O Christmas Tree

One of my favorite things is the glow of the Christmas tree. Something about sitting on the couch in the evening and watching the lights give off a warm cozy feeling around the room. I love driving by houses and seeing their trees lit up in the window. There is something calming about it for me and it makes me a little gloomy when it gets put away for the next year.

 The tree décor is basically the same as last year, with the added exception of a couple new ornaments. You win a prize if you can find them...hahaha.

 Pillow: So Vintage Chic

One of our "tree" traditions is to take the kiddos pics around it. I incorporated last year's pic into my mantel décor this year.

Here is this year's pic.

 I found the skis at Hobby Lobby on clearance. I'm contemplating doing a winter themed mantel after the new year, but my intentions don't always come to reality. Perhaps if I hint at it here....eh, who am I kidding?

 

Girl's Room Redo

My little girly is not quite so little anymore. Many of her things had seen better days, so we decided it was time to upgrade her room. After giving her a firm no to an "Elsa" theme, she was pretty excited about doing the colors coral and mint green.

 

My first step in bedroom decorating is to find the bedding. We hunted high and low and never could find what we were looking for. I finally decided to just go with a white quilt (IKEA) and make her an accent throw in those colors (Hobby Lobby material). This room redo took waaaaaaaaaay longer than it should have because of that very last sentence. If it involves sewing, I'm the last person to jump in and get it done. HA!

 

 I have wanted to attempt stripes for a long time, but could never decide where. I love them in here!

 

I knew I wanted to involve some fellow makers in this room redo. The polka dots are wall stickers from my friend Just the Frosting. They are super easy to use and peel easily off of your wall. She has oodles of designs, including quotes and customs.

 

 

 

I made the sign as the same as others from my Down Grace Lane. A friend had posted this quote on Facebook and I loved it. I want her soul to be beautiful with Jesus and we've already read this and talked about it some. I want it to be a reminder to her, as well as me.

 

I spray painted her old bookshelf to match.

 

 

 

The adorable little giraffe reminds me of my niece. My friend Theresa's Crochet Shop made it and has so many adorable others. Oh my! They are just all so stinkin' cute!

 

 

Isn't he just so keeeeeuuuute?!

 

 

 

For fun, kicks, and giggles, I even painted her closet door. It gives that side of the wall a nice pop of color without having to add much décor.

 

 

 

 

There are several of my maker friends on this wall. The cute wooden heart cutout is from Aces of Oregon. It matches perfectly. I got the frame around it at a yard sale and spray painted it to match. I love how it pulls out the heart.

 

The cute little bike art is from Details2Enjoy. I did a separate post on how it was put together. Another unique shop with lots of fun things!

 

I won the mason jar art in an IG giveaway from Kate's Crafty Heart. Super cute! She customized it with her name. Of course my daughter thought that was very cool since nothing has her name on it.

 

The "Fearfully & Wonderfully Made" is handpainted by Handcrafted Brunette. She is amazing and has so much cuteness in her shop.

 

All of these makers are on Instagram and I would encourage you to check them out.

 

The gumball machine was spray painted to match, but her little brother has rubbed some off of the top from trying to sneak in and help himself.

 

 

I'm kicking myself because I passed up a chandelier at a yard sale. That would have been so cool to spray paint and hang in here. I'm keeping my eye out. Maybe something better will come along.

 

On a humorous note: This quilt is massive and tucked in strategically to get it to lay right. We had revival coming, so I told her to sleep with her little brother in the next room. This way the bed stayed made. LOL! However, she has slept in there since.

So, we still have a pretty made bed.

 

Thank you to my maker friends for collaborating with me with your products.

 

Bye Bye Nursery....

...Hello big boy room! My youngest is 5, and the poor guy was still sleeping in a crib converted to toddler bed, so yeah, it was time. We had so much fun putting this space together. He loves fish, and anything having to do with ocean life, so when I saw this quilt set on Zulily, I knew it would be perfect for him.

 

This little guy has been thoroughly enjoying his big bed! It's so cute to see him in it, it makes him look so little. I found the vintage tube style bed on craigslist, and spray painted it a pretty aqua blue color. Oh my goodness, I just love it! It just makes the whole room.

 



 

We hung 3 vintage skateboards, that we got from various places, over his bed.

The Roll -n- Surf one is my absolute favorite. Love that gorgeous color!

 

I just gotta tell you, if you need good storage, this little storage unit is $37 at Walmart and you would not believe how big the cubed bins are, we've got tons of stuff in there! And it makes a perfect little nightstand. I was also thrilled to find the lamp, in the exact same color as the bed, at T.J. Maxx.

