Category Archives: Christmas

Our Family Christmas Photo

I checked one more item off my Christmas to-do list this weekend: take a family Christmas photo. I was actually kind of excited about it, seeing as puttering away at this little ‘ol blog for the past nine months has taught me a thing or two about taking pictures. Here are our Christmas photos from the last two years we were married:

2009

2010

While I don’t think you could top the cuteness of Sheila and Harold sporting hand-knit holiday accessories (crafted by yours truly) in 2009, or little baby Pistachio as just a kitten in 2010, there was definitely some room for improvement in the image quality department. I didn’t have a very good camera before, so those pics were shot with my iPhone. I still don’t have a very fancy camera, just a little Canon point and shoot, but paired with a self-timer and a tripod I thought I could get a pretty good shot. My number one lesson in photography I’ve learned this year: take the picture during the day. Also, while we stood in front of the tree last year, I decided that with two grown cats and a dog we’d be better off sitting down. Here are some of the outtakes:

Lesson learned: ten seconds is not a lot of time to position yourself in front of the camera and wrangle three animals. Fortunately, my friend Brandi was on her way over to ride to our work Christmas party together, and when she arrived she kindly agreed to help us out by pressing the shutter button. Things got much easier from there.

And, finally, the money shot. Everyone is looking at least in the general direction of the camera and no one is trying to run away.

I was showing a little more leg than I felt comfortable sharing with the world, though (although apparently that hasn’t stopped me from posting it on the internet), so I did a little cropping. I also played around with the exposure and saturation while I was at it. Here’s the final result:

Ta-da! I guess if you’re on my Christmas card recipient list this totally spoils the surprise, but here it is mocked up with the photo card design we chose from Vistaprint.

Annnnd you know what I just realized? The letter T is supposed to be in the center of that green medallion, but I forgot to enter it in the form. Even though I just placed the order last night it’s too late to change it. Ugggghhhh I’m so aggravated with myself! I guess it just looks like a little wreath or something without it. Maybe when I get them here I’ll try adding the monogram with my computer and printer, but if it doesn’t work out it’s not the end of the world. Right? That’s what I’m going to keep telling myself so it doesn’t ruin my day.

More Christmas Decorating

Nick and I turned off the TV and turned on the Christmas carols for a few minutes this weekend while we finished decking out the tree. It was kind of fun to decorate it slowly over a week this year, as opposed to a whirlwhind weekend of chopping, hauling, and trimming all in a span of two days like we did last year.

 

Most of my ornaments are of the inexpensive, shatterproof variety, but there are a few gems I treated myself to at Pottery Barn last year.

I love the juxtaposition of the serious Santa with the completely silly snowman.

I got a bunch of these silver disco balls in a giant container of shatterproof ornaments. I love them.

I made this little jingle bell wreath last year and found it in with the ornaments. It’s hanging on the front door now to announce our comings and goings.

And I don’t even know where I got this little thing but I like it. Found it with the ornaments too, but it didn’t seem right for the tree.

And in keeping it real news, a commenter on Friday’s post about the feather wreath asked if the bare backside was visible in the mirror. I responded that it wasn’t thanks to the fluffiness of the feathers, but I stand corrected! I happened to be leaning against the wall next to the mirror to get the photo above and when I turned around, there was ugly foam pipe insulation staring me right in the face! Fortunately we rarely, if ever, view the wreath from that angle, but if you were thinking of making one for your house and putting it in an area where side views are more common you may want to consider getting an extra feather boa to cover it all the way around.

So that’s the big Christmas progress we made this weekend. I’ve still got a pile of homeless holiday whatnots on my coffee table and there are no lights up on the outside of my house, but my living room sure is feeling festive! How about yours?

Two Feather Boas Walk Into a Plumbing Department

My best blogging bud Britt and I got to talking a while back about how we are both thrifty decorating ladies, and we got the idea to do a little challengeroo to see how cheaply each of us could whip up a Christmas wreath. If you have never visited Britt’s blog, Knewlywifed, you should. She’s hilarious, full of great ideas, and has an adorable little baby boy. She tells the best stories and shares delicious recipes. I promise you will not be disappointed.

But back to the wreath. I kept procrastinating. I don’t know why. But I finally got ‘er done this weekend. Here’s what I whipped up for just under $5 (dog not included).

(side note: I just checked out Britt’s post and she totally whooped me at a grand total of $1.38 for her wreath. I tell ya, that girl is amazing!)

I started with a 6′ length of foam pipe insulation from Lowe’s. It cost less than a dollar. Foam wreath forms are expensive and I had spotted the idea on Pinterest to use something like this instead (or, even more genius, a pool noodle, but those are harder to come by this time of year and probably not quite so outrageously cheap).

