Let's Decorate: In the Living Room

My goal for March was to decorate.  We've been here long enough now that most things place, and I haven't rearranged the living room in 4 months, which means that I've finally found a layout that works best.  So now for the fun part, the sprinkling in of details and personality.  The bummer is that by the end of the month I felt like I had barely scratched the surface.  But I DID get some things in place.  And to make me feel better about it, I'm numbering them.  Numbers make me feel like progress has happened. :)1.) Cushion for my desk chair.

2.) Kids seating solution/Rollie Pollie.

3.) Add mood lighting.  

4.) Hate the new lamp's shade and re-cover it.

5.) Hang peg board in my little office nook.  (Notice on the blue paper Jayce drew a picture of me with my hair in a high ponytail and my bangs!  The details he takes into account are so funny sometimes, and I love it.  My Mother's Day card says "I love my mommy because she always kisses me."  Sweetie.)6.) New pillows!!  I love these so much, yes, I made them and yes, those are zippers!  Questionably installed or not, they are zippers.7.) Conceal the monstrous eye sore/air conditioner that you can see here.8.) Wall art above the piano.  

(Plan A didn't really turn out, and I hate to be a one-trick pony, but a big chalkboard in a semi glitzy frame, in the middle of a light-colored wall just looks cool to me.)

9.) Add color.

10.) Add plants.  

Run out of cash to buy plants, so clip pretty branches with budding white flowers and stick them in vases around the house.
11.) Add some sort of Easter decor.  (Remember, this was in March.)

That's that for the living room, but I think that 11 things in one month in one room isn't too bad.

The kitchen got lightly decked out as well, but that is for another day.

Like tomorrow.

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Our Christmas House

(**I'll just start by saying, I don't think anyone still is interested in talking about Christmas decor.  I wrote this post a month ago, a month!, and it's been sitting in my drafts for all of that time.  So dagonit, I'm going to publish it.  It just so happens that a few things that were sprinkled around my home were making their way slowly, ever so slowly as gifts to friends and family in the US, so I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  Now that the boxes have finally landed, here goes our little tour.**)
Our Christmas decor and furniture arrangement changed several times over the course of November and December.  Since we've only lived here for a few months we are still trying to figure out exactly how to make the space work for us, and adding extra things to a small space, like a tree, requires some finesse.  Regardless of all of that, this was how it was set up on the day I went around with my camera. :)

Decorating for Christmas was tricky because I was pretty much starting from scratch.  We are still buying "settling into a new space" type of things, (purchases like shelves, and curtains are still on the horizon), and with Christmas around the corner there wasn't extra money to buy brand new decorations for every bit of the house, so I had to get creative.  Which I like.

I started off by getting some family pictures printed that we had done just before we moved.  I decided that the oversized mirror, that is hung slightly low for my preferences, would become our makeshift mantle, and adorned it with some photos.

For actual Christmas decorations, I looked at what I had on hand and it was fabric, so I spread it around the house in many forms.  

I made this wreath out of a bunch of random things.  You wouldn't know it, (I hope), but underneath these pretty stripes is a skinny twig circle, some fluffy carseat strap covers, generic sham wows, and a lot of packing tape.  But I love those skinny green stripes on the outside, and that's all that you see. Bakers twine is all around the house as well.  Jayce used it to string up our Christmas stockings,
and I used it for the fabric Christmas lights, which are sprinkled all around the house, the tree,

and hanging over the kitchen window.

