MERRY and BRIGHT

Merry Christmas everyone!!!


I'm about a week late but it has been so crazy around these parts I haven't had a second to even look at my Christmas pictures or even look at our gifts. It was a lovely Christmas with our family.  With a special surprise from my uncle on Christmas Eve. He flew up on December 24th and showed up at our Christmas party. It was so special to have him there. Reminded us how much we miss my Aunt Susan. We were all so worried about him in the days leading up to Christmas it was so very nice knowing he was ok. He even got snowed in with us because we had a white Christmas in NY! We have actually had a lot of snow this week and its snowing as I type. Another 3-5 inches on top of the 6 inches we got Wednesday. I guess winter is really here. I'm currently planted on my couch for the next 2 days. Strep throat has reared its ugly head. Perfect time to catch up on blogging!

I'd love to share all of our holidays moments with you.

Feast of the 7 fish. 

AMAZING

Mom in her element. Cooking for 20 people! 

Grandma and her grandkids! 

Uncle Tom is here!!! 

Best friend! 

Dad's expression when he opened his snow blower was priceless. 

He has already used it and it works perfect.

Mom's reaction was equally as awesome when she opened up her Matchbox 20 concert tickets.

My gift to Brian. 

 Just hope he doesn't lose a finger using his new power tool. 

He tortures my mom. 

My favorite boys playing with their toys. 

I can't believe its all over! I'm excited for the new year and all the great things I hope it brings for our family and yours. 

Happy Holidays! 

DIY Invitation Ornament

This last year numerous friends of ours celebrated momentous occasions in their lives. This year as part of their gifts I created a holiday ornament made of their invitations and announcements. I made several but I'd like to keep their ornament a surprise until we exchange next week. I'd like to share the ornament I made to celebrate our wedding.

As many of you know my husband and I were married in April. We had plenty of left over wedding invitations, direction cards, and RSVP cards. I kept my bouquet as well. This was super easy to create. I purchased a glass ornament from Michael's and started filling up the ornament some of my dried wedding flowers. I started to cut long stripes with all the cards I mentioned above. I rolled them around a pencil. When I had a good spiral and the bottom layer of the ornament was filled with flowers I added in spirals. I topped the ornament off with a gold bow and popped it on the tree!

Simple but so meaningful. I love ornaments with meaning. This one is perfect. I just hope my friends love the ones I made for them as much as I love this one.


Have a wonderful weekend!

DIY Bridesmaid Gifts...

To be honest I have never been a fan of the "typical" bridesmaid gifts. I have so many engraved jewelry boxes I can't even keep track of and jewelry I'll never wear again.  I'm not big on stuff especially things that take up space. So when trying to decide what to get my girls I knew I would have to search for some ideas. I was lucky enough to win embroidered tote bags but I had to be sure I filled them with goodies.

During the winter I was lucky to find $1 flip flops in Old Navy. Just because it was my lucky day they were all in greens and yellows! I ALWAYS change from heels to flats or flip flops at weddings. I hope these keep my girls toes happy.

All my girls love their wine, like me, well except for my 12 year old cousin! I got all the "of age" bridesmaids plain wine glasses and my cousin a mug. The BIG ones! I got them for $1. I purchased paint pens and let my inner crafty bide run wild.

I purchased an expensive Sharpie paint pen and I hated it.
 The cheapo Walmart paint was  so much easier to work with. 

My fave is the M glass.
Just so happens my bridesmaid told us she is expecting so that glass may not be used for a little while.  

The green dress is a similar design to the bridesmaid dresses.
You can't see but the bottom of the glass also has my Maid of Honor's name.
The mug has adorable flowers similar to the the J glass.

I figured I would include a nice bottle of wine. To go along with the wine theme I got them a cute wine coaster.

I also got my girls some other goodies. Tissues, nail files and another favorite of ours, Starbucks gift cards!


I'll show you the finished product when I get all the goodies in order.

What where your favorite DIY projects?

How about brides, what are some of your wedding DIY projects?

Favorite Gift...

Linking up with Michelle

Although I am so blessed and would have had a wonderful holiday with out any gifts under the tree I was lucky enough to get tons of great things. 

Here are some of our goodies:

My favorite new Christmas ornament, a Cairn Terrier who looks just like Bogart

My future SIL had this beautiful slate for hand made for us. Its beautiful!

