First Christmas at Our New Home

This was our first Christmas in our new house and anyone that knows me well knows that I LOVE to decorate.  I got to decorate a little for fall, but I really got into the Christmas spirit.  I have a very neutral living room since it is open to the entire house.  For my mantle I made a NOEL banner for the lighted greenery wreath and put my Willow Tree nativity "up high"....lots of little hands at my house.  The bird house is my main focal point on my mantle for all seasons and I like how it looks with the Christmas decorations.  The chalkboard JOY fit just perfectly and my star from IKEA turned out very neat.  I thought at first it was going to be too tall, but with our 2 story room it worked out well.  I made burlap stockings for my mantle although the kids asked several times where their stockings were.  The tree next to the fireplace is for my ESC Snowman ornaments.  I love them.  This tree has only toppled down twice on my 16 month old! 

 

 Here's a close up of the mantle.  I orignally had the ornate decoration in black, but decided when I took down my fall decor that I was going to paint it an off-white.  I really like how it turned out!

 

 My Christmas tree this year was a lot of fun.  I finally have back the lanterns that we used for the centerpiece decorations at our wedding reception 10 years ago.  They have been loaned out to over 15 weddings and parties.  I got quite the deal on them from Michaels and I got 2 in a box with the stand to hold them for $1.28 each.  I started with 40+ but am not down to 25 or so.  I added them to our tree to celebrate our 10 years together. 

 The garland is just burlap bought by the yard cut into approximately 4" strips.  I used gold berry sprigs that I already had for filler and bought some gold/silver balls for a little bling!  The picture ornaments are just 4x6 sepia toned photos printed out and I cut shapes on my cricut for the matte.  I LOVE this ornament idea.  We lost our 4 1/2 year old son 3 years ago to cancer and this really helps to keep his spirit alive during the Christmas season.  Our little ones get to see him too and know a little more about him. I plan on doing something very similar next year.

 

 Here's a peak at my dining room wall that holds very sentimental items from our Ethan.  This was his cowboy hat, guitar, boots, lasso, work gloves and horse shoes.  I think it turned out perfectly and we can see it from our living room so we can enjoy it from there too.

 This is the buffet on the opposite wall in our dining room.  I really love this ladder that I got earlier this year.  The ball jars were for pictures of my little ones that I printed in gray tone, but they were too large for the jars so they are empty this year, but the plan for next year is to print out wallet size pictures and put little tea lights behind the photos.  The milk jars on the far right are from the dairy that my husband's family used to own.  We got a few more for Christmas too so it will be fun to add to this collection next year. To top off my crate I have some more ESC snowmen and another one of the lanterns that I had at our head table for our wedding.

 Here's a look at our dining room.  The center piece is just silver balls in a glass container and some greenery on a silver plate.  I made the table runner out of felt and some ruffled edging on the ends.  (I guess I forgot to take a picture of that detail!)  I LOVE the silhouettes on my wall.  I had that planned out well before we moved in.  I really like this focal point for the room. 

 This was a hard photo to get, but this is the lighted greenery on our stairs.  I think next year I might add some burlap ribbon in it too.  You can't see it, but at the top of the steps on the toy room wall we have a colored light tree with all the kids ornaments.  They had fun with this tree.

Here is a view of the mantle and garland from afar.  I love sitting in our living room looking at all the decorations.

 

My kitchen didn't get decorated near as much as I had hoped, but I just plain ran out of time.  I did get my chalkboards updated thanks to my Mom and had another ladder that I hung on our wall with some greenery.  Next year I would like to add word silhouettes on the greenery.  Lots of ideas in store for 2013. 

 

Hope you enjoyed my "Christmas House Tour".  The season flew by so fast, but I'm sure I will have just as much fun decorating for spring. 



Playing with MFT

I'm finally getting to play along with the MFT Guest Designer contest.  This has been on my wish list to do for quite some time now and I finally sat down the other night and created a cute little card using my Peek-a-Boo Pure Innocence stamp set. I LOVE Pure Innocence stamps.  I've got several on my wish list for Christmas!  Every month they have this contest I think, do I have time to dedicate myself to designing for a month as their guest designer? I'm finally at a point after 2 1/2 years building our house, getting almost everything unpacked, Christmas cards made, almost all of my gifts purchased and the house decorated, I am ready!  Not to mention my 6 year old Ava, 3 year old Kale, and my 1 year old Emelia that keep me hopping every minute of everyday!

