Well of course I stopped to have some fun, at Bentley's expense :) Doesn't he look cute though!
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Taking down the Tree
Today, Bentley and I tackled "taking down the Christmas Tree"... whew... what a project! Why does it always seem easier to "make a mess" then clean it up?!?! haha
Well of course I stopped to have some fun, at Bentley's expense :) Doesn't he look cute though!
Well of course I stopped to have some fun, at Bentley's expense :) Doesn't he look cute though!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Ruffle Tree Skirt
Now, we bought the tree (Craigslist baby!), I had the ornaments (my mom gifted us ornaments every year since birth!), had the stockings already (my mom had my husband's made to look like mine and gifted it to him last year... and Bentley got his from the in-laws! Bentley is spoiled!), and we bought some awesome led lights from Costco (love that place!). I even found a star in my ornament stash for the top of the tree! So what was left? How about a tree skirt :) I found this awesome site that had a how-to on making a no-sew ruffle tree skirt.
HGTV How to Make a No-Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt
I tried it out and this picture is of my new tree skirt! After MANY burnt fingers on the glue gun (I need to get a better glue gun)... the result was nice! It wasn't my best work, but the project was very forgiving on exact measurements. I will buy a tree skirt one day, but this project didnt cost me (I used what I had), wasn't too time consuming, and I could make it as big/ thick as I wanted... which was great because our tree is really FAT! hehe
HGTV How to Make a No-Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt
I tried it out and this picture is of my new tree skirt! After MANY burnt fingers on the glue gun (I need to get a better glue gun)... the result was nice! It wasn't my best work, but the project was very forgiving on exact measurements. I will buy a tree skirt one day, but this project didnt cost me (I used what I had), wasn't too time consuming, and I could make it as big/ thick as I wanted... which was great because our tree is really FAT! hehe
Christmas Cookies!
A HUGE tradition for my family has always been making tons and tons of Christmas Cookies! We don't make a lot of cookies through the year, especially since they seem to get eaten too quickly! So, when we have an arsenal of cooks in the kitchen, we make a TON and share them with family and friends and enjoy them for days on end!
Now, I can't share ALL my family's cookie recipes... some need to be secrets so that people will come to our annual Christmas Eve Party craving cookies! But I did take a picture of the ones we made! I missed taking a picture of a few, but you will get the idea ;)
My favorites! White Chocolate, Macadamia, Dried Cherries
These were a new recipe for us! They are Italian Anise Cookies
Another favorite: Scandinavian Almond Cookies
Peanut Butter Kisses
Wreath cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
New this year: White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread
My husband and my brother decorating the TONS of gingerbread cookies! It was my husband's first time decorating gingerbread cookies and he did an AMAZING job!
Gingerbread with royal icing
Now, I can't share ALL my family's cookie recipes... some need to be secrets so that people will come to our annual Christmas Eve Party craving cookies! But I did take a picture of the ones we made! I missed taking a picture of a few, but you will get the idea ;)
My favorites! White Chocolate, Macadamia, Dried Cherries
These were a new recipe for us! They are Italian Anise Cookies
Another favorite: Scandinavian Almond Cookies
Peanut Butter Kisses
Wreath cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
New this year: White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread
My husband and my brother decorating the TONS of gingerbread cookies! It was my husband's first time decorating gingerbread cookies and he did an AMAZING job!
Gingerbread with royal icing
Our First Christmas Indoor Decoration!
Merry Christmas!
This was our first Christmas together as husband and wife, and definitely was our first Christmas season in our own home! Since Thanksgiving, the decorations have been proudly up and have created such a warm and loving glow in our home. I hope you enjoy!
Our first Christmas tree! We bought this 8 ft beauty for $20 on Craigslist! SCORE! And the ornaments are from my mom; Every year since I was born, she got us an ornament so that when we left home and had our own tree, it wouldn't be bare! It's one of my favorite traditions from my mom ♥ And boy was our tree full of ornaments!
We have this overhang above our kitchen sink, and this is how I first decorated it.
Then I wanted the wreath outside, so this is how it is NOW decorated! I loved getting Christmas cards in the mail addressed to Mr and Mrs L! yay! And my decor is complete with my Nutcracker collection up above! I have loved the nutcracker ballet since I was 5 and my mom would take me every year, as our mommy-daughter date ♥
Another view of the tree, with Bentley in his "cone of shame"! Poor Bentley, it has been a rough year for our pup.
