Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! David and I had a great holiday weekend and are looking forward to celebrating his birthday and the New Year coming up soon!
In the spirit of the New Year, I decided to take a look back at what all we have done this year (on the blog). I started this blog back in July. I meant for it to be a creative outlet for me to share inspiration and a few projects here and there. I didn't expect to see much when I looked back but I was actually a little surprised at what I had accomplished in that time. Mostly small craft projects and a little decorating for the seasons but it's a start, right?
In July, I talked about a teensy little crush that I had on a popular trend, my husband's award winning salsa, a cute baby gift and asked for some color advice on a furniture project (that I have yet to complete)!!
In October, David and I took a trip up to Petit Jean Mountain. I gave you a home tour of my uncle's cabin, Moosehead Lodge,the vineyards and a peek into my cousin's beautiful wedding.
In November, I showed you how I made some word art for a wedding gift and started on a little DIY project for decking the halls.
I can't believe that there are actually {38} of you that take the time to read what I have to say! Thank you all so much- it really means a lot to me! I hope I am not too boring!! Next year I hope that I will have more time to work on projects and post more often!
Pandora has been on the Mariah Carey Christmas station, hot apple cider have been consumed, and decor has made its way down from the attic, folks. Tis' the season around our house, and I'm excited to show you what I've been working on lately.
Our new winter-y wreath finally made its way to the door last night to replace our fall wreath! Can't have friends and family coming over for Christmas and welcoming them with "Happy Fall Y'all!"
I wanted it to blend with my metallic and neutral color scheme for this Christmas but also work well for just winter (since my wreaths tend to stay up longer than they are supposed to!) It is a gorgeous glittery mess but it makes me smile when I come in the door! That's all that matters right?
Our kitchen window is decorated with our faux-metal letters that sit on top of our new sugar mold/tea light holder.
When you walk in to the living room the mantel is the first thing you see. It is lit up with a garland full of twinkle lights, metallic ribbons and silver ornaments. An old iron gate is the focal point along with mercury glass candle holders and trees and cute silver owls. (No stockings yet, but here is to hoping they are made and up before Santa comes!)
On the the hearth of our fireplace, one side is decorated with a couple of glass candlesticks filled with twine, an arrangement and a cute DIY ornament that I made!
The other side has a basket full of pine cones so we can toss a few in our fires. They are pretty to watch burn (I would show you but it is 70 degrees here today!)
Our holiday vignette changed a little bit. I found a table that would not get in the way and I placed it by the old door decorated with the coffee filter garland.
I put our new advent calendar on top that holds 24 very cute ornaments that work with our Rustic Glam Christmas and are now waiting to be put on our tree!
(David and I will get to hang 15 ornaments on the tree tonight since I waited too long to make the advent calendar!)
I moved the nativity set to our side table by our sofa. It has a little more room to spread out and we get to see it up close every day!
I added a few "trees"- bed springs- that I picked up at Canton Trade Days earlier this month.
Our Christmas Tree is also decorated to fit the Rustic Glam theme!
It is wrapped with silver and gold ribbons with large feathers weaved through. It has all sorts of silver ball ornaments and a few gold balls.(It will have a lot more after we add our advent ornaments)
and our special Wedding Invitation Ornament!
Our tree is topped with twiggy branches coming out of the top.
I made our tree skirt this year. It took quite a while, but I think it was worth it!
And that's it! Thanks for stopping by!! I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!!!
One of my favorite Christmas treats are pizzelles. Pizzelles are a light, crisp, flat, waffle-like cookie. My family made them every Christmas growing up for friends and family and we made plenty of extra to have at home for us.
This recipe is a simple 'Italian Pizzelles' recipe. You can take this basic recipe and make variations for other yummy options.
NOTE: Do not use more than 1/2 cup of butter and do not use oil as a substitute
Beat eggs and sugar. Add cooled melted butter or margarine, and vanilla and anise (we have always used anise seeds and crush them into a powder before mixing in). Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture.
There are quite a few options out there for pizzelle makers. These are very similar to a waffle maker. The batter will be thick enough to be dropped by a spoon, but I have heard that if you place batter in a large ziploc and snip a corner out and squeeze the batter out, it isn't as messy. I will have to give this a try!
This recipe will make about 30 pizzelles and the batter can be refrigerated to be used at a later time.
