Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

I realize I'm ahead of the season, but I can't wait for spring to arrive.  I'm ready for the cold and dreary weather to be over so that I can once again step out onto our deck with a cup of coffee on a sunny morning and be outside with the boys.  I'm also really hoping to build raised vegetable beds this spring and can't wait to get to plant my garden!

Until that first spring morning arrives, I've decided to bring spring inside.  I've add indoor plants and bright accent colors in our house.  Yesterday, I shared my Pink and Green Spring Tablescape (see it here).  Since our peonies are not even near sprouting yet - and even when they are in bloom, they are overrun from ants, how do I get rid of the ants?!?! - I decided to make my own pink "peonies."

Pink and Green Spring Tablescape

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Today, I'm joining in on the 6 Day's of Spring link party in hopes of winning a $250 Pottery Barn Gift Card!  I'm linking up at Jennifer Rizzo's blog, and you can check out all of her projects - as well as those of 5 other bloggers - who posted spring projects all week long.

Christmas around our house....

Hope you are enjoying your holiday's!  With my husband off of work for the week, we've taken the time to hang out as a family and I haven't been that into blogging recently.  I do have some ideas going around in my head - for which I just made a purchase today - that I will share over the next several weeks.  In the meantime, I uploaded some pictures from our Christmas celebration(s) and thought I would share those.

If I'm not back before than, have a wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!  Thank you to everyone who has found my blog this year and for stopping by to check it out.  I'm excited to have started this adventure and I'm so glad that you are following along with me.

In case you are looking for any last minute inspiration for Christmas, I'd love for you to stop by Pottery Barn's blog today to check out my Christmas Tablescape, that I first posted here, along with tips for setting your holiday table. (Don't forget your silverware like I did! :))

Winter Bedroom

I made a few small updates to our bedroom for more winter-y / Christmas-y look.

I started by changing the bedding to a completely neutral look.

I then swapped out my botanical's in the gold picture frames to this:

Christmas Home Tour 2012

We've been busy decorating our house for Christmas and I've posted a lot of my progress for you here.  Today I am linking up to Jennifer Rizzo's House Walk. 

If you have not seen the 20 house tours she hosted last week, take some time to stop by and take a look.  All the homes are amazing!!!

Winter Entry

This is the first year I've attempted to do anything at all in our front entry:

Until last month, I had no table to speak of for the entry.  So I cleaned and moved this side board which was left behind in our basement by the last owners of the home:

Christmas Vignette

My fireplace is in a pretty sad state: our large tv is the focal point and cords are everywhere, we painted over dirty old brick, no practical mantel exists, and at the moment it is highly baby proofed.  I have attempted to decorate it and look beyond and it's good enough but really not worth a post.  Therefore, I thought I would share this media console that I've decorated as a Christmas Vignette instead:

I didn't realize it while I snapped this picture, but I think it is kind of funny that our puppy's mugshot has been highlighted/framed by the wreath.  Doesn't she look sweet?

Christmas Tablescape

Today I was inspired by all of the beautiful Christmas images from around the web and decided to continue our Christmas decorating in other areas of our house.  We have already set up our tree, decorated our living room, and created an advent calendar, so I thought I would turn my focus to our dining room.

DIY Advent Calendar

December is quickly approaching, and this year, I really wanted to create an advent calendar that I could open with my 3 year old son each day leading up to Christmas:  

Last year we were given a Christmas Story advent calendar and my son looked forward to reading it each day and adding the daily ornament to the Christmas tree.  I became inspired to create my own calendar this year when I saw this image on Pinterest: