More christmas decorations

Well I wanted to post a few more of the Christmas decorations today I am posting pictures of the mantel. I love fireplaces anyone who knows me knows I love to be right by the fire when its going, being I am cold natured. And for a long time we did not have a fireplace but since having one it became one of my favorite places to decorate at Christmas. Other times of the year I struggle to figure out what to do with it. So this year for our first Christmas in our new home I added in a few sentimental things that mean a lot to us. The old looking wood with numbers is the wood taken off the house when we replaced it with new wood. It had our address and I told Gene I wanted to keep it I am sure he thought I was nuts...lol Now he can see why.

I wanted it to display, I love the look its worn. And that is not distressed to look like that it is true age as it aged with our home.

I did buy a few new items last year at after Christmas sales. The kitty stocking was new its for our kitty's, need to work on some for us..lol. The lighted grapevine deer was new as well.

Some items I was lucky to get from a lady that was just getting rid of them. The nutcrackers and the stocking holders and the rustic lantern are from her. Rest of it I had or shopped my other rooms for it. I had to use what I had cause we could not afford to buy anything new so had to work with what I had.

Now lets play a game what do you think cost the most out of this fireplace decorations? I bet you will never get it right....lol

That would be this

Yes that is the key to our home...lol And no its not a key that still works we changed the locks the week we got the house. I keep it as a keepsake to scrapbook and thought why not put it on the candle holder near the sign. It is the most expensive item up on our mantel...lol Well thanks for looking.

Busy Christmas week

Sorry I have not posted lately it was a busy few days before Christmas and busy days after. I used the last two days to relax some. Christmas eve night I wrapped gifts and cooked 6 from scratch banana breads and a German choc cake. Its law I bring a cake to dinners...lol And Christmas eve night as well I made two ornaments for my nephews. It was a late night. I will post that project soon to my blog.

Then Sunday my brother and my youngest nephew come down to go shopping at Cablela's Jacob got a bow with his christmas money. I felt so bad they drove two and half hours and thought it would not take to long, was we wrong. I think everyone was there that day buying a bow. We looked around for 3 hours while waiting then went to sit down and have a drink and finally got the call it was ready. But during the time we waited we got to look around and have a little fun. We found some crazy stuff I had never seen before...lol Like this fold up camping chair. Thats Jacob my nephew, that is one big chair....lol

 Anyway so that has been what has been going on I just needed time to re cope after the holiday weekend. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas we had a pretty good one. We did not do a lot this year made this year kinda of simple a few gifts and home cooked foods. Well anyway as promised I wanted to post the tree. I am sorry this took so long. I will post picture of the outside lights during this week, and after friday they are ready to come down. Oh also have the mantel photos to post. Well thanks for looking :)

Michaels sale Cricut carts

Thought I give a heads up to a sale going on at Michael's. They have some carts on clearance for 19.99 one is from my kitchen and Paisley and they have some more as well. I think they are clearing older ones out to make room for the new ones. Its in the ad but you would have to check with your local store to see what they have all stores will be different.
PS. Sorry I have not posted tree as promised Friday was a bad day wont get into that, it was a long long day and stressful...lol And then Friday night we went out of town. I am almost done with all the Christmas stuff so as soon as I can will post and post a photo of our house for the first time we put lights up. So forgive me and next post will be it I promise.

Box Ornaments

I was at the letter cottage blog site (one of my favorite blogs to visit) looking at there pretty tree this year when I seen her post about her tree last year. She made ornaments out of boxes, everyone has those laying around. So I thought since I was wanting to do something somewhat new this year instead of my normal bows I looked for any small box I could find. Cold med boxes, jello boxes even used one bubble gum box...lol Its amazing how many you can find. She used ribbon on her boxes which was very pretty but I chose to use twine I had. I did bling it up some, I used some of my craft items. Glimmer mist and my tim holtz distress inks.

Wrap your boxes with newspaper. Then take distress ink with a makeup sponge or tim holtz sponge and ink corners and some of the middle as well Now if you want the really distressed look take the pad and tap the corners and even the center if you like.

Okay now for the magic take your glimmer mist and spray your wrapped box, the ink will start to bleed and blend. It will be wet and bubbled so grab the hair dryer and dry it for a min or two on low heat, it drys fast. And the paper will shrink back to its normal texture when dry. Now just add your ribbon and hook and hang your box, super easy! You could use these as gift card holders as well to hang in the tree.
The glimmer mist gives it a hint of sparkle and the tim holtz ink ages the newspaper. This idea was great for those on budgets which these days seems like most of us are. Thanks to the lettered cottage site for such a neat idea and check her blog out, really great blog site full of home decorating ideas.

P.S. I will be adding the photos of our tree tomorrow so check back. I am sorry, camera battery had to be charged meant to have them added before now.

Getting Christmas stuff done

A work in progress! Well once again its that time of year where we all spend days getting the tree trimmed, stocking hung, wreaths and lights placed. Its work but I love Christmas, its my favorite holiday. Last year at this time we knew we was getting this home and was waiting on closing date. So during that time after Christmas I started shopping a little to get some new things for the house. We really did not have a all out Christmas last year since we was in the middle of buying a home and packing up stuff. So I have made up for that this year...lol We buy real trees have for years its a tradition for us to go pick a tree and "me" LOL decorate it, well he sets it up. This year we was not limited on what size we could get we have 13 ft ceilings. So for once we got a pretty good size tree. The tree we picked was 8ft tall and really big, next year I will get one just a little less wide. Its took 5 sets of LED lights, every strand I had. Big fan of LED lights they are so bright and pretty. And all the ornaments I got last year was used as well. I like a full tree so sure I will add some more. Anyway this is where I have been last week, getting the house decorated.

I did make this one card this week very simple card, was limited on time. Well thanks for stopping by hope everyone is having a great Dec. Check back in few days I will add the photo of the finished tree in few days.

Supplies:

Inkadinkado stamp set (Chelsea Sentiments)

Studio G 1.00 stamp

Dark brown chalk ink

Blender pen

Prima flowers & Prima rose (summer mix)

Scrap papers