Holidays

Red and White Christmas Tree

1 · Dec 2, 2015 · Leave a Comment

+ This Red and White Christmas Tree is brought to you by Treetopia +

I’m so excited for Christmas this year!

I love decorating for the holidays and this year has been so fun. I’ve been selected to participate in the 2015 Treetopia Design Council. I’ve totally shaken-up my routine and I’ve played around with new colors, new concepts… AND, I love it!

Our theme this year is more of a European / Old World simplicity. I’ve already shared our first tree for one of our rooms and it has more of the natural, old world feel. This new tree is for our front room and it has more of a Swiss Chalet feel to it with a pinch of whimsy…

I’ve always wanted a white tree and this one is a gem from Treetopia.

In our family we kind of take the less-is-more direction when it comes to decorating our Christmas trees and I found a few simple ornaments that fit perfectly with our theme and gave it a simple but beautiful outcome.

Looking for more tree inspiration? You should come and check-out the other Treetopia Design Council Members.

Disclaimer – I am a member of the Treetopia Design Council and received a tree to participate in this design challenge.

Halloween Tree Decorating

5 · Sep 25, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I’ve tried something new this year for Halloween… Have you ever decorated a Halloween tree before?

I know the trend is picking-up steam and people are doing all kinds of cool things for Halloween. I’ve teamed up with a handful of talented bloggers for a fun Halloween tree blog hop and GIVEAWAY! You need to run over and check-out Jennifer Perkins, Cathie Filian, Tried & True, My Paper Crane! Their trees are also so fun!! Hang tight and I’ll have the giveaway info at the bottom of the post.

I had a ball decorating this beautiful white tree from Treetopia with black, white & gold glam for Halloween. I LOVE how it looks with my Jack O’ Lope display that I created a few weeks ago… The tree adds a beautiful new element to the room that I just adore!

I’ve alway been in love with black & white decor when it comes to decorating for Halloween and knew that I wanted to carry that through with this tree. I found some fun large & small pumpkins at Target that were perfect. I was planning on painting my own, but these were already so cute I caved and bought them instead.

I added some beautiful fox masks from JoAnn that I fell in love with.

I also added more of my favorite black & white dice that I made a few weeks back and some apothecary jars from Target. I was looking for some kind of black filler to add some dimension to the tree and couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something that looked kind of like feathers mixed with spooky foliage. Weird, I know. I looked all over the place for the right look. I finally found a wreath in the Halloween section at Target and it was perfect. I deconstructed the wreath and used it as my tree filler. LOVE IT!

I also absolutely love my white tree from Treetopia, it looks perfect up against my black chalkboard wall for Halloween. It’s the Whisper White Cashmere Tree and it is fabulous. I’ve wanted a white tree for awhile now and I’m just so darn picky I couldn’t find one that I liked. They always looked so cheap. This one is nice and full and looks beautiful. I was so impressed with how easy the tree was to set-up. It has an extra long cord with and on/off foot peddle for ease of use. It also has a plug at the top of the tree to plug-in a tree topper if you have one of that sort, BRILLIANT!

The folks at Treetopia are giving away some fun trees for Halloween, Head over to their Facebook page for all the details!

Details // This post was sponsored by Treetopia however, I had a ball decorating this tree and wouldn’t have shared with you if I didn’t truly love the product!

Pumpkin Halloween Decorations + The Jack O’ Lope

4 · Sep 1, 2015 · 5 Comments

Guys I’m so excited… We are heading into my favorite time of year!

AUTUMN!!

And with Autumn comes all kinds of fun decorating… Back-to-School, Fall, Apples, Pumpkins and Halloween to name a few. I am thrilled to be one of this year’s Michaels Makers and this months challenge is PUMPKINS.

