Christmas fun

So I've been expirmenting with the photo editor Picnik and I have to say I am in no way a professional photographer but I love the way you can alter photos and add text! It is really user friendly which is a breath of fresh air because I don't have time to sit and play with photo shop. Here are a few pictures of our little one.

Make your own apothecary jar? REALLY!!

Is anyone as tired of the overpriced apotehcary jars as I am? You can get a 14 inch apothecary jar at Michaels regularly $14.99 and they are super small. If you are lucky you can find them at Homegoods, Goodwill, Marshalls or Ross but you have to be having a really, really, lucky day.

One of my girlfriends sent me this link and I couldn't believe what I was reading! I knew I had to share. The blog Dollar Store Crafts shared this ingenious idea. Make-Your-Own-Apothecary-Jar... Really? Make your own? This is what she shared and she said it only cost her $2.00 to make! Take that Pottery Barn and your $69.00 apothecary jars!

Check out this blog for a tutorial Dollar store crafts.

Here is another really cute idea from her blog. Dollar Store Crafts

I am going to go to my local Homegoods and see if I can track down some vases, jars, bowls, etc. to try out this project myself.

Christmas Decor... Will I ever be finished?

We started decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I put away all my fall decorations and started to take out my christmas stuff. I started with ornaments in apothecary jars in the dining room and kept going from there. We did our christmas tree two weeks ago (Nov. 28) and this is what it looks like.

The tree is completly us. We use LED lights because it saves money on electricity and our ornaments are almost all ornaments we have gotten over the years. We have ornaments for every christmas we have been together (eight years) and ornaments we have picked up from places we have been. There are about 10 "Baby's first Christmas" ornaments we got last year after Kaitlynn was born and then we have a sprinkling of red, silver and gold balls of varying shapes and sizes. I am on the prowl for a new christmas tree skirt because ours is dwarfed under our 9 foot tree. The ceilings in our living room are 20ft. (The only room in the house that has a ceiling this tall) and it is gorgeous to see as you walk down our stairs. I LOVE Christmas!!

Here is our entry way table. This incorporates an idea I saw on the blog Thirfty Decor Chick (A blog I religiously follow). I had apothecary jars and I absolutely loved how she put little ornaments into them. Hers included fake snow, which I could not find at Michaels so I opted to use beads instead. I bought a strand of bead garland and cut the end off to let all the little balls loose. The snowman is actually a pic that was about 1.00. The snowflake ornaments that are on the lid came off my tree. (Sorry tree but they look better here) I used leaves I had bought around thanksgiving because they are a deep red and will look great once I weave in some greenery. Again I used Led lights to light up the table. I'm not in LOVE with the lights but I think it will look better when they are poking out of garland instead of just laying there on the table. The presents in the background light up as well. I didn't get a picture with the lights on. I plan on adding greenery to the ledge as well.

I LOVE this snowman. I think he is so adorable!

Kaity's First Santa Visit

This weekend my company hosted a christmas at the movies event for all employees. We rent out the whole theater and show a kid movie an a somewhat adult movie. This year it was Tangled and Life as we know it. We decorate one of the theaters with christmas decor, and bring in a Santa and sleigh so the kids can take pictures with Santa. The event is completly free to the employees which is really nice considering the cost of a movie ticket is around 10.00 a person and the concession fees are even higher.

This was Kaitlynn's first visit with Santa since last year she was only about a month old.

With one of Santa's elves

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Fabric/Rag Christmas Wreath

Last night I made this fabric wreath. I picked up a few different styles of christmas fabric at Joann's. This is what we came up with...

The fabric was a cream color with red, green and blue polka dots, dark green with white polka dots and a red fabric that had christmas trees on it.

I tore the fabric to create a more "rag" distressed type look.

I think I am going to make another one to mirror this and hang them on the outside of the double doors leading into the master bedroom. Our room is situated at the top of the stairs and the wreaths would be a cute decoration to see right as you come up.

Here are other beautiful fabric wreaths.

Courstesy of Creativekistmet

Courtsey of Little Scraps of Happiness

Daily Elf