St. Patrick’s Day Mantle

I love my new decorations!

This is the first time I’ve ever decorated for Saint Patrick’s Day. But, after seeing so many blog posts with so many crafty ideas, I knew I had to do my own.

Emma helped my string my shamrock garland.

This is the right side of my mantle display.

I found this frame on clearance at Target for $2 after Valentine’s Day. I found the glittery foam shamrocks at Michaels. I just glued the shamrock to a piece of scrapbook paper I had in my stash. Then, I found some green buttons in my button stash and hot glued them to the corners of the frame.

I purchased a foam wreath form at Dollar Tree. They also had green and white carnations that I picked up for this wreath. I hung the wreath with a strip of white tulle from the craft room.

For the garland, I used the foam shamrocks from Michaels. I cut a few shamrocks out of scrapbook paper and laminated them. Emma then threaded all the shamrocks onto green and white ribbon. I filled the glasses (in the left corner) with shredded paper and shamrock necklaces. The white vase is from the dollar spot at Target. I picked up the plate at Ross.

This frame is another Target clearance find. I printed our monogram on a piece of cardstock. I then cut it out and glued it to a piece of scrapbook paper. I had a stash of pom-poms in the school room which I placed in the bottom of the glass jar. I wrapped some ribbon around a candle from the Dollar tree and placed it on top of the pom-poms.

This is one of my favorite decorations. I painted a terra cotta pot black. I filled it with some green shredded paper. Then, I added a layer of “gold” (lima beans I spray painted metallic gold). I found the leprechaun picks at Michaels and cut the sticks so the leprechauns would be “standing” on the gold.

Can’t wait to start prepping for my Easter mantle!!

My Valentine’s Day Display

I’ve never really decorated for any holidays aside from Christmas. However, I now have the perfect place for decorating – the top of the buffet in my sitting room. I have been inspired by a number of blogs I follow, and here is the display I have created for Valentine’s Day. You can click on the photos for a closer look.

This is a full view of the display.

I found these heart-shaped baskets at a vintage shop in my area. I got the hearts at Walmart on clearance for .25/4!

I picked up this frame at a local boutique, and I added some “bling” to the largest polka dots. That’s a pic of my little Emma when she was just a few months old.

On either side of the center frame are some wine glasses I bought at Dollar Tree and filled with M&Ms. The little cherubs in front of that same frame were purchased at Dollar Tree, as well.

Another view – I do plan to add ribbon to both candles, but forgot to do so before snapping these pictures. In these pictures, you can see Emma in a pair of Valentine overalls I made her years ago, and Logan in his favorite Cardinals jersey (the red and white fit the theme!).

The pitcher shown here is from Ross. My little man Isaac is in the picture on the left, and my niece Olivia is on the right.

These are some vintage Valentine cards I picked up at a local vintage shop. They are dated 1949!! I LOVE THEM! I plan to go back and get some more, because I like them so much. They are so much nicer to look at than the cheesy Sponge Bob or Hannah Montana ones sold today!

Thanksgiving 2009

We are so blessed! My family drove 12 hours from TN to TX to spend Thanksgiving with us! I was so excited. My mom, dad, sister, 3 nieces, and 2 cousins made the trip south. My mom and dad stayed with my “other” sister – who lives just down the road. My sister (from TN) and all the kids stayed with me. I had two 6yos, two 10yos, two 11yos, and two 16yos (well almost – Logan will be 16 in two weeks, but we aren’t talking thinking about that right now).

I prepared a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner for our family. I loved it! I had coloring pages for the kids on the kid table. The kids played “pin the tail on the turkey” before dessert. (I found this lovely game in the dollar bins at Target.) We did LOTS of hanging out and catching up this weekend.

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Friday, we decided to not go shopping. We went to the movies instead. The kids saw Astroboy while the big girls saw New Moon! (And, what a fabulous movie it was! I’ll take sparkly vampires any day!) Hubby and Logan stayed home (actually, their movie – Blind Side – was sold out). I’m sure there was some sport-watching going on.

Saturday evening, we went downtown in our town to “A Dickens of a Christmas” – carolers, shopping, crafts, carriage rides, and FAMILY! This was a neat experience. Maybe next year, we will stay to experience it after dark (when the street lamps are lit and the carolers are caroling). This weekend, however, I was too tired to stay late.

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Everyone left Sunday morning, and they all made it home safely. My house is finally back in order, and I’ve found my energy!