Winter Wonderland

We spent the majority of Saturday night transforming our little house into our own Winter Wonderland. Here are some of our decorations:


2011 Christmas Tree




A few of my favorite ornaments


I love how it looks not in focus with the lights twinkling


Pretty bow topper


You can see the ruffle tree I made in there


Decorations


And more decorations

We're definitely in the Christmas spirit over here and I hope you are too!

Ruffled Felt Tree {and tutorial}

There are endless amounts of beautiful craft projects on Pinterest. Picking one to make can be tough, but with Christmas right around the corner, I figured one with a holiday theme would be best.

I went with a Holiday Ruffle Tree and I'm happy with how it turned out!


My Ruffle Tree

What you’ll need:
Styrofoam tree form
Felt
Fabric scissors
Dressmaker pins
Circle template
Decoration of your choosing or glitter (optional)



Directions:

I used a bottle cap as my circle template and folded the felt over so that I was able to cut lots of circles each time.

I did the circles very close together on the tree and probably cut about 350 in total, which made this very time consuming. You can do less and space them further apart.



Take each circle and fold it in half two times to make a rosette shape.



Insert one dressmaker pin as close to the bottom as possible and push it into your tree form starting at the top.



Continue these steps and work your way around until you complete the tree.



Top with glitter or decoration and you’re done!



When I finally decorate for Christmas, this will look nice tied in with all of my other decor.

P.S. The lucky winner of the Julep Nail Polish giveaway is Leslie from Life in its Ordinary Form. Congrats, girl! Email me with your information when you get a chance. Thank you to everyone that entered!

Deck the Halls!

The tree is trimmed and the house is finally ready for the holidays. We put the finishing touches on it Monday night and right on time, considering Christmas will be here before you know it. We went with the same silver and blue theme as last year. This was partially because we didn’t want to buy anymore decorations and also because I really like those colors together for Christmas.

There is a wave of nostalgia that comes over me each year as I take out the ornaments and decorate the tree. Not only do some of the ornaments bring back a moment in time, but it also gives me a chance to reflect on the special memories over the past year. There have been many ups and downs, but in the end I’m thankful to have a wonderful husband, a roof over our heads, loving family, and a good job.

I also can’t help but to think about my childhood memories and the wonderful times spent with family through the years during the holiday season. My favorite memories are from Christmas Eve each year. The night started out with a visit to Santa as he came around the neighborhood on the fire truck and then having my grandfather do a reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to my cousins and me. We listened to Christmas music and celebrating the evening with loved ones. Going to bed that night was a magical feeling knowing the Santa would be on his way down the chimney. I’ll also never forget my grandmother teaching me the true meaning of Christmas and setting up the nativity scene with her each year.

What are some of your favorite Christmas memories or traditions? I would love to hear them.



2010 "C" Family Tree


Decorations on top of my grandma's china cabinet


Close up of the tree


Special ornament from my mom and one from the first Christmas Geof and I spent together


I love this because of the ice skates. It's called "A Winter Perch"


Ornaments for the first year in our house and our first Christmas together as husband and wife


The infamous "Leg Lamp" from A Christmas Story


Our monogram

Weekend recap

Friday, Geof and I did some Christmas shopping, grabbed a quick bite to eat at Friendly’s and finally went to BJ’s to get a trial membership. We were exhausted when we got home and called it an early night. I love the holidays, but there is something very draining about it.

Saturday, we met up with my mom for breakfast and then Geof and I headed off to Linvilla to get our tree. This is an annual tradition for us and something that we love doing together. They take you out on a hayride to the tree farm and you get to hunt around and pick your own tree. Once you claim it, you chop it down yourself and drag it to the first available hayride you see for them to tag it. Once we got back to the main area, we roasted some marshmallows by the fire and drank warm apple cider. A trip to Linvilla is never complete without a visit to the Farmer’s Market. We brought back some of their famous apple cider doughnuts, picked up our tree and headed home to set it up.


I heart Linvilla!


Cute little decorations they had around


Looking out at from the hayride at all those trees



This is the one!


Geof takes cutting down the tree very seriously


Getting ready to drag it back


I like my marshmallows well done

After we got the tree in place, we headed off to BJ’s for some major shopping. We came right home afterwards, put everything away and cleaned a bit. Another long, but productive day.

Sunday was spent around the house cleaning and decorating. It felt good to get everything done and have Geof’s help. We were very organized in putting everything away last Christmas, so it was a lot easier this time around. Sunday night was spent watching the Eagles game and the season finale of Dexter.


A little tree preview

Pink and Green Thursday

Time for another installment of Pink & Green Thursday hosted by Trish at Pink Preppy Lilly Lover. She is also hosting a fabulous Lilly giveaway right now. Please head over and enter!

My theme today is Pink & Green beach living. Now that summer has arrived, I’m dreaming of days spent by the ocean. I would give just about anything to have my very own cottage by the beach someday and have it decorated something like this. I saw these images last summer in Coastal Living and fell in love.

In the June issue of Better Homes & Gardens, I saw the beach cottage of author Mary Kay Andrews on Tybee Island in Georgia aptly named Breeze Inn Cottage. Her place is actually available for rental. I think I’d go to Tybee Island just to stay in this house.

Christmas tree and holiday decorations

We chopped down the Christmas tree and brought it into our home, now all that was left was decorate! My mom, Geof and I spent Friday evening doing just that. After a quick Target run for some new ornaments, we were ready to go.

We went with a blue and silver theme this year and I really love how it turned out. I wanted a bow topper for the tree, instead of the traditional Angel or Star. I read a tutorial online and still wasn’t getting it. Geof came to the rescue and figured it out. I could tell that he was really proud of it because he kept trying to fluff it up and attach it to the tree so that it was as straight as possible.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments

Our monogram from Preppy Paper Girl

Lenox First Home ornamnet to celebrate the first year in our house.

Geof's favorite Phillies World Series 2008 ornament

Lenox 1st Christmas Together from our first Christmas as a married couple

Barbie Shoe Tree ornament...so girly!

Hallmark ornament from our first Christmas together as a couple

Decorations

More decorations!