Merry Christmas!

 Wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Clark and I finally got a chance to break away from our busy schedules.  We went and saw the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 It was a winter wonderland without the usual snow.  It was in the 40's so we didn't get all that cold.  We also went and saw Christmas Street and the Christmas Story Street in Salt Lake.

We also saw the candy windows that Macy's at City Creek Center does like ZCMI used to.  We are finally in the Christmas spirit.  Hope you have a good holiday with family and friends.

Christmas Decor 2012

 With my home decor this year I decided to keep things simple.  I did not put my tree up this year and instead used all of my ornaments in different ways.  We don't have room in our condo for a tree now that my husband got his new exercise machine.  Oh well, I had just as much fun as years past.

 This is the bowl I have on my coffee table year round.  It is so neutral I can change things up with every season.  These are all of my round Christmas ornaments all arranged.

 I filled this glass jar last year in purple and gold ornaments.  This year I chose red and silver.

 My rocking horse sits by the fireplace.  I put him out every year.

 My cute Santa that I use every year.

 This is a little variation on what I had in this spot last year.

 This is the lamp all decked out for Christmas.  All of my extra ornaments went inside my glass lamp.

 My apothecary jar with the same color theme.

 The view of the whole vignette. 

 Looking down on the ornament bowl.  Texture galore!

 This little wooden heart hangs in my kitchen and changes with the seasons.  I will call this my Christmas tree this year.  :)

And of course Santa hangs out in my kitchen too on this cute little dish towel.  My decor from last year can be found here and here.  Merry Christmas everyone!

2012 Christmas Gift Guide

 This is my new niece's first Christmas so I got her a few little things.  This is baby's first purse.  She's going to be a girly girl at 9 months carrying this pretty pink butterfly purse around.

 It has all of the accessories that any baby could need or want.  A smart phone, mirror, lipstick, coin purse with coins, and of course plush keys to drive the plush convertible in the driveway ;).

 This gift is for my niece who is 5 years old.  Her mom and I were making jewelry one day and she showed an interest in what we were doing.  I decided to get her this kid version so she can make her own bracelets just like her Aunt Michelle.

 These magnetic shape blocks are for my 3 year old niece.  She likes stacking blocks but they always fall over.  The magnets on these will ensure she can stack them as high as she wants and her creations will stay in tact. 

 This MP3 player is also for my 9 month old niece.  She loves music already.  It plays cute little children's songs.

 I also got her this kid version of an iPod.  She can't get enough music.

 I also had to get her a kid version of a smart phone.  She has one even before her Aunt Michelle has one.  Each button makes a little sound associated with each icon.  So Cute!

 Of course I needed lots of batteries to make these toys function.  Don't forget the batteries for all of your gifts.  You'll avoid Christmas melt downs that way.

 This is a gift for my hubby.  You can never go wrong with iTunes for the big people in your life.

 For the person who is impossible to shop for, Walmart or grocery store gift cards are the best.  The recipient can get groceries or something fun.  It's up to them.

 This mail order catalog is where I found all of the children's toys.  Their prices are the best.  I've even been known to find some cute home decor items, women's purses, and women's clothing for myself in this catalog.  They also have a website.

 This Lego idea book looks like a good gift idea for a little boy.  It shows you how to build all sorts of things with all of those Legos lying around the house waiting to be stepped on.  Gather them up and build something fun.

 This little baby is for little old me.  I clean houses for a living and I've been needing a new vacuum.  I did my research and I decided on the Dyson DC40.  I liked the fact that I won't have to buy vacuum bags.  Those things are expensive.  And the Black Friday deal I got on it was a steal.  I got it at Best Buy.  It was even cheaper there than at Sam's Club.

