real life....{printable!}

okay, so here's something i've never done before. i'm sharing a printable with you i made myself! (no laughing or snickering, please!)

but, before i share the link, i'll tell you how this all came about.....i saw this on pinterest:

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Kirstie - Bonhomie Jewelry on Pinterest

i loved the colors but wanted something a bit more christ-centered. so, here's what i came up with:
you can download a .pdf here. (the .pdf will look a lot crisper, i swear!) it was created to fit an 11"x14" frame. since i'm ALWAYS out of color ink, i had mine printed thru staples copy & print and had it mailed to me. the closest in size i could get was 11"x17" so i'll just trim the excess before i put it in the frame. i'll try to remember to get a pic of the holiday mantle when it's done :-)

again, i've never done this before so if it doesn't work out properly or i've done something wrong or could've done something better, etc. please let me know!
***********************************************************
edited: i'm noticing that some of the fonts aren't showing up properly. if you find that to be the case and you'd like a copy of this printable, just leave me a comment and i'll send it to you!

deck the halls…..

let me begin by saying THANK YOU to all of you who participated in the ‘secret’ thanksgiving day sale and the black friday/cyber monday weekend sale event! you like me! you really like me! :-P

so, aside from checking my emails every five minutes, i spent the weekend doing holiday things with the family – picking out the tree, decorating the tree, decorating the house…..but before we did that, i finally purged my collection of decorations! it was a long time comin, lemme tell ya but definitely worth it!

every year, i do my mantle differently. partly because i like the variety. but mostly, because i can’t remember what i did last year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the rest of the living room:

usually, i just decorate the living room but now that little man is a bit older, i tried to do at least small touches of christmas in other rooms, too….

i’m a lousy photographer but i’m very happy with how the house has turned out. so warm and cozy :-D i love decorating for christmas!

 have you done your holiday decorating yet?

This & That.........

Congratulations to all who survived the first round of holidays and in-laws. One down, two to go! I enjoy the holiday season but it can be stressful, even more so now that I'm a wife and mom. It seems the expectations rise about 100% with those titles!

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, it used to be Hubby's tradition to put the tree up. I say "used to" because that's not happening this week! I'm still trying to catch up and resume my normal schedule. However, I did start working on the outside. He put up the lights and I managed to get one flower box done:

What do you think? I still have 2 large boxes to do in front of the picture window but it's a start. I also put big, red bows on the doors but need a few more to hang from the exterior light fixtures and 'porch' rails. This is causing me a dilema:

I had originally thought to fill it with pine cones but I'm not sure that will work. I also thought about ornaments...........suggestions, please!!!