{Christmas Wrap Up}

We have had a w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l Christmas full of fun with family and friends. We are actually still in the midst of our travels but I found some time to squeeze in a recap of the past few days. We kicked off the holidays by staying with Todd's family for a few days and celebrating Christmas Eve together. This was my first Christmas Eve with his family and I enjoyed every moment. Unfortunately we were missing some family members but hopefully we can all be together next year!

Christmas day we headed to hear my dad preach at his church then opened gifts with the family. I forgot to take pictures because we were all so busy looking at baby Annlyn. Our family keeps growing and growing. This year was even more fun than usual. Shame on me for not snapping a photo of all of us.

Monday we went out with some of my favorites plus their husbands to catch up on life. I miss living near these girls! We had SO much to talk about. 

On Wednesday we loaded up the Honda for a little road trip! 

We were on our way to Columbia, SC. While on our honeymoon cruise, we met the sweetest family and all became friends. Since we had a few days of vacation left, we headed south to go visit them. 

We hung out at their house the first day then the next day we ventured to their lake house on Lake Murray. This is me with the daughter, Madeline and Mama Robin in the background setting up the hammock. Madeline is a freshman at Clemson this year. She's great!

The weather was gorgeous! Perfect for a canoe ride. Madeline and her boyfriend were so gracious to just let me ride along as they did all the hard work. Todd was on his own.

We had a blast catching up with them and playing lots of games. Shame on me again, for not taking a group photo! 

We left yesterday and headed straight east to visit family. We are looking forward to ringing in the New Year together. More on all that to come!

Happy New Years Eve!

-Sara (& Todd)

Our First Christmas, 2011

{home for the holidays}

The past few days have suddenly reminded me why it is awesome to be a college student. This long break is good for the soul. Not setting an alarm has probably been my favorite along with no responsibility with work or school. 

We started out the break by visiting my sister, bro-in-law and our niece, Annlyn. My sister and I dressed her up and let Uncle Todd take some Christmas photos of her with his nice camera. I snapped this photo with my iPhone after her photo shoot when she was in more comfortable clothing. If she could talk, the caption would tell you that her mother and aunt are crazy! We wore her out!

Later that night we hit up Mcadenville aka Christmastown USA. Christmas wouldn't be complete without seeing all the lights. 

Now we are staying with Todd's family for a few days. I found this book on the shelf in the room we stay in at my mother in laws and I couldn't stop reading it! I highly recommend everyone read this book as it will give you a new perspective on heaven. This young boy has seen Jesus and has truth to be shared!

Yesterday we went to Ikea. Oh my. That place never gets old to me. I could shop there all day long! Todd and I both agree that it is better to go there with a purpose. We were looking for an organizational unit (for me) that could also function as a record player stand (for Todd). We were successful in finding a piece that would work along with a few other items we couldn't resist! Pics to come soon! 

Last night we attended Code Orange Christmas at Elevation Church. It was wonderful and amazing to see a grown man in front of us accept the Lord with tears of joy in his eyes. Just beautiful. 

I'm loving spending my first Christmas being married. We are having a wonderful time and looking forward to the Christmas Eve service at his home church, hearing my father preach on Christmas morning and also seeing what Santa brings us.

;)

Happy Holidays!

-Sara (& Todd)

{mantel decor and more}

I just realized that I never posted a picture of our mantel. We used items we mostly had around the house or that I got on clearance last Christmas. 

This is my favorite piece. I snagged this cutie at a thrift store back during the summer. Too bad he didn't photograph well (he's shy) but I'm lovin' the white ceramic style he is rockin'.

I placed these two wood ornaments on the mantel as well. They are two of my favorite words during this season.

I'm sure going to miss looking at this once the holidays are over. The lights make it so cozy. 

We use our dining room table all the time, for everything! We eat there, we use our computers there, I paint my nails there (true story) and basically sometimes it is the catch-all place as soon as walk in the house (please tell me this happens to other people too). So I added a small centerpiece that includes an evergreen candle so we can get that Christmas tree smell without the Christmas tree. This is very functional for us:

Switching gears, I want to give a big CONGRATS to Daniel and Jessica for tying the knot. Daniel went to high school with Todd and were also roommates in college. We were honored to celebrate with them this past weekend. The ceremony was a true act of worship honoring the Lord and the reception was a classy brunch. We were able to catch up with lots of friends which is always fun! Oh happy day!

