Christmas House, Traditions, & Gifts

My Christmas house pretty much looks the same as last year so I won't bore you with all the details of that.  

The one change is the mantel and I do love it so I will share...

The Christmas tree is also different this year because I let go of my "themes" and own ideas.  I let the kids decorate it completely this year.  This means it has random ornaments all hung on the same branches.  My idea of the perfect Christmas tree has completely changed.  This is it.  Now if only I had read Erin's post before taking this picture, it may have turned out much better.

I changed up the frames again with Christmasy stuff printed off the computer.

We started the tradition of opening a Christmas book a day beginning on December 1st.  I first saw the idea on Pinterest and it came from HERE and I love it!  It has been so fun and now all our Christmas books have a chance and don't get overlooked.

We also eat dinner by candlelight every night that we are home in December.  What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't love that?  Then to make it even more exciting and to make it work for us, the big kid that stays in their seat and refrains from screaming at dinner time gets to blow out the candle at the end.  It really works.  Blowing out candles is apparently a very cool thing.

My sister gets the kids Christmas jammies every year.  She sends them our way and we give them out on December 1st.  We surprise them right before bed and then call Aunt Beth to thank her!  : )  They are practically worn out by Christmas from so much wear!  

We have cinnamon rolls for Jesus on Christmas morning.  We light a candle and sing Happy Birthday to Him.  The kids LOVE this tradition.

As far as presents go, we made a lot of ornaments in our home this year.  I made about 24 of these mini pillow ornaments for friends, family, and teachers.  

Then the kids got a chance to make their own ornaments.  We made salt dough ones this year.  So easy and so much fun!  They went to town painting them and loved every minute.  Then they had fun choosing who would receive them as gifts.  The recipe I found HERE made so many that my oldest chose one for each of her classmates too.

I love everything about Christmas.  

What do you love about Christmas?  Do you have any of these same traditions in your home? Or do you have new ones to share with us? 

Only 5 days to go, my friends!  Merry Christmas!!!

Read more...

Taking Pictures of that Tree

Hey everyone! Happy week before Christmas! I hope that everyone has a non-stressful week and can easily tie up all of the pre-Christmas loose ends!

We thought we'd carry on our tradition of walking through our Christmas homes this week. Hurray!! I love looking at other people's holiday decor! :)

However, as I walked around my home with my camera this afternoon, I realized something. I didn't do a lot of decorating for Christmas this year.

My baby is 6 months old now, and at the (st)age where there is lots of "stuff." High chair, bumbo seat, exersaucer, baby swing, teething toys, snuggly toys, food props, etc. This is in addition to my 3 year old's things. You get the picture. Stuff.

So when it came time for my Christmas decor, I went minimal. My house can get cluttered quickly, and I didn't want the decorations to become "Christmas clutter," and add to "baby clutter" and "3 year old clutter" and "adult clutter."

So instead I'm going to give you a few pointers for getting a good picture of that Christmas tree. You have one more week with your tree, so don't put off that shot any longer!!

I'm sure there are lots of tutorials around blog land about taking pictures of your tree. But I thought I would share my tree photos and walk you through my settings and thought process a bit. I hope it is some help to you in getting that perfect picture!

(These photos are all straight out of the camera, no editing. I wanted to show you how adjusting the settings alone changed the photos.)

Tree Shot #1

ISO 640, Aperture 2.8, Shutter Speed 1/4 second

This was my starting point in my tree pictures. I used a tripod since I was using such a slow shutter speed, but you could easily place your camera on a steady surface to get a similar effect.

I like it, but the tree and the room are too bright. I don't like the shadows that the branches are casting on the walls or how my curtains seem to play a role in this picture. Overall, I want the room darker.

Tree Shot #2

ISO 640, Aperture 2.8, Shutter Speed 1/6 second

I made my shutter speed slightly faster, but all other settings are the same.