I knew that I wanted to hang the wreath in front of that mirror in my dining room sitting area, so I took some measurements and decided that 18″ would be a good size. Then, I turned to my old friend the internet to do what I have long forgotten how: calculate the circumference of a circle.

Turns out I needed to cut my length of foam down to just about 56.5″. No prob with a tape measure and some sturdy scissors.

Then, I cut each end at a 45 degree angle, trimming as necessary until the two pieces fit nicely together.

See what I mean? I used some hot glue to secure.

Then slapped on some clear packing tape to make the junction smoother and stronger.

If you’re trying this at home, you may want to do this next step before forming your foam into a circle. The foam had a slit up one side so that it could be slipped over a pipe, and a strip of plastic covered each self-adhesive edge. I slowly went around the circle and removed the plastic, carefully pressing the edges together so that the foam maintained a nice cylindrical shape. I think this would have been easier if the foam were still stretched out straight, but I got ‘er done. Also, I was really surprised at how strong the adhesive was! Don’t expect those pieces to come undone easily once you’ve stuck them together.

At this point my wreath was looking pretty good, except for a spot or two where it just didn’t curve nicely. And apparently I forgot to take my camera off of macro mode after that last close up, so please excuse the blurriness of the next few pictures.

I reinforced the problem areas with tape and voila, the awkward bends are replaced by gentle curves.

I gave the whole thing a quick coat of white craft paint. I didn’t worry too much about getting it on nicely, just enough so that the grey would be less likely to show through the feathers.

Then, I took my two feather boas (snagged on sale at Hobby Lobby for about three bucks total) and started wrapping, securing every few inches with a dab of hot glue.

Unfortunately, two boas didn’t make it all the way around. I was faced with a conundrum. I really didn’t want to go back to Hobby Lobby for another boa, especially since I knew they were unlikely to still be so deeply discounted.

My first idea was to make the wreath smaller. I removed the tape and cut through the hot glue holding the two ends together.

But then, I got another idea. Instead of wrapping the boa all the way around the foam, I decided to cover only the front and sides with a zigzag technique. Kind of like how my mom taught me to make lights and garland stretch further on the Christmas tree. Wrap around to the side, then back to the other side, and so on. The little bit you save by not wrapping all the way around on each revolution really adds up. I gently removed the boas (hot glue is pretty easy to undo) and tried out my new technique. Look how far one boa reached this time!

And as if it was meant to be, the second boa got me right to the very end. Yay!

I stealthily reattached the ends and made sure they were sufficiently obscured by the feathers, then stepped back to admire my genius.

The next step was hanging it. I went into my ribbon stash and found a perfectly sized scrap of black satin ribbon. I hot glued the ends to the back of the wreath.

While I waited for the glue to dry, I measured the larger frame surrounding my mirror and pressed a thumbtack into the back center.

Then I just looped the ribbon over the thumbtack and hung the frame back up on the wall, leaving the wreath to float right over the mirror. It didn’t look quite right, though. The wreath was hanging too low.

I took it down and reattached the ribbon with the ends a little bit further apart, making the wreath hang a bit higher. Perfection!

Ta-da! My first ever feather wreath. I like that it’s neutral and versatile, and could maybe even be used for occasions other then Christmas. I’m thinking, though, about sprinkling it with a dash of glitter for a little extra glam, or finding a way to temporarily nestle some sparkly silver balls or jingle bells within the feathers. What do you think?

I want to thank Britt for coming up with the idea for this challenge and for being so awesome. She is seriously one of the funniest people I’ve ever “met” (we’re only internet/telephone buddies so far, though there has been talk of a real-life meetup) and I promise promise promise if you start reading her blog you will love her as much as I do. You’re the best, Britt!

Decking the Halls

I’ve slowly been getting my decorating on this week! I was completely overwhelmed when I opened the storage tub labeled “Christmas decor-inside.” I couldn’t believe how much stuff there was once I got everything out! It was like a clown car full of glittery reindeer and crimes against felt.

I managed to get some stuff up on the little ledge shelf that I like to call a mantel, including the stockings I DIY’d last year. I was worried I would hate them as soon as they came out of storage, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I still love them. They’re so cheesy and tacky that you just can’t help but love them. Obviously we don’t take sophisticated Christmas decor too seriously around here. The challenge with the mantel is that it’s too narrow for many larger items, and my only complaint here is that it looks a bit too crowded with all those smaller whatnots. I may make some tweaks here and there before Christmas. I’m tempted to DIY a giant-ish Christmas sign or piece of art to take up some more visual space without requiring a lot of depth.

