Old T-Shirts = Free Winter Decor = Me Happy :)

It's funny how sometimes the mood to craft just STRIKES YOU and sometimes it doesn't.

I have left this house in DISARRAY since I took down the Christmas decorations because I've just been at a loss as to what to do. I've had no real motivation to sit down and figure it out since I was still (and AM still) working on Christmas gifts!

Another issue is my husbands opinionated odd and un-husband-like obsession interest in how our home is decorated. Now I'm all for him having an interest in how things go around here, but in more of a "Hey that looks great!" kind of way instead of a "Well ya know ... I really think we should do THIS" or a "You made that out of WHAT?" kind of way. lol

I take it stride.

And I decorate when he's working out of town.

And has no choice but to accept it when he gets back cause he's too tired to fight :)

Enter this weekend. I saw the CUTEST tutorial by Craftaholics Anonymous (LOVE the name!) on FB because Tatertots and Jello has just the CUTEST posts and the spam my wall CONSTANTLY with all the CUTENESS and I was powerless against it. It's for a super cute Valentine's Decoration but I adapted it to my current color scheme/winter theme. I keep seeing the poms poms and they looks SO cute and you make them out of OLD T-SHIRTS! How AWESOME is that?! I LOVE repurposing!

I decided to do a wintery theme around the downstairs partially because I LOVE these colors together, they flow nicely into my beachy theme that follows, I have tons of snowy photos to put up, and it was the most doable and least off the wall suggestion by the hubs.

I'm ALL about cooperation.

So while he was gone away at work this weekend, and unable to ask me 50eleven times what exactly it was supposed to be or why I wanted to hang cat toys in our house, I made 3! AND I covered a wreath form!

I think it came together LOVELY!  For the wreath, all I did was cut up a brown t-shirt into 1.5"x6.5" strips and tied them in double knots ... SUPER EASY!

To be honest I wasn't loving the pom at first. I just didn't know what to do with it or where to put it. I made the white one first and just hung it from a nail all by itself. I knew it needed something but I needed to walk past it and contemplate it for a few hours first.

Eventually I decided it definitely needed to be a set of 3 in varied colors that went with the decor and it needed a wreath to hang from. I'm still thinking it needs something INSIDE the wreath but it will take a few more hours of walking past it to come up with something I'm sure.

I'm actually really loving the way the whole scheme is coming together in the house and if more than just this table was clean, I would take pictures and show you lol. Maybe tomorrow ;-)

Now there are some things I did a little differently than the tutorial and there are some additional tips you might find helpful:

• READ THE WHOLE TUTORIAL FIRST.
• Read it again. But for real this time.
• She has WAY better directions than I could write!
• Keep it close so you can reference it during the procedure.
• I used 2 thin material shirts and a thick (my hubs) and the thick material came out more to my liking. It's the white one.
• I cut my material about 3/4" wide.
• When I cut the shirt off at the arm pits, I cut down one side but kept it folded when I cut the strips. That way the strips were longer and required less breaks.
• I pulled too tight when I did the dark blue one and I didn't like the way the thin material reacted to that. When you cut it and it springs back, it made the ball smaller than I wanted.
• With the light blue one (same material) I didn't pull at all and I like that size better.
• When you are winding around and layering, if your material gets twisted or folds over at the top, it tends to stay that way after you cut it, making a C shape. I liked that look! I would have done them all that way if I would have noticed that sooner.
• Read the directions about starting a new strip carefully. I didn't read them right and had a LOT of little pieces fall off when I cut it.
• If your scissors suck, get your advil ready. When you're done, you will have early stage carpel tunnel.
  
• I didn't do the "hair cut" part but wished I would have. After I fluffed it it was uneven ALL over and looked like the time my oldest cut her hair ... when she was 3.
• Thankfully, trimming the ball to evenness was much easier than my 3 year old's hair.

That's it! If anyone else makes one I would LOOOOVE to see them! And if you have any other tips to share, PLEASE DO! I will probably be making more!

Happy Monday and get to crafting!!!

It's a New Year Filled with TONS Fresh Startness!

OH MY WORD.

The holidays were crazy! It seemed like I was rushing so much that I missed them! I feel bad to say this, but I'm kind of glad to be getting back into a normal routine.

Well THIS family's normal anyway.

I don't do resolutions. I think I have a fear that if I set a goal I won't meet it so I don't set myself up for it. I know it's crazy, it's something I need to work on. Next week.