This is better, I like how the tree isn't so bright, but I still think that the room should be darker, and I want my lights to be a bit more twinkly.

Tree Shot #3

ISO 500, Aperture 14, Shutter Speed 2.5 seconds

I changed my settings up completely, going a stop down in ISO so that the whole shot would be darker, a much smaller aperture for the "star effect" on my lights, and a much slower shutter speed to accommodate the small shutter speed.

This is much more of what I had in mind. I love the star effect on each of the lights. But I wonder if it is slightly too dark now?

Tree #4

ISO 500, Aperture 18, Shutter Speed 6 seconds

I made my shutter speed even slower so that the room would be brighter, and the aperture smaller so that it wouldn't be too bright, and I still kept the twinkly star lights.

Perfect! A not-too-bright and not-too-dark, sparkly tree!!

But now I'm wondering if I like Tree #3 best, hmmmm...

Tree #5

ISO 640, Aperture 2.8, Shutter Speed 1/6 second

And just for fun, if you want to throw in a picture of just the lights on your tree with none of the details, try this trick.

Switch your camera from auto focus to manual focus, and twist your lens until the tree is out of focus, and then take your shot. The smaller your aperture, the bigger your light blobs will be.

Fun, right?

Now, which tree is your favorite? #3, right? Or #4...hmmm...

Have you taken some pictures of your tree this month that you'd like to share? Or have you done a tour of your holiday home? Please share in the comments below!!

Have a safe and wonderful holiday!!!

Read more...

Friday Finds {Pinterest-My Style}

My goals before Christmas have been to make {attempt} some of these fun projects...

{source}
Really, salt dough? Absolutely no clue, simply a perfect way to add to my wrappings this year!


{source}

This advent calendar is so stinkin' cute! I'm excited to make this one for sure!!


{source}
So, so excited for this idea! I love these cards and can't wait to make my own!


{source}
I'm always looking for a new way to spruce up the dining room table..ta da.
This will do perfectly!

I've thoroughly enjoyed making these projects and they have added just the right touches around my home. Thanks again Pinterest for the inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by...check out my hollyday! jollyday! boards.

Jessica

Read more...

Simple Christmas Card Display

Need some fresh, last minute Christmas decorating inspiration? Well, here is something simple that my parents use in their gorgeous home to display Christmas cards, that anyone can do in a few minutes or less!

 

 

See if you can find a spare bit of fresh garland at a local Christmas tree shop and get to work! Let the fabulous Christmas cards your friends send you do most of the work to make a blank space festive in no time! What great display options do you have working for you in your home?

Happy Wednesday,

Read more...

Puzzle Piece Ornaments

Puzzle ornaments are such a simple idea and I am sure you have seen it floating around blogs and Pinterest.  I still wanted to share my son's little Christmas tree because I LOVE it.  

I can't take credit for these ornaments.  My sister told me she had a transportation puzzle and she thought the pieces could make great ornaments.  This is the first year for my son to have a tree in his room since he is a big boy now.  You can see his room HERE.  These were the perfect addition to his tree.

My sister makes a lot of fun jewelry (you can see in her Etsy shop) and so she used some supplies for the hole at the top to string ribbon through.  She sent them to me in a package and added a few colorful jingle bells.  I strung them all with different red ribbons from my stash.

She sent a cute red star topper to complete the tree.  I stuck it in a silver bucket as opposed to a tree skirt and added fabric bunched around the bottom for some fun festive color.

I just LOVE the way it turned out.  Thanks sister for providing the goods!  His own little Christmas tree for his room personalized with things he loves.  It's a very "boyish" tree, don't ya think?  Completely different from my girls' pink tree in their room.  So fun!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Read more...

Sewn Star Christmas Ornaments

Last week I showed you my son's Advent Calendar: paper stars with goodies sewn inside for him to open each day as we count down to Christmas.

I love looking at all of the stars all lined up and labelled with a countdown to Christmas, but I get just a little bit sad every time that he rips one of them open. So I decided to make some just for me and our tree.

