Nostalgic Christmas Tree & Making Memories

  Christmas is almost upon us! Which actually gets me a little sad that this magical time will soon be over, but before it is, I wanted to share more details of our nostalgic Christmas tree and some of the memories we have been making this holiday season. 

I shared my full holiday home tour last week, but our tree is pretty special to me since we received several of my grandparents' ornaments. Both of them passed away earlier this year (my grandmother in January and my grandfather in March), so it has been a time of loss and remembering. I am grateful to have these small mementos to keep their memory alive in our home.

Holiday Home Tour 2015

This Christmas season has been special for me. With a three and four year old, it is absolutely the best time of year, so I have been taking things slow to savor all of the sweet moments and create lasting memories. I decided to hold off on doing a holiday home tour post for just that reason, but I'm happy to share it with you today.

I was invited to two large group tours and was a bit sad to turn them down, but I knew it would cause me a lot of stress getting our home all done up the week after Thanksgiving. I wanted to take my time and not get lost focusing on what everyone else would be impressed by, but what would make every day magical for my little ones. So that is what I am sharing today: our kid-centered, real life holiday home. I hope you enjoy the "visit"…

Christmas in the Living Room & A $500 Raymour & Flanigan Giveaway!

I am proud to be partnering with Raymour & Flanigan for this post. I have previously received products featured in this post from them, and they are sponsoring this generous giveaway. All expressed opinions are 100% my own. Read my full disclosure.

Today, I am thrilled to be taking you inside our living room decked out for the season! Since I have yet to share a full holiday home tour, I hope you enjoy this "mini tour" to get a taste of how we are doing Christmas this year.

I am also very excited to be joining with four other bloggers, each with their own holiday inspiration, and giveaways for $500 to Raymour & Flanigan! You can find more details about that at the end of this post.

DIY Advent Calendar & Festive Holiday Mantel

I have been sponsored by Command Brand and received product for this post. All expressed opinions are 100% my own, and all additional products selected were chosen by me. This post also contains affiliate links*. Read my full disclosure. 

Decorating for Christmas has always been a favorite pastime of mine. Some years, however, I let the pressure to have a "perfect holiday home" get to me, and lose the joy the season brings trying to get it all done. This year, instead of trying to tackle decorating our entire home and going over the top everywhere, I decided to focus on what would bring my children joy and fill their little hearts with wonder. What better way than a homemade advent calendar?

Today, I hope you are inspired by how I made it with some simple materials and I'm also excited to give you a glimpse of our festive mantel.

Upcycled Glam Napkin Rings

Early in December, I shared a post over at Yellow Bliss Road for my Glam Napkin Rings that were featured in my holiday home tour at the end of last last year. It was my last guest post over there, and today I am resharing it with you here!

These napkin rings are very versatile and don't just have to be for a Christmas table. Depending on the embellishments you could use them for any occasion all year long. I could definitely see the red and white ones working for a special Valentine's dinner for two.

Here is the original post:

Whimsical Thread Spool Garland

After a long, much needed blogging break I am back! A lot happened over the holiday. Some glad, but there was a tone of sadness over it when we found out my uncle was diagnosed with cancer the day before Christmas Eve and he doesn't have much time left. And then we lost my grandmother on January 6th. She was not in great health, but it was very quick and unexpected just the same. It has been a rough few weeks for my entire extended family…prayers are welcomed!

I am now easing back into blogging and wanted to start with a post that I worked on before my break but never got around to sharing. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things this new year, but with more balance and less pressure than I felt near the end of last year.

Today, I have an easy and whimsical diy project for you: a thread spool garland that I made with my children in mind. Originally, I had planned to use it for a small Christmas tree in the playroom, but ended up preferring it on its own. I simply hung it from a peg rack on my daughter Hazel's side of the bedroom mixed with a few Christmas touches.

