I {heart} Christmas!

I {heart} Christmas!  I really do!  I have always loved decorating and putting up the outside lights and displays.  It's a lot of work, but it isn't work when you take the time to do something that you love.  Jeff and I don't go all out at Christmas.  We don't exchange gifts or stuff stockings; instead we treat ourselves to a case of wine and enjoy some lovely gourmet food.  We'll go to Left Coast Cellars for lunch on the weekend and have a wonderful wood-fired pizza with a lovely bottle of Pinot Gris, and we'll stock up on a case of their assorted wines. This year, it's Beef Wellingtons and assorted appetizers from Kansas City Steaks.  I am drooling already!  I love to watch all of the Christmas shows the networks and the Hallmark channel have to offer.  The two Prep & Landing shows are my ultimate favorites to watch!  Christmas Day, I think I'll either make a nice ham and guyere cheese quiche or an overnight sausage/egg/bread casserole for breakfast (an a few days after too!)  Then, we'll have a nice glass of wine in the hot tub and decide if we are going to see a movie playing at the theater or just hang out in our jammies and rent some movies on the Roku.  Nice and relaxing either way!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the decorations I put up this year!

Simple Rag Wreath

Hi, Everyone!

The snow has FINALLY gone and like I mentioned in my last post, my house looks naked without all the Christmas decorations.  I am a Pinterest addict and I am looking there pretty much every day, pinning anything and everything that I can hopefully make (one day).  My list is very, very long!  I needed a new spring(y) kind of wreath for the inside of my front door and came across a Rag Wreath.  Kind of Shabby-Chic-ish, but you can pretty much use whatever print of fabric you like.  I found the instructions and off to Walmart I went. 

The wire wreath form is a small one, about 12" in diameter and I grabbed four fat quarters in different patterns.

Instead of ripping the fabric, I cut it into 1½" wide x 7" strips, which was perfect for this size of wreath form.  I ended up running out of strips and had to make a trip to the store for another fat quarter. 

Simply fold the strip in half and loop it around the wire and then slip the ends through the loop and pull it tight.  Super easy. 

I finished it off with a bow, but you really don't need one.  I want to make another one in brighter colors, like corals, yellows and bright pinks. 

Are any of you making rag wreaths?  I'd love to see them!

Seahorse Frame Art

Happy February, Everyone!

The holiday decorations have been put away and now the house looks naked.  Time to make some new home décor! 

My lotto fantasy is to own a cottage at the beach and decorate the whole thing beach/ocean theme.  Right down to the starfish shower curtain in the bathroom, to the rattan stools and seashell coffee table on the deck.  White walls and cupboards, sea glass for the back splashes, and a cool blue granite for the counter tops.  Heaven.  Well, I don't have that so I will have to just bring a bit of the beach into my home décor.

I checked out the usual home décor online stores and Pinterest (of course!) and came across some cute pillows and wall art with sea creatures on them and was hooked!  So, I decided to start small, no sewing, and found a white 8x10 frame, a burlap sheet from my stash and some pretty papers from DCWV (the Linen Closet collection).  I found the perfect Seahorse in my Seaside kit from SVGCuts.com.  I did a few offset cuts in different patterns of paper and used some foam dots to stack them up for dimension.   I glued a button down for an eye and some more to represent seaweed.  Cute!  I ended up removing the glass from the frame entirely; it didn't want to fit back in the frame with the thickness of the burlap sheet.  No problem!  I will find another use for the glass I'm sure.

I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!

DIY Planner Photo Stickers

Hey, Everyone!  Happy New Year!

To get myself better organized and capture memories at the same time, I treated myself to a memory planner.  An Anna Griffin Planner to be precise.  GORGEOUS!  She is so incredibly talented and I love the feminine, floral notes on everything she makes.  Anyway, I was wanting to start adding photos to my planner and was considering buying one of those cute (and a little pricey) mini-photo printers.  They ranged anywhere from $99 to $200 on Amazon.  I almost bought one, then thought to myself, "Sam, don't be silly, you have a printer, photo sticker paper, and a Silhouette Cameo.  You already have all the tools!"   So, that's what I just did.  I don't take a lot of pictures, but I did take some of the snow we got yesterday (which we rarely get here!) and some pictures of my jewelry designs I made for my KEEP Collective Facebook page (you can check it out here if you like!)

I opened a new file in Silhouette Studio and sized my paper to 8½" x 11".  I turned on the registration marks and then I opened up my folder to where my pictures that I have taken so far in January were.  I dragged and dropped each picture onto the screen mat and resized them to 1" wide and lined them up nicely for printing.  I set my printer settings to "specialty paper" and clicked print.  I let it dry for a few minutes before sticking it on the mat and then put it in the Cameo to cut.  My settings were set to the "White Sticker Brand" 2/8/10 and double cut.  The Cameo cut them out just beautifully and I added them to various spots in my January calendar.  Awesome!  Here are some screenshots and photos to show you what I did. 

Did anyone else get a planner?  If so, I'd love to know what kind you got and what you are doing to embellish it!

Thanks for stopping by! 💙