Whoops

I'm in the middle of a REALLY fun project I was hoping I'd be able to post tonight.

I ran into a few problems though so I won't be able to post until tomorrow.

Here's a hint: it involves fun amounts of wintery glitter!

In the mean time, I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Tuesday! :]

Christmas Craftin' in November

In hopes of having a fun filled December without needing to finish last minute decorations, I am getting to work now on my craft to-do list.

Thanks to Pinterest I have a TON of fun ideas, crafts, and recipes to try out this holiday season so I will be a busy little bee making our house a Christmas WONDERLAND.

When planning my crafts, I KNEW I wanted to start out with a fun craft I pinned quite a while ago.

I found TWO versions of really cute snowmen that I knew I wanted to recreate.

Here are the projects I found via Pinterest:

Source: etsy.com via Kayla on Pinterest

Source: savvychichome.blogspot.com via Kayla on Pinterest

Aren't they adorable?! Who wouldn't want to recreate these?

I got started this week and I am ALMOST done...

For this fun project all you need is some wood, paint, dowels, some tools, and whatever embellishments you want for your snowmen. You can completely make them your own which is great and the best part about these little guys is that they are about $7 a piece depending on what buttons and fabric you use.

To start I had my hubby get some wood for me. I started out with just a 2x4 but after my first snowman was done I ended up using a 2x3 and a 2x8 we had lying around. I talked to my husband and we decided what sizes would look the cutest and he used our saw to cut my desired lengths.

I ended up with 3 snowmen, each with 3 pieces of wood....9 pieces of wood total.

Here is a picture of us trying to figure out the best snowmen shapes.

You can sand your wood right away but I decided to paint first.

Either way works well but I knew I wanted to have a distressed look so I just sanded them once rather than twice.

Make sure you take your time painting. You need to let each coat dry and do one side at a time so you don't end up with newspaper stuck to your snowman.

Once the wood is painted and you have sanded the wood (if you'd like the distressed look), you'll need to put some dowels in the wood to make the snowman stay together.

My wonderful husband drilled holes in the wood and put two dowels in so they would be secure. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of this process, but if you have any questions, just let me know.

When my snowmen were all put together I just glued on some googly eyes and buttons and my snowmen started coming to life. I knew I wanted a more natural look because I love the country Christmas look. I found really cute pinecone fabric for the scarves and used sticks for the noses. I just drilled a hole in the face and stuck in a stick from outside. My hubby taught me how to use the drill for this and I think the noses turned out so cute.

Here is how they turned out:

This guy was my first snowman. Here are all three:

My only dilemma now is the hat situation... I pictured pinecone hats and just fell in LOVE with the idea.

We picked up some pinecones and Andrew sawed them in half to make the perfect hats:

Cute huh?!

But then....I wanted to see what felt looked like:

Cute AGAIN.

So now I'm in a pickle. I LOVE the natural look of the pinecones, but the felt is super cute too.

So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help me by telling me what you like best:

No hats.

Felt hats.

Pinecone hats (I still would need Andrew to help me cut one last pinecone).

OR a mixture?!

What do you think? Overall I'll love these little guys no matter what they wear on their heads, but I'd appreciate your opinions.

If you want to come over and make some of your own, let me know! I'm having a craft night at my house in a week and a half and can't wait for a fun girls night! Also, if you end up making your own version, let me know so I can check them out! :]

HAPPY CHRISTMAS CRAFTING!

Thanksgiving Decor: Short Lived

I absolutely LOVE the holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...you name it! I love them all.

I believe in decorating for ALL holidays and really bringing the spirit of each season into our home. Each holiday brings different feelings and memories and I love the time I share with family and friends.

And while after reading this post you may not believe the statements above....and you may think I just am disregarding Thanksgiving like it doesn't deserve my time...please know that I DO love Thanksgiving. I really do! I just am MORE excited for Christmas this year. I just love the WHOLE Christmas spirit and everything that comes with the season.

So please forgive me if you are a die-hard "wait until after Thanksgiving until the Christmas decor comes out" type, because I have broken the golden rule.