I put this sparkly pinecone-finial thing and a small wire reindeer on top of the blue dresser in the dining room. The low and wide basket is a thrift store find that’s been there for a few weeks.

I think I got this pillow on clearance at Family Dollar last January. It’s the lone contribution of Christmas to the still-mostly-empty family room.

This is what I’m most proud of. Nick and I put lights and garland on the tree! We’re taking things slow so as not to overwhelm the cats with excitement, so ornaments will have to wait another day or two. I remember now that garland last year was shockingly expensive, so I only got one piece. My plan was to add some more this year, but I’m not sure I will. If things are still looking sparse after the ornaments are up I may.

There are still a lot of Christmas whatnots on the coffee table that will find new homes slowly over the next few days, and hopefully in the next week or so I can talk Nick into getting some lights up outside. I’m starting to feel overwhelmed as Christmas inches closer and closer. I still need to finish decorating, take our family Christmas photo, order and send our Christmas cards, finish my shopping, and wrap all the gifts. All on a budget because money is tighter than it was this time last year. Please tell me I’m not the only one this far behind!

Over the River and Through the Woods

I got exactly one thing accomplished this weekend: there is now a Christmas tree in my living room.

For the second year running, Nick and I drove out of town to a small, family-run farm to chop down our own tree (this place, if you’re in the area and want to check it out). They are always so friendly and helpful, and I went to grad school with a member of the family who owns the farm. Plus that town is just one of my favorite places to visit. To get there we drive over the Old Mississippi River Bridge and then through a bunch of sugarcane fields. New Roads is a really cute small town and situated right along False River, which is actually a really long and narrow lake that used to be part of the Mississippi. Driving along the water is my favorite part of the trip. The actual Mississippi river is usually hidden behind levees, so it’s nice to get so up-close and personal with the pseudo-river. I forgot my camera, of course, but maybe my iPhone pics can help convey the charm.

We planned our trip around lunchtime because we were really excited to eat at Dairy Queen, a luxury not afforded by city living, but were sadly disappointed to find it had closed down. We poked around on my phone looking for alternatives, but had a hard time finding solid reviews for any places we could eat relatively cheaply, so we settled for Burger King. Are you just overwhelmed by how classy we are, aspiring to Dairy Queen and settling for Burger King? Last year we ate at a restaurant on the water but we just didn’t feel like spending the extra time and money yesterday. With our bellies full of fast food we headed for the farm, where I took pictures of my shy husband when he wasn’t looking. It was unseasonably warm, a balmy 75 or so, hence the t-shirt and shorts.

I guess I was feeling impatient because I settled on a tree fairly quickly and Nick set to cutting it down. He’s not exactly into things like saws and whatnot so he was a little nervous, but he actually was able to get ‘er done much more quickly than I remembered from last year (when I think he was embarrassed by a farm employee offering to help).

Of course, he didn’t work quickly enough to keep me from gazing around and spotting an even better tree in the distance. See it looking all perfect over there?

 

It still looked pretty awesome upon closer inspection, but Nick said he was halfway done with tree #1 and refused to abandon his efforts to please my fickle heart. Plus maybe it’s sort of wrong to leave a tree half chopped without paying for it. I bade farewell to the perfect tree. It wasn’t meant to be.

Look how proud he looks! I told him to “try to look manly with the saw.”

We dragged it up to the front, got it baled, and got some help hoisting it atop our car.

Nick gets so nervous tying stuff to the top of the car. We didn’t have an SUV last year so we put a blanket under the tree and tied it to the top of his Camry. We must have looked really pathetic because some guy who seemed to know what he was doing came over and helped us, but that didn’t keep Nick from driving twenty miles under the speed limit the whole way home. You would think that the addition of roof rails would ease his mind a bit, but they didn’t. We tied it on there ourselves and hoped for the best. At least I did. Nick was a nervous wreck. He kept opening the sunroof cover to see if it was moving around up there and then insisting we stop to tighten the rope. He actually wanted to put it inside the car, but I vetoed that one. My car is my office and I had all kinds of paperwork in the back that would not exactly benefit from a dosage of needles and sap.

We did stop once to add some more rope, and I even googled some special knots from my phone, but Nick was still freaking out. Finally, he settled to just reach his arm out the window and hang onto the dang thing the rest of the way home. I pointed out to him that we were more likely to get in a wreck from him driving one handed than to lose the tree under what was now three layers of rope, but he said it was the only way he could relax.