I LOVE our WillowTree nativity scene. It's so natural rustic and romantic. My mother gave them to us for Christmas for the past two years and it means so much to me. Especially since decorating the nativity scene with my mom was a tradition when I was younger.
This was our first Christmas together as husband and wife, and definitely was our first Christmas season in our own home! Since Thanksgiving, the decorations have been proudly up and have created such a warm and loving glow in our home. I hope you enjoy!
Our first Christmas tree! We bought this 8 ft beauty for $20 on Craigslist! SCORE! And the ornaments are from my mom; Every year since I was born, she got us an ornament so that when we left home and had our own tree, it wouldn't be bare! It's one of my favorite traditions from my mom ♥ And boy was our tree full of ornaments!
We have this overhang above our kitchen sink, and this is how I first decorated it.
Then I wanted the wreath outside, so this is how it is NOW decorated! I loved getting Christmas cards in the mail addressed to Mr and Mrs L! yay! And my decor is complete with my Nutcracker collection up above! I have loved the nutcracker ballet since I was 5 and my mom would take me every year, as our mommy-daughter date ♥
Another view of the tree, with Bentley in his "cone of shame"! Poor Bentley, it has been a rough year for our pup.
I LOVE our WillowTree nativity scene. It's so natural rustic and romantic. My mother gave them to us for Christmas for the past two years and it means so much to me. Especially since decorating the nativity scene with my mom was a tradition when I was younger.
Our First Christmas Lights Decoration!
Merry Christmas!
Here are some pictures from our first home, all decorated for the holidays! Enjoy!
Our porch! With red sparkle snowflakes hanging, bright multi colored lights, garland, snoopy, Holly pillows, and pathetic tree!
A closer view of the porch with the Holly pillows, and a lit up Santa Snoopy on his dog house! I was going for the whole Charlie Brown Christmas theme if you couldn't tell!
Charlie Brown's "pathetic" tree! My husband loves this detail on our porch :)
Here are some pictures from our first home, all decorated for the holidays! Enjoy!
Our porch! With red sparkle snowflakes hanging, bright multi colored lights, garland, snoopy, Holly pillows, and pathetic tree!
A closer view of the porch with the Holly pillows, and a lit up Santa Snoopy on his dog house! I was going for the whole Charlie Brown Christmas theme if you couldn't tell!
Charlie Brown's "pathetic" tree! My husband loves this detail on our porch :)
Friday, December 23, 2011
Try this: Wedding Photo Book
Before we were even married, I knew what I was going to give our parents and grandparents for Christmas this year. Call me crazy, but when you plan your own wedding, you get "planning for the future" ideas like this! So I decided to make a photo book out of our wedding pictures as gifts! Photo BOOKS, not photo albums. That's where a company has a program where you download and organize all your pictures, then they print and bind them on a hard cover book, to make your photos look like a picture book! It looks amazing and so professional!
So here's how I made this work: During the summer, I found LivingSocial coupons for this company called MyPublisher where they were offering half off a book, PLUS added pages to your book! Which was awesome because three books can add up quick, and I had SOOOO many pictures from the wedding (over 800!) so the additional pages would be put to good use!
The great thing about LivingSocial is that the coupons didn't expire till 2012 (so PLENTY of time!) and I could buy three coupons and use them each for the discount! I also trust LivingSocial because I have had some problems with vendors and LivingSocial has backed me up with full refunds or credits! They know how to do business right!
So MyPublisher requires you to download their photo book software (free!) and then you download the photos you will use on to that program. Then... the rest is up to you! Being as creative or basic as you want, they allow you to tweak the photos a bit, re-size, write words, and give you tons of options when it comes to printing. They also let you know while you editing if that photo will looks it's best, or if it needs to have something done to it. It's strange how the photo can look great on your computer but won't print well... so thank goodness they have that! I also think MyPublisher has a refund policy, so if they are at fault for printing, or your unhappy with their work (mind you... your responsibility for editing comes in to play too) they will redo the book free of charge. Good business. Good accountability!
Of course my creative "genius" made me almost wait till last minute to put the finishing editing touches on the photo books... but ordering was a piece of cake, and although they said they were so busy from the holidays that orders could be taking the maximum estimated delivery time... mine came EARLIER than predicted! Way to deliver!
The Results? LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! They were beautiful and every one enjoyed them! And now that I have seen them, I am jealous and want to order one for my self soon! Good thing MyPublisher keeps your books always on file! ;) I will definitely be using them again! They are a little pricey, but they always have sales and deals and the quality is AMAZING!