Vintage Stacked Book Christmas Tree {inside our mantel}

Last month, I shared a project over on Jennifer Rizzo's blog for an unconventional Christmas tree that I set up inside our mantel. I literally thought this up on a whim one afternoon while the little ones were napping. I had no idea how much it would inspire people. The images of my vintage book stack Christmas tree are some of my most popular on Instagram, and I am constantly hearing people say how much they love it. This was even featured on Country Living's Facebook page and one morning I saw that the Junk Gypsies shared the image on Instagram (with credit to their Pinterest boards <—insert my sad face here).

Who knew? I certainly didn't when I set it up. I am resharing that post here today in case you missed it!

I am currently on a blogging break and will return in the new year!  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Here is the original post:

White Christmas Home Tour with Sweet Biscuit Paper and Press

I am so thrilled to share an amazing holiday home tour with you today! My dear friend Tina Lowery of Sweet Biscuit Paper and Press has the most impeccable style and an amazing talent for filling her home with special touches. She is a creative genius. She doesn't have her own blog up and running yet, but in the meantime, she has graciously allowed me to share her home with all of you!

Tina and I have never met in person, but have been online friends for several years. I truly consider her one of my dearest friends and love that we have grown so close through emails, texting and social media even though she lives in Florida and I in New York. Whenever I make it down to Florida next, meeting her will be at the top of my "Must Do" list! I hope you enjoy this little "visit" into her home as much as I have enjoyed putting it together for you. Every detail is filled with charm and love. Her style is mainly white with whimsical touches, a good mix of vintage and modern and creativity at every turn.

Vintage Inspired Hot Chocolate Station

If you recently came to take my holiday home tour, you would have seen the hot chocolate station I set up in the kitchen. If not, I am sharing the full details of it here today! I went with a vintage inspired theme and my whole family loves it. Although, I keep catching my kids stealing the marshmallows 🙂

This was the first year I set up a hot chocolate bar, but I think it will become a holiday tradition now.

DIY Feather Snowflake Ornaments

Last week, I was excited to participate with several other bloggers for a Trim the Tree Party hosted by Clean and Scentsible. I shared an easy diy tutorial for making snowflake ornaments out of feathers. I am sharing the original post here with you today. I hope you enjoy! I only made the four in the post, but am hoping to find some time to do more soon for our tree. I am loving how they look on it!

Here is the original post:

Creating Christmas Party: Rustic Christmas {Holiday Home Tour Part II}

I am so honored to be partcipating in Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson's 'Creating Christmas' link party this week! She asked me to share my "Rustic Christmas" home with you, and I can't wait to welcome you inside to take the tour. And this is a party, so at the bottom, link up your own Rustic Christmas inspiration with us. I can't wait to see what you have to share.

Yesterday, Lynn from Shabby Story shared her "White Christmas" home. Did you see it? If not run over there and check it out…it is gorgeous!

Today, I will be sharing the second part of my holiday home tour.  I have all new photos to share with you. I am pretty much the queen of "too many photos" so I hope you are ready…If you missed my first, which was part of Jennifer Rizzo's 2014 Holiday Housewalk, you can check it out here or at the bottom of this post. There are tons of photos in that post too! I "chatted" a lot in that post, but I will try to keep it to a minimum today.

DIY Rustic Boho Twig Arrow Ornaments

A few weeks ago, I shared a tutorial for my rustic twig arrow ornaments over at Yellow Bliss Road. They ended up being quite a hit and were even featured on Country Living's website recently! Today, I am reposting them here in case you might have missed it. These ornaments were the beginning inspiration for our Christmas tree this year. I hope you enjoy this tutorial!

Here is the original post:

20 Creative Ideas for Christmas {Sundays at Home No. 40 Link Party & Features}

Welcome to Sundays at Home No. 40! Today, I am excited to share an awesome round-up from last week's link ups: 20 Creative Ideas for Christmas. I think you are going to love all of these projects, decorating ideas, and recipes as much as I do.

At the bottom, please link up your latest home decor, DIY and craft projects, recipes and more that you have recently shared on your own blog as well as items offered for sale in your own online shops! I am looking forward to your inspiration!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram or Facebook to get tidbits of my life throughout the week. And to see what is inspiring me, you can follow my Pinterest boards :)

Making Spirits Bright in the Playroom {with Holiday Wall Decals}

I received product from Wallternatives™ in exchange for this review. All expressed opinions are 100% my own. Full Disclosure Policy.

