I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...Tree!

I love white Christmas trees. They are so clean and beautiful. We have a traditional green tree in our den, but I began a quest last year for a white tree to go in our foyer. I actually found almost all the ornaments before I found the tree. The balls came from Target and I bought them after Christmas last year at 75% off. I really liked the colors: turquoise, purple, hot pink, gold, and bright green. Amby was with me and we were so distracted by Target's cool bargains that we lost track of time and almost missed a movie we were going to see. (We made it, though. Sherlock Holmes - really good) 50% off is great, but I truly love anything that is 75% off. It is then practically free, and very hard to pass up.

After a long and diligent search, I found this beautiful tree at Garden Ridge. It was originally $300. I paid $100 for it on Black Friday (are you supposed to capitalize black?). It was the last one, too. I absolutely love it. It turned out to be more beautiful that I had imagined.

Gil fashioned the continuous scarf up the stair rail.

An aerial view.
We decorated it with really fun ornaments, with our tiny Roman in mind. I wanted it to be magical. I LOVE this nostalgic Santa. I found him at Smith's Variety last year at 75% off.

Smith's also had these fun Dr. Seuss-esque ornaments...

...as well as these cute mittens.
Another whimsical ornament from Smith's.

A cute gingerbread man Zac picked out from Garden Ridge.

And, of course, sock monkeys!
This is a Martha Stewart kitty cat from Kmart last year. Her products are at Macy's now. I liked it better when they were at Kmart.


I still had these little mantel decorations from when I was little, circa 1960.

This Santa was part of the mantel scenario. My dad thought he needed a bag of toys, so he used one of his socks and filled it with kleenex. I'm so glad I still have it.

Sometimes it's fun to break with tradition and do something different for Christmas!

Printable Christmas List

I am busy getting ready for Christmas and have several projects going. Since none are ready to post yet, I thought I would post a cute download I found on one of my favorite blogs, All Sorts. It is a cheery printable Christmas list to help you keep up with upcoming tasks in an organized manner. And I, for one, will take as much organizational assistance as I can right now. I printed mine on card stock and I am using one for each stocking I am filling, which is a total of 5. You can find it here. This is how it looks. You print three at a time.

Here are a few previews of upcoming posts:

A garland made of fabric strips and twine.

A stocking for my little Roman! It's getting monogrammed this week and I will put it together this weekend.

Bleached bottle brush trees. Hopefully I will have these done today!

I have at least two other projects I am going to try to finish. Stay tuned for more crazy Christmas fun.

Diaper Burp Cloths

This is a fun and easy way to make really cute burp cloths out of cloth diapers. I found this adorable idea at Chickpea Sewing Studio. All you need are cloth diapers and scraps of cute fabric. If you want to buy new fabric just for the burp cloths, 1/4 yd is more than enough to make two of them.

Wash the diapers and then press out nice and flat with a steamy iron:

I really don't measure. I cut the fabric strips wide enough to turn down a nice edge on the sides and the ends. Then I press it down.

Pin and sew around all the edges. I used a simple zigzag stitch for these, but you can use something more decorative if you want to.





This cute way to present the burp cloths also came from Chickpea Sewing Studio.






And for a related craft, the burp cloths I made for Amby went into this basket (from Michael's), along with other gifts I had for her. I made the tag from scrapbook paper. You can buy the baby alphabet beads at Michael's, too.




These burp cloths are really fun to make and are great to go along with another gift, or just by themselves.

Personalized Baby Blocks

This is a fun project that would be perfect for a baby gift or shower decoration. It is a little time-consuming, but if you are like me, you enjoy the process as much as the result.

Supplies Needed:

unfinished wooden baby blocks
unfinished wooden letters
acrylic paint
paintbrushes in various sizes
scrapbook paper
glue

I was in a little bit of a hurry when I made these and didn't take enough photos. Sorry. My first step was to paint the 2 sides of the block where the letters were going, which become the front and back. Then I painted the letters in a contrasting color. You will be able to see that at the end.

Using the block as a template, I traced around it onto the area of paper I wanted to highlight.


I used the paper on 4 sides of each block. I attached it to the unpainted sides.

I applied Alene's Tacky Glue to the paper and adhered it to the block.

I trimmed all overhang with a scissor.

Then I glued on the letters. I applied Mod Podge in a matte finish and over sanded, but neither of these steps is necessary.

These are for my grandson, whose first and middle names happen to be the same length. That's because he has cool parents.

Right now, they are on the bookcase in "his" room at my house.

A Facelft for a Built In Bookcase

This is a project we did back in May of this year. We have a built-in bookcase in our guest room  in dire need of a redo. In anticipation of my grandson, Roman, I decided to cheer it up with some fabric and add some of Amby and Zac's favorite children's books. This is the before picture. It was a little tired.

Gil helped me take out the shelves.

The room is an apricot with turquoise accents so I chose a fabric that would coordinate with that. I found this fabric at Joann's.

I ironed on a fusible web to the fabric to give it body. Then I trimmed it to fit. Gil applied spray adhesive the the back of the bookcase and we attached the fabric.

I added a coordinating piece of fabric to the top and bottom to hide my raw edges and add a little interest. This is the top:

And the bottom:


It added some fun and brightness to the room.


I filled it with treasures.


I made these blocks for Roman (obviously). My next post will show how I did it.

The back sides of the blocks spell his middle name.

The books are a mix of Amby and Zac's, and also some of mine.

Gil bought this mama and baby raccoon for me when I had Amby. They were waiting for us at the house when we came home from the hospital with a sign that said, "Welcome home Vickie and Amby." I still have the sign, too.....sigh.

I painted the lids of two Ball jars and filled them with marbles to use as bookends. It took me a while to find marbles, but I finally found them at Homewood Toy and Hobby. It seemed like marbles were everywhere until I actually started looking for them.

This is the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. I bought it for my Dad when I was in Disneyworld in 1973. The smile on his face reminded me of him. He loved it and always kept it on his desk. Needless to say, it is very special to me.

These books were a series that my mom ordered for me. I got a new one in the mail every month.

This is a three-car grouping of a wooden train Gil had when he was little. He still has the rest of it and I'm sure it will get lots of play time soon. The train is sitting on top of a set of Highlights magazines  which belonged to my brother and me. The sock monkey is there just because he is cute and I love sock monkeys.


I found this adorable mouse at A'mano in Mountin Brook. His matchbox bed reminded me of Tom and Jerry cartoons, and books like The Borrowers, where the characters used found items to repurpose into useful furniture for themselves. I love him and I named him Maddox. I know Roman will enjoy playing with him.

I actually have more adventurous plans for this bookcase which involve an entire apartment for Maddox. More to come.