The little Christmas details make the home..

After my longest hiatus from the blogosphere, I am back!

Two things really made me take this long break.

1) The Sandy Hook tragedy really hit home to me. No, I don't know anybody there personally, but this horrendous event just struck that tender chord in my heart being a mom myself of a kid the same age as most of the victims. I just felt I had to let my feelings out by being "silent" for awhile.

2) The holidays have been extra busy for us this year too with family and friends coming in and out of our home. A very welcoming type of "work" that me and my family are still enjoying.

I did not want to end the year on a sad note. So to finish it off, I'm sharing the the extras of my Christmas decorating adventures this year...

Our beautiful Capiz Lanterns from the Philippines

Smaller Capiz lantern with garland and ribbon

Our Ball-filled Lamp Bases - one of them actually
broke after a unplanned game of tag! :-(

Extra-glittered trees I got from TJ Maxx topped with Capiz stars

Our simple Holiday Entry

Wha'ts on top of our piano

Coffee table Vignette

Front Door lights

Pathway lights

Our home

Wishing you all a very HAPPY & BLESSED 2013!!!!!

Linking back to...

Savvy Southern Style

12/14/12

Praying for the victims whose lives ended too soon, without any reason, cause or explanation...

Praying for the families whose loss and agony cannot be fathomed...

Praying for this country, that real change can come to prevent similar incidents..

source

We mourn with the town of NEWTOWN, CT.

Snowflake Chandy

If there was a Christmas-aholic Anonymous out there, I would be in it.

I can't seem to stop so far and now, I even decorated the chandy above our stair case!

Hung snow-flake ornaments in various sizes

BEFORE

AFTER

Ornaments 75% off with coupon from KOHL's covers the bulbs

This chandy just makes me SMILE whenever I see it. :-)

Have a Nice Week!

Linking to Serenity Now,  Tuesdays Treasures , Carolyn's Homework& Holiday Home

The other side of our Christmas Living room

Just wanted to share our Media Center in the Living room which joined in on the fun too..

Glittered Gift wrap paper wrapped on my foam boards to change the look

Then I just added our other Christmas Knick-knacks all around!


Nothing fancy, like I said just something to tie in the whole room together. :-)

Have a Great Weekend!!!

My First take on an Advent Calendar

I have always wanted to make an Advent calendar for my kids.

So when I saw this...

Cassie's Cute Advent Calendar over at "Hi Sugarplum"

... I immediately knew that this would be the type of Advent calendar I could do and try to tweak into my own version in the very limited abount of time I had - like 2 days before Dec. 1st?!:-)

So, by using these...

Old Magnetic White Board

Some Magnets & Favor tins from "Hobby Lobby" + a Paper Mache'
Ornament star

 Plus some foam stickers, contact paper that I already had.

I came up with this...

Tada!

You may be thinking where the numbers are right? Well they are inside, at the bottom of each tin!

See..



And on the flip-side, I placed small notes from Mom and Dad about the type of gift they'll be getting for that particular day!

I Then added the candies.. ( M& M's and Cadburry)

Here it is with all the gifts for all 25 days

Most of the gifts are just candy and fun knick-knacks from the Dollar Store, but I think they will enjoy opening and finding out what the gift for the day is. :-)

My little one was the most excited when he saw this and opened the first tin early in the morning!

Thank you so much Cassie for sharing this wonderful idea!!!

Have a happy week!


Linking back to Dare to DIY, Tuesdays Treasures, Carolyn's Homework, Holiday Home

White & Bright Christmas Mantle

I hope your not getting tired of this Christmas series yet, I 've got a lot more to share for the season.
Case in point, out mantle...

White and Golden

I was seriously planning to change the entire mantle/fireplace surroung overall, however, because of the holiday season, I will have to push it off for next year. I mentioned before that I really dont like this mantle very much, but you learn to live with it. And since I can't change it, of course, it has to join in on the fun for the holidays right?!



Our old wreath just gets a fresh dose of mesh and ribbon-
same ones I used on my tree to tie it together with the rest of the decor



Just love these Lighted Orbs

I got these lighted orbs from Lakeside Collection  for $26 all three! It has LED lights with it and it is gorgeous! I can't find them online anymore though, they are probably sold out of these beauties.

The Bottle brush tree is an oldie from Crate and Barrel, Stocking holder is from the Dollar Tree.

3 stocking for my 3 babies :-)  Yes, I had to have one for the baby we lost earlier this year...

Add caption

There you have it, a wintery white mantle for the holidays!

Have a great week!

Linking up to Christmas Mantel Decorating Ideas



How to make a Mesh Ribbon

 You've seen most of my home this year and I would just like to share with you how I made the mesh ribbons/bows around my house.

This ribbon

I used to bows for my wreath.

Hope this helps next time you want to make your own uniqe bows for the holiday season!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Linking back To Serenity Now, Doodles & stitches, Holiday Home