That's all for now! We have a busy next few days but I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends! 

Cheers,

Sara

{personalized gift tags}

My semester of grad school was extremely busy. Since I didn't have time for much crafting, I constantly "pinned" items on Pinterest. Now that school has slowed down (at least for a month), I'm finally getting around to making a few things that have caught my eye. 

With Christmas right around the corner, I've been buying gifts which means I'll have to do some wrapping. Is it weird that I love shopping for wrapping paper? I mainly like to look for shiny paper that is thick so it doesn't rip while wrapping or transporting. I found some great paper at TJ Maxx this year.

Later while browsing at Michaels, I found these tags on clearance for $1.00! Immediately I thought of making unique gift tags for my presents.

I was just about to buy stamp letters when I bumped into my friend Emily. She told me she already had some that I could borrow. I love when that happens! Makes my crafting even cheaper. I already had red ink but it isn't too expensive if you wish to try this yourself.

I learned from trial and error (on blank pieces of paper) to barely place the stamp on the paper. If you press too hard or move it too quickly, you will have a blob of ink.

Eventually I got into the swing of things and it was very easy. I went ahead and made all the gifts tags I will need for this Christmas. Nine to be exact, since we all aren't exchanging this year. Here are a few more almost completed...

I decided to handwrite the "to" and "from" and I like the way it turned out. The bright red letters make it very obvious as to who the gift is for.

Once I got the hang of stamping, these took me about thirty minutes. Did I ever mess up? Yes, of course! I bought two packages of the tags for that very reason. In fact, after Todd saw the "Carol" tag (his mom) he informed me that it should read, "Mom." Oops! I always call her Carol but it would make much more sense if her gift was labeled "Mom" so I redid hers and I did the same for my parents.

I really enjoyed making these and it adds some fun to the gifts. Since we are traveling, I didn't add bows to any of the gifts yet. I'll plop one on right above the tag once we arrive at our destinations!

Ho Ho Ho!

-Santa Sara

Cheap & Easy Art

I'm really into subway art these days. Lucky for all of us, it is easy to find free printables all over the web. Here is a picture of our photo collage wall that I snapped a few weeks ago (I really should have straightened the pics before taking this...oops, just keepin' it real). All of these frames are just random frames we had collected throughout college so we decided to just leave them mismatched. We still aren't totally satisfied with the placements and pictures we chose so some change may be happening but for now this is where my printed subway art is living.

This is the subway art I printed for the Fall....

For this Christmas season, I took a slightly different route. I still found some great word art but I wanted it to have great meaning. I chose this art because it has one of my favorite Bible verses on the birth of Jesus. Considering we don't have a Christmas tree either, this fills the void. I enjoy walking by it everyday and being reminded of the greatest gift of Christmas, our savior.

Source

Click source up above to grab it for yourself. I find most of mine off of Pinterest by searching subway art. I always save it to my computer then have it printed in an 8 x 10 at a photo center for $2.50. I've seen other Santa themed subway art that display wonderful colors and holiday cheer so check it out.

Have fun! 

-Sara

The Stockings Were Hung...

This may just be my favorite post yet of sharing our Christmas decor. When we got married, one thing I was most excited about was choosing stockings for our mantel. I started my search back in September for the perfect stockings. I chose to shop on Etsy because you can choose to buy handmade items from individuals. I like the idea that someone is putting extra care into my purchase and that the money is supporting someone who deserves it.

I narrowed my search down to burlap stockings since lately we are expressing a rustic house theme. Once I placed my order, we had to wait several weeks since we got them personalized with our names. The stockings came in late October and I squealed like a teenager with Bieber fever.

My favorite part is that I was allowed to choose an embellishment that represented Todd (you know, because evergreen and pine cones are so manly) and some flower bling that represented me along with our names.

