Tissue Paper Snowflakes

More winter crafting has been going on over here. 

Easy winter crafting of course. 

We have been decorating our walls with tissue paper snowflakes. 

They are super easy and the kids think they are the coolest thing ever. 

They said that opening them up to see what the design looks like is just like opening a present.

And they are so amazed at how each one is different. 

In case you are a little rusty on your snowflake making skills see the step by step pictures above. 

 Happy snowflake making! 

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

I love the snow. 

I'm just not a huge fan of the cold. 

Actually I am a giant wimp in the cold. 

I just got a pair of fleece leggings which are amazing. 

People keep coming up with the best inventions. 

Like these. 

They totally make fake trees a million times cooler. 

Anyways...remember over thanksgiving break I told Kenzie we could do a craft every day?

Well we made 3. 

Not quite everyday but she was happy. Maybe I was a little over ambitious. 

If you missed the first two check out our Q tip Snowmen paintings and our Cherrios Christmas trees. 

For our third craft we made giant Popsicle stick snowflakes. 

I think they are technically called craft sticks but you get what we mean.

I had a bunch of step by step pics of the kids making them but I can't find them anywhere. 

Luckily they are super easy.

First we painted the craft sticks with white and silver paint. 

Once they were dry I glued them into the snowflake shape.

Then I let the kids decorate their snowflake with glue and we sprinkled glitter on top.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy (as Mackenzie would say). 

Then we stuffed them into our Christmas tree as decoration.

Festive and fun. 

Paper Butterflies

Oh Spring,

how I love thee!

If this doesn't scream spring,

I don't know what does!

I'm thinking a little corner of our house is definitely in need of some butterflies.

Don't cha think?

I couldn't agree more!

Check out the details on how to make a super cool butterfly sanctuary for your home HERE :)

Felt Valentines

There is no such thing as too much mail

(felt mail that is)

or too many Valentines.

Here's a special set of Valentine inspired mail

I whipped up for my little mail lady.

lovey. dovey. felty. fun.

A Natural Christmas Part 2- "Let it snow" ornament

I love the snow.

Especially during the holidays.

It makes everything look so much more festive.

However, I'm a total wimp when it comes to cold weather

so I'm glad I don't live where I get to enjoy the snow up close and personal.

I'm more of a sit inside by the fire while I drink hot chocolate and look at the snow through the window type of gal.

If you are a snow lover like me

you will love these adorable winter ornaments.

They bring the snow and the outdoors inside

without the cold weather :)

All the crafty credit for these cuties goes to my friend Cyndi who came up with or found the idea online (not sure which it was).

But I did help her make them and take all the pictures

(that counts for something, right?)

And I documented the how-to for all of you :)

You will need:

-clear glass or plastic ornaments

-fake snow

-little bits of tree branches, glittery sticks, leaves, berries, etc. (anything really that you would like to put in it). You can find lots of this kind of stuff at Michaels or right in your front yard.

-funnel

-hot glue

-ribbon, fabric, or string to tie on top

Step 1:

Fill your ornament with fake snow.

Step 2:

Take a few pieces of your branches, berries, twigs, etc. and gather them together into a bunch.

Put a dab of hot glue at the bottom to keep them all together.

Carefully put your bunch into the ornament.

Throw in some extra leaves for loose bits at the bottom if you would like.

Step 3:

Tie a bow on the top with some string or ribbon.

And ta da!

A wintery ornament for your tree!

A Natural Christmas- Birch Wood Wreath

My friend Cyndi is a crafty genius.

She headed the Christmas decorating for our church this year.

The "theme" was natural, organic looking decorations.

None of the typical red and green stuff.

Lots of birch, burlap, silk, snow, etc. instead.

I can't wait to show you all of the different things we (she) came up with!

First, a birch wood wreath!

Enjoy!

a wreath made from pieces of birch tree

topped off with a burlap and silk bow and some pine needles.

Oh and little glittery branches tucked into the rings of wood for some bling (can you see them?).

Since it might have taken Cyndi all year (or at least all month) to make all the decorations herself, she threw a crafting party at her house.

