Holiday Ornament Exchange Link Party!

November 14, 2015November 13, 2015Leave a comment

Welcome everyone!

I am helping host my first ever link party! Remember the pinecone ornament I posted earlier this week? It was part of an ornament exchange and now you will have the chance to see all the ornaments and link up your own homemade ornament!

Welcome to the first 2015 Holiday Ornament Exchange!

Want to see all the amazing ornaments we have shared?

We are linking up all of our ornaments in the link below so everyone can see all the beautiful handmade and/or store bought goodies we came up with!

Let’s all get inspired this season!

The Hosts of the Exchange~

We want to say a huge “Thank You” to all the blogs that shared the exchange announcement on their sites, we could not have done it without you! Hugs!

Make sure to visit all the other wonderful bloggers of the 2015 Ornament Exchange! All of their incredible creations are linked in the link party below.

We want to see your ornament tutorials too! Show us your creations by adding your post to the party below! Please add only ornament tutorials to the party. Thank you!

An InLinkz Link-up

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We Received A Blogger Recognition Award Plus We Are Doing A Giveaway!

November 11, 2015November 11, 20155 Comments

Blogger Recognition Award

This is a sponsored post and I was compensated. The views and opinions expressed on this post are purely my own.
 Compensation for this post was provided by Parrot Uncle.

Guess what? We were nominated for another award by a wonderful blogger! This award is the Blogger Recognition Award and we received it from Katrin over at KreativK. We nominated her for the Liebster Award a few months back and now she is returning the favor. This award is for Encouragement, Accomplishments and well, Recognition. It acknowledges a bloggers capabilities in a motivating way. Thanks so much Katrin!

Katrin has such great ideas on her blog! She redecorated her little (big) girls room and has started some awesome Christmas decorations. She has lots of great DIY’s too. Go check out her blog!

Because we are so excited about this award, we are having a giveaway! You can read more about it at the end of the post.

Here are the rules if you accept the award:

~ Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

~ Attach the award to the post

~ Write a post to show off your award

~ Give a brief story of how your blog started

~ Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers

~ Select 15 other bloggers you want to give the award to. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.

~ Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them.

How Our Blog Started:

I had been reading blogs for a couple of years and really enjoyed reading and seeing what other people were doing in their homes. I enjoyed doing crafts and decorating too. Lauren had moved out of the house and Haley was graduating from high school, so I was looking for something I could do to keep busy. I had mentioned it to Lauren, but wasn’t sure what I would blog about. She encouraged me to blog about our home, decorating, crafts, and family. I encouraged her to join me, so she could help me navigate all the unknown of blogging. It took us awhile to figure out how to even start, and we are learning more each day. I have really enjoyed having a place to show my work and my ideas and I am really glad Lauren is along for the ride!

My Advice for New Bloggers:

Try to do a little research first. Find out what you want to blog about. Read up on different areas of blogging. Then, just get started! I had researched quite a bit before starting, but there is no better way to learn, than to just jump in! The first year, or more, is a huge learning curve, but just stick with it.

We also do lots of link parties. Really try to get your blog out there and use social media too. There are so many great bloggers out there where you can find great advice and suggestions.

Okay! Here is my list of nominees:

These are all wonderful bloggers! Please check out their blogs. I follow each one of them, although they might not know it.;) They have great ideas, designs and stories.I have been inspired by each and every one!

Now onto the giveaway! ParrotUncle is giving away this beautiful Mediterranean Style Curved Pole Green and White Tiffany Table Lamp. Their selection is just beautiful!

ParrotUncle is a specialty retailer striving on satisfying your home lighting requirements. From living room to bedroom, floor lamps to pendant lighting, from bathroom to hallway, mirror lighting to wall sconces, they are dedicated to offer you the best quality and the largest selection of home lightings fixtures. From antique tiffany lamps to cottage chic handmadewooden lamps, you can enjoy the warmest light and most decorative style for your house. You can check out more of their lamps here. Just complete the Rafflecopter below to be entered. The giveaway will be held for one week and we will notify the winner by email. Good luck!

Thank you again Katrin for nominating us! I love how the blogging community supports each other and encourages each other as we work each day.

Please leave us a comment below to enter. Just click on the Rafflecopter Giveaway link. Also we would love to have you follow us! There are follow buttons at the top and bottom of the post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you all for joining us today!!

Paper Pinecone Christmas Ornament-Ornament Exchange

November 10, 2015November 10, 201551 Comments

Hi everyone! I have something special to share with you today! I know it’s a little early to be sharing Christmas ideas, but Erlene at My Pinterventures is hosting a 2015 Ornament Exchange. She has partnered 80+ bloggers to exchange ornaments and we want to share our creations or special finds with you! So, if you’re looking for some holiday ornament craft tutorials or ornament inspiration, you’ve come to the right place!

