Merry Christmas

Its looking like Christmas...

Its beginning to look like Christmas in this house!  I am more excited than usual about decorating for Christmas because in this new house, we haven't had a lot of decoration going on.  Christmas was a great kick-start to getting out some of our decor and making the house feel festive and homey.

One of my favorite features of this old house is the buffet, or piano windows.  I made this pom pom garland with my friends, Mollie this fall.  It was an easy but time consuming project.  I will post a tutorial later!  I got the "Joy" letters at a country store in Northern Minnesota, but I've seen them all over since.  The mercury glass holders are a combination of Michaels, Target, and Crate & Barrel.

In the dining room, I created a display with items I dug out of boxes, etc:

My sister gave me the small apothecary jars and I filled them with whatever I had that was festive.  I also taped red ribbon to the topiary pots (I pulled the stem out of the topiaries for a new look).

I added my subway art for some height and for now, I like the look!

A little sparkly garland goes a long way to help make some ordinary look fun and seasonal!  We remind ourselves to look for "Zippy", our Elf on the Shelf.

 I love this colorful tree behind the kitchen sink and the little pots I just tied a ribbon and put some holly in the tie.

 Where is Zippy anyway?

This is our entryway for now...I had fun decorating and putting the boys' stocking up.  Where to put stockings without a fireplace?

The Christmas Countdown has been working beautifully...

the boys love running to the bin of wrapped books to open their books for the day!

How is your decor coming along?  Its a process...adding little bits along the way.  Holiday cards we receive and the kids artwork is another great way to add to any holiday decor!

My Brand New Bag

I love these diaper bags...

so much that I shredded my last one from so much use!

Well, I contacted PPB and they asked me to send in my old bag.  Then they contacted me again to ask me which new bag I would like!  They replaced my bag after 3 years - now that's great customer service! 

My new bag is the glazed version, so its water resistant and will hold up better for baby #3.  :)

Thanks, PPB!

(Un)Crafty - T-Shirt Scarf

I am not a Black Friday shopper, so on the day after Thanksgiving, my sister and I decided to do a few projects.  She was more ambitious than me and made some cute glittered votives, but I just came away with this super easy to make t-shirt scarf.  

We bought XL size cotton t-shirts and used my mom's rotary cutter and mat. 

 Step 1: Cut off the bottom hem.

 Step 2: cut off the top of the shirt from right under the sleeves.  Then you are left with a tube.

 Step 3: Measure and cut into strips.  I did about 1-inch strips.

 Leave about one inch (or more) of the tube uncut at the top - this will be how your loops stay connected.

 Step 4: Stretch our each loop - this will cause the cotton to curl.

Voila!  Ours are bug enough to double up around your neck and are pretty cute!  I'm thinking of making more...it took up only about 10 minutes!

(Un)Crafty - Christmas Countdown

Happy December!  Can you believe it?  The fall was beautiful and it went by so fast!  We are busy: still moving into our new house and preparing for our new baby who will join our family in just three short months!

Since today is the first day of December, it was the first day to put our Christmas Countdown, or Advent Calendar, to use!  The boys were so excited when they woke up!  Of course, they would love to go through each day this morning and enjoy all the fun and treats.  Waiting each day will be the hard part!

With our life circumstances feeling super crazy, this is an especially (un)crafty project!  I pulled out all the Christmas and winter-themed books (about 40 in total - whoa!) and wrote the titles on popsicle sticks.  The sticks fit well in the felt calendar I made a couple years ago.

 This project took over the dining room table for a couple days.  

 I wrote the titles on each stick, leaving room at the end for a treat!

 Then I wrapped up all the books in some wrapping paper from the Target $1 Spot.  I used 4 rolls to wrap all the books.  Each book is numbered so when the boys take the sticks out of the "December 3" pocket, they can find the books with a "3" in the basket under the tree.

Most days have two books, which is perfect for two kids.  They each get to pull out a stick, have a treat, and open a wrapped book.  Do you have any great advent calendar ideas?  You can find some seriously crafty calendars at Hi Sugarplum's link party.