I’ve always loved pumpkin Halloween decorations and I decided to take kind of a silly route with my challenge and make my version of the Jack O’ Lope…

I thought it turned out fun! It was so easy to put together, I just gathered a few supplies at Michaels Craft Stores. Did you know that Michaels is carrying HALF pumpkins?! No more will we need to pull out the heat knife to try and cut our craft pumpkins in half. We can buy them that way now! Well played Michaels, you always know what we need.

I found this great chalk board at Michaels (I couldn’t find it online, but it is in stores) and thought it would be fun to add some antlers to my half pumpkin for a fun wall piece for my Halloween display, to make a Jack O’ Lope of sorts.

First, I seasoned my chalk board to give it that worn in look.

I crushed a little chalk and then rubbed it all over the board with a cloth or paper towel.

That way it looks more like a used chalk board rather than a black sign.

Then I hot glued some antlers that I had hanging around onto the board…

Then, I glued the half pumpkin in place right on top of the antlers.

It fits perfect!

Next, I set-out to create a fun Halloween display to show-off my Jack O’Lope.

I grabbed some of Heidi Swapp Marquee Bats (sorry, they aren’t online but they are in-store) and spray painted them black with Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint.

Then I added some paper wall bats that are also available in-store.

I added a Halloween printable that I created last year, I still LOVE it!

You can download it HERE.

To fill-out the scene, I added some more pumpkins to the drawer of my buffet…

I wrapped one with a pumpkin sleeve from the Martha Stewart Halloween collection at Michaels. They look really cool and are an easy way to dress-up any pumpkin.

Last but not least and made another set of large dice to use as decor this time. I just love how they fill-in the scene with a little more whimsy. These are super easy to make and are fun to have on hand for all kinds of things. I LOVE my new black set for Halloween!

All together, I think it makes a pretty fun scene for the season. My kiddos think it ‘s pretty cool anyway.

How do you like to decorate with pumpkins? Do you like to decorate for fall, or do you jump right into Halloween like we prefer to do?

Michaels is having a great sale on the crafting pumpkins this week, 40% off… Run and grab some quick before they disappear!

Disclaimer // I am a member of the Michaels Maker crew, this is not a paid position but I do receive store credit in order to create projects for the Michaels Makers program.

4th of July Printables

3 · Jun 26, 2015 · 3 Comments

Our family moved from Las Vegas to Lincoln, Nebraska and for the first time in our family’s history we have a backyard that is perfect for entertaining in. That’s a HUGE deal in my books. I love to entertain and there is nothing better than a good ole’ backyard barbecue, full of family and friends to share in all the summer fun.

I’m also a details girl. You know those extra special touches that take your backyard barbecue and transforms it into a real event. Nothing over the top, just those extra special touches that tells your guest that you really took the time to make sure this was a special occasion.

One thing that I like to do when throwing a backyard party is to hand out glow sticks to all the kiddos when the sun starts to set. You’d be surprised how this will take your gathering to a whole new level. It’s so funny to see how even he adults love to get in on all the glow stick fun as well.

What takes this whole idea up a notch, is the fun printable glow stick holder that you can display for your guests, that really jazzes up the idea. They are super simple to make.

All you have to do is download the printable from the box below, and print them on card stock. Cut out the separate cards and make one slits right above the “You Will Light Up the Night” box, and one right below. Then all you have to do is carefully (be careful, it is easy to activate the glow stick bracelets) slide your glow stick bracelets or necklaces through the slits, make sure you also include the connector piece, secure them with a little tape on the back and voila, your finished. You can also use this printable for sparklers as well, either one will look super cute!

I also have some super cute printable party cones that coordinate with this printable. They are perfect for serving chips, pretzels, veggie sticks… You name it, they will look fabulous in this treat cup.

All you need to do is click here to visit WhipperBerry to download the treat cone printable.

I have all kinds of fun summer ideas for the family like these Summer Sponge Bombs that your kiddos are sure to love…

They are also super easy to make and will help you rise up to Rock Star status in your kiddos eyes!

Holidays

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