The prize as they say is HUGE!  Now this would be the best Christmas present!  If you aren't familiar with My Favorite Things Stamps then head over to their blog and check them out!  Each month the stamps just get cuter and cuter and I love their paper too!  I used the Lily Bee Design - Handmade Tiny Tablet.  The best part is that this card has already been received by a special friend and she LOVED it!

How will I do this if I win?  I have my room organized and I'm ready to go.  I do most of my crafting at night when my kiddos are sleeping.  It lets me relax and unwind from the day.  One of my goals is not only to take more time to make cards and scrapbook, but I want to actually get my cards out in the mail!  My friends and family love it when they receive cards from me so that is a HUGE goal that I have set and so far the past couple weeks I have sent out over 5 cards.  Getting ready to send out 120 Christmas cards too!  I think 2013 is going to be a great year.....at least I hope it is!  I will be back next week to share my Christmas card with everyone.  I kept it pretty simple this year due to how many I send out, but none the less I love them and my picture is sooo cute of my kiddos! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Wish me luck!

New Etsy Shop

I finally have started my Etsy shop for my invitations, birth announcments, wedding invitations, cards for any occasion, you name it and I can make it!  I have one item listed, but more to come (having trouble getting Etsy to upload my photos!)  We are all settled in to our new home.  There is still some unpacking to do, but I'm having a garage sale this week so I'm hoping to get rid of some items I don't need and clear out some room from the big move! 

Kids are all well, Emelia is into everything and is such a funny happy little girl.

Kale is gearing up for his 3rd birthday and wants a new tool bench and a motorcycle.  The motorcyle is a toy one from Hobby Lobby that I wouldn't let him get one day when he was being bad!  The kid doesn't forget a thing.  He wants a tool bench birthday party, but this changes daily from a Percy party to a gator party (John Deere Gator) or a monster party, so we will see what he actually decides on.  I remember my other little guy that couldn't decide so Ethan's 3rd birthday party was a train with Lightning McQueen, Sponge Bob, and Curious George!  It worked! 

My little Miss Ava Girl is getting so big and grown up looking. She is loving 1st Grade and really likes to read chapter books.  She loves getting Super Speller on her spelling tests and still enjoys making crafts with Mommy. 

As for me, I'm busy like all Mommas are.  Just finished up working a ton of overtime at work so am looking forward to some down time this fall and hoping for a lot more crafting time!

 Hope to be back soon with more of my Etsy Shop cards.

Happy Easter!

We've had a very busy spring....still working on our house. It is coming along, ready for hardwood flooring and then for the cabinets/plumbing, more trim, carpet, doors, closet shelving and so much more. It all takes so much time, but my husband is doing a wonderful job and has dedicated over the last year and a half to get this finished. We can't wait to move in here in a couple months! I've already begun my decorating ideas and have several things stashed away in my closet....actually I've had the kids bedding for well over a year!

Here are some Easter pictures of my family. I made my girls outfits this year and what a job that was! I'm no seamstress, but when I put my mind to something I usually get it done. My Mom helped me out a lot, but I think I can actually make these outfits by myself now! They turned out really cute and the great part is that Ava loved her dress. I covered one of Ethan's ties with some matching fabric for Kale to wear so we were all matching!

Here is our family picture. Dave knew I wanted to take one, but he had to throw a "fit" in front of his brothers at the Easter gathering, just because!

This is my sweet little Emelia Rose. She is 8 months now and is such a little doll baby. Emelia has 2 little teeth on the bottom and is sitting up really well. She is wanting to start to crawl, but doesn't have it all figured out yet. She is always smiling and is such a Momma's Girl! I would say that it bothers me, but it doesn't....I love that she wants me! I'm pretty sure she is out last little baby so I'm going to treasure every little moment with her!

Here is Emelia Rose with her cousins at Easter. Aren't they adorable. Addison and Elaina look so cute in their matching dresses too!

Here's my Ava girl up in a tree sporting her new dress. She really liked her dress. I'll share more pictures later, but the Saturday before Easter was Ava's 6th birthday. She is getting so big and "sassy" too. Ava's kindergarten year is wrapping up and she is getting ready for 1st grade and is going to play baseball this summer.
And here is Kale David! Oh what do you say about Kale! He is definitely one of a kind. He is so very ornery, but so cute and smilely that he gets away with a lot. He is always on the go and getting into stuff. Kale loves to have "little guys" as he calls them in his hands. He is always carrying something around, just like his big brother used to do. He loves to run around the house playing his toy guitar and singing! He's saying all sorts of things now and is now trying to talk in small sentences. Kale still isn't a big eater, but he is somewhat better than he was.