Our tree has been a constant reminder to me that I never finished decorating, and this week I decided that I'm okay with that.  We had the tree for about 10 days before I made it to the store for Christmas lights.  (It arrived the day that Chris left for the US and while Jayce had the stomach flu.)  I got these plastic Christmas balls when I got the lights, and Hannah has been constantly removing them to throw around the flat.  So the ones that are on the tree are all on the top half.  She also removes the fabric Christmas lights that I made, and Jayce will periodically pick them up and put them all back on in basically the same spot.  Also, less than a week after we lit and decorated the tree, one of the strands of lights burnt out.  The underneath strand.  Meaning I would have had to remove 2 strands of lights to get rid of the burned out ones.  So I've just left it.  But it looks great at night when all of the other lights in the room are off. :) 

The best part of our tree is the angel on top that Jayce made at church.  I love it.We've been getting daily use of our Advent calendar, although I'm starting to get a little sick of it to be honest.  Maintaining enthusiasm and creativity for 25 days is a row is a little draining, but it's still fun.The kids still play with the nativity scene, or more accurately, Hannah destroys the nativity scene and Jayce periodically comes over, wrestles the little figures from her hands, and sets it back up.  

But the other day the she was playing with it, showed me the baby, kissed the baby, and then proceeded to kiss all of the other people.  Then she made all of the animals baaa.  Sweet!
I made an assortment of fabric trees from Tiffany's tutorial.  Every time that I started through my stash for something, I would find another fabric that I thought would be cute and have to try it out.  By the time I started wrapping these as presents I had quite a little collection, and this photo doesn't even have all of them. :)  But I love them.I also had a little obsession with felt this year.  I cut these circles for a garland while Chris and I were watching a movie, and I would periodically lose the pile. Then I would glance over at Chris, who had picked them up, and would be absentmindedly stacking, unstacking, and sorting them through his hands.  It was really hard to resist touching them.
But eventually I sewed them all together and strung them up.
Okay, these have been up since October.  Before Halloween.  But when you have something so bright and fun to add to your plain white window, it's hard to just sit on it and wait.I also made these felt polaroid ornaments with photos of our family.  (Can you tell that they're polaroids? Some people couldn't. Chris.)  

They were kind of a hassle to make, but totally worth it.  I love them.  I wanted to keep them all, but I didn't.Then there was the felt tree.  This thing moved all around the flat, and gave a little festivity to the kids' play area.  I had grand ambitions for making ornaments and other things to dress it up, but that never happened.  They ended up using leftover circles from the garland, and that was enough to make everyone happy.  The kids liked it, and both ran over to decorate it at least once every few days, so it was worth it.  I'm sure I'll do more with it in the future.Speaking of "happy," I put up this little "Happy Christmas" sign as well, which was originally from the kids' birthday party.  I realized that I only needed to make 3 new lettered cards to change the sign from "birthday" to "christmas" so I went for it.  I originally planned to change out "happy" to "merry" but again, that took a backseat, and it still served it's purpose.  Plus, they say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas in England, so it worked.

Aside from that, I sprinkled Jayce's handmade goodies around as well.  Our cinnamon ornaments, his Christmas card to us and Santa goodie holder,

and the wreath we made together.I strung up our Christmas bunting clothesline in the kitchen, and it gradually got switched over to Christmas cards, which we admire while we eat.And that's pretty much it.  There is a bit more, of course, but these are the main things we'll remember about our "Christmas house," from our first Christmas in London.  Warm, happy, and a bit home made. :) 

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Advent

I am one of those people who think that the anticipation of something is almost, if not, just as fun as the main event.  When my birthday rolls around, one of my favorite days is the first day of my birthday week.  It means the fun is just beginning.  (Though we often "celebrate" by me getting my way in things like what we have for dinner or what tv show we watch.  It's not that I'm showered in gifts all week.  But picking dinner or which show sometimes feels like a gift.  End of rambling.)Anyway, I think this is one reason why I love celebrating Advent with Jayce.  It's hard to not get swept up in the excitement of Christmas with him.  

Also, it takes some of the pressure off of Christmas Day itself.  If we spend the month anticipating the fun, reflecting on the meaning, spending time together, talking about important things and just for fun things, then it's okay if there is a bit of crankiness, or impatience, or anything else on the actual day.  It lets us all be human on the 25th without having lost any of the meaning behind the holiday.  That's what I think, anyway. 