On Halloween night I hurried and snapped pictures of our decor and rushed to take down all things Halloween to make way for Thanksgiving. I kept telling myself that the decorations would go up and last a few weeks if not more and then I'd make way for Christmas. I started off with high expectations and here are my Thanksgiving decorations in all their glory:

I know it's not much but I was stoked to have my Thanksgiving decor up and ready to go. However, I have to inform everyone that I lied to myself. The Thanksgiving decorations wouldn't last. I don't know if it was the Christmas movies, the talk of fun Christmas activities with friends, the gift planning, or the wintery weather, but two nights ago I convinced the hubs to break out my Christmas decor and the Thanksgiving decor is no more at the Lawrence house.

Never fear though...Thanksgiving isn't all forgotten. To show my appreciation for Thanksgiving we started a NEW tradition. One that lasts ALL MONTH with or without the decorations.

We started the THANKFUL TURKEY!

On November first I drew a turkey body and got to creating The Lawrence's Thankful Turkey. I made tons and tons of feathers to last us all month and each day both Andrew and I have to put a new feather on with something we are thankful for.

Here are some pictures to show what Mr. Thankful himself looks like:

Him without his feathers.

After day one....

A few days later...as you can tell my husband LOVES Diet Coke! :]

Mr. Thankful tonight!

I'm super glad we started this tradition and love seeing what Andrew says he is thankful for each day. I can't wait to continue this tradition as our family grows and see the changes in our lives.

I think EVERYONE should do a thankful turkey or at least count your blessings! Not only in November, but all year round!

If you decide to make your own Thankful Turkey please let me know! I'd love to see it! :]

My Halloween Decor

Each year I try to snap a few pictures of how I decorated for the Holidays so I can look back and remember all the fun we had and the spirit the decorations brought.

I hurried and snapped these pictures on Halloween Night before I brought out the Thanksgiving decor:

These are my specimen jars. I LOVED making them and they were SUPER easy.

Pumpkins I made last year as our table centerpiece.

Cobwebs and Haunted Houses.

I got this sign as a wedding present. I had to spookify it by adding some spider webs.

The witch with her brew.

I made the seasonal blocks **pictured above** at a craft class held by Lanier Creations and I got the cute family rules sign from 41 West Designs.

Another sign I made with Lanier Creations.

My spooktacular bookshelves.

Our haunted grave yard.

This creepy guy wouldn't leave our house the whole month of October!

Each year I like to add more and more decor! I can't wait for the years to come and to see the changes we make! :]

The Last of the Halloween Fun

The Friday after I last posted I had Meagan and Brittney over to make some fun Halloween treats. We worked on caramel apples, pumpkin shaped brownies, and pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats. It was a fun afternoon with the girls!

I made the caramel by myself but I guess we didn't wait long enough to dip the apples because it pretty much all fell off. Whether or not the caramel stayed on....the good news is the caramel tasted delightful. 

The recipe I used can be found here:

Do you have any caramel apple making tips?

These brownies aren't as cute as my Frankenstein Brownies, but they were fun to make. We decorated them last minute before Meagan had to leave.

Meagan focused on these cute pumpkin rice krispie treats! Aren't they cute?!

Overall treat day was a huge success and it was a fun day spent with the girls. Also, to top it all off, the Halloween fun wasn't over! The next night we had people over for our Second Annual Halloween Party. There wasn't a huge turnout but it was definitely fun! Here are some pictures from the night:

We were originally going to be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, but after we couldn't find any yellow sweatshirts, we decided on a Rockstar and his Number 1 Fan! You can see my costume above. Did I mention that I made my own tutu?! It was a lot of work but I think it turned out super cute!

Meagan and Justin came dressed up as characters from the game "Guess Who?!" Aren't their costumes adorable?! 

Here I am with the most famous Rockstar ever, AKA my hubby! :]

Above you can see Brittney and Dustin dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2!

I think everyone's costumes turned out so cute! At the party we ate good food, talked with good friends, and watched some scary movies. We didn't play all the games I had in store, however, before everyone left I had everyone guess how many candy corn were in the jar. JUSTIN WON! :]

Here is Walter...I mean Justin...with his prize and the candy corn! GREAT GUESSING JUSTIN!

I also had everyone vote on the cutest costume and Brittney and Dustin WON! :] Here they are with their prizes.

The party was super fun and I'm glad everyone came. On Halloween day we ended up spending time with family and watching my niece and nephew Trick or Treat. It was a great night spent with the ones we love.

Overall my Halloween festivities were a HUGE success. Thank you for all who came to celebrate and I'm looking forward to a spooktacular time NEXT YEAR!