Favorite Things of 2013

 Melissa from 320 Sycamore is hosting her annual Favorite Things party. It's kind of like Oprah's favorite things but much more practical for us thrifty people. I thought it would be fun to put together my own list for 2013. So sit back and grab a cup of cocoa (don't forget the marshmallows) and enjoy my favorite things of 2013.

Christmas Evergreen Spray

Hello again! The holiday season is in full swing at my casa. I love this time of year! It usually goes by in a flash because we are always super busy and I am really trying to take the time to make memories with my little girl. Of course I have also been working on some holiday crafts around the home. The theme for my home this year is simplify! I have really been trying to use what I have rather than buying new. One thing that I thought would be fun to make was a little Christmas spray for my back door.

I cut some branches from my pine trees to create a small Christmas spray. I have also heard from others that you can go to Lowe's or Home Depot and they will give you the clippings they have from their evergreens for FREE. You might want to call your local store before you go. :)

I used three small branches and tied them together with some twine. I tried to lay them flat and began to wrap the twine around the branches and then tied off the twine. 

I then tied some twine around a plastic ornament that I already had. I then hot glued some ribbon to a pinecone and hot glued the pinecone and ornament to the tied twine on the branches. 

I found this burlap bow in the dollar spot at Target. I tied it around the branches to finish off the spray for the door.

This project took about 15 minutes to put together and I had all of the supplies on hand with the exception of the bow.  It makes me smile every time I see it on my back door. I also love how simple it was to make! 

I am linking to:

Little Miss Celebration
Debbie Doos: Pinterest Blitz
Home Stories A to Z
Savvy Southern Style
Rain on a Tin Roof
The Lettered Cottage: It's Fall Y'all Linky Party

Monogrammed Pinecone Turkeys

Long time no blog! How are all of you doing? I am looking forward to the next few days to spend with my family! We are hosting Thanksgiving at our home this year. This is the first time in all of my 8 years of marriage to be hosting. I feel a little pressure to make sure everything is awesome, you know like Clark Griswald awesome! Well, I thought it would be kind of fun to make place holders for the kids table. And you know my story about all of the pinecones I got from my pine trees this year. So, I thought I could make something fun and Thanksgivingy for the kids. This is such an easy craft and takes no time at all to make.

SUPPLIES

Pinecones

Faux Leaves (Dollar Tree)

Googley Eyes (Dollar Tree)

Pipe Cleaners (Red and Orange)

Scrapbook or Construction paper

Hot Glue Gun

I don't have a pattern I used for the turkey head. I kind of just started drawing and came up with something that looked like a head. I then used my first drawing as my pattern for the turkeys.

I took my pipe cleaners and started creating a circle and flattened it down. Once I had the circle flattened I then folded it in half to create the feet. The red pipe cleaner was also folded in half and then I cut off the excess.

I sat the pinecone upright and then glued two faux leaves to the back of the pinecone, added the face, googley eyes, gobbler and feet. I then used my Cricut and printed out the letters for each of the kids. 

I think these little turkeys are going to look adorable sitting at the kids table! 

I wish you all a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

Witchy Halloween Mantel

Hello friends! It feels like it has been forever since I wrote a post about things around my home. My life is crazy from October through December so it doesn't leave much time for blogging. Please bear with me for the next few months as my posts get shorter and shorter. I did want to share with you my Halloween mantel for this year.  It is themed around my favorite musical of all time! Are there any Wicked fans out there? 

Here is a picture of the fireplace from top to bottom.

These two little birds came from the Dollar Tree. I think the fuzzy owl is pretty cute!

I got this little pumpkin at Hobby Lobby forever ago! I thought he looked good sitting on a stack of books.

No Wicked mantel would be complete without a witch's hat! The hat was purchased at Pier1 about three years ago. I buy a lot of my seasonal decorations after the season has ended because it is super cheap!

