Jingle Jangle

Merry (almost) Christmas! I can't believe Christmas is 9ish days away, time is flying by. Fortunately, I have gotten most of my shopping done and wrapped. I kept the decorating simple this year as you can see in some of the photos.

I got one of my Christmas presents early and I am sooo happy with it! My dad came up from Richmond on Thursday to bring and install the built-in bookselves!! They are exactly what our house needed and it dresses the place up a bit. I am still playing around with decorating them. Also, we have to calk in a few areas, throw another coat of paint on 'em and finish up some of the molding, but other than that they are set! It really is crazy what a difference they make in the space.

*BEFORE*

*AFTER*

Still playing around with all this new shelf space

Oh Christmas Tree::

We bought our Christmas tree a few weeks ago and boy was that a mistake. This is probably the driest tree I have seen in a while. Foster wags her tail from across the room and half the needles are on the floor, so by Christmas is will be pretty naked. I had great plans to string some popcorn and that probably won't happen, maybe next year. I used the same ornaments from last year with my paper ornaments I made out of an old abdominal surgery textbook. 

We had to find a new spot for the tree, since the usual spot is taken,
 so there it sets btw the living room and kitchen

My Ragamuffin Tree Topper::

I had been looking for cute tree toppers that weren't angels or stars and couldn't find much, so I made my own out of a styrofoam ball, strips of burlap, and straight pins.

It reminds me of a bad hair day

 Some of the other Christmas-y spots::

Kitchen table center piece with a yo-yo quilt runner

It's pretty simple, slightly boring, but that is okay.

Master Bathroom

Thanks for taking the tour, we could not be happier with the built-ins, my dad is just a genius-what can I say-if you don't believe me look at the island.

I hope your staying in the Christmas spirit and not getting too bogged down with the long lines, traffic, and festive holiday sweaters.

Tis the season to make stockings

Burlap stockings::

I have been wanting to make burlap stockings since last Christmas, but it didn't quite happen (read more about that here). This year I was determined to knock 'em out, so yesterday I got 'er done! I am pretty excited with how well they turned out, not as hard as I thought they would be. They are definitely not perfect-but nothing is-it is called character. 

Each stocking has two pieces of burlap and two pieces of batting. The top of the stocking is actually the  outside trim of an old pillow case and I picked up some maroon ribbon from Walmart. I made the fabric rosettes out of the pillow case fabric and the ribbon trim. I played with different fabrics and embellishments and this is what I came up with. I used some old brass buttons to add a little something to the center of the rosettes.

How are you getting in the holiday CHRISTMAS spirit?