Late Christmas mantle decor and stockings...

Okay, I am not going to go into it, but I was not the most prepared Christmas decorator/blogger this year. I just got behind and couldn't catch up. I didn't get out a lot I normally do to decorate, but enough that it looked like Christmas and the kids didn't seem to notice. Lesson learned!

Anyhow, I still wanted to post these stockings, better late than ever.

As Megan said, we grew up with stockings like these. The last couple of years I had wanted to make them, but I only think of in in December. This year when my parents selfishly went on another vacation, my older sister Amy and I crashed their house again. We sent them text messages with pics of what how much we were trashing their house, and how they could do nothing about it. And I mean trashed! Amy and I like to make our mess and then clean up at the end (I mean end of the weekend.) It took us nearly 2 hours to clean up. Pathetic! We also enjoyed many murder shows and Bravo show marathons. FUN. After a whole weekend (minus a break for a triple feature) I barely finished mine. It was a lot of work. Amy has 10 children, so she didn't even come close. In the end I LOVE how they turned out. They have been hanging since I brought them home late October. The kids love them. I decided I would rather have them have a connection to their stocking, rather than the most gorgeous stocking that matched my room decor...

When are you going on vacation again M & D?

Here is our little family. We are a little outnumbered with girls, but thanks for little dude on the end to try to get the numbers more even. Bless his little heart, I feel bad for whoever he marries one day. I wonder if my girls will be nice. (I told my husband I want Wes to become a Co-dependant mama's boy when he grows up, he got mad at me, don't all Mom's want that for their little boys?)

Here is my simple Christmas mantle. I think I like it at least as much as last years, but this year was much easier for sure!

Can you find little Clarise joining us in this photo? Cute?

Okay, I got some clearance garland last year at Christmas, and it was perfect for my chandelier.  I think I may keep it up, it is super pretty and sparkly huh?

Thats all, sorry for the slacking of posting on this site. Megan and I have been busy with our quilting. Too much crafting to do, not enough time.

Heather's fall mantle...

 Heather's Fall Mantle

I guess I best be showing you my fall mantle. Being that I almost have to switch it out for Christmas. I am just behind on life over here, give a girl a break!

What I like is the fact that I didn't change much from spring (I never got to summer), just switched out a few things. I really didn't want to start from scratch, and my daughter really wanted to do it. We knocked it out in like 20  minutes.

I love how it turned out. Just nice and simple. I think I like it better than last years...

Have a happy Thanksgiving this week! 

That's an idea!

Welcome to another installment of

That's An Idea Thursday's!

Okay, well welcome to the first That's An Idea Thursday...

Maybe sometimes on Thursday we will share a simple idea.

Quick story behind it.

One of Heather's darling girls used to suggest some activity/project/whatnot and follow it with

"Is that an idea?"

Never specifying if it's a good or bad idea, just that it was an idea.

Moving to Phoenix a couple of months ago we found ourselves with a fireplace.

I know I know...why do they have fireplaces in Phoenix??

I didn't take a before photo, but it just had one of those blackened metal things in it to hold wood.

I played around with a few ideas.  At first I thought I'd get some big glass cylinders (whatever they're called) and do three across with some big fatty-boom-batty candles in them.

But that can be quite expensive.

Then I decided I would just fill it with random sized and off-white colored candles.

(Don't look too closely, they could be arranged a bit better!)

I got a "starter" candle set at Ikea for $10.

I think there were 5 of various heights.

The rest I had around my house and some I got from my cousin who was moving.

You could easily find some at a garage sale or a second hand store.

I like it too because when Christmas comes around and it's a crisp 66 degrees (hehe) we can light up all these candles while we prepare Santa's cookie plate.

Is that an idea??

linking to some fabulous parties, make sure you check them out!

Adopt a Bird

While my house still looks like this....

I decided to do this...

While my boys did this....

Here's what I got!

Love how my ceramic piece turned out.  I was so tired of that mustardy yellow that matched nothing.

As for the frame and topiary...they still need some work.