I realize I technically could have made these but it was way more convenient for me to buy them from someone who did spend the time to make them. Win-Win. These two are very well made inside and out. Research burlap stocking on Etsy if you are interested. I couldn't find our seller at the moment but that may be because she doesn't make any this close to the holidays. However, I saw plenty more that were cute and who knows you may just find these after all.

I know we will cherish these for many years to come. If and when we have children, I will just search either for this same seller or find another that matches or do something completely different for the kiddos.

Do you have stockings or not? Do you even fill them? My parents have a different personalized stocking for each person in the family and Santa still brings us goodies on Christmas morning. Anybody else go for that mismatched look? I think they make any mantel look so cozy!

It's almost Friday....and I'm one day away from being finished with graduate school work for this semester and that makes me want to jump for joy! One more semester to go!

-Sara

Cards as Decor

Growing up I always loved opening the Christmas cards my parents would get in the mail. We would have SO many! It was my job to help dad put the cards around the border of our large dining room entrance. I loved all the beautiful colors and seeing how many people sent cards. Now that I'm older, I realize that all those cards represented friendships old and new and how blessed we were.

Now that I have my own place, I decided to create something to place our cards on display as they arrive in the mail. I know we will not have as many as my parents do but I found a few ideas on Pinterest that sparked interest in me to figure out a way to display cards. 

Source

Source

I ended up making the replica of the first one but used some of the directions from the second photo above. Basically all you need is an embroidery hoop, clothespins and ribbon. Hot glue the clothespins to the hoop but alternate so that some cards will face inside the circle and some will face out. 

Below is my version. Since it is so early in Decemeber we have no cards yet so in the meantime I placed two I already had (spoiler alert...some of you may be seeing those in your mailboxes soon) and a few flat ornaments for fun. You also get a sneak peek at our fireplace coziness. 

The entire project only cost me about $5! I was pleased with the way it turned out even if I opted out of doing a bow. The burlap I used was just too think for that but goes well with our rustic theme plus remember I told you yesterday I am not yet a bow master. My secret in attaching the bow to the mirror: velcro! I put some on the back of the mirror and on the burlap ribbon, viola. 

There are so many other Christmas card holder ideas on Pinterest that it was tough to decide what to make. Maybe I'll try another idea next year. Now I'm just hoping we actually get some cards ;)

Do you display your cards? Do tell!

Have a holly jolly day,

Sara

O Poinsettia Tree!

I have a secret...I decorated our house for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving! I know, crazy BUT hang with me here. I looked ahead at what our schedules would be like after Thanksgiving and realized we would be swamped with finishing school projects and soon we will be visiting family again. Thus, my reasoning was to get it done so we can actually enjoy the decor. Plus coming home after being away for Thanksgiving to a decorated house was very relaxing.

This week I'll be sharing with you decorations from our home so check back to see what else is new and how we are making our first Christmas together super cozy. I had fun decorating on a budget, gaining ideas from Pinterest and decorating small spaces (oh the joys of living in an apartment).

We opted out of putting up a tree since we would want a real one and we don't feel we can give it the best care with traveling so much this month. Also we really have no place for it and would rather not overcrowd our living space. However, I did pick up this live large beautiful poinsettia at Wal-Mart for 10 bucks. In fact the day I got it, a local florist was bringing them in and something about that made me smile. I wasn't a fan of the metallic wrapping it was in (sorry forgot to take a before pic) so I replaced it with postal paper and some ribbon I had on hand. The Dollar Tree sales the postal paper in a 30 feet roll which was great for this project and I plan to use it for something else this holiday season as well so stay tuned. Also, my secret on ribbon is to buy it after Christmas from places like Garden Ridge or Michaels. I always get mine 90% off! I'm loving the white and gold paired with the red poinsettia.

This picture really doesn't do it justice. I promise the plant looks very charming and warm sitting next to our fireplace in our living room. I'm not the best bow maker either which is surprising because my mom and mother in law are bow masters. Lessons anyone?

I'll post more pictures soon as I reveal what I did for our mantel and squeeze in our Thanksgiving fun including black Friday shopping.

Cheers,
Sara