Getting the tree up and in the house last year was a comedy of errors. Making a fresh cut on the trunk  like the internet told us was, like, a three hour ordeal, and then we tried to use this dinky little stand I’d gotten for two dollars at Goodwill. We took the netting off too soon and struggled to wrestle an unwieldy, unnecessarily fluffy tree into a too-small never-gonna-work-in-a-million-years stand. This year, we were a little bit  better prepared. Nick was feeling confident in his sawing skills and was able to cut an inch off the bottom of the trunk in just a few minutes, then we measured the depth of our much fancier and sturdier tree stand and used some clippers to trim the lowest limbs accordingly. And yes, I still have pumpkins on my front porch. My seasons are all running together.

We brought the tree in with the netting still intact and got it stabilized in our totally-worth-it not-thrifted tree stand.

Then, once we were absolutely convinced that thing wasn’t going anywhere, Nick began cutting off the netting. The moment of truth! The cats gathered ’round for moral support.

Ta-da! Is it not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? This whole operation went about six hours faster than last year. It’s amazing the difference experience makes. Next year we’ll be putting it up in our sleep!

Check out my tree skirt. I got it at a garage sale last year for $10. It’s one of my favorite things. Look at all those sequins!

It was originally just one big ring with a hole in the middle, but that doesn’t exactly work for a real tree, so last year I carefully cut a slit up the back and hot glued some gold ribbon on to tie it up.

Pistachio loves the tree. It’s her new favorite thing. She spent the whole evening hanging out with it. My pictures got a little fuzzy as the day got darker, but the cuteness makes up for it.

See her sitting behind it? She’s enjoying the tree from all angles.

What? Were y’all just taking pictures of me while I was sleeping cuddled up to my new BFF?

Since she was already so fascinated with the tree but wasn’t up to any mischief so far, we decided to give her and Sheila some time to just get used to it before we start putting really interesting stuff on there. A few broken ornaments are par for the course with cats, but we do try to minimize it. Last year we had more than one climbing incident, and even found Sheila’s missing collar stuck high up inside the tree when we took it down. Clear and compelling evidence that she’d been naughty when we weren’t around. But really, what cat can resist such a thing? It smells so good! It’s got lights and sparkly things! You can climb it! It’s like a kitty paradise in there.

So there’s the story of our real, live Christmas tree for 2011. It’ll get decorated sometime this week and of course I’ll be sure to document it to share with y’all. Nick and I were talking about taking bets on how long we’ll have to wait for the first cat-induced ornament catastrophe, and who the likely culprit will be. My money’s on Pistachio within 24 hours.

Wax Paper Pouf

About two days after ordering my new sofa, I discovered that I had no business doing such a thing. Faced with state budget cuts, my wonderful boss had a choice to either lay off one third of her staff or to cut pay by 10% across the board and reduce the amount she contributes to the cost of our health coverage. She chose door #2. Sooooo, maybe I shouldn’t have just spent $500 on a couch, but I had saved up for it and the deed was done anyway, so no use crying over lovely white sofas already on their way to my door. I did decide, though, that I would try to make my Christmas more cost-effective.

One of the ways I minimized stress and spending last year was by avoiding wrapping paper like…I don’t know, I don’t have a simile here. I used brown craft paper instead and put my energy into adorning each box with a pretty bow. My biggest expense, though, was ribbon, and it did add up. So this year I decided I would only use things I already have. I’ve got some ribbon left over from last year, but I’ll be getting creative in what else I use to pretty up my boxes. Here’s my first endeavor in crafting something pretty out of crap I already had lying around:

I present to you, the wax paper pouf.

Sorry I didn’t take a more glamorous picture of it. I probably should have stuck it on a fake box or something to give you some context. If you can’t tell, it’s about the size of my fist and just purrrfect for adding charm to a brown paper package tied up with string. I added the cat reference there because it would also make a lovely cat toy. Here’s how I made it. First, I gathered my supplies. Wax paper, string, amd scissors. You could use wire instead of string, but the string was handy so I just went with it.

Roll out two roughly square pieces of wax paper.

Cut them each in half.

And in half again, giving you a stack of eight small squares. I had to trim mine a little bit to get it looking more square-ish. No biggie.

Stack your squares neatly and then begin folding them all up together like an accordion.

Then, trim the ends to the shape you desire. You can make them rounded for a softer look, or pointed for something a little more funky. I went with rounded edges.

Tie a bit of string, or twist a bit of wire, around the middle. No need to squish.

With your wire or string holding it all together in the center, start spreading out your folds.

This is the most important part. Carefully peel up one layer of paper on each side. Do a really good job of pulling it up nice and straight because you don’t want the dividing line to be obvious later.

Don’t follow my example here. I should have done a better job of pulling them up all the way, because I had to do some squishing later to camouflage the center.