 

 

He has really become interested in drawing lately, so we hung a vintage chalkboard down low on the wall so he could have a drawing space. He has really been enjoying that. And it always makes me smile when I go in there and see his latest piece of art. I asked him to draw a picture on it before I took pictures for this post. He says, Sure! And then he proceeded to write a huge HO on there. He said it's an O and an H! I'm like yeah, but in that order I'm afraid it's not super appropriate for a blog post... LOL!

The big whale on the wall, the W, and the whale frame were all from Hobby Lobby, on sale or with a coupon, of course!

 

 

So that's it - a whale of a big boy room! It's always kinda sad when you put away all the sweet nursery things, but it's also fun to watch them grow up, too.

 

 

 

 



Big Boys Room

Ok friends, I have officially wrestled my very last bunkbed sheets. Not doing that anymore. Even though it was some good cardio...

You know how it starts. The 5 year old needs a big boy bed, because after all, he's 5 years old still sleeping in a crib converted into a toddler bed. Yeah, it was time. So I decided he could have the guest bed. Then the big guys were like well, hey, if you're taking the bed out of the guest room, let us move into that room! And that's how the great fruit basket turnover of 2016 started. The whole house has been perfect chaos ever since.

But it's all good. Things are starting to come together. Kinda. 

That room was a bit bigger than their old room, so (Hallelujah!) we were able to separate the bunks. Now they have no excuses, they can change their own sheets. 

I didn't want to put a lot of money into the room swap, so all we did was put a fresh coat of white paint on the walls (Bright White from Sherwin Williams). I found the striped comforters on sale at Target for $14 each - Score! They didn't come with shams, so I bought solid navy ones from Walmart for 2.88 each. Made the throw pillows from some scrap fabric I had in my stash. I got the whole set of nautical flags on ebay for under $20, then strung them together to make banners. The oars were a Hobby Lobby clearance purchase - can't beat $12! Large metal letters were from TJ Maxx a few years ago.

Now, if I can just get the 5 year old's big boy room all done, I'll be one happy Mama!

Don't forget you still have a few days to enter the awesome watch giveaway! See previous post to enter.

 Have a great weekend, friends!

The Locker Room

I'm just gonna be brutally honest here, and tell ya - I have no idea why I'm posting this photo, other than these guys actually cleaned up their room, you can actually see the floor, and I felt the need to document that. That is all. 

Now if they'll just leave it this way for more than 15 seconds, that'd be great. For once, putting their laundry away doesn't require steel toes and a hard hat.

 Boys. Gotta love 'em.

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice...

That's what little girls are made of!

I was SO happy to be able to make it halfway across the country to my very dear friend, Chari's baby shower. This little girl is a precious gift from Heaven and very much worth celebrating! 

The mama-to-be loves daisies and pink, so we took that and ran with it. :) 

Everything turned out cute as a button and sweet sweet sweet.

We are all so excited to meet this precious little one this summer!

Christmas Traditions

Many of us have traditions that we enjoy during the Christmas season. For some, those traditions have been passed on from previous generations while others may be brand new. I've seen many, and more, and lots, and still some more ideas floating around Pinterest and Facebook and one year I tried them all. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but I realized not everything is to our family's liking. And, that's ok.

 

We don't do Elf on the Shelf. I find many of the pictures humorous and there are some seriously creative peeps out there, but this Mama would go insane and ship him back to the North Pole. We tried the book wrapping idea and they liked it the first year, but didn't the next. I'm sure we'll try other things that we will love and some not so much. (Trying new traditions may become our tradition). Heehee!

 

Some of our favorites are:

 

Baking Cookies-I will admit that this one just about drives me batty because the icing and sprinkles end up EVERYWHERE!! Last year, I gave everyone their own individual decorating stations and got in mine and just blocked it out.

 

Wrapping Paper-We let the kids pick out their own wrapping paper. They love it! Simple, but they always have something in mind when it's time. This year, Frozen and Peanuts were the choices.

 

Sleeping by the Tree-The night before we open gifts, the kiddos sleep in their sleeping bags by the tree.

 

Christmas caroling, church programs, Christmas dinners are all things we enjoy, too.

 

One of my personal favorites was started the year we moved here. It gets me all sentimental and mushy-gushy inside. It makes me wanna grab my kids and put bricks on their heads so they'll stop growing. It makes me wanna hold them and not let them go. It makes me realize time is speeding by and to treasure these moments. It makes me wanna cry. It makes me smile. It makes me proud. It makes me emotional. I think you get the point.

 

 

 

 

 

I'd love to hear what some of you favorite traditions are. I may need to add them to our list to try. :)