The Girls' Christmas Tree

It took a lot of "girl craft nights", but we've finally finished up the ornaments for the tree! I'd like to do more with it (like a felt ball garland), but right now I'm out of time to finish a LOT of other projects for Christmas gifts, so this is going to have to be it for now ... except for the tree skirt which I'll post tomorrow. :) Because that thing has been an insane amount of time for a such a small circle that goes under a tree, that NO ONE will see ...She painted each bird house, and then cut & mod podged on the scrapbook paper. I helped with some measurements & hot glued clothespins onto the bottom of each house to help hang them up with. The star was actually green before for a previous project, but we just covered it in TONS of pink paint & I think it looks pretty on top of the tree ... it doesn't feel complete, but I guess we'll leave some of those other projects for next year. :) She was pretty excited about it all though!

Black Ruffle Pillows & a Giveaway!

I saw a similar set of pillows on Dear Lillie and absolutely loved them! I actually used a red pillowcase (picked up a set of sheets -queen- on cleanance for only a few bucks last year for the trim, and the fabric was on sale last weekend for $1.99 a yard at Jo-Ann's. They are going to go on some white chairs I picked up for $2.50 (for the set!). I'm planning on re-covering them as soon as I find some cheap upholstery fabric, but they are a nice anchor for the entertainment center. But for now they seem like a nice splash of christmas-y color ... Pillows #5 & #6 done and now I have absolutely no idea what I want to do for the rest ... ALSO ... remember those little flowers? Well, I have the facebook page up & running and since I had my first big sale this week, I thought I would celebrate with another giveaway this weekend! Go here to check it out if you'd like to win some flowers! :)

I'm linking up to these parties: Freckled Laundry

Still Kickin'

Tonight a friend mentioned that I keep getting sick because I'm not sleeping and resting at all the last month or so ... she may be right. After losing my voice for almost a week, being healthy for four days and then catching the next cold from the boys ... I've realized I have to slow down a bit. And it's been nice ... not much to report because of it ... but nice. :) I did however finally make a use for the random Christmas ornaments I picked up in January 2010 ... I was inspired by this Pottery Barn wreath. And for $5 (the cost of the wreath form from Hobby Lobby), I was able to hot glue the ornaments onto the wreath ... and I absolutely LOVE IT! :) I actually had enough ornaments to make three more wreaths (and cleared out a box and a half of my closet in the process!) ... So, I made a fun afternoon craft project of it with a gal from church and another gal is planning on coming over (as soon as she has "free time") to make hers as well ... I know I shouldn't skip over Thanksgiving, but the twinkle lights and Christmas colors are so much more fun!
Think about how easy it would be to make this wreath with the random ornaments you already have at home???Admit it, you want one too now! :)

Pottery Barn Noel Sign

So while flipping thru the Pottery Barn magazine the other week I saw this Noel wall art. Swoon ... but the $150 price tag is sooooooo far beyond my budget right now! And the fact that it was already sold out of course didn't help much either.
So, I had some random wood laying around. Literally ... I got two pieces of particle board 4'x8' at the auction for $5 (!!!) total and so there is a lot of random wood laying around the garage waiting to be used up from other projects.
So, I used the Arial Narrow font in bold and just enlarged it in photoshop until it was the size of the wood piece I had, traced it on & Ryan cut it out with the jigsaw for me. I decided that I liked a dark red better than the dark brown ... 3M Velcro on the wall and voila!

Isn't it AWESOME??? Love the way it fits perfectly on the side of the wall next to the rustic Christmas trees, it's perfect ... and it only cost me the $2.47 for a HUGE (still half un-used) tube of red paint. :) :) :)And now that little table right at the top of the stairs looks nice & festive ... and I love it! Now if I could just stop getting the kids to steal the little nativity pieces we'd be set.

I'm linking up to the Shabby Nest Frugal Friday (how do you put those fun little buttons on a blog post???) and 30 days pity party , Funky Junk Interiors and a Little Lovely's Saturday Soiree! :)