So this year, I made Jayce a little Advent calendar with the supplies that I had on hand.  I had been dreaming big for what kind of Advent Calendar I might make, but on December 2, already a day behind, I just pulled out my little tub of supplies and went easy on myself.  I removed a (never used) shelf from the bottom of our coffee table, wrapped it in festive paper, and propped it against the wall in the living room.  I taped up little clotheslines, stuck numbers to cards strung on the line, (leftover from last year's calendar), and hung little ornaments from each clothespin.  To start, I left all the cards blank, and I filled them in one at a time, usually on the night before.I know that some people do really amazing things throughout the month of December, but I decided to keep ours fairly low key.  I got a small stack of Christmas books from the library, and a smaller stack of Pound Store goodies (like the Dollar Store, but in pounds, obviously.)

The first few days I wanted to remind Jayce of what we were celebrating at Christmas, so he unwrapped a book with the nativity story.  Later in the week his activity was to set up the toy nativity set.  This was serious business.  He kept the box nearby and looked back at the book for reference as to where all of the animals and people should be placed.  There was usually a countdown as to how many days until Christmas as well.

One day he unwrapped some festive window stickers.  

One day we made a wreath together.  (I was so proud of him, it's great, right?  I cut out the leaves, he glued them.  Then he wanted to punch out the berries and I glued those. I love it.)

One day he unwrapped some ribbons for us to wrap presents with, and another day was stamps (that I already had) for him to make Christmas cards.  Another day he got this little tote to color in.  Several days he got a "new" (library) Christmas story to read at bedtime.

Some days I just wrote down things that I knew we were going to do anyway, like watch a Christmas movie and have a family picnic, which we've been doing on Fridays.  Some days he got to have a piece of Christmas candy, and pick out one for each of his family members as well.  He didn't get a present every single day, but it's funny how even basic things can sound fun when described with a little enthusiasm.  "Do you want to write Christmas cards for your friends at school?  Yeah!  Let's go!"

With less than a week until Christmas and no travel on the horizon, I think that the last week of the Advent Calendar will be filled with at home family goodies.  Cookie making (and maybe delivering), popcorn and a movie, hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows, books read with funny voices, and heightened anticipation.  I can't wait.  Neither can Jayce.

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Chalkboard Clothesline Christmas Card Display

Like many of you, I love receiving Christmas cards. But a few weeks into the holiday season I start to get more and more annoyed as they repeatedly slide down or go flying off of the refrigerator door every time that I open or close it. True, the problem is me and my desire to display them on the fridge, not the cards themselves. So I found a fabulous solution that was easy and inexpensive, a Chalkboard Clothesline Christmas Card Display. :)

This is a bit reminiscent of my craft room clothesline photo display from this summer.

I got this large frame back in the summer at the thrift store, and when I walked up to it I immediately thought to myself, Chalkboard! It's huge (42" by 33") and perfect for such a task. Once I got it home, I realized that it is an old Kirkland's sign. Pretty cool, huh? No wonder the frame was a bit ornate, and it was only $2.50!!! No way I could pass it up. It has been sitting in the garage ever since waiting for me to decide on a final destination for it, and I finally did.

I took the cardboard out of the frame and painted it with a coat of chalkboard paint. Then I hot glued some cotton twine in 2 rows on the back of the cardboard and popped it back into the frame.

I made this little pendant banner for that in-between time, when Christmas season has already started, but there aren't quite enough cards to fill up the frame. I wanted to keep it from looking too sparse in the beginning.

I also stamped some little Christmas symbols on the backs of a few of the flags as a shorter alternative to the Merry Christmas message.

Of course I hung each little flag (and card) with my favorite teeny tiny wooden clothespins, which you can get at any craft store.

And that's it! I love how the frame and the black background look against my walls, and that it makes a perfect and neutral matting for a variety of seasonal pictures and well wishes!

You may want to switch this out for a larger piece of art or something that is normally on your wall, as it has to be on the big side to adequately hold a bunch of cards. I personally decided that this frame needs a permanent presence in my kitchen, and it will have to evolve seasonally as it is the only thing that's big enough to work on this long blank wall beside my table. I may just remove the clotheslines and use the chalkboard.

Have a wonderful Christmas!!!

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