I have a pizzelle maker on my Christmas list this year! I sure hope Santa knows! Until then, I have borrowed my moms and hopefully will get to making lots of pizzelles soon!
This year while I was pinning away at my Christmas Inspiration, I ran across a few ruffled tree skirts that I loved. They seemed simple enough (no sewing) so I thought I would give it a try!
And I followed MMS's directions on cutting it into a circle and ended up with this... (She says use 4 1/2' x 4 1/2' fabric to start. I didn't worry about this and that might have been why I ran into my problems!)
I started with 5 yards of a cream muslin-like fabric and cut that into 3" strips. (MMS says it only takes 4 yards so I thought I had plenty). My 5 yards only covered a little less than half of my tree skirt.... I don't know if I made my ruffles too small and close or if that 6" difference to begin with mattered that much. So I went back and bought about 3 more yards of fabric...
I started by making a line of hot glue about 1 1/2" up from the edge of my circle and ruffling the fabric as I went.
I started with small, tight ruffles but soon realized after I started to layer that I could make larger ruffles and the end result was the same. This made the fabric stretch a little farther...
And I just kept doing that until the entire skirt was ruffled!
It took quite a while and I broke it up over a couple of days but I think it is totally worth it!
I found this Christmas Q & A from Meredith at Welcome to Heardmont. It is a fun little survey with questions about how our little family celebrates the Holidays! Enjoy!
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I have never really liked Egg Nog although I might have only taken one sip. Hot Chocolate is always around but this year I have been drinking the heck out of some Apple Cider!!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? He sets them out around the living room. Each person has their special spot with their pile of goodies!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We like white lights on our tree and house!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but I would love to.... Just haven't found any.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I was ready for Christmas decorations at Halloween but David thought that was a little (maybe a lot) too soon! We ended up putting our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving and decorated it a little here and there that week while we were off! I am glad to report- I think it is finally done!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My favorite dish is probably David's Granny's dressing. I have always like dressing but her's is absolutely delicious!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? We loved to pile up in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights.We would fix hot chocolate and wear our pajamas and drive all over town. We also had to stop by the tree of lights in Wake Village and run through the middle of it!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My mom slipped one day when talking with one of her friends. She was telling where she found the shirt I was wearing and then I said "No you didn't, Mama. Santa got this for me". They both laughed and then she had to tell me the truth! I probably would have had a couple of more years left of believing in me!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My mom's side gets together on Christmas Eve. When we were younger, "Santa" would make a stop at Mimi's before heading to our house. We would open up gifts from aunts and uncles and grandparents that night too.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? It seems to change every year. This year I used golds, silvers, whites and rustic ornaments with feathers and twigs for a rustic-glam tree. I'm sure when we have kids, we will have a another tree just for the personal and handmade ornaments.
11. Snow! love it or dread it? LOVE it! We don't get a lot of snow here in Texas but when we do the whole town shuts down! I love the day off from work and fun playing with Berk!
12. Can you ice skate? Oh no! I have attempted but it wasn't very graceful.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Do you remember the dixie cup Christmas light decorations? My sister and I wanted a "Disco Ball" one year for Christmas and that is exactly what we had in mind! We got up that night to peek at what Santa had brought and the living room was lit up with two disco balls! We were sooooo excited! I can only imagine what my mom was thinking going up to some road side stand to buy those for her kids from Santa!! haha!!
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Counting my blessings and celebrating the birth of Jesus!
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mom, sister and I would always make Pizzelles. They are thin waffle-like cookies that are so light and crisp and perfect with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee! I just need a pizzelle maker and I can carry on this tradition with my children one day!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I have always enjoyed the Candlelight Christmas Eve service at my family's church. We meet late at night to sing Christmas hymns and read the Christmas story.
17. What tops your tree? This year it is feathers and twiggy branches.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I love giving! I enjoy finding and making gifts I think our friends and family will love.
19. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yummy!
20. Favorite Christmas movie? Oh I like them all! It's a Wonderful Life is a family favorite; Love Miracle on 34th Street; and this year I have been in a Little Women kind of mood- not such a Christmas movie but oh well!
21. Saddest Christmas song? One Last Christmas by Matthew West
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Labor of Love- My sister and I have sung this song a few Christmases in our family church.
How do you and your family celebrate the Holidays? Any fun and unique traditions? If you play along, leave a link so I can come visit and see your answers!
