Bookpage Ornament

This book page ornament was inspired from this post.
I tweaked her instructions after making one for myself. I found it was easier to cut 4 full ornament designs (not just the half she shows), and then glue those 4 together. It gives it a little different look, not as full, but I think easier to create with less of a headache.

I added some silver glitter to the edges to give it some sparkle.

This cute little charm is from the $1 bins at Michaels! I just took the ribbon off of it and used it on the top of the ornament, then hung the charm on the bottom.

I'm lovin' all the handmade ornaments I have gotten done recently. My tree is really starting to fill out now. I just finished 2 more ornaments that I'll show you next week!

Advent Tree

Here is our advent tree. I think I got this idea from Martha Stewart years ago--but could not find it anywhere on the internet!

Just wrap tiny matchboxes with paper and add a tag with ribbon. Then attach the box to the tree using a small piece of wire.

In years past I would put a small piece of candy inside for the kids to enjoy each day, but as we added to the family I found it was hard to fit 4 pieces of anything inside these tiny boxes. Last year I decided to add strips of paper to each bag with a fun activity to do each day.

Here is our list this year:

1. Play a game in front of the fire.

2. Address & send out Christmas cards

3. Make some Christmas candy.

4. Shovel someone's walkway.

5. Read in Luke 2, then act out the Nativity scene.

6. Make gingerbread houses.

7. Donate food for the food drive.

8. Read a Christmas story.

9. Make some reindeer food.

10. Take a drive to see the Christmas lights.

11. Build a snowman.

12. Make a treat for someone in the neighborhood.

13. Donate to Toys for Tots.

14. Listen to Christmas music.

15. Sing a Christmas song.

16. Make gifts to give to the kids' teachers.

17. Be a secret Santa for a single person in the neighborhood.

18. Go sledding.

19. Have a snowball fight.

20. Read a Christmas book.

21. Put a puzzle together.

22. Watch 'Christmas Vacation'

23. Make cookies for Santa.

24. Read 'Twas the Night before Christmas' and set out cookies and reindeer food.

This year I decided to add in a few service oriented activities along with the fun ones. I think it is really great to let kids have the chance to do nice things for other people, but sometimes it's hard to find things for little kids to do. What simple things do you do with your kids?

Christmas Vignette Party

Here are some Christmas vignettes that can be seen around my house. white & blue with a touch of silver

(peace sign & blue & silver acorns recently found at Walmart for $1!)

(that's me!)

merry & bright--full of color (blue & red)

whites & creams with a touch of green (a green bucket filled with mercury glass ornaments) can be found on my mantel

I'm linking up to this fabulous party!

Vintage Cone Ornament

Here's a peak at my Christmas tree. Lots of cream and silver with a touch of red.

A handmade vintage Christmas cone: simple & quick.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, its time to start decorating for Christmas. I love to make some homemade ornaments every year. Growing up, our Christmas tree was filled with mostly homemade ornaments, made by either my mom, or the ones made by us kids at school. I love having homemade ornaments on the tree mixed in with the store bought kind.

Last year I changed my Christmas tree into a "vintage Christmas" theme. So it is somewhat bare and needs more stuff. I'll be getting busy filling it up. Here is idea #1:

These cones are a takeoff on the vintage sheet music wreath I completed just a few months ago. Just twist a sheet into a cone, embellish with some dollar store trim, and fill with even more sheet music (shredded this time). Hang with some wire and you're done!

Here it is step by step if you want to make some for yourself:

twist into a cone,

cut to make a flat top,

gather a strip of white crepe paper,

hot glue onto the inside of the cone,

add dollar store trim,

Simple, yet sweet, just the way I like 'em!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's one last look at Thanksgiving before everything gets puts away and Christmas appears.

This fun banner is from moselle.co. I found it by accident one day when I was browsing blogs. They offer a free printable thanksgiving banner that is super cute. I had to tweak it a little bit because I only have a black & white printer but this ended up being more my style with the neutral colors anyway.

I added burlap, crepe paper, and old book pages.
I made a little nest out of burlap fabric scraps to put in the cone with the squirrel design. I thought it would be cute to add some acorns or small pine cones to the nest, but at the moment we are in the throngs of a blizzard, so maybe next year.

I love the fancy lettering.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Cute Holiday Cards

Remember when I was talking about getting my Christmas cards done early this year. I was checking out different sites and the cards they offer. I checked out Sam's Club (who I have purchased from in years past), Walgreens, even tried to make my own cheaper version on Picnik but the one I really want is from Shutterfly.

My sister-in-law took our pictures about a month ago and I liked quite a few of them and just couldn't decide which picture to use. In the past I've bought the inexpensive ones with 1 photograph but this year I wanted to do more of a collage effect with many photos.

These are some of my favorites. I'm trying to decide between the "many memories tree' card and the 'peppermint pink' card. If you usually include a family letter with your cards then check out the 'christmas letter' card--it combines a cute photo card with a family letter.

I loved the ease of the Shutterfly system, especially when dealing with a card with multiple photos. You can easily drag and drop pictures, move them around and crop right on one page--something that left me very frustrated at the other sites I visited.

One day as I was doing my usual blog browsing I came across a project done by dreambookdesign.com and as I was skimming her blog I found this great deal. It was just what I needed to find. If you have a blog and want to take advantage of this great promotion to get your own free Christmas cards from Shutterfly check it out!

Another chair

I'm on a white chair kick, here is chair #2.
I would love to eventually have 6 different white chairs to replace the black ones at my dining table. (Remember my first chair?)


I don't have a before picture, but it was a dark brown wood with boring fabric seat cover. I painted it white and distressed the edges with a sander.
Then I made my own faux postal sack by using a plate, bowl, acrylic paint and paintbrush, a scrap of muslin, and some letter & number stamps from my scrapbook stash. I traced the plate and bowl for the circle and stamped the letters and numbers with the acrylic paint. Then added squiggles to give it that authentic vintage postage stamp look. I then washed the material in the washing machine in cold. This made the paint fade a little in areas to give it more of that vintage feel.

This was a very cheap and easy makeover. I love it, do you?