I used a really fancy technique.  The bird had a lot of red in it, so I spray painted my finger and quickly ran it over the bird so I didn't get any finger prints.  Fancy right?  Maybe not the greatest paint job but I'm not counting on a close-up critique.

If GRAY is the new BROWN,

Then BIRDS are the new what?

...toll painted wood?

...raffia tied dry flowers?

...Yankee candles?

I decided it was about time I invested in some birds.  So I adopted some from my local Michael's crafts, all for only a couple bucks!

Here's this precious one who was in dire need of paint.

Honestly, I'm not too thrilled with the turnout, more bland than I was hoping.  I could re-paint it turquoise or white...or leave it.  What do you think?

I've got one more room to unpack and organize.  The office/craft room. 

Wish me luck.

Check out our linky parties, we'll probably be linking up this week!!

My Spring Mantle...

My spring mantle. And yes, it is barely spring here in Utah. Our winter just ended a week ago (cross your fingers for no more snow.)  I figure I can leave this mantle up for a couple more months and skip summer mantle all together! 

Anyhow, I have the rock wall behind my mantle. I feel like the accessories compete with it. I rather like all the white dishes against it, they stand out a lot. I filled the glass apothecary jars with eggs and twigs. I really like the colors, so I pulled from the egg colors for my other accessories.

I also love the cement bunny at the end. It was only $5.99 at Ross before Easter!

Found another cute ceramic teapot at Ross, $6. And my mom found that cute candle stick at TJMaxx, just had to buy it for me. (I love it when she has that urge!)

And another photo of fatty fat head on the spray painted ceramic cake stand. Makes me happy!

Going to link to some of these parties...

Sparkly Love

When I saw Heather's Winter Mantel, I was really jealous of her sparkly bird and wanted to add a little sparkle to my own house. Heaven knows, me being the only girl in the house, there isn't much sparkle to be had.

It was pretty easy. I traced out "love" onto a cereal box, preferably something unhealthy and sugary, such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You can do it freehand like me, because I was lazy and didn't want to go print something off, or trace a word you printed from your computer.

Next I applied one coat of white toll paint, my glitter was iridescent and so I wanted the background white. You can probably skip this step depending on your glitter. Than you apply a layer of Mod Podge, which you must have handy at all times during crafting...and shake on your glitter!

It as the perfect compliment to my mantel, I mean entertainment center. I'm not as fancy as Heather.

Do you have any quick and easy Valentine's projects? It's 6 days away, we have plenty of time to decorate.

We're partying with Kimba at A Soft Place to Land, The Girl Creative, Today's Creative Blog, It's So Very Cheri and Reinvented Trash to Treasure so go check out some creative ladies!

My Winter Mantle....

 

Are you getting sick of my mantle yet?  I have lived in this house for 4 years, and I never really decorated for the seasons or holiday's. I don't know what my problem was. I think I was intimidated or something.  But now I get inspired by so many girls blogs that I want to cute up my house too!

You know the girls out there right? I look at some blogs and want to reach through my computer and onto theirs and punch them in the neck because I am so angry and jealous of their beautiful houses.  If my camera zoomed out enough , you would see the rest of my family room, and if you had any envy now, you would only have sympathy and want to come help me clean it up. PROMISE!

I am still switching out my fillers in my apothecary jars. EASY. And who knew to use epsom salt for snow? (All those fabulous girls with the fabulous houses and blogs knew.)

Most of the other fillers were a clearance garland cut up. Cheapo.  The large empty frame was a frame I had a plan for but never did. It looked cute empty. Then I just put in some snowflake garland.

Did you all know that Joanne's does 70% off christmas clearance, before it is christmas?  And they send out a 20% additional coupon too. So I got lots of this stuff for over 80% off before christmas!

Like this cute deer friend. I know he looks a little arrogant and acts like he is too good for us all. But he is really sweet. He only acts like this because all his bud's were purchased full price. And he was the only one left at such a good clearance price of $6. I love him and bought him. He is still ashamed, but we are working on our relationship. He is coming around.

There will not be a valentines mantle. Too short a holiday. Plus winter goes until march ish right? So we will go strait to spring.  

