Eating in the Shower: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

DIY Valentine's Day Craft : Hearts Tree

Taking down all of the Christmas red is always a little sad and can make the house seem as cold as the air outside. While I was shopping the after Christmas sales this year, I kept finding red decorations that would be just as cute for Valentine's Day. Because I'm planning a Valentine's Day first birthday party, I've started to get the house ready and I'm loving having bright red all over the house again. So if the house is feeling a little blah after taking down the Christmas glitz, just do what I'm doing and throw some hearts all over it!

I used red felt hearts to trim the same white spray painted branch I use all of the time and instantly brightened and warmed up the foyer. Love it. I'm still deciding whether to keep it in the entry or use somewhere else at the party so more pictures to follow!

One of the best bargains I found after Christmas was a stack of wild looking sparkly floral accents. They were 90% off because they were a holiday item so each stem was about 30 cents. Even if they end up being a tad sparkly at Christmas, for a Valentine's Day party centerpiece or mantel, I love them.

I'm having so much fun planning a Valentine's Day party as crazy and a little sad as it is to me how fast this first birthday has arrived. There are a lot of hearts flying around here and I'm loving it.

Heart of Gold Ornament

Even though I doubt there's a gift teachers like to receive more than a gift card, I wanted to make something to include with it for our son's teachers.

I used a sparkly sequined paper to cover an mdf heart and created a shiny ornament with a message on the back that we appreciate their heart of gold.

To keep the paper from tearing and to keep the tiny little bits of sequins from falling off, I coated the heart with sealer before threading the rope back through.

I wrote a message on the back with a gold marker.

I might use the ornament as a gift tag on the gift card box. I think it would also be really cute to make a gold star for a teacher gift!

G is for Grateful

It was hard not to give in to the temptation to decorate for Christmas this week when I put away all of the Halloween gear but a fall chill in the air and the leaves finally turning put me in the mood for Thanksgiving style around the house.

I had this fall leaves wreath above the door.

Just inside the front door a green and brown vase is filled with fall colors. Even though I don't love fake flowers, this time of year the faux seems to work.

The foyer table has a horn of plenty pine cones and the same spray painted white branch I've been using around the house since a New York Easter it spent as an egg tree.

I like to stuff the horn of plenty with dinner rolls on the Thanksgiving table but pine cones and gourds work in the meantime. (and I just like saying horn of plenty)

For the mantel, I took away the orange but left the white pumpkins from Halloween. I added the 'Grateful' leaves canvas I made with my son and some sparkly flowers that I've used in the past to decorate a grapevine wreath.

Nearby some paper leaves and a 'Count Your Blessings' pumpkin warm up a corner of the living room bookcase.

There are only a few simple fall items here and there throughout the downstairs, leaving it room to breathe for the next few weeks until I cover every inch of it in Christmas cheer. But right now the only thing I want decorating the kitchen is the pumpkin bread.

Trash to Treat: Candy Corn Pumpkin Stands

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love candy. Halloween is a tempting time for me because it ends up being such an all out treat fest. I decided this year that I wasn't buying candy for trick or treaters until the morning of Halloween because if it's in the house, I'm eating it.

So it's no surprise that when I looked at this black Ikea FNISS trash can, I saw an upside candy corn. Can you see it?

Trash bin upside down plus orange, white, and yellow paint, equals candy corn!

The trash cans were already being used for plant stands so my candy obsession is only partially to blame. Over the summer I bought two for $1.49 each and used them as stands for ferns on either side of the front door. They're just the right height for our entry and much cheaper than any other planter or stand available.

I knew they could double as pumpkin stands for our carved jack-o-lanterns and again as stands for our fall mums.

Because the can is a series of rings that act as a guide, painting the three sections was easy and I rolled it on without taping.

I'm already planning my red and white striped candy cane Christmas tree bases!

Christmas Tour: A Trip Down Ornament Lane

Each year we get to take a look back and are reminded of our travels and life together when we take our Christmas ornaments out to decorate the tree. This December is our tenth wedding anniversary, the twentieth Christmas we've known one another, and our last Christmas as a family of three!

Over the years, whenever we traveled somewhere new, we tried to find ornaments for our tree and it makes me smile to hang them up each year and remember the people and places associated with each one.

When we were first married we lived in San Diego and the purple grapes ornament was from a trip to the Thornton winery in Temecula.

When we lived in Switzerland and took trips to Prague we picked up the sun and wooden nesting ornaments that have smaller pieces inside.

I love our collection of wooden ornaments from Christmas markets in Germany and France. They come in handy for lower branches that little hands can reach because they're sturdy.

The Eiffel Tower Santa was from an anniversary trip to Paris and reminds me that we had plenty of dinners out before we had to carry a diaper bag with toys, crayons, and sippy cups.

The Beefeater is from a trip to London filled with museums, shopping, and so much walking.

All of the kids love to pull the string and watch this wooden toy soldier's legs and arms go up and down. We picked him up on a trip to the black forest in Triberg, Germany to find our cuckoo clock.

Another one of my favorite wooden ornaments is the two tone harp I found in Killarney after driving a rental car there myself to go shopping (on the opposite side of the road) while Steve was working.

When we were moving back to the states from Switzerland, a friend gave me these Swiss cow bell key chains to hang on the tree each year and I have ever since.

The fleur-de-lis is from the trip to New Orleans where I first found out that we were going to have a baby. That's all I'm reminded of when I see it even though that trip was filled with so many sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that could come to mind.

From that point on most of our new ornaments looked like these:

All of our travels and experiences led to the biggest adventure of all. Next year when I unpack the ornaments we will have another tiny face to frame in a baby's first Christmas ornament, another little hand to print, and (another moose to add to the moose family.)

Thankful for My Favorite Time of Year

We took a long walk around the neighborhood today and even though there are houses with Christmas decorations up already, it was the most perfect fall day with leaves falling on us as we walked and a bright blue sky. It may still be a little too warm in Georgia to remind me of fall in New York but it's getting there!

It is tempting to start putting up Christmas decorations early but we have so much to be thankful for I can't let myself skip right over Thanksgiving.

Instead of rushing through my favorite time of year to get to Christmas decorating, I like to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to deck the halls and then I just leave it all up until February.