It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas.....in my HOUSE....

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Our company left early this morning and I am trying to get pictures of all of our decorations.  I have put up three trees and decorated my house and all I have left to do is put up my Christmas Village.

I decided to decorate my mantel this year with natural colors and I'm so glad I did.  I think it looks so good with the Texas stone of our fireplace.  Please enjoy looking at the pictures...I have so many more decorations to show you and alot of crafts that I have made too.

I had the little trees from the past years and simply wrapped some burlap on the bases and tied it with twine.

The Happy Holidays ribbon came from Michael's and I adhered it with scrapbooking tape!

I scored some miscellaneous branches at the Michael's sale when it opened on Thanksgiving Day for 40% off with an additional 30% off my total purchase.  I tied them all together with floral wire and finished it off with some burlap ribbon.

 My favorite part of the mantel is the wreath.  It is a Martha Stewart wreath from Home Depot and I just simply made a bow out of the ribbon I had and affixed it with floral wire.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at the Christmas mantel and sorry I've been MIA for so long.  I've missed sharing with all of you.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Linking to:


http://tatertotsandjello.com/
http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/2011/12/christmas-mantel-link-party-2011.html
http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/2011/12/mantel-link-party.html

My Quote of the Day, Week, Month....

{http://jonesdesigncompany.com/featured/time/}

Don't we all feel this way sometimes....I don't know about ya'll (I'm from the south), but I just feel like everything happens at once.  My whole family has been sick, I'm trying to get three projects for Christmas finished so I can get them submitted to a website and I have a deadline (I am very excited about this one) and with Thanksgiving, Family Vacation, Christmas and shopping...my current motto is...I CAN NOT DO IT ALL...but I always know that I do get it all done.  Some things get put on the back burner....like posting projects to this blog.  I promise I'm not avoiding you, but I am just feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.

Hopefully I will be back at the end of this week to share something I have been working on, but in the meantime have a great week!

Decorating Where You Least Expect It.....

My blog is only about 5 months old and one of the most popular post besides my "Craft Room" is my "Home Sweet Home" post and it's because of this....

My Wreath

I get emails all the time asking where I got this wreath and the letter "A" (my dad cut the letter out for me)....and when I email people back and tell them I got it at my "ACE HARDWARE", they have a really hard time believing me.  So, today, I am here to show you my Ace Hardware.  It is truly one of the best stores in town for Home Decor items, gifts, seasonal decor and college novelties.  Let me show you..

Welcome to My Ace Hardware......

Keller, TX

The store is decorated so pretty for the upcoming Christmas Holidays.  They have the biggest selection of Round Top decor I have ever seen.  

Don't these fireplaces look so comfy and cozy.  We purchased our fireplace logs from here last year and it was the best purchase ever...we have already used the fireplace again this year.  Aren't the mantels pretty?

Here is the area that I just love to browse around.  It's just eye candy, isn't it....

Here are the wreaths they have to choose from right now....Do you need one for your favorite college theme...how cute would these be during the football and basketball seasons to support your favorite team.  I would embellish them too.

LOVE the cranberry wreath.  How about putting an initial on it?

Stockings anyone.......LOVE the burlap ones!

If your not into the red and white Christmas colors, aren't the silver and gold decorations pretty?

Here are a few samples of home decor they have.  I LOVE this lamp and the wall flowers...LOVE THEM!

Cute iPhone covers....my niece would love the owl one...Go Chi Omega!!!

Feast your eyes on this....the ladder, the hanging cages...

Need Christmas lights....they got em....a bunch of them....

Take a look at all of the college sports decor....great gift ideas

Okay, so do you believe me now!  The purpose of this post was to show you that home decor can be found ANYWHERE.  If you live near Keller, TX, I'm sure that Jabo's Ace Hardware would love you to stop by!

This is not a paid advertisement from Jabo's Ace Hardware.  These are just my personal opinions.  They were nice to let me come in yesterday and take some pictures of their store.  

"Simple" Grocery Bag Keeper.....

The other day I ran out of trash bags and I went to throw the box away in the recycle bin when I realized that this little box would be so cute decorated and then I thought of what I could put in it.  Here is what the box looked like before I went to dispose of it....

and here is what it looks like now.....

Wanna see how easy it was to transform this little box into a decorative box for all those plastic grocery sacks...

I first started with cutting some burlap and wrapping the box like a present using mod podge (use the mod podge generously...it dries clear)

To make the top and bottom look good, I cut all 4 corners of the burlap straight down like this...

and then glued it down using the mod podge...

I then found cut out the hole in the front and used double sided tape to stick it to the inside of the box...

then I took some scrapbooking supplies I had on hand and embellished the box...

How cute is this????

So "SIMPLE"...and it's recyclable in all ways...I re-used the box, I was able to use some scrap fringe and burlap strips and I'm recycling the grocery bags.

Hope you enjoyed this little project and that you are inspired to do the same.  I can't wait to show you tomorrow what else I've done with some burlap and canvas...

Thanks for stopping by...have a great day!

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Linking to:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

http://www.cherishedbliss.com/

http://sassysites.blogspot.com/

http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com/

http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com/

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/

http://www.lilluna.com/

http://projectqueen.org/

http://www.the36thavenue.com/

http://savedbylovecreations.com/2011/11/thrifty-thursday-week-47.html

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/

http://www.katiesnestingspot.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2011/11/sys-blog-link-party-with-decor-tips-and-ideas

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.theidearoom.net/

http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/

http://www.serenitynowblog.com/

http://www.remodelaholic.com/

http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/

http://justagirlblog.com/

http://creationcorner.blogspot.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/11/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-50-to-the-ribbon-retreat.html

http://www.whisperwoodcottage.com/