Time to take down the decorations...

I'm sad Christmas is over already, it came and went so fast.  I plan to take down all the decorations today and tomorrow but I realized I had not taken pictures of everything.  I'm so sad to see it all come down, it turned out so cute this year. 

I will say this though, it was my first year making pretty much all of my decorations and I am really proud about the way they came out.  I made mini wreaths for each side of the mirror.  I made the tulle covered trees that are sitting on the shelf.  I painted a vase to hold the silver branches and hung some mini ornaments on it.

It's a sad sad day....

I took a dollar store ornament, glued it to a piece of wood I painted then I painted the wooden letters from Hobby Lobby and glued them on the piece of wood too.

Mini Inside Wreaths - Day 13 - 25 Days of Christmas

My picture today is just a little peak at the two mini wreaths I made for inside my house.

PEACE & NOEL

Door Wreath - Day 8 - 25 Days of Christmas

Today's picture is my DIY Wreath...

After looking at all the beautiful wreath inspiration on Pinterest, I was inspired to make my first door wreath.  I wanted to spice things up this year and have a really fun color palette.  I'm doing green, red, blue and pops of pink.  As my husband said "Pink is not a Christmas color" but I beg to differ I think any color could be a Christmas color if you want it to and I wanted Pink. lol  I'm really happy how all of my decor is coming together, I've got more to finish and show later...so stay tuned.

It was really simple, I took a dollar store wreath and tied different colored tulle around it. I then took a bag of dollar store ornament ball garland and spray painted it silver. (They only had them in these dark colors and as you can see that would not have matched my color scheme this year.)  I also bought a dollar store bell, it was green, they didn't have silver, so I had to spray paint that as well.  The Merry Christmas sign was, you guessed it a dollar at the dollar store.  The ribbon I already had and the tulle was half off at Hobby Lobby a while back.  So this cost me about $10 give or take.

Crafty Crafty - Day 4 - 25 Days of Christmas

This weekend I was able to get some crafts done. I haven't put my house completely together. I'm hoping to finish the last of my DIY stuff tomorrow and then get all the decorations up.

So I'll tease you with one of my crafts I completed...

Don't worry I promise to take better pictures with something other than my iPhone once I get it all displayed. My iPhone is just really handy and no editing is required. After all I'm more worried about capturing an image than it being absolutely perfect. I'm embracing my imperfectness....what little there is. Lol, I'm kidding, I'm not perfect...

Happy December....Day 1 - 25 Days of Christmas

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year, it's not because I have tons of money to blow but because I just feel really good right now.  There is so much I love about Christmas but I have just not been into the spirit in a while.  I can't explain it really, I mean last year was great, I organized an adoption of a family, I was able to give my kids a great Christmas, I got my husband some great gifts and I even received some great gifts.  The year before that was okay, I was in the middle of planning my wedding and we trimmed our budget down that year but it was still a great holiday.  And the year before that was really special, it was the year my hubby proposed.  So I really can't say that Christmas has been bad at all, I just have not been in the true Christmas spirit, at least not how I feel this year....sorry I can't explain it any better, it just is what it is. 

Now I like to think I'm an artsy crafty creative person and this year I just have so much I want to do and so many projects to make that I am really excited about.  I just hope I can get to them all.  Not all projects are Christmas related but this just seems like the perfect time to be creative...

So my post today is to begin my 25 days of Christmas, let's see if I can keep up with.  I am not going to pressure myself to be a "photographer" each time, I plan to use my iphone, instagram or my dslr or whatever else I can get my hands on...

DAY 1 - Christmas Door Wreath

This is the door wreath I am making, I am about 50% done.  I got all the tulle cut and tied on but I can't decide what else I want to do.  I know I am going to use the sign for sure, the ball garland may or may not stay, the bell at the bottom I want to incorporate some house, just now sure how yet.  I took this picture using the instagram app on my iphone...I love this app. 

I think I need an intervention.....

My creative space is in serious disarray....I mean it is really is a disaster.  I am hoping to get this clean and finally organized really soon.  Maybe if I post this picture of the space it will motivate me to do something about it.  Sorry about the quality but there is not very much light on and I was using my iphone...When I look at this picture it depresses me...lol.  I make such a mess creating stuff.

DIY T-Shirt Screen Print (HOW-TO) - 1st Time Dad Hospital Survival Bag Gift

I spent so much time and energy on giving my sister-in-law, Tiffany sunch a great shower that I ran out of time and wasn't able to do a couple of things....

1. my gifts, UGH!  Such a big deal, right, I mean who doesn't get the mom-to-be a gift?  I know... but since most of my time went into decor and other ideas, my "projects" were put on the back burner.  (more on these projects in a follow up post)

AND

2. a special gift for my brother, I had this idea that I wanted to put together a "1st Time Daddy Gift".  I wanted it special but something he would like and maybe even use.  BUT....again I was all into decor and other ideas, that this "project" was placed on the back burner as well.

The week after the baby shower I spent it finishing both of these things.  But first I thought I would talk about and show you the gift I made for my brother.  I put together a hospital survival bag, I put his favorite snacks, some energy drinks and a bunch of  "It's A Boy" suckers to pass out at the hospital.  I passed on the cigars, lol...he would like those but the suckers I figured would be better received by all.

I also made him a shirt, not this is just not any shirt, this is the shirt that he will wear when Nathan is born....don't worry Tiffany was all on board and assured me he would wear it.  The front of the shirt says "This is what a really awesome dad looks like" then on the back I will bring a stamp pad so that we can stamp Nathan's footprints on the back and write in his day and time of birth, his weight and his length, this way is turns into a really great keepsake.

Now I was going to put this all in canvas bag and call it a day but then I thought, would he really carry this into the hospital and I knew the answer was no.  His birthday was about to come up and I knew we would be meeting for dinner so I ended up getting him a Dallas Cowboys duffle bag.  This way it will serve as the "survival" bag and he can use it later on.  He loved it!

We ended up meeting for his birthday dinner and I was able to give him the gift, it turns out this was a really great idea and he really liked it all.  Yay!

Here are a few shots of the bag and my brother, if you scroll down after you will see the DIY steps I took to make his shirt.  It turned out great, I love how it has a slight faded almost vintage tee look. 

So to make the shirt you need the following:

1. Fabric Paint

2. Freezer Paper

3. an Iron

4. Sponges

5. Cardboard

6. Cricut or another way to cut you design

I started off by cuting the sheets of Renoylds Freezer Paper to fit into my cricut, I designed the words on there and then cut them into the paper. 

I then ironed on the Freezer Paper, yes, that is it, no special glue, no majic....and it sticks!

I used my sponges to paint on the fabric paint.  The cardboard as you can see from the picture above it helps to keep the paint from soaking through to the back of the shirt. 

After I painted it, I let it dry for about 15minutes and before it was fully dry I peeled off the freezer paper, then I let it sit over night and dry completely.

An here is the finished shirt...pretty neat, huh?  You can make just about any design with this, it's so easy and cheap!