Hope to be back soon with an update on Ava's 6th birthday!

My Baby Emelia is 6 months already!

My sweet Emelia is already 6 months old. She is such a doll. Here are some of her highlights:

* Smiles all the time
*Can't quite roll over
*Almost sits up by herself
*Eats a jar of food at lunch and supper, her favorite thus far are sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and squash
*Looks so good in purple
*Loves to chew on everything
*Best of all, Emelia Rose loves to cuddle
*Sleeps all night
*Wakes up happy
*Weighs in at 21 lb 3 oz and 27 inches long (just a little off the charts)

Our attempt at getting a family picture after our niece's baptism. 4 out of the 5 of us are smiling so not too bad. Kale is 2, Emelia 6 months, and Ava 5 (6 in April).

Papertrey's 5th Anniversary Contest - Day 1

I got an entire half hour to stamp this morning before heading off to our niece's baptism. I looked at Nichole Heady's post this morning and thought....I'm going to try that challenge. I chose Melissa Phillips card as my inspiration and I wanted to make a chistening gown instead of a onsie. I LOVE how it turned out! I got to use the PTI set Bundle of Love. Now we are getting ready to curl up on the couch with some nachos, hot wings, and homemade popcorn and watch the superbowl.

Happy New Year!

My first New Year's resolution is to not make any! I was going to try to make laundry organization become my first one, but after how our year started I think I'm going to just take things one day at a time and what gets done gets done and what's left can be accomplished the next day. We have had a lot happen since I posted last in October. I've tried posting, but blogger hasn't been the kindest and is always kicking me out! I'm going to give it a shot tonight though before I head for bed.

October was finished up with Halloween. The kids had some cute costumes. Ava was a witch, same costume that she wore when she was 3! She didn't remember wearing it though. Kale was a turtle, the same one Ethan wore when he was 1. Emelia was a little kitty cat. They were all so very cute. Ethan would have been right in there with them as he was always dressing up at home for no occasion at all!

November we got to take a family trip with my parents and my brothers and their families to Branson, MO. It was a quick trip, but fun to get everyone together. My Dad was on an off week of chemo so that worked out well. We visited Silver Dollar City and got to see all of the Christmas lights. It was so pretty. We had Thanksgiving dinners at both of our parents houses and ate way too much of course. Then the Christmas season began.

My Mom had her annual Christmas Cookie exchange. We snuck in a shopping trip to St. Louis for some Christmas presents and items for our new house. We went to a couple early Christmas parties with family and Dave's work and then Christmas week was here and things got a little crazy. My Dad went into the hospital for low blood counts and an infected boil the Wed before Christmas. He got to come home the Friday before, but our whole family came down with the stomach flu. We were better by Christamas Eve afternoon, but didn't want to risk getting my Dad sick so we postponed Christmas at their house. Then after Christmas my Dad started having shoulder and neck pains to the point that he couldn't hardly walk. So the Tuesday after New Year's Eve he ended up in the hospital again and got to come home the following Sunday. That is what I mean about life being absolutely crazy! He is home now and seems to be doing better.

Christmas was good to us despite all of that. The kids had a ball and that is really all that matters. Ava's favorite gift was a gymnastics mat. Kale got a motorized train and track that he really likes and little Emelia just smiled at everything. She got some cute new clothes! We finally had my parent's Christmas on New Year's Day and we ended up opening gifts the week after Christmas with my husband's family one evening during the week because we missed going there too!

Now we are on into the new year, back to work and getting things accomplished on our house. The drywall is all up and tomorrow we are going to add a little color to our walls. I can't wait to see it. The porch has been built and looks sooo good. It's starting to look like our home. My husband has put in countless hours to make our home and should be so proud of all of his hard work. The heat is on out there now and it is sooo cozy warm. Wish we were living in it now as the weather is taking a turn and going from a high of 50 today to a high in the 20's tomorrow. Yikes!

Little Miss Emelia just turned 5 months old and is so big. She is just a pure delight to have. Kale turned 2 in November and is onery as ever, but we wouldn't trade him for the world. He is always making us laugh. Ava is really enjoying her gymnastics and loves school. She is saving her money for an Ipod Touch. I got a new phone that has a touch screen so she likes to play games on it.

Stamping....well, that has been put on the backburner for quite some time. I do still get together once a month with my stamping ladies. I'm working on birthday invitations for my nephew who turns 1 on Valentine's Day. I still get to dabble with my toys, but until Dave is finished with the house I don't have a lot of free time for anything.

I'll be back again to update sometime again this year!