My aunt gave us this family frame. Can't wait to fill it with pictures from our wedding. 

I bought Brian the Steve Jobs Autobiography. 

I always tell Bri he is my computer wiz! 

My future SIL nows how much I LOVE/HATE the snow. 

Silly joke

Brian got me perfume, Ralph Lauren Romance. 

He likes the scent and he thought I'd like to wear on our wedding. 

I'm not so sure of it yet. I'm not a perfume girl so I'm trying. 

I love that he tried really hard. 

Its also sitting on my new favorite blanket. 

New sweater, Spa gift certificate, New gloves, necklace and Old Navy Fleece blanket.

My future SIL also got us our Pizza Stone from our registry and made a pizza night basket, wine, sauce, dough, and some chocolate almonds and strawberries. YUM! 

Pint glasses from my brother

Handmade pie plate my future MIL made us. 

Gift certificate heaven, tons of coffee, restaurants, Sporting Goods, Home Depot

A beautiful platter from my mom. I know it means so much to her. 
Along with some new candles.

AND MY FAVORITE GIFT OF THE YEAR IS...

Well, I can't really decide so its a tie. 

This year's Christmas Story Ornament! 

Ralphie says "Oh Fudge"

AND

That Elements Spa gift bag! 

My gift certificate for a day of relaxation at the spa!

Thanks Brian.

I can't forget to mention the very generous gift from my parent's to add to our wedding fund. 

Thanks mom and dad for everything, always! 

What did you all get for Christmas?

Stocking Stuffer Swap

Hello friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I'm dealing with a mean holiday hangover. I'm still feeling a bit sad that it is all over. I always feel bummed the night of Christmas just knowing all the fun and planning is over. I always feel a bit down about the winter as well. I have to be grateful that we have had a very mild December. This time last year it was freezing and snow was EVERY WHERE.Anyone else feel down after the holidays? I plan on posting a about our Christmas adventure at some point this week.

A few weeks ago I joined in with Faison and Stephanie's Stock Stuffer Swap. This was my first swap and I was really happy with how fun it was to shop for some one I didn't know and hoping she would love the stuff I picked for her. I was teamed up with Lindsay from Our Lovely Life. If you would like to see what I got her you can check it out here.

SO CUTE!
Almost to cute to open up!! 

Here are all of my goodies:

Mrs. Meyer's Hand Soap. Lindsay swears by it. Can't wait to try it!

Trapp Candles. They smell awesome; fresh and clean scents. I have already started burning them in my bathroom. Makes me morning shower so much nicer!

LePens: Red and Green

Pocket Bac from Bath and Body Works. I love these. I have them all over. Car, desk, purse and this apple scent is the perfect addition!

Recipe Cards: Brian and I love to cook but we never write down recipes. Hopefully these will make us start because they are beyond cute

Coffee Notepad: I am a huge coffee drinker!

Candy cane:  So going to add this to my hot coco! 

and my absolute favorite gift...

Thymes Bath Salts: The Rose scent is incredible. The box even smelled amazing. I added it to my luggage over the Christmas holiday so my clothes had this fantastic smell too.

 I have already placed an order with Thymes for their lotion! 

I love the little note Lindsay included with all of my gifts. 

Lindsay, thank you so much for my gifts. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoy mine. 

This was so much fun. I really appreciate all of the new products you introduced me too. 

Thank you again to both Stephanie and Faison for hosting. 

Happy Holidays! 

DIY Christmas Gift, Coasters

This year I'm making DIY drink coasters for our families. I found this great project on Pinterest

The materials were easy to purchase and extremely affordable. I picked paper that would coordinate with our families' living or family rooms. The music notes are for B's grandmother who is a piano teacher and provides lessons in her home. The beach theme is for my aunt's North Carolina beach house.

I cut the paper a bit smaller then the tile. 

I added Mod Podge to the tile, laid out the paper and added more Mod Podge. Be careful not to add to much. I did and it created creases on some.

Let sit for a few hours. 

Add some Tacky Glue and felt squares. 

The next day I added the clear gloss spray paint to seal. 

I added a sweat little message and a bow. 

Tiles: $.16 a piece

Scrapbook Paper- $.01-$.59 a sheet

Felt: 

Mod Podge: $6

Clear Spray Paint: $5

Tacky Glue: $1.0

Paint Brush: $.39

MERRY CHRISTMAS!