Christmas is in the Air!

That's right, the Christmas Spirit is in the air, can you feel it? I just love this time of year, it just makes me feel so giddy and good feely inside. Now the trick is to make these feelings last all year long!

I don't know what its like at your place, but one of the first things on my agenda after Thanksgiving was to start on the decorations for Christmas and really create a peaceful enviroment for this wonderful fun time of year!

As a side note: I am also trying to "Up" my blog a little bit with better pictures and such, so any input on how you think it looks would be great.

Now, on to the decorations. . . .

 I saw this cleaver idea from the Dating Diva's, and had to try it out. So far it's been a hit at our house and my hubby is loving it. I am thinking this is gonna be a fun tradition we'll keep up for years to come, especially when our little girl will be old enough to help participate.

In case you don't feel like checking out the original idea from the Dating Diva's on their Spouse Countdown, this is the gist of the idea. You make 25 cards or envelopes, or however works best for you. Then put a note for each day.

 I had this fun shinny gift bag that I thought would be fun to write on. so I cut 25 of them. . .

 Then put my own little "heart" into it, by putting my finger print twice to make a heart shape. Then for each day I put either of the three: 1. a nice memory we had together, 2. something that I love and adore about him, or 3. an activity that I think would be fun to do together. The activity part took a little extra planning and thinking ahead than the others, because my husband is busy working a lot, I needed to make sure the activities were on days he wouldn't be too overwhelmed by it all or that we'd even have time for it that day. Overall it has been going great!

 Remember when I made that fun fall blanket on the couch? Well on the back I made it with fun Christmas like squares.
Then we mustin forget the stockings! The two on the ends our my husband's and mine, that my sister made for us for our first Christmas married, and the one in the middle is my little girl's that I made last year. I love these stockings because they are very similar in style to what we had growing up, that my Grandma made for everyone. Since a house fire that occurred several years ago in my youth, having these stockings are all the more treasure-able because they bring back so many memories!

 Yeah for the tree! Maybe this year for the day after Christmas sales we'll upgrade to a little bit taller tree, we'll see. . . .

 Little villages are a must at this house. Another precious memory treasure that I love having around!

 Then thanks to Pinetrest, I found this cleaver idea from the Vintage Junky. The best part about these lovely flakes is they are in the corner near our heater vent, so each time it kicks on, it makes the snowflakes sway and spin, just slightly enough it is fun to watch, especially for my little girl.

 Thanks again to Pintrest (they'll be getting a lot of thanking from me from now on). I found the cleaver idea of the white sticks from Indie Fixx. I just collected a bunch of twigs, painted them white, and put them in old cream soda bottles I held onto. I put them on our dinner table and also on our kitchen table, which you can see a few pictures down.

 Again, Pintrest idea. From Make and Takes.  You just get a picture frame, put a fun scrapbook paper in the back, and you can write on the glass with dry erasable markers. I first had it as this fun to do list, but then I changed it to. . .

 This fun Christmas tree that has the lovely scripture in it. (also a Pintrest idea, from Two and Under). I love that this is erasable, so each season I can put different quotes or scriptures, or whatever I want. And I can also always change the background too! I love it when things are easily changed around!

 Then my bulletin board in my kitchen, remember how I had for the Fall? Well, I thought it would be fun to have a switch-or-roo again and make it Christmas-y (I know, it's not a word, but you get the idea, right?)

 Then, remember where I had my scarecrows set up for the fall? Well I also changed it around with putting this little tree that I 've had since my single days, and also added some leftover fun village pieces, to add a little Christmas touch to my kitchen!

 Remember the Fall Wreath I made for this door? Well in my laziness in not wanting to make another one, I just dressed it up a little and added some more red, green, gold and poinsettia flowers. Then added our fun bells to the door nob.

 Then we put our regular wreath on our back door, to greet all those who may enter there!

 Here's the lovely white sticks on our kitchen table, I like the subtle winter fun feel they give to a room. Seeing them gives me a fun smile inside.

 Then, remember for fall how I had leaves hanging? Using the same strings we tied these beautiful snowflake ornaments that I got a few years back. It gives a fun sparkle to the room!

 Then remember my lovely window seat bench? Remember how I had fun dressing it up a little for fall with fall pillows and leaves on the end of the brown pillows? Well I had to keep up and do it for Christmas too!

