Creating a home + life you love
Hi friends!
I hope you had a restful (or productive, whichever is more enjoyable!) weekend, we have been busy around casa twelveOeight.
If you have been following me for a while, some of these may look familiar, this is my Christmas decor last year, I
thought it would be fun to go back and look at some of the changes a year later as I put the finishing touches on my
Christmas decorating for 2014 this weekend.
More on that this week!
Today I’m having fun seeing some of my favorite Christmas elements, and can’t wait to show you a few new ones too. [Read more…]
I would love to tell you that I have learned the art of embroidery.
I have not.
It’s on my stuff-I-really-want-to-learn-but-I-get-so-distracted list.
Upcycling a sweet thrift store find however is something we specialize in around my house.
And today I am sharing a sneak peek at my Christmas Home Tour coming soon.
This Embroidery Hoop Wreath is thrifty from top to bottom.
The “sweater” was actually a Land’s End blanket I picked up at Goodwill last spring, and
drug all over with me all summer long. When the frayed edges could not stand another wash,
my white sweater blanket became part of a winter quilt (still in the works.) [Read more…]
Hi there!
Well, it’s almost Thanksgiving friends, and I know many of you will be cooking and stuffing, and very busy the next couple
days. At our house the Christmas music will be playing, and Santa’s little workshop will be in high gear while Thursday’s
turkey is simmering in the slow cooker and will become our yearly Turkey Rice Soup.
With a bunch of leftovers to work on for days, I like to spend the weekend after Thanksgiving working on homemade gifts.
And drinking a lot of coffee. And cocoa.
And hitting “play” again on my favorite Bing Crosby Christmas collection. [Read more…]
About 6 years ago I dropped more than one or two “subtle” hints to my husband that I really needed a nice waffle iron.
I had never had a Belgian Waffle Iron and wanted to own my own so I could make these fluffy, amazing waffles myself.
Being a very good listener, and also probably sick of me talking about how wonderful it would be to make us said
waffles, he made sure there was a waffle iron for me under the tree.
Just imagine the shock and surprise on my face when I reached to the back of the tree and opened a heavy square box…
what was inside? Did he listen, or have any idea how important this is to me?
I got it, and I have not used it apparently as many times as he thought I would.
So, needless to say when I fire it up he kind of saunters by, stops and acts very shocked that I am using the waffle iron
I was so obsessed with. [Read more…]
Do you ever think about how very huge our world is, yet so small at the same time?
We are all part of something so much greater than ourselves, interlinked, equally loved and valued
by our Creator. On a planet so strong yet so delicately balanced to sustain life.
It’s awesome, and wonderful to think about.
Some of us are very far away from loved ones, and it sure is hard to think about not being with
them when we think of carving turkeys or watching our favorite Holiday movies each year.
Looking at this globe each day, knowing we all stare up at the same moon and stars made me feel
that much closer to loved ones miles away.
I picked up this globe for just under $10 at Goodwill recently, and while that’s more than I usually try
to spend on an upcycle, I had this exact project in mind.
And I didn’t want to paint my grandfather’s globe either, so in the cart she went. [Read more…]
So we may not be thinking about wrapping gifts quite yet.
But if you perhaps were the type of gift wrapper who say, chooses a theme some years.
Or maybe happened to fall in love with some gift wrap and bought like, oh, I don’t know…17 rolls.
Because you were worried about running out.
And not having a wrap fail again.
What if you got halfway through wrapping and there was only Spongebob gift wrap left, and Patrick
was decorated like a starfish tree, and the remaining bows were smushed.
And the only tags you had left were teeny pieces of gift wrap with a piece of mangled tape holding them in place.
And the Grandparents look lovingly at your kids and ask “Did you help Mama wrap gifts?”
Ummm….no. [Read more…]
In the spirit of all things red and white this year (I cannot wait to show you the tree, but it’s not done yet so give me a few more days!)
I wanted to have a garland that I could hang anywhere that glowed in all of it’s red and white goodness and just
makes you happy each time you walk by it.
I have seen ping pong ball covered lights before for other types of garlands, but I wanted to try making a Christmas Garland
out of one.
Inspiration struck on a recent trip to Michael’s, when I found strings of red and white mini lights.
My heart went pitter patter and I knew exactly what I would do with them.
Well, kind of. And that never happens so it was awesome! [Read more…]
Few things taste better together than milk chocolate with orange.
Ok, raspberry and chocolate are also good, and of course peanut butter with chocolate.
Basically anything plus chocolate, or chocolate plus more chocolate always hits the spot.
I usually make Cranberry and orange bread and muffins around the holidays, but I wanted to
try something a bit different.
I’m so glad I did.
They turned out really good, and my husband, who normally doesn’t eat muffins put a dent in
the batch while I was upstairs and they were cooling today. [Read more…]