I looked at the animal hair models they had as well that are supposed to pick up cat and dog hair, but they were a little more expensive.  I found this non-animal hair model works just fine.  See all of that cat hair in the vacuum?  That came off of my sister's black carpet that shows every little hair from both of her cats.  I'm very happy with this vacuum.  I took it apart yesterday and taught myself how to clean the filters and clean the brush bar.  Pretty easy to maintain too.  Another plus.  Happy shopping everyone!  I'll be doing a Christmas home decor post soon.

An Earring Creating Blitz

For some reason the earring creating bug hit me all of a sudden.  I whipped all of these out one day last week.  The first and second pair are light pink.  The pictures aren't the best.

 This is a pair I have created before for my sister but I had the supplies for another so I made another pair.

 The aqua and yellow combo is so trendy right now so I followed the trend with the pair below.

 Another trendy pair.  Love the chunky aqua beads.  They almost look like candy.

 This is a pair that is very understated but still has the aqua incorporated.

 Glass cubes are just classic.

 Aqua flowers on simple silver hoops.

 The view from the bottom looking up.

This pair might be a work in progress.  I showed them to my sister and she liked them the way they were.  I was thinking of adding some sort of colorful bead to the bottom.

Still absolutely loving jewelry creation.  I still find it ironic that I don't have my own ears pierced.  I can't even wear my own creations.  Oh well.  I'll just let others enjoy wearing them.  I'm going to be creating bracelets next.  Now those I can wear.  :)

Keeping warm and toasty by the fire

It's been snowing here lately so a fire and my trusty crocheted slippers have come in handy.  I love reading our small town newspaper as I warm my toes.  Fall weather is so much fun to be out in too.  I've been raking leaves, taking walks at a new nature park in my small town where deer feed, and getting to wear all of my hoodies and jackets.  I love Utah for the change of seasons we have.  Hope everyone is bundled up and ready for the cooler weather.

A Versatile Lamp for the Holidays

 I promised you a few pics of the gift my sister gave me for my birthday so here they are.  She found the lamp at Target.  She knows I love to fill glass vessels so this was perfect for my craft room.  I got the lamp shade at Target as well.  I also bought the finial (silver ball on top) from Target to hold the lamp shade to the base.  I did a little research on the Target harp (the gold metal piece that goes up and around the light bulb) and decided to get a 10 inch harp from Home Depot instead.  The Target adjustable harp did not have good reviews on their website.  The Home Depot one works great.  Target also has lamp shades that don't need a harp so you might not need one if you pick one of those kind of lamp shades.

I got a little overwhelmed choosing what I wanted to put inside for October and Halloween coming up.  I ended up choosing these Halloween ornament bulbs from Michael's.  They were relatively inexpensive so I could buy a lot of them and fill up the lamp.  I just saw a tip on Pinterest where you can put a paper towel roll inside so your ornaments will go further since there is less space to fill.  I have 180 ornaments in this vase.  If I were to use this trick, the ornaments would go up higher in the vase but for now I like it the way it is.

I also thought about putting real Fall leaves inside, silk garlands with Fall leaves that you can get from Hobby Lobby or Pier 1, or a festive scene with a scare crow, leaves, pumpkins etc...  The possibilities are endless.  Now I have something to decorate for every season.  I love it.

Fall Home Decor

 It's that time of year again when the temps start to cool off and it's time to start thinking about pumpkins.  I still love these pumpkins I found at Wal-Mart last year.

 This is new this year.  I found the wheat and the carafe at Hobby Lobby.  Nothing says Fall like wheat.

 I put my twig/vine balls out again this year with some decorative garland thrown in the bottom of this wire bowl I still love.

 I took this old Gold Canyon Candle jar and threw some assorted pearls inside.  Found the pearls at Michael's for cheap. 

 I found these mung beans at Michael's as well.  The bowl was a gift.  I like the colors together.  It says Fall to me.

And last but not least, I took my white pitcher from Michael's and put some brown eucalyptus inside.  My birthday was this week so I decided to decorate my house as a gift to myself.  My sister got me a fun gift that will be another blog post.  Happy Fall Y'all!