DIY Christmas Star & Wall Art

For my Christmas Mantle, I wanted to add a little something crafty...

You can see my Christmas Mantle here.

I began by cutting pieces of quarter round floor molding into equal sizes. Then I used my hot glue gun to glue the pieces together and let it dry overnight. I cut strips of burlap and then used my hot glue gun to glue the burlap onto the wood. I wrapped the burlap around the wood and glued it into place.

One little tip of advice....be careful not to burn yourself, that is all I have to say about that!

I wanted the star to hang, so I used fishing line. Using a small piece of fishing line, I looped it around the point at the top of the star and tied in a knot then in another knot to make sure it was secure. Then, I looked for a rock that stuck out a little for me to "hook" my fishing line onto. (This is the reason the star is off center and the reason I had to make the art below for balance). In my head it looked a little different from what I had thought to begin with but I just went with the flow, I mean lets be real, there is no way I am putting a nail in that rock!

For the word art, I had a canvas that I had not used for anything yet and it worked perfect. I believe the size was 16x19. First, I had to prime the canvas because for some crazy reason I had painted it blue...then let it dry overnight. I printed the words out with my printer, cut them out and then glued the letters onto the canvas.
I took a step back and thought to myself  that it could use a little sparkle. So I added glitter to the word JOY.  Took another step back and thought it needed a little more sparkle. I had some red glitter spray paint left over from a while back and thought I would just spray the entire canvas. It looked great until the can ran out and only blew out air....see the top right corner.......but that is our little secret..ok? Then I did a layer of glitter spray paint sealer over the canvas to seal the deal ;)

Hope your weekend was great!

Christmas Mantle

Sorry for the less than perfect photo, not sure what was happening but it didn't matter what I did the photo looked "foggy."

Anyway, this year I wanted a little different look.  The garland, lantern and trees are the same decor that I used last year. I added the star and word art.

I made this, so easy! As soon as the Mr. saw it he was like "how is that hanging up there?"

Made this too, again so easy. I got a little lazy on this one.

I'll be back next time to share how I did these easy projects!

Christmas Dining Room Table

 

Our Dining Room is visible from several rooms in our home. For this reason, I chose to carry the same color scheme throughout my home. My color scheme this year...same as last year...red, green, and gold with a little burlap thrown in for a little texture ;).

I always put a tablecloth over our dining table during the Christmas holiday. We have lots of family over and with 2 small kids I prefer to protect our table with a tablecloth. We never eat in this room unless it is at Christmas. Terrible, I know, this is just one room that doesn't get alot of action. I continued with my burlap table runner. At first I debated, put in on the table, then took it off....I decided to put it back on since I have burlap accents in our family room I thought why not carry that on into the dining room.

Then I added the center piece. I took a lantern added a red candle, greenery, pine cones, berries and a few twigs and viola!

Oh, I added a few red balls too....

And a few red balls with sparkle...

Don't you just love Christmas!?

A Search for the Perfect Tree

While this weekend was filled with family and way too much food, we decided a few weeks ago that this year we were going to pick out our very own Christmas tree.
Yes, there are more than a few local places to purchase a tree, but why do that when you can drive to the mountains and pick out your own??!

The Christmas tree farm we visited was just outside of Boone, NC. We arrived shortly after lunch so we drove on into Boone for lunch at Our Daily Bread. If you have never eaten at this restaurant, I suggest that you do so on your next trip to Boone. The last couple of times we visited Boone we have eaten here. So good, local food. This time we made sure to save room for dessert, carrot cake. So yummy!

After we filled up on a great lunch we headed to the Christmas tree farm. We were handed a stick to use as a guide to measure the height of our tree, once we found a tree, we swung our stick and the farm guys came up and cut our tree down and brought it to the bottom of the mountain  hill for us, then wrapped it and helped load it on our vehicle.

The view from the mountain was so beautiful. We picked out a 9ft. tree, then headed back down the hill to carry it home.

On the way home the sun was setting behind the mountains again such a gorgeous sight.

A Little Gratitude

Gratitude: the state of being grateful: thankfulness.

November always reminds me to focus on the positives, the things in my life that make it worth living.

Sometimes as we all move along our days we tend to move our focus away from the good things. We worry, which is total human nature but sometimes that can bring us down to the point where we are in a constant state of panic or in a state of constant competition. We allow ourselves be compared to our friends, co-workers, etc.

When we focus on what others have and what we don't or they are better than us or they have this or that and it is more than me....You get the idea. We loose sight of what matters, what makes us feel good and we also loose sight of what we have accomplished. You cannot compare yourself to anyone else. That isn't fair to you.

During the year when I began to worry about things, big or small, I try to see the things and people around me that matter the most and focus on those things. This is very difficult at times I assure you, but when I try to see the good it does improve my mood.

Example:

This weekend was super busy and flew by so fast. Before I knew it it was Sunday evening and all I wanted to do was stop time, I dreaded to see Monday roll around.

Then I turned my attention to the great weekend we just had. Lots of family time, enjoying the small moments, our oldest spent time with Grandparents & hunted & those memories will last him a lifetime. The youngest got to spend time with us and got lots of Daddy play time which he loved and learned alot about the insides of a truck, that too will stick with him for years to come. Snuggles, movie time, and attention is what happened this weekend. Golf & shopping as well and there again more memories made for our children.

When eating out yesterday at Olive Garden the waiter was fantastic. My in-laws and my husband made the comment that was the best waiter they had ever seen and I had to agree with them. When the bill arrived this small card was inside:

That was awesome. Just to take the time to write a note says alot about a person. He was busy I am sure, and I know he had more on his mind than us but he still took the time to let us know that he appreciated us being there. Now, this may be a new thing that Olive Garden has started or it may just be something our waiter did, who knows, but it adds that special touch that I think shows gratitude toward others.

So as November is here, lets try to see the good in ourselves, each other and to remember the things/people in our lives that make it so great!

Halloween Banner (a little late....)

Better late than never right?

The reason I post this now?

Because it just went up last night!

It took me about 15 minutes, if that long, to make it.

Quick  and Easy, just how I like it!

I used Halloween themed scrapbook paper to cut out my triangles. Then trimmed the top with washi tape, to add little visual interest and also for a little extra support on the corners where I punched my holes for the twine.

Punched out 2 different shaped circles and added my green letters.

Thread the twine and hang it up! Easy, oh so easy! You should try it!

 

 

Hope you guys have a great Halloween!



Wine & Dine Wednesday

The feature today...Fancy Pants from Target.

Cute label, it is a 2010 vintage, red wine.

This has a very fruity flavor, almost too fruity. This is one that you may not want to drink alot  at once...too sweet too fast means major headache for me. Just a warning!

It is not the best but it is still very drinkable, just in small amounts...

Check out my cute wine bottle topper!

This was a Christmas present last year from my In-Laws and so I thought since Christmas isn't that far away I should bring this baby out and show it off! Heck, I might even leave it out all year long. After all, drinking wine is a little gift at the end of the day...am I right?! Oh and it has a little battery so it lights up too! How cute!!