JiNgLe ALL ThE wAy!!

In the mood for some JINGLE BELLS?? This is SUCH a dah-ling idea that Shanade posted on her blog....

She was even kind enough to explain HOW she did it!

If you make this....be sure to leave her some LOVE!! These jingle bells remind me of the one(s) on Polar Express! LOVE THAT MOVIE!!

Christmas Cards & Shutters?!?

They TOTALLY go together!!  :)

I haven't quite found a way (that I absolutely LOVE) to display all of the Christmas Cards we get from our friends and family.  I once saw a wire wreath that was ADORABLE....that you place the cards in...unfortunately I didn't snap a pic!  

This idea is pretty awesome!

A Christmas Card Shutter Display

The gals at howdoesshe.com are pretty creative!

   Click HERE for the tutorial.

This MIGHT be the winning idea for us this year...

Homemade Ornaments...

Last year, Heartland Paper posted about these adorable homemade ornaments! I thought the star one would look AWESOME as decor on top of a present! They even gave us instructions....LOVELY, huh! Here are the links for the ribbon candy & vintage ball.

Our FAV Present We Did This Year!

Homemade Christmas Post #8:

Jamie & I wanted to do something really special for our parents for Christmas this year...and we were SO pleased with the results! I got the idea from another blogger....which I highlighted HERE. We made these presents from SCRATCH!!

We decided to spell "Mother" and "Father" for my parents....since there are SIX kids (six letters...) and "Mom" and "Dad" for his parents since they have three kids in their family.

We purchased the letters at Michael's...and made (with cardboard and spray paint) the letters they didn't have in stock. Then - over the Thanksgiving Break...we took pics of our brothers & sisters with the letters...

My brothers & sisters...

We then found a local guy who has a wood-working shop & had him cut some boards for us and cut out a design around the edges. (One day, I would LOVE to own all of those tools that he had!! For now....good 'ole Mike will be our "wood guy".)

I photoshopped the pics...with my ever-expanding photoshopping skills...(if you are a pro - do NOT laugh!!) and printed the final products at Costco.

We painted, sanded, and stained the boards....and then modge-podged the picture....

Here is my mom with hers...

My dad with his....

LOVED how the "mom" & "dad" turned out!! These are Jamie's siblings.

(We put the spouses in....of course!!)

Final products....do I need a NEW camera or what?? They look YELLOW!!

Jamie's parents with their presents. This was our FIFTH pic of them...they kept laughing and his dad kept covering his face...

They seriously looked amazing and when we are done with OUR family....I am SO doing this for Jamie!

HINT: If you do this...make sure NO ONE is wearing white! That is our only regret....but we still loved it!

A Present for My Dreamer...

Homemade Christmas Post #7:

Those of you who have been faithful readers....know that my hubby decided to go back to school to become a Teaching Golf Pro. We moved from the four seasons of Utah to Sin City VEGAS...so he can go thru UNLV's Golf Program. We gave up our friends, family, beautiful home (that we built together), huge yard, awesome neighborhood & neighbors, and amazing ward so he could follow his dreams.

...and ya know...I would do it ALL over again!!

I knew early on that my passion was to teach....and I was able to accomplish those goals long ago. It was HIS turn and although I want more than anything to be a stay-at-home mom....I am glad I am able to work right now to support his decision to go back to school and I am SOOOOO proud of him!

We had this GREAT picture frame (that I found a KILLER deal on, of course...) and I had the BEST idea on what to do for Jamie for Christmas...

I searched for meaningful quotes on following your dreams....and I found the perfect one!

I was SOOOOOO excited to give it to him! I seriously get MORE excited about giving people presents than I do about receiving them!

It's now hanging in our bedroom as a reminder that dreams CAN come true!

LOVE you, babe!

Perfect RM Present...

Homemade Christmas Post #6:

The youngest in my family, my brother - Brady, recently returned home from his two-year church mission to Mexico. I am the ONLY one (out of six kids) in our family who DIDN'T serve a mission. Crazy, huh! I think Brady was the most faithful "letter-writer" out of all the siblings! He diligently wrote a letter home EVERY single week!

His letters became a little more difficult to read as he learned Spanish....and started mixing up his English and Spanish...while writing these letters. We often had to try to guess on what he was trying to say. :)

Jamie & I decided to put all of his letters into Word format, add the date, fix all of the mistakes, put all of the letters in sheet protectors.....and present it to him as a Christmas present. Since he shared a TON of amazing experiences in his letters....it's kinda like a journal.