A bunch of people from the church came to help make all the decorations.

We drank apple cider, ate yummy goodies and listened to Christmas music while we talked and laughed and got our craft on.

It was a blast!

I took pictures of each of the different projects as they were being assembled to share with all of you.

Your welcome :)

To make the wreath:

1. Beg some gardeners to give you the birch trees (or any tree really) they just cut.

2. Have your hubby cut the small branches into rounds. (About 1/2-3/4 inch thick)

3. Lay the rounds into a circle shape as see above. Using an electric drill, screw the pieces together from the back.

4. Once your wreath is assembled, add a bow and decorate or embellish as you like!

view of the wreath from the back so you can see how the pieces are assembled and screwed together.

And there you have it.

A unique and beautiful Christmas wreath!

*After I took the pictures Cyndi decided to add a little snow to the wreaths to spice them up a bit more. I'll try to get an updated picture to show you.

Advent Calendar

I love advent calendar's!

The anticipation of counting down each day until a holiday arrives is so much fun.

Plus it's fun to take a couple minutes each day to talk about why we actually celebrate the holiday at hand

and in the case of Christmas

we are celebrating such an awesome and monumental event

The Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus!

Definitely an event worth looking forward to and talking about with our kids...a lot!

Last year I made this advent calendar for our family.

I still like it but...

when I saw this one I fell in love.

So so adorable!

Check out the details over at Mod Podge Rocks.

Thankful Garland

love.love.love. this idea!

Jennifer at Tatertots and Jello made this adorable Thanksgiving garland.

Each leaf represents something your family is thankful for.

What a great way to teach our kids to give God thanks for all the things he has blessed us with!

Now if only I had a cute mantle to put it on :)

Fall Garland Tutorial

I love fall.

The cooler weather,

hot drinks,

pumpkin flavored goodies,

fireplaces, etc.

I used to have a bunch of cute fall decor but since the move I haven't come across any of it.

I'm pretty sure it's still buried in storage somewhere.

Anyways, that didn't stop me from doing a little fall decorating.

I just decided to make something of my own.

I wanted something to have the essence of fall

without being overly pumpkiny or the typical orange and black.

(I love fall but I'm not such a big fan of Halloween).

Lately I have been loving the combo of navy and mustard so I used that as a base and then added some browns, cream and grays to go along.

Once I finished the garland it was a little plain for me

so I decided to add the words "give thanks" to spice it up a bit and

also as a reminder to me and my family what this season is really all about.

Giving thanks to God for all that he has so graciously and abundantly blessed us with.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

In case you want to make some super cool fall garland for yourself I included the how to below :)

Step 1:

Cut a small, medium and large circle out of card stock to use as your pattern.

Mine were approximately:

Small- 1 1/2 in.

Medium- 2 1/4 in.

Large- 2 3/4 in.

Step 2:

Using your templates, cut a bunch of different size circles out of felt (in whatever colors you fancy).

Step 3:

Line your circles up in a pattern that looks good to you.

There were no rhymn or reason to my pattern.

Step 4:

Sew your circles together one after the other until you have a long string of garland. Just keep feeding the circles under the sewing foot as you go. Oh and make sure you leave a tail of string at the beginning and end to hang it from.

For the "Give Thanks" sign:

Step 1:

Print off the letters for your sign in the font and size of your liking.

Hold the printed letter over a piece of card stock as your template and cut through both layers at the same time.

Repeat until you have all 10 letters cut out.

Clip onto your garland with clothes pins and attach your letters.

*When I tried to clip the letters to the garland itself the letters kept flipping over so they were upside down. So I ended up taping each letter to the bottom of the clothespin instead. It worked just fine.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Fall!

Quite possibly my favorite smell ever.

Today my house smelt like fall.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Yankee Candles.

Their spiced pumpkin candle is quite possibly my favorite smell ever.

It's pure

cinnamon. pumpkin. cozy. fall. happiness.

I will probably be smelling it every day through November

and I'm totally not exaggerating.

Then once December hits I will switch to my second favorite smell ever.

Oh how I love the smells of the seasons.