Gifts to give away

So my sisters, mom and I (5 of us total!) came up with a great idea for giveaway gifts this year.

We all spent a little time baking and made about 6 dozen cookies to share. Then we put together plates with about 2-3 of each type of cookie. Yummy!! Next year, I'm going to have to make a plate for myself!
I paired the plate with a vinyl nativity that I got here. I put the nativity on a tile and backed it with some felt and a ribbon for hanging.

I love it! Yummy treats, decorations, and all of it for just about $2 each!

I'm linking up to the Inpsired Room's Friday Linky Party!

My tree, in all honesty

I have so enjoyed looking at the beautiful trees on Thrify Decor Chick'sChristmas tree party! I didn't want to post my tree because it is not that fancy. But even though my tree is not fancy or perfectly coordinated, I still love it. So here it is, in all it's glory.

The top half- breakable ornaments.
The bottom half - kid friendly ornaments for my little one to move all around. Let's be honest - with a 19 month old on the loose, no decorated tree is going to stay that way long....

The burned out strands on our prelit tree separates the two halves nicely.

Kid friendly ornaments
When we travel, we get an ornament to put on our tree. Good way to collect souvenirs without having your house full of nick-nacks! This is one from our honeymoon - an angel from a cotton plant. The little snowman was a gift from one of my students my first year teaching.
Yup, not the prettiest tree ever, but my little one likes it and I like it. Well, all except for the burned out light strands. That will have to be on next year's to do list.

A small change with a big impact

So I have been really working on my mantle this year. I liked it ok, but still felt like it needed something. I love the little jars with ornaments and snow (epsom salt). But I felt like they kind of got lost on the big white mantle. I stared at them and talked to every.single.person who came over about how I needed to make a change. Then I saw the little boxes that came with the boxes I used for my ornament trees. Using the box and the lid, I was able to add some height and color without changing the jars at all. I LOVE it!

Before:
After:

Now, if I can just get the garland up before Christmas!

If you can't be crafty, know someone who is!

One thing I love about putting up my Christmas decorations is all the memories they hold. When I was in college, my mom used to make decorations and send them to me, so my drab college apartment would have a little holiday cheer. When I pull them out now, I rememeber hanging them up in all my apartments (a different one each year of school!), in our newlywed apartment and now our first home.

Did I mention my mother is an AWESOME quilter/seamstress?

Here's a few things she has made for me. Oh, and she makes matching things for each of my 4 siblings too. Yea, she's awesome!

Advent Calendar

The pieces still to go up

I love this one!

The advent calendar (after I ate all the candy off it!) :)

I love my mom!

My first spray painting project

I sort of copied my sister in creating a white collection to decorate my dining room wall.

Goodwill cups and vases - about $6 total.
2 cans of spray paint.
shelves from Lowe's clearance.
a silk Orchid (my favorite flower)

I LOVE it!

November

Though I can't claim making all (or even most) of my holiday decorations, I was so pleased with how they turned out, I couldn't resist blogging about it.

Thanksgiving
Love the little pumpkins from Dollar Tree. Seriously, I go there too often.
Found the cute scarecrow at a craft fair a few years back.


Cute pumpkins made by my sister - fabric circles, beans, and a pumpkin stem. She says they are pretty easy.
And yes, these stay up until Thanksgiving day. No mixing holiday decorations in this house!

Christmas trees

I was totally inspired by this ornament tree.
I really needed something for my mantle, and thought the little trees would be perfect. It took a few tries, several trips to the dollar store and a whole lot of hot glue, but I think they turned out pretty well.

Here's what you need.
Ornaments - from the dollar store! :)
Ribbon
Styrofoam cone (I spray painted mine red to match the ornaments)
Small balls - my sister had some left over from her garland and gave them to me. They come as a bunch and each is attached to a wire.
Hot glue gun
First, remove the caps from the ornaments. I started by gluing the balls on. I stuck them in the foam first to make a dent in the foam. Then I filled the dent with hot glue and pressed the ornament in. I did mine very randomly, but I think it would work better if you started at the bottom and went up.

Then, I used some ribbon to fill in the cracks. I secured the end of the ribbon with a pin, then just kind of weaved the ribbon around until I was happy.
Then I pulled the silver ball bush apart and stuck the small balls in any space big enough to hold them. I didn't have a pretty base like the original. That's where the multiple dollar store trips came in. I finally found the perfect thing - a small round gift box. It came as a two pack. I decided the bigger one made a better base. Hot glue that to the bottom of the tree and Voila!
Check out the full effect.
Now I just have to figure out how to hang up my garland. Any tips? I've never done it before!
Close up -
I must point out the cute ornaments in snow/epsom salt. Thanks to the idea from The Inspired Room

I'm linking up to The Inspired Room's holiday linky party and The DIY Showoff Holiday Highlights!