I started off the same way, with a stack of stars of equal size, though they didn't match perfectly which I like. I also cut out a stack of the same size stars from an old Webster's Dictionary.

I threaded my sewing machine with red thread, set it to a straight stitch and the longest length. I stacked 2 brown paper stars on top of one another with the dictionary page star on top, and started sewing around the edges. Once I was 3/4 of the way around the star, I stuffed some polyfill stuffing inside to give the stars a bit of dimension.

I cut a 4 inch strip of red raffia, folded it in half, stuffed the ends in one of the open points of the star, and sewed them down.

I love these. The red thread on the dictionary paper is so fun and the back is still the red thread on brown paper, which I loved so much in the first place. Now the only question is, who won't be receiving a little bundle of these from me for Christmas?

Would you like a set of these stars? I also put some in my Etsy shop here.

Happy Monday!!

Read more...

Baby Mobile: A Guest Post

Please join me in welcoming Elizabeth from E Tells Tales. I am so excited to have her guest posting with us today!

Hi there everybody, I'm Elizabeth! I'm visiting today from my blog E Tells Tales. 

This is me and my son, Everett...and our Christmas tree, but of course: 

We are so pleased to be here! Especially since we're going to be talking

about one of Everett's favorite things, his nursery mobile.

Today I'm going to be showing you how to make your own paper circle mobile, 

just like the one that I made for Everett's nursery:

When I made his, I was large and in charge pregnant to the max. I parked

myself on a stool and cut circles, tied knots, and ate food all day long. The one 

I made for this tutorial went super quickly, but I did still have to park myself 

on a stool...aaaand there might have been food involved again. 

Anyway, here's what you'll need: 

+ 6 sheets of cardstock

{I used two sheets each of three different greens to get a monochromatic look}

+ fishing line

+ one button

{I used a clear, two-hole button}

+  scissors

+  sewing needle

+  glue gun

+  a length of string

+  two wooden dowels

{I used 3/16 inch}

1. Start by cutting out your circles. I used a mason jar lid and a hairspray cap to draw mine.

If you want all the same color, just cut out 54 small circles and 41 big circles, 

or if you want cascading shades like mine, use this guide to tell you how many to cut out:

2. Cross your wooden dowels, and use your length of string to secure them in the middle.

3. Now cut four 24" lengths of fishing line. 

You will tie one end of each length to the end of a dowel.

Then dot the knot you make with some hot glue.

4. Once you have all four pieces of fishing line knotted to your dowels, 

gather the free ends of your lines and string them through one hole

in your button. Tie a knot in the four lines on the other side of the button. 

You'll use this button to hang your mobile eventually.

5. Now organize your circles.  There is only one center chain, and it is the longest. 

Then you'll have three chains per arm. This picture shows a flat view of

what will hang from one dowel.

The chains that will hang from the other dowel will follow the 

same pattern, except there will be no center chain 

(the two dowels meet in the middle and share the same center chain).

6. Cut a 30-inch piece of fishing line.  

Thread it through a sewing needle and tie a big knot at the end. 

String on the bottom circle.

 7. Tie another loose knot about 1-2 inches from the bottom circle. 

I used my fingers as a spacer and knotted the line on my index finger. 

If you want a more compact mobile, leave less space in between each circle. 

If you want a longer mobile, use more space.

 8. Once you get one chain all strung together, tie it on the dowels according to this guide:

The longest, center chain will go where the center black dot is. 

The four shortest chains will go where the outer black dots are. 

And then you'll work your way up to the longer ones moving inward.

Once I tied a chain onto the mobile, 

I put a dab of hot glue over the knot to secure it.

Here's my finished project for the day:

It's much longer than the one I made for Everett's nursery because

I put four fingers of space in between each knot as opposed to two. 

Thanks everyone...I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

and thanks again to you, Elizabeth!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Read more...