Headband/Hair Bow Wall Display

Ya'll...my due date is FIVE days away. 5. The hospital bags pretty much comes with us anywhere we go and I've been bouncing away on my physio ball but I'm still not experiencing many concerning, painful contractions. The days are going by fast....but slowly at the same time as I'm waiting around if that makes sense. To fill the time, I thought I'd finally bust out the old macbook and post the tutorial on the hair accessory wall display I created a couple weeks ago! 

Everything I needed for this little craft I picked up at Michaels. I needed: 

• a large frame 
• two different sized ribbons 
• mini screw-in hooks 
• flower accents 

I also needed a hot glue gun, which I borrowed from my mother-in-law because ours is still packed up somewhere. 

This craft came together in seriously no time...like a matter of minutes. I removed the glass and backing to the frame. Then I turned the frame over, cut strips of ribbon to fit from the top of the frame to the bottom, spaced them out, and hot glued each ribbon to the back of the frame. Once the ribbon had been secured, I, with the help of Ryan, screwed in the mini hooks to the bottom of the frame. To finish the craft, I threw some fabric flowers up at the top for decoration.

In order to hang the display, we added a metal bracket to the back of the frame. Et Voila!

The best part of this craft was going through all of the bows and headbands I've collected over the past few months and putting them on display. I can't wait to actually use them any day now.

Alright, Itty Bitty.... Get your hiney out now, would yah?! We're more than ready for you! 

We Decked the Halls

I have been waiting patiently for weeks now to finally share my Christmas decorations with the world (or whoever actually reads this thing...). Today is the day! 

Ryan and I actually decked our halls two or so weeks ago after much begging and pleading on my part. I realize some people may frown upon the whole "decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving" thing, but seasonal decorations make me giddy. So why should I have to wait until December 1st to put our tree up and only get to enjoy everything for a few short weeks?? Anybody? That's what I thought! 

I take pictures of our Christmas decorations every year (last years set up), so that I can remember where I put things the year before, making re-decorating the next year that much easier. Plus, I just like to give my friends and family out there a little glimpse into our home sweet home we've made for ourselves in Boston. So...without further ado, I present to you my views this season. 

Let's start at the entrance. Welcome in! 

This burlap wreath is my first Christmas craft of the season! It was also one of my November goals! I'm so happy with how it turned out. One of these days I plan on actually documenting the burlap wreath making process on here. One of these days. 

This is our entry table and one of my most favorite spots to decorate seasonally. The banner is new and glittery and came from Etsy. My favorite decorations on the table are the chef Santa, given to us by Mama Kathy, and the bowl of ornaments, which were handed down to us by Ryan's Granny and Papa. These are definitely decorations we will cherish forever.

 Once you walk past our entry, you see this:

Our tree for the season! Our DIY stocking holder can be seen closer up here! 

Our newest addition to the Christmas tree- a little leprechaun ornament straight from Ireland. 

 Our newest piece of furniture (Thanks Brad, Susan, Rick, and Jane!) decorated for it's first Christmas:

For our first anniversary, my god-father and uncle Dave and aunt Carolyn gave us a nativity scene. On a note that he wrote, Uncle Dave told us that my grandfather gave him and aunt Carolyn a similar nativity set for their first anniversary. I think that is so special and will also cherish displaying this set year after year.

To round this post out, here are a couple other odds and ends around the apartment.

I love coming home to our very own Christmas oasis after work in the evenings. Happy Holidays, ya'll!

Christmas Crafts: Part 2

At my bridal shower last year, my parents gifted Ryan and I with some awesome Christmas décor staples: monogrammed stockings, a monogrammed tree skirt, and a beautiful light-up star for the Christmas tree. Fast forward a year, to when Ryan and I unpack our Christmas boxes, come across our stockings, and immediately realize we have NO way of hanging them up. Disaster! We immediately bought a couple of stocking hangers but just couldn't find a good place to display them. So of course, I took to pinterest, which brought me to Etsy, where I found some awesome stocking hanger creations, which would only cost us $45-50! No thank you. $50 for a piece of wood, some paint, and a couple hooks- Ryan and I could do that ourselves for $40 cheaper. And.... we did! Now we have a cute to DIY stocking holder to tie us over until we FINALLY have a mantle!

Here's what you need:

- 1 15 inch wood plank (we got ours from Lowe's where they cut it to size for us and then charged us .05 cents because they felt bad charging us full price for a little piece of wood!)

- 1 small bottle of whatever color paint you want

- 2 white decorative hooks (also bought at Lowe's)

-Any other accessories you may want to spruce up your piece!

