J-O-Y Door Decor

In September, I made a post titled F-A-L-L Door Decoration.  It was a fun and simple craft to dress up a door for fall.  I decided to continue the craft, but geared the words more towards Christmas.  I made a J-O-Y door decoration.  I simply painted the letters white and used a red ribbon with white polka dots.  I also used smaller letters for this particular project because I liked the curly letters.  Since the letters were smaller, I also used a thinner ribbon.

This project could be completed for a variety of seasons.  Other words that could be used to decorate the door include: SNOW, NOEL, SPRING, EASTER, LOVE.  The letters can be simply painted or decorated using scrapbook paper and Mod-Podge.  (I know how this stuff works now:)  )  Lots of possibilities!!  Step-by-step instructions for this project can be found here.  Happy Crafting!!
Rachel

Pottery Barn NOEL Knock-off

Pottery Barn...sigh!!  I love almost everything in the store.  It is my style in home decor.  But you know what I don't love...the prices.  As a result, I simply window shop and use it as my muse for some homemade knock-offs.

For the holiday season, I ran across this Pottery Barn wall hanging.

 

 Super cute, with a super price tag of $149.  No, your eyes do not deceive you.  Those four letters cost $149.  So I decided to make my own.

Supplies:
N O E L--mdf letters
Crimson and raw Umber Paint
Paint brushes
Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

I painted all the letters in the Raw Umber first.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  In fact, if some white shows through or if the brush strokes are visible, that's okay.  It will add to the rustic look of the piece.

 

When the paint is almost dry, add a layer of crimson.  Once again, don't paint it solid.  Some of the umber needs to show through.  Keep layering the paints in this manner until you like it.

 Can you tell where I have been painting?


Once the letters have completely dried, arrange them to say NOEL.  You can be creative with the arrangement. 

 

Use hot glue to attach letters together.  I also used a staple gun to secure the letters more.

I spent a total of $13 to get the same look as the $149 original!!  Have a Merry Christmas and happy crafting!!

O' Christmas Tree

When I was a child, the start of the Christmas season was marked with a family trek to the woods to find the perfect tree.  All five of us would load up in the old farm truck and drive to various corners of the woods until we spotted the tree.  Dad would then cut it down and place it in the bed of the truck.  Mom and Dad would bring it inside, find the best looking side, and the tree decorating would begin.  Such fond memories revolve around my childhood Christmas tree, not because the tree was important but because spending time with family was important.

When Josh and I were married, we started our family tradition with an artificial tree.  I enjoy putting it up early and not having to water the tree.  However, our tree is very large and since we are living in a condo, we didn't have room to store the tree.  As a result, our tree is in Kentucky and we needed to purchase a real tree this year.  Since we live in the Christmas tree capital of the world--or so it seems-- we had our own family trek to the woods  a Christmas tree farm to find that perfect tree.  Not only is it the kids first real tree, it's Josh's too!!  Hopefully this will become a family tradition each year and our children will reflect on these as happy memories, just like me.

 On a hayride to the trees...this is pretty much how every picture I try to take turns out.  There must be some trick to get ALL three looking at the camera AND smiling at the same time...I just haven't learned it yet!!

 Abby like this tree....

 ...and Micah liked this one.  They were excited to find a tree that was "my size."

 Micah is ready to saw.  Of course, all parenting advice would tell you to NOT let your children play with sharp objects!!

 Another example of the kids NOT looking at the camera in unison!!

 Daddy cutting down the tree.  It takes talent to cut down a tree while NOT getting your church clothes dirty!!!

 Hauling the tree back to the truck

 Every tree needs a star!!