Click here to see our Photobook of our Wedding~
So here's how I made this work: During the summer, I found LivingSocial coupons for this company called MyPublisher where they were offering half off a book, PLUS added pages to your book! Which was awesome because three books can add up quick, and I had SOOOO many pictures from the wedding (over 800!) so the additional pages would be put to good use!
The great thing about LivingSocial is that the coupons didn't expire till 2012 (so PLENTY of time!) and I could buy three coupons and use them each for the discount! I also trust LivingSocial because I have had some problems with vendors and LivingSocial has backed me up with full refunds or credits! They know how to do business right!
So MyPublisher requires you to download their photo book software (free!) and then you download the photos you will use on to that program. Then... the rest is up to you! Being as creative or basic as you want, they allow you to tweak the photos a bit, re-size, write words, and give you tons of options when it comes to printing. They also let you know while you editing if that photo will looks it's best, or if it needs to have something done to it. It's strange how the photo can look great on your computer but won't print well... so thank goodness they have that! I also think MyPublisher has a refund policy, so if they are at fault for printing, or your unhappy with their work (mind you... your responsibility for editing comes in to play too) they will redo the book free of charge. Good business. Good accountability!
Of course my creative "genius" made me almost wait till last minute to put the finishing editing touches on the photo books... but ordering was a piece of cake, and although they said they were so busy from the holidays that orders could be taking the maximum estimated delivery time... mine came EARLIER than predicted! Way to deliver!
The Results? LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! They were beautiful and every one enjoyed them! And now that I have seen them, I am jealous and want to order one for my self soon! Good thing MyPublisher keeps your books always on file! ;) I will definitely be using them again! They are a little pricey, but they always have sales and deals and the quality is AMAZING!
Click here to see our Photobook of our Wedding~
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Flower Painting for the Kitchen
This Christmas, my mother-in-law wanted a painting with her favorite bible verse on it: "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15.
Of course I said I would do it and I definitely racked my brain on this one. I seem to have problems on "commissioned" art because I get caught up in wanting it to be "perfect" and what the person wants (I paint for others to appreciate I guess). And I really get stuck in creativity when the person says "do what ever you want". Yikes, the pressure is on! Not only do I have to create the "perfect" piece, but I have NO perimeters! Some people love total freedom, but I guess I loved structured creativity. I love to please others, and if I can do that through my creativity, then win win! But I need to know what is wanted.
So this piece was inspired by colors that are in her back splash tile work, and a busy fabric I found that had all these partitioned flowers. I picked a few of the flowers from the fabric and mimic-ed them on a bigger scale to create this (with the quote in the middle):
The real kicker to this project (aside from my own problems with painting for others! haha) is the piece had to fit in an irregular spot in the kitchen. Luckily, my father-in-law has oodles of tools and wood, so he made a base for me and I bought some heavier fabric (which I ended up doubling on it's self to prevent bleeding, just in case... and making it stronger still) then we staple gunned it on. My husband created a cardboard backing on each framing opening, to prevent sagging. A family affair for sure! But I was pleased at the results and I think my mother-in-law enjoyed it too!
Of course I said I would do it and I definitely racked my brain on this one. I seem to have problems on "commissioned" art because I get caught up in wanting it to be "perfect" and what the person wants (I paint for others to appreciate I guess). And I really get stuck in creativity when the person says "do what ever you want". Yikes, the pressure is on! Not only do I have to create the "perfect" piece, but I have NO perimeters! Some people love total freedom, but I guess I loved structured creativity. I love to please others, and if I can do that through my creativity, then win win! But I need to know what is wanted.
So this piece was inspired by colors that are in her back splash tile work, and a busy fabric I found that had all these partitioned flowers. I picked a few of the flowers from the fabric and mimic-ed them on a bigger scale to create this (with the quote in the middle):
The real kicker to this project (aside from my own problems with painting for others! haha) is the piece had to fit in an irregular spot in the kitchen. Luckily, my father-in-law has oodles of tools and wood, so he made a base for me and I bought some heavier fabric (which I ended up doubling on it's self to prevent bleeding, just in case... and making it stronger still) then we staple gunned it on. My husband created a cardboard backing on each framing opening, to prevent sagging. A family affair for sure! But I was pleased at the results and I think my mother-in-law enjoyed it too!
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