I might also need to work on my tendency to procrastinate.

And irrational fear of touching raw chicken.

Again ... NEXT week.

But THIS week my bestie and I decided that this is the year of "Not just thinking ahead, but DOING ahead". And in keeping with that spirit I'd also like to be more proactive and take control of things with the household.

I don't want the fact that I remember to pick up the kids at school every day to be the only thing I can say that shows I have it together. Especially since I have an alarm on my phone for that. And I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times it was the only reason I DID remember.

I set the bar high.

But I need more. I LOVE me some routines. I love structure, thrive on it. I can see that my kids do too when we have routines and schedules that aren't TOO rigid, just guidelines. So in that spirit I'm going to share a few links that are TOTALLY inspiring me right now!

Schedules/Routines -

Amy @ New Nostalgia's Morning Routine, Afternoon Routine, and Evening Routine -

I just love her blog. She's currently dealing with cancer but her spirit and her faith is just amazing. She's just inspirational in many ways :)

I LOVE her routines! I love the check lists and the attitude behind it all. She says this in the first post:

"I had to break the "reminder" habit, where I go around asking, did you do your chart? did you brush your teeth? etc. All that was doing was confusing my girls. If mom is going to ask or remind them about their responsibilities, (putting the monkeys back on me), then why would they ever step up to the plate and think or do for themselves??"

It's SO important to think about what we're teaching out kids. We're teaching them something just about every single second and no matter how much that stresses me out to think about, I need to be doing more with these teachable moments, like morning afternoon and evening LOL

Here's another post I found that has more ideas for kids routine/chore charts and I'm ALL FOR CHORES!

Organizing -

I love this post on How Does She? where a guest blogger, Julie, talks about the necessity of a Household Planner. I TOTALLY AGREE AND I'M DOING THIS. I might change up the sections but the over all ideas she talks about make my OCD do cartwheels :)

She has another post that talks about taking the WORK out of housework. It talks about changing your attitude and having more gratitude, I love it. It's such a GREAT way to think about what you have and appreciate it!

This post from Organized Home has more details on a Household Binder and FREE PRINTABLES = w00t!

I LOVE this super cute Birthday Organizer and it too has FREE PRINTABLES :D Last year I took a list of EVERY birthday for the YEAR to the store and bought cards for them ALL. I even got some for Mother's Day/Father's Day etc! I was so far ahead of the game it was AWESOME! Taking something as cute as THIS would make it even better!

This is another smaller version of a Birthday Organizer - perfectly purse size :)

I didn't always remember to give them out ... but now I have them for next year! :D lol Hopefully the binder with help with the remembering part ;-)

I think that's quite a bit to get started on, don't you?! If you have any awesome organizational tips I would LOVE to hear them! Good luck and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My Christmasyfied Home :)

Welcome to my Christmasy Home :)

I'll be honest, it's been hard to get into the spirit this year. It's even been hard to decorate and usually that's my favorite part!

It could be the many weighing issues like money, too many projects not enough time, or just being lazy ... but for the record I'll just go with being so super busy with some super awesome events and projects and I just have been on brain overload!

Or maybe I've been in a sugar induced coma from all the holiday sweets ... whatever.

In any case, it is done :) And here is my Christmas living room! I ended up going with a scheme of Red, Green, and Gold because that's basically what I had.

And my Christmas mantel! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do here, I've seen so.many.tutorials! and pictures! And it made me want to chuck all of my stuff and start anew! But that will at least have to wait for next year.

I started finding cute tutorials for Christmas decor oh about ... 6 months ago ... but because I am the biggest procrastinator ever I waited until about last week to start on any lol. But I can say that I made almost everything on this mantel :) I made the wreath, and the little gold tinsel tree, the hurricanes, the mini hurricanes, and 3 out of 4 of those things in the frames ;-)

I'm more or less happy with how it all turned out ... but you can be sure I'll be starting on Christmas projects a heck of a lot earlier next year! Which will probably mean a week earlier ... but hey I can get a lot done in a week!

Our hodge podge tree lol. I sometimes wish I could have a pretty themed matchy matchy tree like all the beautiful ones I've seen. And then the boxes of ornaments come out and I see the kids' faces when they find "their" ornaments.

Every year each kid either picks out or makes an ornament to represent the last year. I have a 14 year old ornament on there that says "Parents to be, 1996" and it makes me smile ever time I pick it out because I can remember the exact moment I picked it out :)

And at that moment, and all the MANY OTHERS (4 kids x a new ornament every year = LOTS OF SWEET MOMENTS) I love my tree and wouldn't trade it for any pretty matchy one.

