A Tale of Two Wreaths

Disclaimer: I am impatient and can't find my camera. So all pics are from my phone.

Happy New Year! I hope that the new year has found you healthy, happy, and well taken care of by Santa! I had a wonderful holiday season, followed up by a wonderful returning of my kids to school:) I'm kidding!!!! (not really)

Uncharacteristically I remained fairly non-crafty over Christmas. Of course I added to my decorations, and did some small crafts, but I'd be a shameful crafter if I counted throwing up strands of garland with some fake poinsettias in my crafting portfolio:) Don't get me wrong, it was gorgeous and I loved all 23 strands (in the end, maybe 25ish??), and it makes for a big impact. I just wasn't actually crafting much.

After Chrismtas, we went through the "blahs" of Christmas de-decoration. Even the hubs commented that he "hated" this time of year. After all the prettiness comes down and we are left with a house that just seems "meh" ("barren" I believed he said) in comparison to our Holiday Blowout. I scoured my craft shelves and found some mish-mash that kinda went together in a semi theme...maybe. Very stable decorating scheme eh? I found "natural" and "earthy" elements. Perhaps, it's because we have HAD LITTLE TO NO SNOW and all I see is natural, earthy BROWNNESS all around me INSTEAD OF PRISTINE SNOWY WHITE GOODNESS!!! I digress.

Enter in Pinterest!I found ALL KINDS of winter decoration goodness! Cheap, quick, easy (no comments, other Savvy Sister!!). Can't beat it! But I was really struck by 2 pics of wreaths. I thought they were so pretty, and so winter...without being so wintery blah. And just like that I got some craft mojo back! Here are my Pinspiration pics:

LOVE!!!

I will be the first to admit I was not jumping onto the yarn wreath train. They are cute, but they just didn't strike me as "me". However when I saw this pic, I was hooked. Other than the bumpiness that reminds me of a mummy's bandaged arm, I love the style. It says "cozy" to me, as in "get a cup of hot chocolate, snuggle under a warm fluffy comforter, in your fleece jammy pants, with warm fuzzy socks, and a big thick hoodie" kinda cozy. And so I set off to Pat Catans.

And so I came home with this and proceeded to get my craft on:

First I wrapped the larger form (that I discovered in my craft space AFTER I went to the craft store...along with foam balls that I found in my space, as well as some Christmas bulbs that I already owned, a glittery floral pic that I already owned, and pine cones and cinnamon sticks that I already owned....see a theme emerging?? CHECK YOUR STASH BEFORE YOU SPEND YOUR CASH, KIDS!)...anyway, I wrapped a form in the ribbon. Then I wrapped the second form in yarn. Not hard. Just time consuming. I watched my beloved Steelers play while I crafted. (between watchin' my boys, and workin' my craft, the hubs was super duper and made dinner and kept the kids outta my hair:))

Then I sorted out my supplies into 2 different wreath piles, and proceeded to wrap many a ball in yarn, twine and more yarn.

First wreath was the cozy wreath. Wrapped balls, pine cones, cinnamon sticks.

Doesn't it just say "get a cup of hot chocolate, snuggle under a warm fluffy comforter...." Yes?No? I think so! I also tied in the mish mash scheme with the pine cone cloche, and wicker balls that started it all. LOVE!!!!

Notice the cute little wreath stand. Now that is something I did NOT have before my shopping trip. But it was 2.50 at Pat C's. 2.50!!!! Niiiiice! Only complaint is that when it's screwed in tightly, it leans a little bit. Again, not being known for my patience, and not wanting to return it and wait a whole other day (the HORROR), I just leveled it with a Lego under the base. Thank you to my son for leaving them on the floor and providing just the thing I needed. NEVER again will I thank him for leaving Lego's on the floor.

However, being the worry-mom that I am, I kept having visions of my two romping kids getting an eye stuck on the metal hook (gross!) So the next day I went to the store and found a suitable solution. I put a wine cork on the hook...corks are trendy...it works, right?...don't tell me it doesn't, I'm not having scary visions anymore!

By the time I started on the 2nd wreath assembly, I was anxious with the Steelers' performance, tired, and had a full happy belly. So I bailed on the full circle design and just went 1/2 way around. I used some wrapped balls, pine cones, glitter balls, and glitter floral. I think this wreath also says Winter, but in an entirely different way. Maybe it's the glitter??? Will I do the rest of the wreath? Probably not. I loved the color of the ribbon, and this way you get to see it:)

And so, thanks to some pieces I scrounged up from the basement that inadvertently inspired me, an influx of stuff that I didn't know I already had, and some new cuteness, I perked up my "meh" house to a "maybe it's OK to be in the middle of winter" house.

