***Christmas Mantle 2012***

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend. I finished the mantle and I am so excited to share it with you guys! I love the way it turned out. Almost everything on here I already had besides the tinsel trees and two new stockings for the kids.

 Here's a look at the full view.

 Here's a look with the light off.  I got the kids stockings at Walmart and bought the glittery initials there too, I just hot glued them on.

 I did the garland around the clock again except I added gold deco mesh and some red berry picks this year.

I added gold branches and poinsettias to the urns. 

 Better look with the light on. I put a command hook on the fireplace screen, so I could swag the garland. The end parts are attached to the urns. I added gold deco mesh, red damask ribbon, gold fleur de lis ribbon, brown cheetah ribbon and some gold and brown ornaments and red berry picks.

 I used the same birdcage and added some of the same ribbon on the garland.

Close up of the garland. I love using this deco mesh it makes your garland look so full. 

Well that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed our Christmas Mantle. My house looks like a bomb went off with Christmas decor everywhere. I am sure I will be working all week to get it finished. I'll share as I go. Have a great week!!

~Allyson~

Joining Marty for Tabletop Tuesday

Debbie for Newbie with a twist party

Pamela for Treasure Hunt Thrusday

Sherry for Open House Thrusday

Pamela for Holiday mantle party

Happy Thanksgiving and a sneak peek of Christmas

Hey guys! I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Ours was great, I thought I'd show you the tables. Here's a look at all three.

I took down all of my Fall decor yesterday and started on Christmas, here's a sneak peek at the fireplace. I am loving the way its coming out! I will be finished with it today and I will share the finished reveal tomorrow. 

Have a great day!

~Allyson~

Snowman Mesh Wreath

Hey guys! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and a great week so far. I have been busy getting stuff together for Thanksgiving. I finished a mesh wreath for my kitchen this week, so I wanted to share it with you all.

Here is the finished wreath, I'll show you step by step how I put it together. 

I had some of this plaid mesh that I got from Hobby Lobby last year left over and ribbon from Hobby Lobby too. To attach the mesh simply gather it at one end and secure it with a branch. To form the poof you gather the mesh it is pretty wide and push it up and secure it with the branch and then you can spread it out with your hands however you like. I attached the ribbon the same way.

Next step I picked two ribbons and cut them into strips and did v cuts on the ends. When your ready to attach them to your wreath layer one on the bottom and one on top and use the same branch you secured your mesh with and place the ribbons there. Then i just fluffed the ribbons some and bent them how I wanted.

 Here's what it looks like after I attached the ribbon strips.

Next step pick out some ornaments and something to put in the center. I got all of the ornaments and snowman from the dollar tree! They really have a great selection of ornaments and decor this year. To attach the snowman I left the string at the top and secured it on to one of the branches and then placed some hot glue underneath and secured it to the mesh. With the ornaments I just hot glued them on.

Here's a couple close up's of the wreath.

The cost of this wreath for me was 6 dollars since I already had the mesh, wreath and ribbon on hand, but you can find wreaths at Michaels for fairly cheap. The mesh usually runs about 5 dollars at Hobby Lobby. Ribbon is always on sale at Michael's or Hobby Lobby as well. I hope I explained this well enough for you to attempt one yourself. I'd love to see it if you do!

I think it turned out so cute! I do a candy theme in my kitchen so this will fit in perfectly! I thought about adding more ornaments to the wreath but I think it looks cute as is. You can always stuff yours full if you want to. I will be making similar ones for our front door and garland to match so stay tuned! I will be starting my Christmas decorating this weekend, I cannot wait!

 I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

~Allyson~

Thanksgiving Napkin Rings

Hey guys! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I know I said I would be sharing Christmas  crafts with you, but I just had to share this quick napkin ring idea with you for Thanksgiving that I made. I got the clever idea from Maria at Our home away from home. I just had to re-create some for myself. 

Here's what you will need to create these.

Hot glue & glue gun

Vase fillers or anything you wanna put on the front. 

Toilet paper roll cut into peices

Ribbon 

Scissors

Total cost for this project for me was FREE I had everything on hand.

Place a strip of hot glue along the tp roll and secure it all the way around.

Once you finish that run some strips of glue on the inside and fold your ribbon down and secure it to the hot glue. I used wide ribbon so I could just fold it down and you wont see the inside.

After you finish that hot glue your front peice on.

Then just fold up your napkin the way you want and place the napkin ring over it. 

I think they turned out so cute! We host Thanksgiving at our house and always have about 20-25 people so these are an inexpensive way to make pretty napkin rings. I hope you enjoyed it! I can definitely see making these for various different tablescapes.

Have a great week! I will be back soon with a post!!

~Allyson~

Joining Marty for Tabletop Tuesday

Christmas Present Decor

Hey guys! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I have started on my Christmas crafts and finished one this weekend. Here are the presents all finished. I love the way they turned out! I will either put them in my kitchen or on the top of the hutch. Once I start decorating and figure out where I put them I will share that with you guys. They would look really cute on candlesticks or on a cake stand. I will probably elevate the center one.

 I found the idea on pinterest here is the inspiration picture.  I haven't been able to find where these came from, so if anyone knows let me know and I will give the credit.

I thought a cute way to replicate these would be to use kleenex boxes. 

Here's what I used to create them.

3 Kleenex Boxes- Any grocery store

2 Different sizes of ribbon- Michaels

2 Different colors of yarn fur- Walmart

3 Bags of red and green peppermints- Frys 

Glue Gun 

Scissors

Total cost for this project was around 10 dollars for me, but I already had the yarn fur. I think it costs around 3 dollars. So even with doing that you can make these for under 20. 

All you do with the fur is put a thin strip of hot glue down and glue it. This is kind of labor intensive but it turns out so cute!  I turn the boxes upside down so the opening for the kleenex will be the base.

As you can see here, you see the decoration of the kleenex box through the peppermints but after you add your ribbon it is not noticeable at all. If you dont want to see any of the original box you could always add some glitter or ribbon to the box before gluing the peppermints on. I am going to spray mine with a clear sealer! Make sure you do or else it might get icky with dust or even get bugs.. YUCK!

Here are pictures of each individual box.

Aren't they adorable?! I am going to make some in red, gold and green also. I hope you enjoyed them and if anyone makes any I would love to see them! I will be continuing to do Christmas crafts for the next few weeks and will share them with you as I finish.

 I hope you all have a great day!

~Allyson~

Joining Marty for Tabletop Tuesday

Pamela for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Yvonne for Tutorial Tips & Tidbits

Kristen for Share Your Creations

Kathy for Home & Garden Thursday