Christmas Dogs!

Dexter and Molly wish you a Merry Christmas!

I Dedicate this House to the Harmon Family Christmas

 Justin channeled his inner Clark Griswold and got the Christmas lights on the house a couple of weekends ago.

We made our own candy cane lane by lining the sidewalk with candy canes and draping lights through them.

 Did any of you put lights on your house this year?

We haven't had a chance to go look at Christmas lights, but hopefully we will find some time to squeeze it in!

DIY Ornaments

I have been making homemade gifts like crazy! And it has been so much fun!  I believe that it's better to give than receive.  So that's why I decided to give myself this ornament ;-)  In the middle of making gifts for others, I made a little time for myself and made an ornament of my own.

I don't have a tutorial for you today, but  you can check out this tutorial when I mod podge a picture frame and follow the same principle.  I just mod podged left over wrapping paper to an "H" chipboard, painted the sides and the back, and distressed the edges.  Then I wrapped twine around the top so that it could hang from the tree.  Isn't it lovely?!

I also made something special for someone else.

If your name is GRACE HARMON then stop reading now or your will ruin your Christmas.

If you read any further it'll be like sneaking into the living room when you were a kid and cutting the tape on the presents under the tree, carefully unwrapping the paper, and taking a peek into the boxes to see what awaits inside.  I did that one year and Christmas morning stunk for me.  There was no eager anticipation to see what I got, because I already knew.

So you gone now, Gracie?

I hope so 'cause here we go....

 Grace is my sister-in-law and just married into the family in October.  I made her this sheet music ornament for one of her Christmas gifts.  Decor made with sheet music is super popular right now.

 At first sight, it doesn't seem all that special.

But it's the lyrics on the sheet music that really make it unique.

"Wondering where would I be without you in my life"

 "But you brighten up for me all of my days"

 

Can anyone guess the song?

 "How sweet it is to be loved by you"

And it was Grace and Jason's first dance song at their wedding.

 I love this so much it makes my heart hurt.  

I'll be making one for Justin and I to hang on our family tree.

I cannot wait to give this to Grace!  I hope she loves it as much as I do!

If you'd like to see my inspiration for this ornament, check out my Pinterest pins here, here and here. 

Gifts to our Angel

This year, we adopted an angel through our church, The Village, that benefited a student through Communities in Schools.  This is the organization that I mentor with, so providing gifts to one of these students was extra special for me this year.  We chose a 9 year little boy and were able to buy him a hoodie and matching pants, a mario shirt and beanie, tennis shoes, gloves, a nerf gun, and 4 hand held video games.  It's hard for me not to go overboard, but I stuck to our budget and was still able to get him a lot.  Merry Christmas Communities in Schools Angel!  We hope that you have a wonderful one!

Christmas Mantel and Shelf

 Here's the last of the home decorations!  

Our mantel is kinda a work in progress.  I made it look the best I could with the decorations that we already had.  I can't say that I hate it, but I don't love it either.  Hopefully next year I'll have more time and a little more money to make this look really good!

 

 I could never find a stocking that I liked for Dexter, so I decided to make one for him.  I saw this stocking on etsy and made my own dumbed down version.  I found the stocking at Dollar General for a buck and used felt and no sew iron on transfer for the doggie and bone.  I think it turned out really cute!  And It only cost me $1.50!

 My mama made me that cute little frame that you see on the wall.

Everyone asks if I made the snowflake wreath.  I wish I could say yes, but I found it at the dollar spot at Target.  

 Since it was so hot here over the summer, most of my candles melted in the attic.  But these weren't damaged so bad.  I made sure to cover up all the ugly spots with the poinsettias.

 So, there ya go.  The Harmon family Christmas mantel.  Needs some work, but looks good for this year!

 Here's the dining room shelf that went from fall to Christmas!

 I switched out the framed pumpkin for a handmade snowflake.

 The ornaments were originally in a clear cylinder vase, but the shelf fell off the wall somehow and broke it.  So I opted for the mason jar in its place.  I think that I like it better than my initial idea!  It ties in together with the "snow filled' mason jars on the dining room table.

   The free printable is from eighteen25. 

I found a plain wooden 8x10 picture frame at Dollar Tree and painted it red specially for this printable.

 How have you decorated your home this Christmas?  I'd love to see!  Leave me a comment with your blog address, facebook page, etc if you'd like to show of your home decorations!

O Christmas Tree.... O Christmas Trees!

Remember our tree from last year? 

I love this tree!  It's so beautiful.  We have it up again, but this year, I decorated the mirror banister with lights, ribbon that matches the tree, and poinsettias.  And we hung a wreath (given to us my Justin's super nice boss) at the top.

It's gorgeous!

AND, I was lucky enough to find a FREE tree on freecycle this summer.  So we have 2 trees this year.  The fancy tree in the formal living room/office area and a family tree in the living room!

 The family tree has miscellaneous ornaments on it like ones from our childhood, ones given to us as gifts, milestone ornaments like our first Christmas together, our first Christmas in our new home, etc.  I'm going to carry on the traditions of both of our mothers and buy/make ornaments for us and our kids every year.  But since we don't have kids yet, I bought Dexter and Molly ornaments instead!

What? These doggies love Christmas as much as we do!  And I needed an excuse to buy more ornaments to help fill up the family tree (got them at Dollar General for a buck a piece!).  Who wants to look at a sparsely decorated tree?!  Ok, ok, I admit it.  I'm kinda a crazy dog lady...both doggies have a present and something to go in their stocking.  But they can't be left out of Christmas!   =)


More posts to come-mantel and Christmas shelf decorations, an awesome, sentimental diy gift and lots more! 

Our New Nativity Scene

My first nativity scene was given to me by my grandma.  You can see it here.  I still have it and put it out on the coffee table again this year.  I also have a small nativity scene from Kirklands.  It's been really handy the last few years.  It looks a lot like my mama's, only on a tinier scale.  That's why I bought it.  The one my mama has was her grandma's so when I look at mine, it reminds me of Christmases back home.  It's perfect for a small apartment, but being in the house this year has really made me want a bigger nativity scene.  I wanted something special, like my mama's. I remember her getting it out every year and putting it on the back of the piano.  It just didn't really feel like Christmas until she got it down from the closet.  I was sort of feeling the same way this year.  I love the Willow Tree figurines and knew they made one so I thought I'd check it out.

 

Willow Tree actually has 2 different sets and they are both equally amazing.  

 

But they are EXPENSIVE.  So I was out of luck.  There was no way we could afford any of it.  Not one tiny piece. 

 And then I found this at Kohls.  And I was in love.  What was even better was the price-$30.  We could totally do $30.  So I brought it home.

 

 

 Ok, so I know the tree doesn't go with the nativity scene, but I needed something to go in that corner and it's cute!  It goes with the burlap nicely. 

 "We three kings of orient are..."

Love that song.

  One thing that this set has that Willow Tree does not are these inscriptions on all the dark parts of each figurine.  Can you tell what it is?

That's right...it's the lyrics to "Silent Night."

Get the free printable here

 And that makes me love it just that much more!

Christmas Table Centerpiece

Since my dining room table is so small (it's a 4 seater) I don't have much room for an extravegant centerpiece.  I have to go small and simple.  I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it would be perfect for our table. 

It's supposed to look like the candles are laying in snow.  The jars are partially filled with epsom salt.

  

  

 Instead of using a third mason jar, I decided to use a salsa bottle to mix it up a bit and give it a little more character. 

 To add a bit more detail, I topped each jar off with a rafia bow and wound this wire edge ribbon in and aroudn teh jars.  I think it turned out really pretty and goes really well with the rest of the decor in the room.

I'm back!

The semester is over....whew!  And guess what? 

I

MADE

AN

A!



So now it's back to blogging and updating everyone one on what's been going on around the Harmon House.  I'll probably have to do some back tracking and catch you up on some things.  And I can't wait to show you all the decorating I've been doing for Christmas! Plus,  I'll have some projects to share!  Thanks for being patient and sticking around this place!  See ya'll tomorrow!