White Tied Lights

Say that several times fast, eh? :)

Any chance you checked out the lights surrounding my Christmas mantle in the last post? :)

They were a fun little project that turned out cute in themselves, so I thought I'd share...

Awhile back I had seen this light garland above on Pinterest and was hopeful to try it somehow for Christmas. When I brought the Christmas boxes in from the garage, the boys went to digging through them like pirates treasure :) and an old package of "Christmas Roll" was in the mix. I searched for what it's actually made of and came up with nothin', but it's like thin, glittery felt. I bought it several years ago to scrunch up around my nativity set. It came from Kmart for $3 and the whole roll is 36" x 5'.

I cut it into small strips and then strung a set of lights across my lap and tied away as my boys were building forts (or trying to tackle one another) in the living room! Even after all the pieces I cut, there is plenty still left!

I really like how it softens the lights and adds some creative flair too!

Gotta love Pinterest ;)

'O Holy Night' Printables

For the first time in my life,

I now actually have a mantle to decorate

for each holiday and season!

It was one of my favorite things about this house when we first looked at it. In thinking about how I would put it together for Christmas, I knew it would be the home of our Nativity set. I also knew I'd have room for something more and whipped up these simple silver printables with lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs, O Holy Night.

I happened to have these 5x7 photo placards, which were intended for post-it holders like THESE. The printables were created to be 8x10- I seemed to get requests for that size more last time- but I shrunk the ones I printed for myself to fit the holders I already had. I do think I'd prefer it a bit bigger since it'd be even more readable, but nonetheless was happy with how this turned out. There's something soft and pretty about these, which isn't the usual around here!

Something that's a bit more special than the everyday-

that's what Christmas is all about, eh? :)

These are intended to go together, but they would look fine separately too no doubt. Followers can click the images below, then right click and save for an 8x10 print!

Click to see my white tied light garland and burlap star wreath
that accompany these on my mantel too :)

Enjoy!

Good Thankful Times

Wanted to share our Thanksgiving goings on before I got carried away with Christmasness! 

Doesn't Coop make that turkey leg look good? Love this pic :)

This year was an odd one for the boys and I, since Stephen was gone with Taron and Keaton to Vernal, Utah, for a falconry event. (I know, seriously- Who holds national get-togethers on top of national holidays??) But they had a good time and it doesn't happen every year, so whatever I guess! Meanwhile, Thanksgiving morning Ryder helped me make pumpkin pie while Cooper watched the Macy's Parade from inside his latest fort...

Later on we traveled to Pocatello to be with my in-laws since my parents were in Arizona with Cyndel and Ben for their wedding open house there. As awkward as it could have been to be at Stephen's parents house for the holiday without Stephen, I have to say it really, truly wasn't! Only in thinking about it was it strange at all! I'm so blessed to have married into a family that is warm and comforting. Janie sure can host with a flair- doesn't the table setting look beautiful!

Grandpa Bruce gets a kick out of Ryder and Coop sneaks a large handful of olives to cover all ten fingers! Struck me as super cute :)

Later after dinner and dessert (which, I thought my pumpkin pie turned out pretty great! I love the new crust recipe I found on Pinterest that uses butter instead of shortening! Find it and the pie recipe I used that included brown sugar HERE :)... anyhow, my sister-in-law Kathy has some great kids games and brought them for the kids- Cooper loved this Tanagram one! We also used some little cards on a keychain she had to strike up conversations with the grandparents about memories- that was my favorite part!

We stayed Thanksgiving night in Pocatello and Kathy and I went people watching at Walmart for Black Friday! I say "people watching" because, well, I'm not a fighter, I'm just not! And you have to be to get what you want when there are only six of them in the whole store! Then Friday night Stephen came back in to Pocatello in time for the Parade of Lights, which was a fun way to ring in Christmas time. Cooper thought Santa on top of the fire truck (not to mention seeing his Dad a day early!) was pretty cool!

Hope yours was enjoyable too!

