Capturing the “Perfect” Christmas Card Photo

Capturing the perfect Christmas card photo is on a lot of folks “to do” list and it was on mind until I decided to let the girls take control. In the past we’ve sent out a Family newsletter but now thanks to Facebook and the fact that we live on the east coast (Texas & Alaska previously)  and see our family more often, I opted for a simple picture card. Plus I’d gotten some on clearance during last year’s after holidays sales! **I HEART SALES** 

This is the photo they chose to go on the Christmas Cards this year! Yeah, I know most often people want a “perfect” photo with everyone dressed and sitting pretty. But they  begged for a goofy, silly, funny photo and I had too much fun shooting them. I’ve learned that if I let them just be themselves and pose at will I get much better cooperation and at least one “perfect” shot.

This one was a close 2nd.

 

Here’s the “perfect” one I would have chosen. They said it’s too BORING!

So with all of that I’m glad my girls chose the silly photo. You never know one the receivers may be having a bad day only to open the card and have a good giggle to lift their spirits a little.

Happy Holidays!!!

Yawl come back now-ya here!

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Ornament Wreath

I have wanted one of these for a while now but either could not find the right colors like this one or did not want to shell out the big bucks for one at The Home Depot for $69.00! So I did a little “googling” and found many tutorials I found this one and then I came across this cute blog and another one but I cannot find it now. FOUND IT!

The instructions said to use felt but I didn’t have any so I used an old t-shirt and cut it into strips wrapped it around the wreath and secured it with large safety pins. All of these items I all ready had on hand-Yup! Yup!

I bought at least 10-12 containers of different sized red and silver ornaments from the dollar tree…You can really get in trouble in that place. You think oh, it’s only a buck, I’ll take one of those and one those and at check out you’ve managed to put $50 worth of “one of those” in your cart! YIKES!!

I glued and glued, it took two late nights but I got it done and I am sooooo happy with the results. It perfectly matches my Christmas décor which BTW is red, white, & silver. I collect snowmen too (more on that later).
Thanks for clicking by! Happy Holidays!!
Yawl come back now-yah here! Pin It

O’ Christmas Tree

This year putting up and decorating the tree was a BREEZE! Wanna know why? Well cause I only hung the extra red lights and the girls did the rest. You should have seen them…singing Christmas songs, breaking glass ornaments, laughing and giggling, almost knocking over the tree. It was fun to watch them.  Though I wanted too, I Ieft the tree just as they designed it gaps, overcrowding and all!

Our tree is a faux prelit tree we’ve had now for 3 years….for the firs 9 we had a GIGANTIC faux tree that was my families, being a military family living in tiny quarters most of the I could only put 1/ 2 the tree or the whole thing and leave off the back bottom branch’s. SMH.

I got this tree from JCP for a steal…yawl know I’m cheap  frugal! LOL It’s a 7.5 foot pre-lit tree and I love it…it goes together in 3 pieces!!

My husband got this train about 6-7 years ago,it’s really cool the little smock stack puffs out little clouds of real smoke and it toot’s and everything. (Please ignore the ugly tree skirt…it matched my theme of red, white & silver. I keep wanting to replace it and hopefully this year after Christmas I’ll find a good deal.

I adore all of the handmade ornaments the girls have contributed to our lil tree. The one with Ryene’s name on it is from Gramma ( I know that’s not how you spell it but that’s how they pronounce it, you don’t hear an “n”) We gotta get Erynn one too!
  
I LOVE this frame ornament and the people in it.

I'm linking this post to the party over at Thriftydecorchick.com go check out a few dozen other awesome Christmas Tree's.

Wishing everyone a safe, blessed, joyous Holiday Season! Pin It

My ahh ha! Moment.

Last night while as I was thinking of ways to redecorate my bedroom and dinning room, I had an ahh ha moment. Being a military family we move around ALOT, really every 3 or so years. Some families even more. Any MW (military wife) will tell your one of our moving frustrations is we'll buy beautiful new furniture and home decor only to have it scratched, dented, or completely destroyed or even worse it disappears by careless movers. I was looking in my kitchen dinning area thinking what type of table do I want to buy to replace what I have in there. Then, as I so often do thought "you know what I'ma wait until we move or get setteled because I don't want it to get damaged in the next more". No sooner than that thought left my head another one entered: "Paint the one you have now!" AHHH HA! GENIUS! I don't why I didn't think of it sooner. It makes perfect sense. So sooner hopefully rather than later I will have a new kitchen table set. Only I'd like have  different chairs....so off to craigslist.com I go, if not there I'll see what I can find a few of my local thrift stores! Wish me luck! Pin It

Christmas Tutu-torial

This  year the girls are both going to participate in the local Christmas Parade with out Girl Scout troops. The is Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Ryene is going to be an elf. But Erynn…..she wants to be a doll…but not just any doll…she wants to be Christmas Barbie! Yes, I know Barbie was not in the story but there were dolls, right!? Well to turn her into Christmas Barbie I remembered a Tutu worn by one of the little girls where I work that her Mom had made…super super cute and sooooo easy! Wanna see?
You’ll need: 3 yards of tulle, each a different color
2-4 spools of Ribbon (one to make the belt, the others to add to the tutu)
Bells or buttons to embellish


Fold tulle long ways in thirds and begin cutting 2” strips. Repeat for other two yards.

To measure for the belt, I tied it around her waist and made a bow then cut from the end of the bow.
Untie the bow and where it meets tie a not on either end of the ribbon, this is to hold the tulle on.
Now you can cut your tulle strip in half or fold it in 1/2 and tie it to the belt ribbon you’ll have to cut one end because it will be a loop. I thought this gave it more fluff.

Keep tying the tulle onto the belt ribbon until the desired look is achieved or you run out of tulle. I wanted the EXTRA fluffy look so I kept on tying.
Add your extra ribbon, bells or other embellishments and tie the NOW Tutu skirt around your daughter with a bow. You may have to space the tulle out evenly along the belt to fill in spaces and gaps.

And there you have a quick, easy, Christmas Tutu! I will be so cute once I she’s wearing a coordinating outfit and I found a bow in the Target $1 bin to match. Pin It

Chocolate Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies

I’m very excited about these cookies, one because they are soooooo YUMMY and two because I made them up! Yup, this is my first official blog recipe that I, myself created! Christmas is coming up and we always make cookies for Santa and we wanted something a little different, these Peppermint chips by Andes are just the ticket.






Couldn’t resist using my muffin top pan to make a giant sized version-Oh yeah!

Chocolate Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies (my own recipe!)
2 C Light Brown Sugar
1 C Sugar
2 Sticks Butter (Softened)
1TBS Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
3 1/4 All Purpose Flour
3/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
3/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C Chocolate Chips
1/2 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 C White Chocolate Chips
1 C Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
In mixer, mix together butter and sugars until blended well. Add vanilla and eggs.
In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt
Slowly add dry ingredients to sugar mixture.
Add in all three chocolate chips and stir with a spoon.
Pour Peppermint Chips  in shallow bowl or plate
Scoop out a ball of cookie dough, press the top of ball into peppermint chips and set it on the cookie sheet with the peppermint side up.
Bake 10-12 minutes…you want them to come out still a tad gooey. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack to cool.
**Or if you’re like me put them on a plate and scraff em down with milk while they are still hot! Pin It