Christmas Eve

I didn't do a whole lot of Christmas decorating this year, and I've left it to the very last minute to post photos, but better late than never right?

This year I wanted a change from the berry garlands on the staircase so I got some fake greenery and dressed it up with ornaments and snowflakes (although I think it could have done with a little more color).





The area behind the sink got a little sprucing.


Silver, green and white on the dining table.


Photobombers :-)


A simple mantle (no stockings for the cats this year).


This year's ornament. I thought the mixer was super cute and we finished the kitchen this year so it represents 2011 well.


The tree is always my favorite Christmas decoration. I can't wait until the day its filled with the special ornaments we pick out each year.


My view from the sofa.


Waiting for Santa :-)


Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Holiday Card outtakes

The last 2 years our Christmas card featured our pets so we figured we might as well continue the tradition and put Zeke and Zoey front and center this year.

Now that our cards have made it to England I can post some funny (maybe only to me and Josh?) outtakes and the photo I loved but didn't use because I couldn't get it to fit the card layout.

This is the card we sent out:



I did the layout in PS Elements and then had them printed on cardstock at Kinko's. When the girl helping me saw the card she said "oh how cute - their names are Merry and Bright". I wish I could have seen the look on my face because, really, that was such an odd thing to say!

These poor dogs have been pestered by me and my camera since they were puppies so they're getting pretty good at posing for photos. We thought having them in front of the tree would be cute so I set up our storage ottoman with a piece of faux fur thrown over it. For the sweaters I actually dug out my knitting needles after not knitting a single thing for 5 years because I couldn't justify spending money on dog sweaters that would be worn once. Luckily all the imperfections in my knitting didn't show in the photo :-)

This test photo had us in hysterics - could Zeke look any more demoralized?



As usual, Zoey wasn't quite as cooperative as her brother ...


... licking her lips ...


... and trying to bolt ...

This was the photo I really, really loved but didn't use. I just adore those sweet faces.



And then when it was all over it was nap time.

O Christmas Tree

80s music channel + camera + decorating the tree = good times!

(Becca just brought to my attention that it looks like 3 trees at the beginning - its actually a fake tree that comes in 3 pieces. Now you don't have to wonder what happened to the other 2 trees haha!)

Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours ... Merry Christmas!

Christmas decor

I've been meaning to post these pics for the past 2 weeks and here we are a few days before Christmas and I'm finally getting to it. There are quite a few so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.

We kept it pretty simple in the living room - mostly silver and white with a bit of red from the garland and wreath.

Sometimes I pose them, sometimes they pose themselves :-)

This awesome moss wreath came from Pottery Barn's Christmas clearance pile in February. It looks a little brown in these pics but its a nice green color. I made the banner out of scrapbook letters, glitter and hemp twine.


I used the red berry garlands on the stairs again. Maybe next year I'll do something different.

Mercury glass trees and vases full of ornaments ... pretty.




I attached the felt wreath I made to a berry wreath to make a double wreath. That way I technically have 2 wreaths in the living room, not 3. Three would be overdoing it :-)

We put the tree in a new spot this year - its much better in that corner out of the way.

Usually we have a poster above the fireplace but we switched to a mirror (from the upstairs hallway) while the Christmas decor is up. I made the 'merry & bright' banner the same way as the 'happy holidays' one in the living room.

(I probably should have moved the dog's water bowl before taking pictures!)

Zoey's ornament to match the other pets' ones.






{Winter snuggles}

They look innocent but they are trying to figure out a way to go over and nibble on the tree without us noticing.

Holiday crafts - ornament advent calendar

Last year I saw this ornament advent calendar in one of the Pottery Barn catalogs and I really liked the idea so I thought I would try it out this year.

I shopped the after Christmas sales last year and picked up a bunch of ornaments for 90% off. This ugly cork board came from a thrift store for $3 - I covered it with some burlap fabric and now it looks new.

We had some plain white card stock lying around so I printed the numbers and cut out the tags.

Pin everything onto the cork board and you're done!





I used jute twine to hang all the ornaments. I should probably have used a thinner twine - or maybe a bolder font - so that the numbers aren't blocked but I am too lazy to redo it.

We hung it on the half wall as you go up the stairs - I always feel like that wall needs something so this was a good spot for it.

I think technically the ornaments should be taken off the board and hung on the tree as the days pass but I thought the ornaments looked so pretty up there that I just left it. So I guess technically its not an advent calendar after all!

Helpers

Sitting on the tree box, checking out what we're up to.

(As usual, Hobbes is nowhere to be seen.)

Farewell pumpkins

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As the day draws to a close I am thinking about tomorrow when I will start decking the halls! I probably shouldn't admit this but since I've already told Josh and he laughed hysterically at me and told me I was out of my mind I've already suffered the worst: 6 months ago I started a list of what decorations I wanted to put where in the house and I would review it on a monthly basis and update it with any changes. Actually now that I'm typing this it does sound a little bizarre. I think I just couldn't take the summer heat so I started daydreaming about winter which lead to day dreaming about Christmas decorating. Although I guess I didn't need to go so far as to start a list ... perhaps Josh has a point.

Since all the pumpkins will be leaving the house tomorrow I thought I'd share some pics of our dining table. We've had the mercury glass candle holders on our table since early October but this morning I gathered all the pumpkins from around the house and dumped them all on the table. Too bad I didn't do this sooner - I love how it looks!





The green striped pumpkin is my favorite.



Just as we were about to eat we looked over and saw this gross scene ...



Not what I wanted on the table right before dinner!


Welllll I think I will go and review my list one last time before tomorrow :-)

Holiday crafts - ruffly wreath

I have been so busy lately there has been no time for blogging but I do have a bunch of stuff I want to write about so hopefully I will get to it all soon.

In the meantime here's a wreath I made today. I am SUPER excited about decorating for Christmas and since Josh refuses to let me decorate early (I have suggested it 3 times over the past week and have been shot down every time - apparently he's a little more patient than me!) I decided to do a few Christmas crafts to tide me over.

I saw this ruffly wreath on jonesdesigncompany and loved it so I followed her tutorial to make my own.


This is everything you need! I already had the glue gun and glue sticks so all I had to buy was a 10" wreath form and half a yard of felt (yay for $5 crafts!).

It took me a little while to get the bunching and scrunching down so I started off slow but once I got going it was pretty quick. I think start to finish was about an hour but I bet if I made another one it would be quicker since I wont have that trial and error part at the beginning.


I love it!



I bought the cheapest felt they had (it wasn't even wool - I think it was made from recycled water bottles) and I think it still looks pretty nice. I want to make more but I already have 2 berry wreaths that I use inside for the holidays so I think 3 red wreaths might be overkill. We'll see though :-)