2015 Ornament Exchange

Today is Day 10. If you want to go back and start at the beginning and see all the great ideas, click here. I was so excited to receive an email from Erlene about who my ornament exchange partner would be. I was even more excited to learn it would be Erlene herself! She wrote to me that this year her tree will be a deep rich red, gold, and white. There isn’t a theme, just a variety of ornaments in those colors and she likes unusual ornaments. Well, I love the white and gold idea, so I went with that. Lauren picked out the idea for the ornament and then I went shopping for the supplies. Here are the papers I chose: a gold glitter, golden stripes, clear vellum with gold hexagons, and I had white sparkly on hand.

christmas ornament paper pinecone scrapbook paper

I also bought the egg shaped styrofoam ball. I had the circle punch already and of course, my glue gun. I started out by punching out the circles from each of the papers. I needed quite a bit, more than I thought I would. I kept running out!

christmas ornament paper pinecone supplies

I started at the narrow end of the egg. I glued on each circle, overlapping them as I went around. Then I added the next layer, overlapping the first layer too.

christmas ornament paper pinecone beginning

Here it is about half way done. I love how it is turning out!

christmas ornament paper pinecone sparkles

After all the circles were attached, I added gold twine to the top for hanging. I think this looks so pretty! It will look even better when the lights from the tree make it sparkle and shine!

I tried it out on white branches too.

Today, I’m excited to be kicking off day 10 of the Ornament Exchange, along with these other great ladies. Just click on their link to go see what they have made!

Displaying 2015-ornament-exchange-day-10.jpg

Love My Messy Messy Mess

Where The Smiles Have Been

I’m so glad I was able to make this for Erlene! Thank you, Erlene, for the opportunity to join in with all these talented bloggers. I have really enjoyed being a part of this exchange.

This will be just the beginning of the Christmas posts you will be seeing! I’m so excited to share some of my decorating, crafts and tablescapes ideas with you!

DIY Headboard to Faux Fireplace Reveal

November 9, 2015November 7, 201520 Comments

I’ve always loved the look of a fireplace. Unfortunately, I have never lived in any house, even growing up, that had one! I am so deprived :)! So after scouring Pinterest and all the blogs I follow, I decided I should try and make my own sometime. This past summer, Lauren and were at Goodwill and came across this headboard for only $3.99! Sold! There were two, and I probably should have bought both of them, but I was so excited to just find one! Then it sat for quite awhile. It always takes me time to think about how this is going to work and exactly how I want it to look.

We took off one of the pieces that was under the shelf. I found some more pieces of wood at another Goodwill that had scallop across one side and decided that would work too. Yes, they are bright turquoise, but everything will get a few coats of paint.

I added a little extra to the bottom too. I had these ornaments from last year that I never did anything with, so I glued them up near the top to add some interest to the piece.

After patching all the holes, I gave it a couple coats of paint.

We added a thin piece of plywood to the back which I painted black. We also added a board along each edge in the back so it would sit flush on the wall since we have 6 inch baseboards. So here it is!

I am so pleased with how this turned out!

It was different to decorate a mantle, but I am looking forward to all the different ways to style it.

Here are the Christmas ornaments I never used last year. I’m so glad I could find a good use for them! I made the acorn garland by hot gluing acorns from my yard onto a piece of twine.

My mom and dad found this box in a dumpster. Um, yes please! It’s perfect here for now.

It won’t be long until this is all decorated for Christmas. I am also wanting some kind of heater for inside so my doggies and I can cuddle up in front of it when it gets cold. It will be the perfect spot!

I hope you enjoyed the reveal! I’m so glad it is done and ready to go! Now on to the next projects!

Thrift Store Metal Medallion Makeover

November 2, 2015November 1, 201516 Comments

It’s November! The weather is finally cooler here, at least in the mornings and evenings. And we have finally had some much needed rain! It’s been wonderful! This type of weather brings back memories of the sound of the chainsaw as my dad trimmed the trees in the back yard. My sister and I would use the cut branches to make forts over the swing-set. Of course, it only lasted a day. My dad would take the branches, cut them up and cart them away.

Don’t forget, we are co-hosting over at Merry Monday Link Party this week. Check out what other bloggers are doing. Click here.

I found these metal medallions at the local Goodwill a couple of week ago. I knew right away what I wanted to make (for once!). I had found some chalk paint at Walmart made by Waverly and wanted to try it out.