It was seriously so easy. (I say that, but all I did was paint the board. Ryan did the rest.. love that handy husband of mine!)

First, we painted the board a bright red and let it dry. While the board was drying, we also painted the little wooden snowflake we picked up at Michael's white. Once those were both dry, we attached the snowflake to the board with glue.

Next, we (Ryan) attached the hooks to the front of board. It looks like I lied though. Apparently, we didn't attach the snowflake until after we put the hooks in.... I don't think the order of those two events matters though, so no harm done! 

Finally, we (Ryan) attached the bracket to the back so we could hang the piece on the wall. Once we finished, we decided to use a bit of our left over garland to drape over the top, which we (Ryan- sensing a theme yet?) stapled to the top and sides of the board! Et Voila!

Now our stockings can hang in as much style as possible without a pretty mantle to drape from. We get 9 more days to admire this beauty before we pack up and head down to GEORGIA for Christmas!! Let the countdown begin!

A Christmas Craft

The Christmas season is in full swing up here at the Smith home! Over the next few days, I'll be posting on a variety of Christmas topics, but today I wanted to share with you my holiday "wreath" this season. Wreath is in quotation marks because we live in an apartment complex with strict rules on having anything outside the apartment (wreaths, doormats, etc...) so to hang our special homemade wreath, I had to improvise. I gathered some object we had from Christmases past and set to work to create a fun, festive centerpiece for our entry table! 

All of this stuff I already had laying around the house, but I used a twig wreath, garland, a big red bow (All from the dollar store), twine, and a whitewashed frame with the glass removed. I thought I would use the "S" as well, but when the project was finished, it just didn't seem to fit. 

First, I wrapped the garland around the wreath. I left some room at the top because I wanted the rest of it to be as full as possible and I knew the bow was going to cover that part of the wreath anyways! 

Next, I tied the bow around the wreath and tied the wreath to the white frame with twine. Et Voila... Seriously, it was that easy. 5 minutes from start to finish and now we have a cute and festive wreath bringing Christmas cheer to our apartment! Hey, maybe it's a good thing we couldn't hang it outside- now I get to enjoy it from our living room!

Side note: Do you see that ADORABLE Santa sitting on our table? The Grant's generously gifted us that Santa not even knowing how hard I have been looking for one! I am in love with it and look forward to pulling it out every season and thinking about our great "Northern Family"! 

Happy Holiday's, Ya'll!! 

Happy Fall Decorating, Ya'll!!

Fall is by far my favorite of the four seasons. When Ryan asked me what I thought about moving to Boston, the first thing I thought about was not only getting to experience all 4 seasons, but more importantly, getting to experience a New England fall. Well that time is here, and let me tell you, the weather has not been disappointing lately! Our windows are open 24/7, the new crock-pot has been getting a workout, and I'm just about ready to pull my boots out of storage! Now, I just hope this weather sticks around for a while before the frigid temps set in!!

In the spirit of this MOST wonderful season, I decided to share with ya'll some of my favorite fall decorations hanging out around our apartment!

Let's start with a DIY project I tackled last fall. I had some burlap laying around and Pinterest told me if I had the right printer I could run the fabric through and print anything I wanted on it! I decided to create what you see below. Once I figured how how to get the printer to recognize the burlap, the project took about 20 seconds! Once the design was printed, I took an orange sharpie to the pumpkin and colored it in for that extra pop!

That little beauty currently sits on this shelf:

Our side table: 

Mmm more burlap! 

TV console: 

Buffet and Hutch:

I had some extra leaves laying around so I stuffed them all into a mason jar and called it a day.

 My favorite decorating spot- the entry table we built:

 I made the wreath below for 3 dollars (minus the S). I bought a twig wreath, a leaf garland, and a fall flower garland for a dollar each from...the dollar store. When I got home, I wrapped the leaf and flower garlands around the twig wreath as many times as possible and then threw the S up in the middle and tied it all to an 11x14 whitewashed open frame! Voila!

Last fall, I also made this burlap banner. I bought a yard of burlap and a bunch of fall-themed scrapbook paper from Joann's. I cut out banner shapes from the burlap and printed block letter outlines onto the back of the scrapbook paper then cut those out as well. Finally, I glued it together and hung each banner piece up to a large piece of twine with a small clothespin. The coolest thing (to me) about this banner is that its reversible! On the other side, I created a christmas-themed banner that spells out "Peaceful". Boom!

Finally, you fall decorations can't be complete until you add some beautiful sunflowers! (Thanks again, Hubby!!)

And there you have it! A quick overview of my favorite fall decorations put out for my favorite time of the year! Happy Fall, Ya'll!!