And then I get over it and throw 500 red balls at it until it looks to have SOME kind of color scheme to it.

The dinning room and entry way.

Basically I just got a bunch of dollar store ornaments and threw them at whatever stood still. I not UNhappy with it, it'll do until next year :)

I was at a TOTAL loss for what to do for a centerpiece! Then a good friend reminded me that I have a trifle bowl! So I tossed some more balls in it and called done. I wanted to use my new Cricut to put something super cute on it, but that will be yet another project for next year.

I should start a list.

Here again are a few things I managed to put together that came out pretty cute!

I made these glitter trees using dollar store styro cones, glitter, glue and candles sticks. And I just LOVE the sparkle it adds to the room! These pictures don't do it justice.

NONE of these pictures do actually ... but THAT is a rant for another day.

I made the wreath using dollar store ornaments and a wire hanger! I just LOVE how it came out! I'm actually VERY happy with this project and plan to do another for the outside of the front door next year.


Looking from the dinning room, these are the stairs to the second floor. It took a sweet forever to get this garland up and groomed but I just LOVE the way it turned out!

I'm using the little table behind the front door to display my countdown calendar and my holiday cards ... or at least I WILL be if I ever get more than 2 >:-/

Going up the hallway I went through and put up a bunch of old holiday photos from years past. It's funny how seeing the kids at Christmas's past makes every one in the house smile :)

The top picture there always makes ME smile ;-)

And then in the hallway above the stairs is one of my favorite additions to the holiday decor ...

The festive flock of holiday ducks ;-) Years ago when the hubs asked if he could display his trophies up here I said "SURE if you put little santa hats on em at Christmas so they go with my decor LOL". Well the ducks went up ... and this year they got all dressed up and filled with the holiday spirit.




A couple more somebodys are too :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!! May you days be merry and bright :) and may all your stuffed animals be filled with joy. Amen.

Super Cute Super Easy Glitter Tree

In my quest to make as many trips to the dollar store as possible as many of my decorations as inexpensive as possible, I found this tutorial on making a glitter tree!  It looked pretty simple and cute so I gave it a shot!  I ended up making about eleventeen trips to the dollar store before I finished the two trees but whatever, they're cute ;-)

Start out with a cone shaped styro form, candle stick holder, glue, glitter,and paint brush ...

My tutorial is pretty simple ... paint on glue, sprinkle glitter, glue to candle stick ... CELEBRATE FINISHING A PROJECT.

I use the term "tutorial" loosely.

But I can't argue with results!  The trees came out pretty cute!  In the original tutorial, she painted the candlestick and it looks SO pretty!  But I knew that if it was sitting around this place was waiting for paint it would probably be done just in time to be a housewarming gift to my first born.

Not that I procrastinate ... I just put things off until the last possible minute and beyond :)

So I made a cute pair of trees and I heart them :)

They look really nice on this table and add a bunch of much needed PIZZAZ!  LOVE IT!

A Pretty Little Tree & A Wreath

Lately I've been OBSESSED a little excited about Dollar Store crafts! Taking things from the Dollar Store and making them super cute and look like they cost more than a buck.

This tutorial inspired me to get some tinsel and prettify one of the hideous not exactly my style cone shaped trees I found at Dollar Tree. I didn't take a before picture cause I forgot, but BELIEVE ME ... this is better lol

I meant to document the process but I was just fooling around and wrapped the tinsel around the cone two-ply and it stuck! It covered just how I wanted so I figured whatthehell and left it alone! Seriously, it took my like 30 seconds to make!

My second little craft here is based on a SUPER cute wreath I saw here. Looked totally doable.

I bought two spools of wired ribbon at Dollar Tree and just started cutting sections about 6-8" long and tying them in knot to the wreath form. I already had this form, but the one from the dollar store would work just fine.

I tied about 8 sections of each color on the form, but I would've done a third ribbon as well if I'd have had it to do over. Then I began the LONG process of adding the ornaments.

Let me preface the next part by saying, I have issues. Not the least of which is an OCD issue with needing things too look balanced and equal. My husband is a lucky man, let me tell you ;-)

So I started adding the balls here and there, TRYING to overthrow the voice in the back of my head screaming "THERE MUST BE A PATTERN! IT HAS TO HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF BALLS! WHY ARE THERE MORE RED THAN GOLD?!?!?!". But the voice is loud ... and irritating ... and persistent. So the process took like 2 hours because I tried to just throw balls at it and be happy with the chaos but ended up taking them all back off and trying to create symmetry with the LOOK of chaos.