The 12(ish) Decorations of Christmas

My FAVORITE time of the year is upon us....CHRISTMAS. Is there anything more wonderful, magical or precious? I mean, really?? If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I have 5, 50 gallon tubs of decorations. That's a teensy weensy lie. I actually have 6 tubs worth! And I add to it every.single.year. I'm a little obsessed...ok, A LOT obsessed. Like my sister, I decorate just about any surface. Most of the decorations you will see in this post, I've crafted myself. So come on in, grab some hot chocolate, snuggle up by the fire, smell my balsam fir Scentsy (because we haven't gotten our live tree yet), and let's take a tour of a FEW of my favorite Christmas nooks and crannies:) (please don't mind the shabby pics...I'm still holding out hope that Santa reads this and brings me a better camera)

Welcome to our home!!!

One of my favorite places is our fireplace. All of our happiest Christmas memories are contained here:)

This may just be my favorite Christmas decoration of all!

Even the kitchen sink is moved by the Christmas spirit! Come on, you know you want to do dishes surrounded by Christmas fluff!

The dining room has turned into my second favorite Christmas spot this year. All in burgundy, and gold:) Here's a good example of my obsession: I went out and bought these dishes because they worked well with my color scheme...plus they were CHEAP CHEAP at the Dollar Tree, so if little paws or fingers break them, no big woop. The tree is in the window purely for the view from the street. It will move to the corner during Christmas dinner, so that whoever sits at the end of the table doesn't get a nice helping of fake tree with their turkey.

The Elf of the Shelf doesn't live here....instead we have Santa on the Door Frame. He was made by my husband's uncle. He watches us and has a direct line to the big guy on our behavior:)

This is some of my 23+ strands of garland that are around the house...and quite possibly some of my favorite. It is from Pottery Barn and I found a great deal on it a few years back on Ebay... a TOTAL splurge, but soooo worth it...as are most PB things I guess. Sigh. Good thing I bought them before Santa started his shopping:)

I decorate between 6 and 7 trees. This little guy is my "Ode to Country Livin'" tree. Love him!!!

Not only do we deck our halls.....

We deck our doors too:) The top pic is one of my "truly says Christmas to ME" decorations. We call them "The cones". I found the idea in Southern Living (be still my heart) YEARS ago. All of the interior doors have one. I've revamped them over the years, but they ALWAYS let me know that the season is upon us. The bottom is just a cool thing to throw holly and Christmas beady stuff in:)

Even our furbaby's join in the festivities!

No matter how busy, stressed and frazzled you get, always remember the reason for the season!

A Few of My Favorite [Christmas] Things

Hello again friends! Today, in the spirit of the holiday season, I wanted to show you some of my Christmas decorations around the house. There are a bajillion - it literally took me two full days to decorate and I dare you to find a surface in my house that Christmas has not touched - but I am going to limit to a few of my favorites.

I was super excited about the dining room this year. Almost everything on it is new- it's all stuff that I picked up on sale after Christmas was over last year. One of my favorite parts are the two vases full of Christmas-y ribbon. I got the ribbon a few years ago at Wal-mart and all they're already cut and curly so all you have to do is unravel them. They're sparkly too, and who doesn't love sparkle at Christmas?

I decided to go a little more simple on the buffet this year, and I'm loving my little manger scene. I just cut some garland with wire cutters and added some Spanish moss to make it look sort of like real hay. I used a big pedestal that I already had to put it all on.

I thought about not doing lit garland on the mantle this year, but then I realized I was kidding myself. I just love the effect of white lights on greenery way too much. One of the things I love on the mantle is my giant wreath I got last year. I added some poinsettias, pine cones, and bulbs by tying them on with fishing wire and then added the lights. LOVE.

I also made the "JOY" frame. I used red felt Christmas ribbon and cut out the letters with an exacto knife. I printed them off first for a guide. Then I just glued them onto some green scrap book paper. It was a little time intensive but I bet if I had a Silhouette it would have gone a lot faster ;) <--just in case the Beeb is reading.

Oh and of course the other important piece of the mantle- you can't forget the kitties.

I know I promised not to talk too much about cats, but just look at this cuteness next to me as I post. How can I resist?

That's Su by the way. She is the younger of the two cats (about a year and a half old) and is known for knocking ANYTHING that she is physically able to move with her paw off ANY surface.  But she's so cute and cuddly so I can usually find it in my heart to forgive her :)

I used the red felt ribbon from the "JOY" sign above for another project too- one of the smallest touches of Christmas in my house but seriously, one of my favorites. This is the statue thingy that Justin and I got in Cancun on our honeymoon. We were drawn to it since the physique of the statue people matches ours so well (ha).

I cut the felt ribbon and hot glued it into hat shapes and then hot glued some fuzzy ribbon on to make them Santa hats. LOVE them.

What are some of your favorite decorations? How do you take the every day things in your home and Christmasify them?