Again, we will be linking again with

PS Linking with A Soft Place to Land, The Girl Creative, Made by you Mondays, It's so Very Cheri, Reinvented, We are THAT family, Blue Cricket Design, Finding Fabulous , AmyLouWho, floral showers, and

C is for celebrate

Earlier in this crazy month, my co-crafterson Heather celebrated her birthday! I made this cute banner for her, and considering she has four daughters, I'm hoping it will be put to good use :)
These come together pretty fast, and they are also cute just plain without any letters. Use a ruler and cut out a triangle from an old cereal box to use as your template. Use pinking shears (zig-zag fabric scissors) to cut the triangles from your fabric, and they won't fray. Then all you have to do is sew the banner to a ribbon and you've done it! One thing I discovered with this one, I overlapped each flag a little and I like how it hangs a lot better than others I've made.

Won't that be great at birthdays and events? I don't even have one :( That's on my craft list. Happy New Year everyone !!! We're partying at Between Naps on the Porch, The Girl Creative, and A Soft Place to Land.

My Christmas Mantle...

Here it is. Don't you wish you could keep Christmas up longer? I think I will start earlier this year. I did it on the cheap, used mostly things I already had. I got the big gold mirror from Ross on clearance for $11. I intend to paint the frame, but it worked so great for my Christmas setting. The Tree on the left is my fall/Christmas double purpose decorating. You can see it on my fall mantel too... The apothecary jars have the filling switched out. The Santa is a craft from years back that I made. The Pine cone tree is a 90% clearance from last year. $3. And the only new item is the gold star which I got on %50 off from Hobby Lobby. I like how it turned out this year.

I am definitely a convert to the apothecary jars. I just dumped the fall fixings into a ziplock, and dumped the Christmas fixings into the jar.

Same here. And for the filler, I just chopped up a pretty garland I got for 90% off last year at Joanne's. It has pretty greenery, and pretty pine cones with crystal glitter chunks. Also the sweet white berries, all from the same garland. I think it turned out really pretty. Plus I will keep it out after Christmas, because it is still winter.

Same with this one, it was in my fall mantel too. Same chopped up garland, but added a strand of red wood beads to the bottom.

I used to be a crazy person and did a lot of cross stitch. But I found this line of super pretty patterns. (lavender something?) They are the most complicated patterns I have ever done, but so pretty. I imaging my girls will fight over them after I die. This is probably 60 hours of my time. Crazy, I wish I had that time to craft now.

Isn't he a perdy vintage looking Santa? Love him. Maybe I should keep him up after winter too???

Ahhh, bless this snowman's heart. I made these two stockings right after I got married a 11 years ago. I think the snowman is for me...

This funny dog is for my husband. I copied these 2 designs from pottery barn way back when. I intended to make a whole new batch of stockings for us this year, but it didn't happen. Maybe I should by all the fixings this year after Christmas, and make them right away. No crafting gets done in December right?

Here is the full view fire and all. Do you like?

Linking at The Shabby Chic Cottage, The inspired room, Finding Fabulous, A Soft Place to Land , amylouwho , southern hospitality funky junk, hooked on houses and Miss Mustard seed

Fall Mantle...

Hobby Lobby threw up all over my mantle!

The candlesticks were ugly damask black and white (they matched my window treatments so I thought I should have them. I never liked them) I nearly threw them out, but remembered about spray paint. I may spray paint them seasonally. I really liked how they turned out.

Oh, and the cute sparkly pumpkin on the glass candle holder, it was part of a garland. I got 5 sparkly pumpkins for $10, so $2.50 each. I LOVE them alot, I could snuggle them daily.

Yes, that is a reciept in the bottom of my apocathery jar. I wanted to see if I could get a better deal. Or maybe I will return it after fall and I switch out my mantle (JK!)

Let me know if you Love, Like, indifferent, or hate. We love comments!

I once heard a friend refer to her friends house as "It looks like tai pan barfed up in there! Gross!" (Tai Pan is a fabulous monster affordable decor warehouse). I started out with a few clusters on each side, but kept adding and adding. I think I like the final result. Do you?