In the end, I'm ok with it ... lol. After I put it up I kept looking at it all cock-eyed, going back and adding a ball here, taking away one there ... but I guess it came out pretty cute :)

The main thing was that it gave shape to the mantel and a color scheme I could live with and best of all ... it was DONE. lol Which makes that the first thing done on a VERY long list so I like it just fine :)

I'll probably go back and add a few things here and there, but the mantel is pretty I think. And I REALLY like the fact that I MADE a lot of the stuff! The wreath, the tinsel tree, the garland, and 3 of the 4 things in those photos ;-)

Now on to the tree!!

Happy Holidaysing Everyone!!!

Christmas Planner Tutorials

So for my first real post on here I'm going to show you something that has helped me and my obsessive need for {at least the appearance of} organization!

Back in 2008 I found this tutorial for a Christmas Planner. Immediately I knew it was a MUST. I can't tell you how many times I said "OMG I'm SO glad I made this!"

It is a keeper of lists, a manager of events, a holder of receipts, basically it is my holiday brain :) Because I just don't have room for all of this STUFF in the one I have. My IRL memory is at capacity ;-)

So start out by checking out the original tutorial ... then check out my BFFs planner ... then mine below :) Put them all together and make your own! I PROMISE that you will sing it's praises from the mountain tops, if you're into that kind of thing ...


So you start off with a dollar store spiral bound notebook with LOTS of pages, assorted scrappy papers and ribbon, letter stickers, and adhesive. A borderline addiction to list making helps too.

The original post has WAY better instructions so when you say "But Christine, HOW do you adhere the papers to the papers?!" just go to her post cause I am just not that coherent or good at these tutorial things, hence this blog ;-)

The front of the finished product :)


Front and back

Okay so I decided on 5 sections, one for family lists for gifts, one for friends and business contacts, 3 is for holiday events, 4 is for my making or baking lists and ingredients, and 5 is misc (i.e. whatever I couldn't think of at the time of labeling the dividers ;-)




Awesome right?!?! I loooooved it! I used for 2 years in a row :) This year I couldn't find it by the time I started making my HELLA lists so I got another one :-/ The new one and I are happy together, it's not quite as pretty as the other one but I don't judge a planner by her cover :)

Think carefully about your dividers before you decide on them. I only have four this year, so they are Family & Friends Lists, Make & Bake, Shopping Lists (this one came in REALLY handy on Black Friday!), and Misc.

I can not impress upon you how awesome this lovely planner has been but I can saw without much hesitation that it has SAVED CHRISTMAS 3 years in a row ... they should make a Halmark Channel movie about it.

So if anyone makes one PLEASE let me know!! I would LOVE to see what you do with it! And if you have the time, comment on the original post and let her know how awesome she is :D We bloggers dig that ;-)

Happy Holidaysing!!

WELCOME!!

I started blogging back in 2006 and have been on a bit of a hiatus ... if you call one post in 6 months a hiatus and not a blog coma.

But anyways, things have been going on! I have been a busy girl! I've lost 60lbs! My last baby started Kindergarden! I've made tutu's! And turkeys! And bread! And I've taken a lot of pictures!!

I've found that I LOVE making my own decor that looks like the expensive stuff you see in catalogs! I LOVE making clothes that looks like the expensive stuff you see in the mall! I LOVE making food that tastes BETTER than the stuff you buy at the store!

I LOVE to be creative, but I'm not exactly good at being original yet. I can execute just fine ... most of the time ;-) but the ideas themselves ... not so much lol

And then I found tutorials, and a light shone down from the heavens upon my computer ... and it was good :)

So this blog is devoted to all of the people and all of the HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS, of tutorials that have made it all possible :) since I start close to 60% of my sentences with "So I found this tutorial ..." LOL

Oh and then there was this "POP!" and smoke started coming from my computer when I bookmarked my eleventy hundredth post and I decided it was a good time to start keeping them somewhere else ;-)

And so the blog was born :) I'll be posting my own awesomeness, hopefully ;-), as well as sharing links that inspire me :) I hope to inspire you too! And if you see a linky you think I'd like, SHARE!! PLEASE!! I need all the help I can get!! LOL