Happy Holidays

We are taking the rest of the year off from projects and blogging. We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season with your family, and we thank you for following along with us the past two years. We will be back in 2014 to share some more projects with you.

These amazing photos were taken by my friend, Michelle. Please check out her Facebook page at Michelle Albright Photography.  We are definitely looking forward to celebrating Christmas this year with two more little people. 

Framed Holiday Art

I found some lovely paper printables on Hostess With The Mostess last year and printed them off.  I did not have a plan to use them then, but I decided that this Christmas I would have a great reason to use them.

I then took some gold and silver vinyl and cut out some holiday shapes on my Silhouette Cameo. I then just added the cut out to the scrapbook paper printables.

Then I framed them and put them up in my living room for easy decorating. 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you are having fun decorating your home for the holidays.

DIY Holiday Gift Wrap

I have seen some great ideas for some DIY wrapping paper on Pinterest over the years. I took some Sharpie paint pens and some brown packaging paper and created some designs of my own.

Wynn has been very nice this year as you can see. I thought this was a fun way to make some wrapping paper and not have to worry about a tag as well. The little bow will make it easy for Wynn to unwrap it.

Here is the second type of wrapping paper I made using the same supplies as the first example above.

I just used the markers to create a festive chevron pattern and a song lyric. It was a lot of fun to create my own wrapping paper decoration with the Dollar Tree packaging paper. This paper is a lot more sturdy than the every day wrapping paper too, and I like that it does not easily tear.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wish List Ornament

Wynn has been reeling off items she wants for Christmas for months. I thought it would be cute to commemorate what she asks for each year on an ornament for her own tree that she has to decorate herself.  With the new additions to the family I thought we could create ornaments for them as well for their first Christmas.

I used acrylic paint, wooden tags from Michaels, paint Sharpies and a paint brush.

I painted the wooden tags, and then used the paint sharpies to write the Christmas lists on the tags.  These are not fancy by any means, but I think it will be cute to go back over the years to remember the most wanted gifts. 

Here is how the ornaments turned out. I cannot wait to see them on the tree that Wynn decorates each year.

I obviously could not fit all of Wynn's list on the ornament, however, these are the top four most mentioned gifts she would like to receive from Santa.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you like this quick and easy project.

Christmas Mantel & Other Holiday Decor

Here is my simple and sweet Christmas mantel. Given that I have limited time on my hands I knew I had to put together a mantel that would require little work on my part. I took my recently created cabinet door chalkboard and created a sign.

I also took my glass outdoor lantern I scored at Lowe's on clearance at the end of the summer for $7 and filled it with silver and gold ball ornaments. I placed a larger tree on the opposite side that scored from Marshalls a few years ago. 

 For the sign I took a candle wreath I purchased last year on clearance at Michaels for less than a dollar and made it the "O" in Joy.

Just nearby under my television I added some more holiday decor pretty quickly as well. It is nice now to be able to pull some things out of bins that I can use each year instead of shopping for new decorations.  I took a few pictures of this space to share with you as well.

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pottery Barn Inspired Holiday Sign

I found a super cute extra large sign on the Pottery Barn website. I wanted to create a scaled down version to be a part of my Christmas decor this season. I found a leftover piece of wood in our scrap pile that we seem to have accumulating in our basement. I grabbed some tan and red paint and some paint brushes to get working.

I painted the board red, and then cut out some letters on my Silhouette machine. I placed the letters on the wooden board.

Then went over the entire board and letters with the tan paint.

I wanted the sign to appear rustic and older, so I was not concerned with any bleed through under the letters. I was actually hoping for a little bit actually instead of the paint looking perfect.  Then I rubbed some sand paper over the entire piece to make it look a little more distressed.

Here is the sign from PB that inspired my scaled down version for this project.  I really love the size of it, but obviously not the price tag.

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Pottery Barn

Thank you so much for stopping by!  

Cupcake Wrapper Coffee Filter Wreath

This is the wreath that just keeps on giving. I have been able to use the main part of the wreath four times now for various seasons. I love it and wanted to incorporate it into my Christmas decorations this year. It really saves on time to use it over and over again, and it is amazing how it comes out differently each time as well.

Here is my original post on how I created the wreath to begin with: Coffee Filter Wreath.

I took off the cupcake wrappers from the Fourth of July version, and added some red and white chevron patterned wrappers to get it into Christmas mode.

