Christmas Love

I love Christmas and everything about it . . . the busyness, the energy, the shopping, the music, even the Starbucks changes. So, of course I love Christmas decorations and try to incorporate them in several different areas of my home.

This little door knocker hangs on the front door of our home. My 17-month old loves it because he can make a lot of racket with it and drive his mama crazy

In order to fit our ridiculously large tree into our sitting room, we had to move some furniture around. This console table wound up by the stairs and turned out to be the perfect spot for these adorable deer and matching snowman. And, thanks to Pinterest, I found a shutter to house the holiday cards.

I added this wreath above the bed in our master bedroom

and this printable sign in the downstairs powder room.

This hot chocolate bar really amps up the cozy factor on a chilly night, and I definitely drink more hot chocolate since I set this up on the kitchen counter.

This is a picture of my front door, complete with little trees, poinsettias, a reindeer, and a snowman made of grapevine wreaths.

Even the dogs in my house get decorated. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! :)

My bunting obsession

I am obsessed with making buntings, probably to an abnormal degree. I want to make a bunting for everything and every occasion. My darling husband recently asked if I was going to make a bunting for every holiday. Ummm . . . maybe?

Stone was born on July 4th and nothing will make you obsessed with a holiday more than having a child born on said holiday. He has enough red, white, and blue to last the whole month. Excessive? Perhaps. We were throwing a huge 1st birthday party and I needed a bunting for the mantle. I've never had a mantle until about 8 months ago, so decorating said mantle is another obsession of mine. I'm starting to see a pattern . . .

This was my frist attempt at making a bunting. His party was a Cat in the Hat theme (also red, white, and blue) so I added a bunch of Dr. Seuss hats to his monthly photos.

Of course I had to have a bunting that indicated he was 1, so I made this one also. I found s super easy tutorial on Pinterest, showing how to make a bunting in Word. (http://justagirlandherblog.com/bunting-banner-in-word-clip-art-tips-and-tricks/) I already had something on the mantle, so we put this one on the food table.

And, I made this bunting for his 1st Birthday photo shoot with his big sister, Morgan. Our sweet friend Sparkle Hill, of Sparkle Hill Photography, took this picture of us and I definitely think it turned out "red, white, and cute," don't you?

I did not make a bunting for Halloween. I know! For shame! *GASP* But, I get so excited about all things Fall - football, pumpkins, hayrides, sweaters, scarves, etc, that Halloween just kind of goes by. We do trick-or-treat and whatnot, so maybe I'll get more excited about it as Stone gets older.

My next bunting I did not make on the computer. I found this roll of burlap, a stencil, and a sharpie at Michael's (LOVE that place) and made this "Thankful" bunting. Unfortunately, I only took a picture of it on my phone, so the photo quality may not be as good. I wanted my family to have a daily reminder to be thankful for our abundent blessings.

My last, and most recent bunting, is this one, which I absolutely love. "O Holy Night" is my favorite Christmas carol; I cannot sing it without getting emotional about the birth of Christ and the reason we celebrate this holiday. Again, a roll of burlap, a stencil, and a sharpie was all I needed. It's so easy that even a non-crafty person like me can swing it. I couldn't hang this one on the mantle because, of course, that's where the stockings go. So, I hung it in my dining room. Ignore those curtains; they are not my favorite but they'll do for now.

Now, I'm listing all of the buntings for 2014. Let's see, there's New Years, Valentines, St Patrick's Day . . . Share with me if you have a bunting obsession too!

- Laura

Whoa Nelly

And I don't meet the fly rapper . . .

I have toyed with the idea of having a blog quite a bit. I start, then I stop. I'll delete posts and wish I hadn't. Then I'll want to start again.

Today is a day where I want to start again. And when I pulled up my blog for the first time today in who-knows-how-long and saw that I had over 2,000 page views, I thought "Who's been looking at this pathetic thing." And then I thought, "oh those were probably just me hitting refresh over and over again."

I want to blog. Truly, I do. I want to be creative and post pictures of all the cool stuff I make and do. The problem is none of it is that cool. It's a copy from someone else with maybe a twist that unfortunately, and unintentionally, knocks down the coolness factor.

And I'm terrified of criticism, terribly so. So, maybe I'll blog, and just not tell anyone. Shhh, it'll be our little secret.

Maybe.

I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow.