Junkin in June

Hello!  I feel much like a bear waking from a deep slumber.  Has it really been four years since I last blogged??!!  Holey cow!!  I guess I'll make this short and sweet so as not to bore anyone of my silly ramblings... I MISSED THIS!  Where else can a person ramble on about Christmas and not be shunned??

Y'all I just spent the most glorious weekend in a cute cabin in the mountains and it has done so much for my soul.  We went to the Junk Ranch in Arkansas and it was a blast!!!  So much junk so little time.  Everyone we came across was so kind.  You could just visit with anyone for hours about junk, where they have been in life, and what they want to do with more junk.  It was fabulous!

Isn't this barn adorable?!  I just fell in love with it.  That wreath is soooo pretty.

There was bunting along the whole metal fence.  I know this isnt' too Christmasy but I wanted to share with you all the fun that was had.  There was several different kinds of food vendors and live music.  The band that we heard was Sad Daddy.  It was so catchy that we bought one of their CD's and listened to it the whole way home.

The cabin we stayed in was the bear cabin and it was decorated so cute!

Christmas in July is coming up.  I saw that it starts July 7th.  Can't wait to watch the sweet movies!  Hope you all are having a great June!!

Home for the Holidays

Hello Christmas friends!  It's that time of year again.  The stores around here are actively putting out all things Christmas... to my delight!   

This past year has been filled with children growing up, big decisions, and loads of humbling experiences.  All of which have shaped and molded us into God's perfect plan.  One of the biggest blessings we received this year was to purchase a different house.  This time on 2 acres with a beautiful white barn.  The home is smaller and needed and still needs lots of updating.  We have worked hard for 4 months now and are finally seeing some wonderful results.  First on our list was to finish the girls rooms so they could feel more at home and not so uprooted from their childhood home.  We painted, hung wallpaper, and painted a tree mural on one wall.  All so much fun and time consuming.  We have laid tile floors and moved kitchen cabinets to which we were able to add a beautiful farm sink.  All of which I can't wait to share with you! 

But first on my list of things to share is the Home for the Holidays {Creatively Made Home}.  It is an online course starting October 15 on Jeanne Oliver's Creative Network.  I am taking her Creatively Made Home course and LOVE it!  I am currently on week 3 and can't get enough!!  There are loads of videos and pictures sure to spark any one's love of anything home.  Recipes... oh the wonderful recipes, not just for food.  Different decorating styles and so many beautiful pictures!  I wanted to share this with you because it has made a world of difference for me.  I had fallen into quite a funk and this course has lifted my spirits and made me so excited to decorate again.  I can not wait to see what Home for the Holidays has to offer.  The ladies doing it are so sweet and down to earth.  I am not getting a kick back or anything for telling you this.  I simply wanted to share it with you because it is so much fun!    

If you are not able to take the course don't worry.   I will share everything I implement to our home.  I wont be able to emulate what these girls are able to do but I can sure give it a try!

Only 79 more days... But in all reality, this is part of the best time for me.  I love the built to Christmas Day.  I love the cooler weather, the changing colors in the leaves and grasses, and all of the holiday fun.  Blessings to you and yours!

Oh me!!  Is it really less then a week till Christmas?  Why is it that the last 3 weeks before Christmas just seem to fly by?  I thought I had Christmas whipped about 2 weeks ago but soon realized my brain seems to forget the little things.  I had plans for neighbors that were thrown out the window when Hostess went out of business... BOOO.  But have since hit Pinterest and found other ideas.  Thank you Pinterest!! 

Here are the Christmas gifts the girls are giving their friends. 

 

My girls were so excited to package their friends gifts!  I found these cute little bags and headers at Hobby Lobby.  They were 50% off... SCORE!  Each gift contains a nail polish, file, tweezers, candy, and hair bands.  The polish was $2 and the file set was .99 cents.  I bought a package of hair bands and they divided them up.  Each friend is so different from the other and it was fun finding colors to match their personalities.  We tucked in a gift card for iTunes or a manicure in them for fun.  Inexpensive but just what a girls wants :-) 

 

One year I bought cute Christmas shirts a couple days after Christmas for $1.  The following year I made hair bows that we wrapped around the shirt and tucked in a candy cane.  Inexpensive but they were so very excited to receive it. 

 

Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season!  We are headed to the wonderful land of Kansas for the holiday... There's no place like home, there's no place like home.

 

My next post will show you our stockings!  We are very practical...   

Getting Organized!

Well, howdy do my Christmas friends!! Can you believe Christmas is less then 50 days away??! We better get cracking if we want to have a stress free December to enjoy with our loved ones and friends ;-). This year I promised myself to be completely done BY October... did it happen? NO, but not to worry! I have a little secret up my sleeve. It's called organization.

 

 

I found this idea on Pinterest.  It is a Christmas Journal!!  I had so much fun making it and it really got me in the mood for Christmas, not that I needed help in that department, lol.  I lit a Christmas scented candle, played my blog Christmas music and crafted away :-)

 

(When you open the cover)

 

The way I organized it was to first list all of our blessings.  By blessings I mean people that we love and pray for in our lives.  That includes family, friends, neighbors, and don't forget the mail delivery person in your life!

 

(I  covered up the names to protect the innocent, lol)

 

 

Then I pulled from our blessings and dedicated a whole page to that particular family.  I wrote the name of the person down and their wish list.  Having two different families we do things two different ways.  On my side we exchange a wish list and on my hubbies side we just... wing it, haha.  His family is rather large with lots of brothers, sisters, and cousins.  We use to exchange names and buy for just that person but have since stopped as that too was getting expensive.  And we all know that Christmas isn't about presents its about presence... okay, now I'm getting a little tacky ;-)  I would say for his side of the family we concentrate on homemade gifts, which is fun too!

 

I loaded tons of pics for you to see all of the different pages, covering names... still protecting the innocent, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As time goes on I can cross items off or make notes about things we make or buy.

 

This is the last page

 

Some different things or sections you can add to the book could include:

 

Menu

Things to do

Christmas cards

Pics of fun activities

Favorite movie

Favorite songs

Children's Christmas list

ECT...

 

So many possibilities!  I will carry this little baby with me every time I am out so I can refer to gifts wanted and write ideas as they come to me in the stores. 

 

Have you gotten started yet?

 

In the next post I plan on sharing with you what we did for my two girls to give to their friends!  They were so excited and couldn't wait to package them ;-) 

 

 

Christmas in July Gift 2

This gift was sooo easy to make!  I found these platters at junk stores for next to nothing.

Washed them up real good, rubbed them down with white vinegar, let them dry and painted two coats of the chalkboard paint.

Waalaaa! 

So CUTE!  Just add what ever sentiment you would like and a couple magnets and you have a little message board :-)

Christmas in July Craft 1

Merry Christmas in July to all of my Christmas loving friends!!!  Last Christmas I vowed to be done with all of the gifts by October... that being said, I better get my tooshie in gear :-).  To start my Christmas holiday venture off I made these sweet little owl's.  I found the idea off of Pinterest.  Kristen over at Domestifluff has the wonderful template and instructions on how to make this sweet little owl gift box.  You can find the direct link by heading to her blog full of great ideas or on my Pinterest under the "Gift Ideas" board.  It will be a Halloween owl in black (CUTE)!!  I fell in love with her owl as soon as I saw it.  Only thing is she did it for Halloween.  In order to change the owl from scowling to sweet I moved the large triangle from being in front of the owl's eye's to behind... waaalaa!

 

This is what it will look like when you cut out the shape of the owl gift box and score the dotted lines.

Here it is all taped and put together :-).  From here I cut out the other shapes, glued, and sprinkled glitter on them.

Seeing the white glitter in a pile on the table reminded me of snow!  Sure was nice to think of a cooler time... it's been HOT here!  104... Yikes!!

Silly little owl just had to be in the picture ;-)

These gift boxes could be used for so many things...

money

jewelry

gift card

special notes

candy

What ever you can stuff in there! 

   

Junk Sale Score

I was beyond excited when a friend and I found a new junk store and the lady had left her Christmas up.  When we went in she was in the process of putting it away so we didn't waste any time grabbing what we "needed".  I found two adorable table clothes that the sweet lady said were from the 50's! 

Swoon...

She only charged me $5 for each one!!!  Do you hear angels singing?  I do!

Another great score was this box of ornaments.  It had a sister box but I chose not to get it as it was all tore up... sure do wish I would of grabbed it now.  Darn that husband of mine for making me "think" about what I am buying!  LOL

Sweet little pink ornaments... makes you think of the family that might of put these on their tree.  Maybe some Christmas music playing in the background.  Mom in her apron and the boys with their shirts tucked and girls with their dresses.  Sigh...

Sure do feel lucky to have found these!

We went back thinking she would be open and we could finish our shopping but she had closed shop...  booohoooo.

Have you scored any off season Christmas?