I like to keep these wreaths simple. I only added some red snowflake coasters to the wreath, and that way I feel like I will be able to keep it up past the Christmas season as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Special Day Wedding Gift Idea & Target Wedding Registry

My sister is getting married in the spring, and when I was asked by Target to share ideas on what to purchase for a registry gift I thought it would be a perfect opportunity.  I had not been to Target recently when I was mostly at home due to being so far along with the twins. I was so excited to get back in there, and I was so amazed by all the new products they have in stock. 

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target.

I'd love to hear about your favorite wedding gift that you received. I am always looking for new way to give a thoughtful gift to newlyweds. Please feel free to comment below to share your gift idea or even what you have done for someone else on their special day.

Here are some of the great items that I checked out and was considering for a potential gift for my sister and future brother-in-law.  I loved all the natural wood and gold colored items that I saw. 

I eventually decided on an acacia wine rack for $24.99 and a set of white wine glasses that were on sale for $20.00 to purchase using the $50 gift card I was provided with by Target. I absolutely love this wine rack. The best part is that they are stackable, so you can buy a couple more to make even more room for the wine in your collection.

 To give the gift a little more special I added tags to the bottles of wine that say the following: First Anniversary, First Christmas, First Valentine's Day, First Dinner Party, First Fight and First Baby. I saw this adorable idea when my friend Emily had her bridal shower a few months back. 

The have many registry gifts that I received when I was married seven years ago that I definitely love.  The KitchenAid Mixer is one of my favorites because I use it to bake cookies and other baked goodies with my favorite girl, Wynn.

Target

It is always nice to have large serving bowls on hand for every day dining and entertaining. I really love this rustic style serving bowl.

Target

A gift that every couple needs is beautiful frames to display their beautiful wedding photography in once they are married. This frame caught my eye because I know it is something that would match the style my sister is going for in her wedding.  You could even frame the invitation for the bride and groom if you wanted to do something special.

Target

I really love this bar cart. I actually got to see it in person during my trip to Target, and it looks beautiful. I think this would be super fun to do as a group gift maybe from the wedding party, and then load it up with bar essentials.

Target

I loved all the simple place settings that they had in the store and online. These could be used for casual and formal entertaining. This type of setting is definitely what I see my friends and family registering for more nowadays instead of fine china.

Target

Thank you so much for stopping by! Do not forget to let me know your favorite wedding gift that you have given or received. I am always looking for new ways to make a present more meaningful for the recipient.  

Snowman Ornament Kid Craft

I was looking for something fun to do with Wynn for her own Christmas tree. I had purchased some clear ornaments from Michaels, and decided we could create some snowman ornaments together.

We used some tissue paper, cardstock, glue and the ornaments to put them together.  Wynn filled the ornaments with strips of tissue paper. 

I decided to use tissue paper because it does not make a huge mess when you are filling up the ornament. You could use sugar, salt, beads or just about anything white to fill in the ornament. Using tissue paper also allowed Wynn to fill them up almost 100% on her own, and she enjoyed doing it.

We made a couple for her tree, and she really loves them. Now, we just have to get the tree up sometime soon so she can add them herself. This only took about fifteen minutes to complete with a three year old. It was a lot of fun, and was something we could do while the two little boys cat napped.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wooden Advent Calendar by Mellywood's Mansion

Hi Guys,

I'm Mel from Mellywood's Mansion and I'm so excited to be here baby sitting at Our Pinteresting Family today, while Megan and Rob are busy welcoming the twins. As a mother of 5 I think I'm busy, however, I think a 2 for 1 baby arrival would have me beat!

Anyway given that they love all things Pinterest I thought I would make one of my pins a reality. I have seen these wooden advents all over the place and every year I swear I will make one. By the first of December, it goes on the "to do" list for the following year, actually that list should be renamed "the things I pretend I am going to do" list since it seems to grow longer all the time.

So I did go out and buy one of those wooden kits, first thing I will say, the instructions on putting them together aren't great, in fact they're kind of non existent, so try putting it together before painting just to see how it all sits.

Then I painted it in a lovely Christmassy red colour.

Searched Google for some vintage pictures for the main display. I'm not a die hard vintage person but I love vintage style Christmas Cards. Chose a graphic, printed it and stuck it on.

Then I chose a range of different scrapbook papers and stuck them onto the advent boxes and finally ticked wooden advent off that list!

Last year I made this adorable (self praise...very reliable!) bottle cap advent for my daughter, which you can see here.

Or for some Christmas Decor you can see my Santa Boot Centerpiece here

Thanks to Megan and Rob for letting me babysit here today and thanks to all of you for reading. I would love for you guys to come visit me at the Mansion or follow at any of the below places.

Mel xo

I'd Be Delighted If You Followed Mellywood's Mansion!