 Then, again much thanks to Pintrest, I saw this idea from Saving Money, Living Life. Plus if you have little ones, it is a great way to still have ornaments up but away from little fingers. I am fan!

 And we mustin forget the mistletoe! Always adds to a fun extra spirit, for this great time of year! :)

Then to finish it all off for today's post, our lovely nativity. I found this lovely set at the local thrift store for only $2. It's so simple yet it tells it all. The wonderful story of our amazing Savior's birth. I also added a fun manger sort of background in the same picture frame that I put the Fall picture background. I love being able to change things around. Since this nativity set is a little more on the fragile side (it's already had one casualty, that was thankfully an easy fix), I saw this fun wood block nativity that I am working on (will post on it soon!), so I can feel more comfortable with my little girl playing with it, especially since it's such a wonderful blessed event, I want her to be able to become familiar with it in as many ways possible. Awe.. . .again, I just love this time of year!

Well, that's it for today. Remember the fun pumpkin salt shakers I made for fall time? Well I made some fun snowman ones for winter, so sharing that and any other fun projects I got going is up for next orders! :) But before all that, I will be back tomorrow for another lovely "Sun-Up Saturday" where I get to share my random, hopefully en-lighting, thoughts on life.

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, this wonderful time of year!

Fall Wreath and other things....

Tomorrow is the last day for "The Forsaken Petal's" Giveaway, so don't forget to go check it out and enter it. I found out a little more details on it, it is $40 worth of software that you can do scrap booking on your computer, it looks pretty amazing, so you should check it out! And don't forget to check out the blog in of itself as well, it is great to get some intellectual perspectives about writing and life, if you are into that :)

Now on other notes. . . .

So I think I might have a slight flavor of ADD or something, or at least for crafty things :) I have a really hard time starting a project and finishing it in one shot in short time frames unless it HAS to be done for a particular reason, which also puts me in the category of a procrastinator too :)
So you know how I mentioned last week that I would finish my Halloween costumes along with the wigs for them in order to show you this week? Ha ha, well that didn't happen, my "Crafty ADD" as I like to call it, kicked in and I got carried away with other crafty things I have wanted to work on. And since my procrastination will kick in this weekend and early next week, I will have the costumes done soon along with the wigs, especially since Halloween is just around the corner! :)
So here is what has been distracting me this past week. . .

 I got these random scraps of material that were in the "Fall" color scheme. . ..

 Then using some old dead glow sticks (I know, I am crazy for saving EVERYTHING, I must get it from my Dad, yikes!) I linked them together to make a larger circle with the little loop things they come with. . .

Then I cut the scraps in longish strips and tied them like crazy on the glow stick loop, like so. . .

Then I added a few fake leaves I had to add a little more natural look to it, I used the polka dotted material to tie the leaves on, then. . .

 using this lovely empty cardboard from our cereal (don't you just love Raisin Bran? My bowels sure do! :), I made. . .

 This lovely "J" for our last name initial, and then I painted it . . .

 Wall-ah! And I decided it would be best to hang it on the inside of our house since the weather can be PRETTY temperamental here, and I didn't want it to get ruined

 Here is a closer up shot, I am still debating in my head if I like the red, cuz it tends to blend in too much it is hard to see, who knows, I might go to white on it, what do you think?

 Then I thought I would add a little taste of fall to my little bench here I made a while ago. . .

 I turned the strap on the arm pillows around, put sticky Velcro on it and added leaves to it instead of the flower. And since I used Velcro I can take it off and add some other fun decor next holiday time, like maybe a poinsettia will look fun there come winter time? Then I also made new pillow covers for the little pillows, they have some of the same material as what I used for the picture frame and bulletin board I shared earlier HERE.

Then to top it all off I decided it would be fun to having hanging or "Falling" leaves on our curtains that are hung with fishing string, it is Fall after all! :)

Okay, so there we have it for the week! I will get a crackin on finishing my costumes and wigs this coming week, but I probably wont share them with you till after Halloween so you can get the full affect look, can't you just not wait till then, cuz you are just so excited!!?
But as for next weeks sharing I will share with you a little fun with date ideas, in my Hubby's and I "Fall Ball" we just had, it was so great, I know you are just dying to hear about it now, right? Well come back next week so you can get the details!
Thanks again muchly for coming by, it means a lot! I hope you have a wonderful day!!