off to enjoy a family favorite...the movie ELF (I just can't get enough of that movie).

Christmas crafts continued...

I finally finished up my big wreath complete with bird. There is so much satisfaction in making your holiday decor and it feels great to finally be done with it all. Well....almost done. I still need to make some tree garland for next year. Oh, and I still have some scraps so I will be making a holiday bag for next year. My son started preschool this year and I was constantly lugging Christmas stuff in and out of school this month. So next year I will lug the items in a fabulous Christmas bag. And the best news is that I have all year to complete it.

Christmas crafts

So we made it through our blizzard and were a little disappointed to be honest. We got very little snow. I think it's so cold here that we just don't get too much snow. Now southern cities like Fargo got a great deal of snow. My poor husband has been waiting patiently to get good use out of his new toy.

Either way we have enough snow for me and it is certainly cold enough to feel like Christmas around here so on to the Christmas decor. I made most of my decor this year. We have a Pottery Barn Kids decor with a mix or contemporary and vintage stuff so I just hodge podged it this year. We weren't able to put up all our decor or go all out because we are renting for a short amount of time and this house it much different than our Arizona home.

I made the garland and the birds for my tree (there are 8 birds on my tree). I used a fabric line called NOEL from JoAnn's and added some red and green gingham to it. I got the bird pattern here.

See the green birdie under the garland?

The garland was made with felt and thread and can be used year round for parties or really anything. I got the idea here. In this next picture you can see the garland strung along my windows as well. Oh, and the windows aren't dirty ( well, maybe a little but it's frost along with my flash reflecting off of them).

Using the same Noel fabric I made the quilt on the recliner and the pillow on the window seat. I also used the scraps to make my fabric wreaths.
Here is a close up for you.

I LOVE how these turned out and it was so easy. I just used a metal embroidery hoop from the thrift store and just my scraps (9 in. x 1.5 in. for my hoop) using pinking shears and tied them on the hoop. I plan on making one large one and adding a bird to the middle of it.