Tag Archives: Christmas

My Favorite Christmas Gift for Grandparents.

photobooksI make a photo book for the Grandparents every Christmas.

I have used snapfish, shutterfly, and the last two years my publisher.

I really like my publishers quality and the deals they run but I am not a big fan of the software.

We do not use windows or mac so software is a bit more of a hassle for us.

I would rather make them online so I am trying out another company this year.

Mixbook, they get high ratings so we will see how they turn out.

I buy 4 books every year so I really want a good deal!

sayings5I do not put only pictures in the books.

I add funny quotes from the boys as well.

I got the idea after seeing this book.

sayings4I would like to say I am really organized and write all of their cute sayings down throughout the year.

sayingsThat would be a lie though…

I put them up on facebook throughout the year and then I scroll through and grab my favorites.

sayings3This year I added a couple I did not share on Facebook to a journal on my phone.

I would like to do that to all of them but am afraid I will miss the hours spent scrolling through all those facebook posts.

Ha!

I am just not that organized.

spinesAt the beginning of the new year I make a family book.

It is pretty easy since I am just adding some extra photos to the books I have already made.

I really like that these books take something I enjoy and make it a personalized gift!

I never have any stress about what I am getting grandparents either!

Surprise!

You are getting another photo book.

They can’t say they don’t like it because it is pictures of their grandchildren.

“What! You don’t love your grandchildren?”

See, sounds bad.

I am going to miss this ~Decorating the Tree

Decorating the Christmas tree was a big deal when I was growing up.

We would gather around and wait anxiously for my mom to hand us an ornament to hang on our freshly picked out tree.

Our favorites were the ones we knew were ours.

The one with a picture of a cute baby on it and our name under it.

Or the one with babies first Christmas written on it and our birth year.

Knowing I will not always have little hands so happy to help decorate the tree I decided to give them free reign.

My youngest said the ribbon needed to be in a pile to keep the tree warm.

They were so happy to hang every ornament.

So many memories wrapped up in each one.

One day I will have a perfectly decorated tree.

The beads will be hanging nice and neat, not sagging down.

The ornaments will be all over and not in one spot.

What a sad little tree that will be.

I will enjoy my tree of today and the little boys that helped me decorate it.

Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

To me my tree is perfect.

Car Ornaments

I have been on a homeade ornament kick this year thanks to Pinterest.

With my limited craftiness I knew I needed to pick something that was not too difficult so I would actually finish it.

Enter Walmart.

I bought two of their $.97 wooden trucks in the craft section for the boys to paint.

I already had everything else I needed.

Which was:

1. Paint (I used Acrylic)

2. Paint Brushes

3. Eyelets

4. Twine (my new best friend)

My boys love anything messy or destructive.

These little guys fit perfectly on my mismatched thrown together tree.

Just the way I like my trees by the way.

I thought I would share these little guys also.

I have never had a tree topper on my tree.

My oldest was really concerned this year by the empty space on the top of the tree.

The reason I did not have one was that I had not found one I liked.

So I made one.

I tried looking for one online so I could see how someone else made one but I did not find what I wanted.This tutorial did help inspire me though.

I drew a basic star pattern in the size I wanted (I just happened to have a metal star ornament in a size that would work).

I roughly measured some wooden rods I had on hand (you can buy them at most craft stores) and cut them with a hand saw.

I laid them on my pattern and after I was happy with how it looked, marked with a pen where all the rods intersected.

Then I started the tedious (I actually liked it) job of wrapping the twine onto the rods.

I would have taken pictures and showed you how I kept it all together but it was not pretty…

This is probably the worst tutorial ever.

It did work though!

I just used more twine to tie it to the top.

The little ornament next to it is a sparkly one I had that I covered in mod podge and wrapped in twine.

Anyone else out there obsessed with twine?