What I Sent

Early in November, I happily joined in on the Holiday Handmade Gift Exchange going on over at Craftaholics Anonymous! It has been both fun and worrisome creating something for the gal I was matched with! Certainly more fun ;) Just hope she ends up liking the items I've sent!

She said she loves "all things vintage," so I stepped out of my usual to create these simple market bag style totes using thrifted vintage pillowcases. I got this idea from HERE. I also remembered this sweet Classic Raggedy Ann fabric my Mom had given me and used it to make a simple, hopefully useful, little drawstring sack.

At the last minute, I whipped up and tucked in a few of my paint chip matchbooks! I also cut a few gift tags out and sprayed them with some leftover chalkboard paint! Then I added a simple ruffle to the bottom, similar to some Linda had created and shared at Craftaholics. I added a couple pieces of chalk just to make it overly obvious (and quick)! ;)

And here it is all tucked in and ready to go! It is what it is at this point, so hopefully she won't be disappointed! Thanks for all your efforts, Linda- I love sending fun packages and creating for others, so this was a fun thing to take part in!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our little corner!

Hopefully everyone is enjoying yummy food with people they love :) 

I am so grateful for all of the goodness of our life and the abundance we enjoy-

no matter what our difficulties, we are abundantly blessed (with a Capital B)! ;)

Time to write to Santa and wear out the Christmas catalogs! ;)

Cyndel + Ben= Married!!

This last weekend was a hugely eventful one for my family- my grandparents, parents and all of my siblings were together in the temple for my sister's wedding! Aren't they Beautiful?!?

They had their reception the night before the wedding and I got to wait around the corner in the church with Cyndel to capture Ben seeing her in her dress for the first time! Her picture display and little pie tarts turned out so cute!

This is all of their nieces and nephews that were at the reception! Don't you love how Ry seems to have an action figure in his hand constantly? :P My favorite part of the reception was when Cyndel strapped on her guitar and sang a song to Ben, "I Was Made for You." :)

Don't they look like they are on Cloud 9 coming out of the temple?! I love how bright they are!

My Dad warming up my Mom as we waited during pictures- aren't they beautiful too? :) They are the reason for all of the other pictures above here. They have made all of us who we are and gave us all we needed to have testimonies that would make it so we could all be in this awesome place together at this stage in our lives. Days like this are what make it so Families Can Be Together Forever!

Anyhow... Congrats Yates'!! Marriage is Bliss :)

"Done Enough" Chalkboard Kids Chairs

A long time ago, Stephen snagged these sweet kids chairs for us at D.I.

Vintage isn't really my forte, but these seem pretty old, so I'm just calling them "vintage!" :)

Anyhow, I've known since then that I wanted to use some chalkboard paint to make them even more fun for the boys. Recently I finally got it done... well, "done enough" anyway!

Don't know what it is with me and spraypaint, but seriously every time I use it, my hands end up covered too!

So I say "done enough" because I was pretty sure these could both use another coat of paint. I didn't do any sort of priming or sanding before spraying the chalkboard paint on. For sure I was in a fair hurry... there is just about no chance 55 degrees (the minimum recommended temperature on the paint can) is happening around here anymore- Fall/ Winter is in full force! So the minute the sun was shining, I stepped outside to get spraying! I thought I got it on pretty thick, but I probably should've used primer and another coat if I'd have really done this right!

Nonetheless, the boys thought these were great! They were happy to have their little chairs back to use as stools, fort beams and now, artist canvas! I got out the sidewalk chalk to give them some color :)

 

 See how rough it looks after their drawing on them? It's like the chalk got down into the grain of the seat- obviously only "done enough" to have worked at all! But, it'll have to suffice until Spring now! I did use baby wipes to clean them off better too... is that an absolute no no on chalkboard paint??

Ryder turned to chalking up his hands in the end... better start trying harder to convince him he's in fact NOT a tattoo artist, eh? :)

Not to rush Winter, cuz I'm excited for Christmas and sledding and baking and snowmen and such, but I daresay the first thing I'll do come Spring will be make this project "Done For Real." ;)