I scrapbooked a cover and the title for the spine...

Jamie (my husband) was SUCH a great help when it came to helping with editing the letters...and getting them organized into the correct order...

He loved it....and WE loved rereading all of his humorous and spiritually uplifting stories! Win-win situation!!

P.S. He is ALSO single....and attending BYU in Provo, UT. You can tell yer l'il sistas & family members about HIM as well. {WINK}

Blocks For My "Teacher" Sis...

Homemade Christmas Post #5:

My l'il sis, Ashley, is a school counselor & I thought it would be fun to help her decorate her office!! They turned out adorable! There is supposed to be vinyl on the black block that says, "...is cool!!" AND there will be vinyl that says "No.2" on the pencil...but I ordered it from my fav vinyl gal....and it wasn't the right size. (My bad!!)

Here are some UP-CLOSE pics of the letters....

My CUTE l'il sis after opening them....

I have a set for myself, too!! I need to get on it! My classroom is needing that extra touch!

MORE Fab Frames!

Homemade Christmas Post #4:

THIS was one of my favorite presents! I wanted to keep it! (I know, I know...that thought only lasted for a moment....or two....)

Jamie's sister, Jen, was married a year after us, and I had her send us the "color scheme" of their home....and this is what I came up with...

I have made a few of these before.....but I LOVED the dark inking around the edges of the cream frame....I have to give the credit to Jamie! He thought it needed to be a little more dramatic...and he was right!

An "up-close & personal" of the scrapbooked section...

The couple themselves!

PiCtUrEs GaLoRe...

Homemade Christmas Post #3:

Jamie & I found KILLER deals on some frames at Michael's during their "Black Friday" sale...and they were PERFECT for what we wanted to do for his brother, Josh, and one of my little brothers - Shaylor!

Originally we wanted to have the quotes on vellum paper on top of the pictures....but it was REALLY hard to see the pics, so I ended up "scrapbooking" the quotes above and below each of the pictures and they turned out great.

Here is Josh with the picture of Christ.....and a quote that Jamie picked out.

My l'il...er....younger brother, Shaylor, is the MOST adventurous person in our family! He is becoming QUITE the avid rock climber....OH....and he's single (and at BYU-Idaho)...tell all of your little sisters!

We thought a picture of him rock climbing...combined with one of his favorite quotes....would be a GREAT present. (Quote: "People who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it.")

Here he is with his present.....isn't he a CUTIE!! He's pretty tall, too....spread the word to the l'il sistas! Oh - and he's a RM!! :)

Totally RAD Tile!

Homemade Christmas Post #2:

I have a HUGE tile like this in our bedroom...and my sis-in-law, Holly, admired it out loud one day. ...she doesn't seem to remember that....but she did! :) I decided to make this their Christmas present. When you get married....you only get ONE present! :) Darn, huh!

My older bro, Jerek & his bride. Thanks for being such GOOD sports & taking this pic! We crashed at their place in Boise, and we kept them up late (playing games) almost every night! Go "Bean" Game...."I'll trade you two chili beans for your cocoa bean..."

Why I Have Been MIA!?!

Weeeellllll.......the long story short IS....it was a completely HOMEMADE Christmas this year!! Now that my hubby is back in school...and I am his "sugar mama"...finances are tighter than what we have been used to. Thus - we decided to create gifts from the heart...and so I have been furiously scrambling to finish up all of our MANY projects....which I can now showcase!!

Ohh laa laa!!

First up would be the box of CARDS that I gave to my older sis. My friend, Melissa did this for her mother...and ever since, I have wanted to do it for one of MY fam members. My sis, Erica, is so thoughtful when it comes to stuff like cards....so she was the perfect recipient!

Homemade Christmas Post #1:

I made six cards of each....and kept one for myself (so I can duplicate them in the future).

The above cards were my last batch...I was pretty exhausted by then...so they were the most simple!

I L.O.V.E. how my above "Thank You" cards turned out! AaauugghhH!!!

These would have looked even BETTER if I had time to ink the edges...but they were still darling!

SUCH a simple design, yet so cute!

The above card...my "design" from a Card Swap I did earlier in the year...I had enough to give Erica five of them!

My cute sis after opening the present...

A handful of the cards! A HUGE success!

I will be posting about our MILLION other little projects during the next few days! Hope you all had as FABULOUS a Christmas as we did! LOVE this time of year!