Valentine Wreath

I made this easy Valentine Day heart wreath for our front door and boy, do I love it!

I kept the colors pretty neutral so I can use it year round if I want.

Valentine's Day Shelf Decor

 I finally finished up our Valentine's Day shelf! 

A Love Inspired Mantel

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and this year, I've decided to do a little decorating to celebrate!  I'm not going all out like I do for Christmas, but I thought having a Valentine's Day themed mantel would be nice and I'm going to decorate our dining room shelf too (pics of that to come when I'm finished.) 

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. 

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.

30 Days of Thanks, Week 2

It's week 2 of November-what are you thankful for?

I'm thankful for my mama and my daddy.  The choices that they have made, the way they raised me and my sisters and how they are still there for me.  I'm thankful that my mama taught me to show love through the home-cooking, eating meals at the table, hanging out in the kitchen.  The kitchen is the room in my house, in any house, that I feel the most comfortable. I'm thankful that she always cleaned the house before we went on trips.  That has rubbed off on me.  Now I do it because "I like to come home to a clean house."  Ha.  I'm thankful for all those times that my daddy made me do man work with him.  It taught me a strong work ethic and makes me want to do things for myself.  I'm thankful for those times he made me change flat tires, check my oil, figure out why my battery was dead....the list could go on.  It's made me independent.  It's made me be able to figure out those man jobs when men aren't around.  Em, remember the pear incident and how I took apart my sink pipes to clean out the garbage disposal?  If my dad would have done everything for me like I wanted him to growing up, I wouldn't have that story.  I was sucessful in cleaning out the pear core and unclogging the pipes, by the way!







Those families up there-they are my in-laws.  I am so thankful that I married in to such a big and wonderful family!  Family is the most important thing in my life.  I come from a big one and appropriately married in to a big one!  They all support one another and are so proud of each other.  I really feel fortunate that our children will be able to grow up with parents who are each close to their families and even more important that each set  of their grandparents are still together and still in love and supporting one another. 

I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life that I call a friend. You laugh with me during the good times, and provide an ear to listen to me or a shoulder to cry on in the hard times.  I hope that I am as a good of a friend to you as you are to me!



This is the building that I work in at UNT!
 via 

I'm very thankful that I have a job.  I may complain about it a lot, but I feel very lucky to go to work every day so that I can help support my family.

Until next week friends!

Witch Broom Door Hanger

 Halloween is next week so I've been busy getting the house spookified for our party!

Here's a little somthing I made for our front door to welcome all the ghouls and witches that will be coming to visit next Saturday. 

Fall Wall Shelf

Do you ever make something,change your decorations in your house, or decorate for the holidays and feel like something isn't quite right?  Like something is just a little off?

That's exactly how I felt when I decorated our wall shelf in fall decor.  I liked everything on the shelf, but it just felt like there was something missing. 

Rosette T-Shirt-4th of July Style!

I had so much fun and so many compliments (thanks y'all!) on the rosette necklace that I made, I thought I'd do something similar for the 4th of July!  I made rosette pins out of patriotic material (the same material I used to make my wreath) and put them on a red scoop neck t-shirt that I had.  I think it turned out cute!

Father's Day is Sunday!

Any of you have any special plans with your dads?  I spend father's day last year with the Harmon family, so this year I'm making the trek to my parent's house so I can spend time with my daddy!

I've been roaming around the internet for free printables and have found some cute stuff!

Source: inbetweenlaundry.blogspot.com via Jordan on Pinterest

 I found this cute printable that you can use for a diy card, tag or decoration!