Then, just keep pulling up layers. I knew I’d be using this on a gift so I kept the back flat, but if you think you might want to make a garland or hang them in the air be sure to distribute your fluffiness evenly all around.

And finally, ta-da! My completed pouf. Took only a few minutes and zero dollars.

There’s a bit of string sticking out the back side that I could tie some fishing line to and hang it up, if I so desired. Or, I could use a needle to thread a bunch on a piece of thread to make a garland. Lots of possibilities here!

Since I’ll be using this on a gift, I’ll probably just stick it on there with a bit of hot glue. And speaking of hot glue, I’ve always struggled with getting tape to adhere well to craft paper in the past, so I’m thinking I may use hot glue this year instead. More money saved, since I have a giant bag of hot glue sticks in my crafting stash and I always have to run out to get tape at the beginning of the holiday season.

I made like five of these in thirty minutes while watching TV. I’ve got a ton more ideas for decorating boxes with stuff I’ve already got, so I’m really excited to see how it all turns out. I’ll probably make more poufs like this out of book pages and tissue paper. I wonder if it would even work with scrap pieces of fabric?

The Holidays are Upon Us!

I can’t believe that another year has flown by and the holidays are already here! Over the next week or two I’ll be dragging all my Christmas decor out of storage and decking the halls. For the past two years Nick and I have snapped a family photo in front of the tree and sent out cards to friends and family. I’m really excited about this year’s photo. I’ve learned a lot about photography from this little ‘ol blog and this year’s photo will be taken with an actual camera and a tripod, as opposed to an iPhone and a friend (not that I’m not grateful to you, Cassie, for playing photographer the last two years!). In 2009 I knitted a Santa hat for Harold, complete with little bunny ear holes, and a sweater for Sheila. This was in our rental house with our tiny little fake tree.

2009

By the time last Christmas rolled around we were in our new house and had a new kitten, Pistachio. I was too busy decorating the real, live tree we got (and keeping the cats out of it) to bother with knitting accessories for three animals.

2010

I was considering knitting kitten mittens this year, what do you think? I’m kind of slow at knitting, maybe sewing or crochet would be quicker? And there’s always this for Juliet:

Amazon

I don’t know. Do you think it’s cruel to dress up pets? Sheila hated that sweater so much that I felt a little guilty, but not enough to stop me from sending a picture to everyone I know.

I’m taking the rest of this week off from posting to be with family. I hope that you are filled with gratitude tomorrow and always, and that your holiday season is kicked off with cheer. Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Crafts

Hopefully one of these days I’ll pull myself out of my productivity slump in time to crank out some holiday crafts. Maybe getting my decorations out after Thanksgiving will help? Here are some projects I’ve got in mind, if I ever get around to it.

I searched and searched to find out where this image came from. I think it’s from a Spanish magazine. The description on Pinterest said that these are lightbulbs wrapped in twine to look like pears! I’m kind of obsessed with the idea.

Maybe I’ve shown you these letters before. I can’t remember. But I’m sooooo doing them. I’m thinking maybe “Joy” for Christmas? They’re made with wood letters and quarters!

via

And this! This! Branches sprayed with glitter. I die.

via

I’m dreaming of a stress-free Christmas, but the only thing I’ve done so far is set a budget. I don’t even have a single gift idea. I’m trying not to panic, but I know that I need to get started. The big day is only 26 days away!

Glitter, Glorious Glitter

For the first time ever, I have purchased an item for Christmas prior to Halloween. Two items, actually.

Tacky? Yes. Delightful? Absolutely.

I’ve been eyeing that pink deer for weeks, but the pinecone finial and I just met. Hobby Lobby has all their Christmas decor 40% off this week so I couldn’t resist. Are you as obsessed with sparkles as I am? I think Christmas should be a little bit tacky and it’s the only time of year I really get to go over the top with the cheese factor (I love tacky all the time, but usually try to keep it under control. My mannequin leg, for instance). I love the big C9 lights, brightly colored ornaments, and glitter, glitter, glitter!  I use sequins with reckless abandon. You just cannot have too much sparkle between Thanksgiving and New Years’, in my opinion. Wait til y’all see the stockings that I made last year. They involve felt cutouts, sequins, glitter, and I’m pretty sure rhinestones (if memory serves). Kind of amazing.

I was really annoyed when Hobby Lobby rolled out their Christmas stock in June, but I can’t deny that as the weather cools I’m starting to get more and more excited for the holidays! My rule is no Christmas decor before Thanksgiving has passed so Pink Holiday Bambi will have to wait a few weeks before earning a place of honor.