I hunted for black and white striped tights forever. Finally, Wal-Mart had some in their Halloween section this year. I think they were about $3.00.  I just stuffed some plastic bags into the tights to make them look more like real legs The witch's broom was bought at Target this year as well and was also about $3.00. The shoes were in my Goodwill pile and were originally black. I am so glad I saved them before they were donated. 

I bought the poster when I saw Wicked in Chicago 5 years ago. My husband and I went for my birthday which just happens to be around Halloween.  Such a great show!

The cut-out bats were bought at the dollar store along with the cloth swag!

I really wish I could keep this mantel like this all year! It is one of my favorites.  Do any of you decorate for Halloween? 

I am linking to:

Little Miss Celebration
Debbie Doos: Pinterest Blitz
Home Stories A to Z
Savvy Southern Style
Rain on a Tin Roof

eShakti Blouse Review

Disclosure: I received this shirt in exchange for a review of eShakti's product. All opinions are 100% mine. EShakti is also an affiliate of Keep Calm and Decorate. 

Hello friends! eShakti  has asked me to do a review on one of their products. Are you familiar with eShakti? Eshakti is an international fashion design company that offers customized clothes for women size 0 through 36. You can have any outfit customized to fit you. They have  a great selection of clothes that includes blouses and dresses. One of the main reasons I chose the blouse that I did was because of the cute owl print.

I promise you I washed this mirror before taking pictures. :) The blouse had a cute bow around the neck and I liked how it looked with the sweater. I think the top could have been cut a little tighter around the neckline, it just felt a little sloppy. I do have small shoulders and could probably get the top more customized.

I absolutely loved the owls print. The fabric felt soft and light weight, but you will definitely need a sweater if you live in colder weather. 

  

Here is what the shirt looks like without the sweater. I had it tucked in when I was wearing the sweater just so it didn't look as sloppy. It looks cute with skinny jeans and boots. The nice thing about eShakti is if you don't like the length of the shirt you can choose a different length at check out. So overall, I do like this shirt but I think I would probably order a smaller size just because of how the neckline was cut on the shirt.

I am linking to:

The Pleated Poppy

 

19 Awesome Thrifted Frame Makeovers

I am so excited to be able to share with  all of you this collection of 19 awesome thrifted frame makeovers at Hometalk! WE all want to save a little money, right? And the price of frames can sometimes cost a small fortune! That's why I love buying thrift store frames.  I think you might surprised by what you can do with those outdated thrift store frames.  Just click on the picture below to see all of the awesome ideas!

Hometalk is the largest home home and garden knowledge hub on the web. It's fueled by the firsthand experience and advice of hundreds of thousands of home enthusiasts and professionals. So, while you are checking out this board you should see what other great things Hometalk has to offer! Hometalk also has a Facebook page.

Warning: Be prepared to be inspired! :)

Pinecone Garland

Happy Thursday Friends! I don't know if I told you this already, but I love fall. I think October is my favorite month of the year. The weather has just been beautiful and the trees are changing colors. I wish it could stay fall all year long. My pine trees as you might remember from my pinecone wreath finally produced enough pinecones this year to fill several buckets full. I have been trying to come up with ways to use them in my seasonal decor. I thought it would be kind of fun to make garland to fallify (totally not a word) my entryway. 

This was such an easy project. I think it took maybe 30 minutes from start to finish.

SUPPLIES

Dollar Tree Leaves 

Twine

Pinecones

Hot Glue Gun

The first thing I did was cut my twine, I cut mine to about 6 ft. 

Next, I tied the twine around the pinecone and added a little hot glue to the tie to hold it in place. I tied the twine closer to the top of the pinecone. I just kept adding pinecones until I had enough to fill up the twine. 

Once I had all of the pinecones added to the twine I hot glued the leaves in between each pinecone.

I love how the garland turned out and it makes my entryway feel so cozy and fallish. I also love how cheap and easy this project was to make. 

I am linking to:

Little Miss Celebration
Debbie Doos: Pinterest Blitz
Home Stories A to Z
Savvy Southern Style
Rain on a Tin Roof