If you recently stopped by for my holiday home tour, I mentioned some new additions to the playroom that are bringing all of us some Christmas cheer. I love adding lots of whimsy to my children's playroom, especially at Christmastime. When I happened upon the Boy Meets Girl Reindeer Removable Christmas Wall Decal Set available from Wallternatives™, I knew it would be the perfect touch. This set is from their new Jennifer Rizzo Designer Wall Decal Collection. You all know by now how much I love Jennifer Rizzo, right? Seriously, she is mega talented.
When I first saw this set on the website, I knew that my children had to have them. Okay, maybe I was a teensy bit excited for them myself. At Christmas time, I am still just a kid inside. 

Holiday Home Tour 2014

I am so excited for this day! This is literally a "blog dream" come true for me! I am revealing my holiday home tour for you as part of Jennifer Rizzo's Holiday Housewalk. If this is your first visit to my blog, I am beyond thrilled that you are here today! Please make yourself right at home 🙂 If you are a regular…I treasure your visits to this little blog of mine.

I am stop six on the tour…and there are a ton more so you are in for some real holiday eye candy!

Glam Christmas Throw Pillows {Holiday Thrift Store Challenge}

A few weeks ago, I invited several of my blogging friends to participate with me in a challenge: spend under $25 at a thrift store to create unique Christmas decor, either by giving the items purchased a makeover or including them in a creative vignette. I was thrilled when 29 lovely bloggers got on board with me and am so excited for the inspiration we have to share today! You will find all of their projects listed at the end of this post and are going to love the creative ideas these ladies came up with!

I came up with this challenge after a trip to the Salvation Army, when I found two gaudy, black Christmas sweaters. Even though I wouldn't wear them as is, I was drawn to their glitz and glam, which is when I decided they would make the perfect throw pillows for my holiday decor this season. 

 I am going for a sort of "eclectic boho glam cabin" look this year <—-if that could even be considered a style? Well anyhoo…

DIY Printable Christmas Village {Anthropologie Inspired}

Today, I am thrilled to be participating with several other talented bloggers to bring you tons of early Christmas inspiration and free printables! I created a diy holiday village for our mantel and for you! Simply print it off, cut it out, and voila…instant Christmas town for you to display with your festive decor.

A few weeks ago, I saw this gorgeous ceramic village set from Anthropologie, and I fell in love with it. It is by a very talented artist and has a charming, illustrated style which I love…

Rustic Boho Arrow Ornaments

Hey everybody! I am popping in today to let you know that I have a fun and creative Christmas ornament tutorial over at Yellow Bliss Road! I am making a lot of ornaments for our tree this year and these are the first batch…rustic boho twig arrows…

Head over to Kristin's blog to check out the full post and instructions!

Christmas at the Cabin: Holiday Inspiration 2014

I have partnered with Balsam Hill for this post. All opinions are my own. 

Can you believe Christmas will be here soon? I know, I know…today is Halloween, and I should be stuffing my face with candy and thinking about trick-or-treating, but honestly, Christmas is already on my mind. And you know what style you can never go wrong with? A rustic, cabin Christmas.

Now all of you "Don't-you-dare-put-a-Christmas-decoration-up-before-Thanksgiving" folks out there, please don't get me wrong…I am not about pushing the holiday ahead, but rather making it last longer. It always comes so quickly and I would hate to only get to enjoy it for a few weeks, you know? I want to savor each day from now until the new year.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas {in July}: Three Styles to Inspire!

Christmas in July is here at last! Remember a few weeks back when I held "A Little Christmas in July" link party? Well today, the 25th of July, I have a round-up of twenty-five festive decorating ideas, in three inspiring styles, for you to enjoy in spite of the summer heat.

I hope you will stop by a few of the features that catch your eye, and let them know how they have inspired you!