Did you hear that thud?  It’s the sound of me falling off my chair this morning when I found out that Kim (yes, THE Kim from the TomKat Studio), my party planning HERO!, has featured a few of my photos in her newest Project Nursery blog post. She even sent me a heads-up message on Facebook this morning, which made my day even better.  And then I saw the article – so cute.  It’s all about decorating with tissue paper Pom-Poms, so she featured photos from Harper’s birthday party AND her bedroom.  Yay!  Thanks, Kim!

Click here to go check out the full post!

Is ribbon!  I have used the same red ribbon on my tree year after year for about 5 years now and I never get tired of how it looks.  I also used to use a white one with a red, glittery candy cane pattern but lately I’ve stuck to the solid for a more sophisticated look.  Get the thick, wired stuff (ours is from Costco) and weave different lengths of pieces around the tree on top of the branches.  Ours don’t go in the back, and shorter lengths of ribbon at the top, longer on the bottom.  You’ll see in my pics…this one is from Christmas 2005 in an old rental we used to live in, with our ‘oldest’ children…I love how we left the TV on in the background, ha!  And trying to snap this picture was quite a task (1…using a timer, and 2…trying to get both dogs to look at the camera.  Fun times!).  But anyway, see the ribbon in the tree?

And here is this year’s tree!  Same ribbon!  Just make sure a piece of it isn’t falling off when you take your picture! Geez…

Do you have any year-after-year tree-trimming tricks?  Please share!!

xo, L.

Wow…have you missed me? If you’re reading this, I guess it means you might! I have been working my fanny off, but am able to spend a little more time blogging today, and I finally took all sorts of photos to share! So I have to say that I am LOVING our new set-up. I hope our pool table is enjoying his freezing cold new home in the garage, because I don’t think he can come back. Sorry, dude. Especially now that we have a giant new dining room table that has taken his place! A F-R-E-E table at that. It was just sitting in the barn out at the ranch (my in-law’s ranch). And I hope she loves her new home (yes, she’s a she!), because if so, the feeling is mutual! Plus with the whole house (inside and outside) decorated for Christmas I am finally able to relax in here and enjoy my home! Isn’t that the best?

I haven’t really posted any new updates on my living room in a long time (it was never my favorite room in the house), but we’ve inherited a lot of free furniture (my favorite kind!) and accessories that I get to borrow for now (more on that later) so it is much more pulled together, which makes me happy. Not my dream living room, but definitely one that makes me happy. So here is an old photo of the living room, from last February, which is the last time I took photos of it.

And here it is today, after the big switcheroo and Christmas decorating has been all done! So here are the photos, in their un-edited glory (wayyy too many for me to have enough patience to edit, plus I just want to get them to you!). Enjoy!

This end is where the pool table used to be (hallelujah!), and it is now the living room.

And this end is where the living room furniture used to sit, so it is now the dining room.  With a real table that will allow us to have more than 2 guests!

Now with the lights on…(Glenn wouldn’t get out of my shot, hehe).  He’s enjoying the new space, too.

Instant dining room!

But now my ‘original’ dining room, which I loved as it was but it was just a little cramped, is now a sad little nook again. Someday we plan to extend the kitchen out there for additional countertop and cabinet space, which will help so much with our tiny little kitchen.

Before…

Today…home to dog beds and high chair.

I can just see an ‘L’ shaped kitchen extension going in there. Okay, back to the living room…husband included.

And the funny thing is, rearranging really breathes new life into furniture for me.  I had stuffed my black cheapie coffee table into a corner in the old arrangement (because I didn’t like it) but now it fits here and I like it again.  And I was also not too happy with my curtains in the other arrangement, but now I like them again!  Before it was because they were stuck behind the sofa and behind a cedar chest on the other window, but now they have space to hang and be shown and just be how they’re meant to be!  Not hidden.  I like it.

Boy Scout wreath…complete with our little hanging puppet, and bow that is falling apart, hung on a Wal-Mart wreath hanger. It smells very good, though.

Dog’s stockings…hung on the metal sun, which I think is going to be moved to the backyard come spring.  I have big plans for that ‘new’ dining room wall!

And our stockings (a la Pottery Barn)…hung on the baby hearth gate.

Did I mention that I love my new table and benches? I do. They just need a little TLC after being out in the barn for a few months.

My house is full of borrowed accessories right now (via my sister-in-law). Her stuff is in storage until they find a new house (they’re staying out at ‘the ranch’ for now), so I get to babysit. And I’m really going to miss them when they’re gone, and by ‘them’ I mean the faux orchids, not my sister-in-law (they’re not going anywhere!).

We’ve even decorated the outside (and have gotten a couple of honks of approval – we live on the highway and are the only house that’s all lit up!). Now, I want to say that we’ve never been on of ‘those people’ with blow-up Christmas characters, but at $20 a piece at Wal-Mart last weekend, we just couldn’t resist. Because Harper would love them, of course.

Maybe tonight I’ll take a night shot for the blog.

And even though it is still technically fall, winter has arrived in Likely.  I can’t wait to let Harper go play in it, but she has to get over her cold first!  She’s excited!

So I’m dying to know…should we bring the pool table back or is the new living room better?  Do tell!  And what do you think of our Christmas decor?  I always miss it when it’s gone! xo, L.

First thing’s first – my Rosebud Card giveaway has ended and using random.org, we have chosen a winner!

The winner is comment #5 – Colleen – congratulations, Colleen!  We’ll be in touch!

I can’t wait to hear how she loves her cards.  Thank you Rosemary at Rosebud Cards for your generosity, I appreciate it and I’m sure that Colleen will as well!

Up next, if you haven’t noticed yet – there is a new little ‘tab’ at the top of the blog, pointing you to the new “Lillie + James” page.  Lillie + James is my new venture in partnership with my sister-in-law, Erin.  We have been crafting and coming up with decorating ideas like crazy, so please contact us if you’re interested in taking advantage of our services!

We had a ball setting up this Christmas table, and photographing it was interesting to say the least…can you say ‘timer?’   Thank goodness Erin’s son came home so he could capture this angled shot for us, ha!

Read more about Lillie + James here.  Happy Monday!  And happy birthday to our other sister (or sister-in-law, in my case), Kayte!

xo,

Lindsay & Erin (aka Lillie + James)

I’m busy on client projects this morning, so I just wanted to post a quick little post offering a one-day-only giveaway!  And this isn’t a random.org givewaway where only one person wins, today EVERYBODY WINS!  Just leave a comment telling me which Print-At-Home PDF Halloween Party Set you’d like (by 8 AM PST tomorrow morning, October 29th I’m feeling generous so keep ‘em coming! I’d love to see my party set out there!! Happy Halloween!!) and I’ll e-mail it right over to you! Or you can buy it for $4 in my Etsy Shop. You choose, hehe…

Your choices are ‘Ghoulish Glam’

{Scrolling skulls, witches, spiders, bats, pumpkins and “Happy Halloween” graphics for grown-ups!}

Or ‘Little Monsters’!

{With cute little jack-o-lanterns, witches, monsters, aliens, spiders, skeletons, mummies, spiderwebs, and “Happy Halloween” graphics for the kiddies!}

And I’ll e-mail you the 5 page file that looks like this (without the watermarks, of course!):

My only request is that if you actually print it out and use it, then please send me pictures! Enjoy!! xo, L.

So you want to buy a PDF/Printable/Print-At-Home Party set off of Etsy but you’re not sure what to do with it?  Fear not…I’m here to help!  For example – how do you make cute cupcake toppers like this out of what a seller sends you?

Easy peasy.  Actually, I’m not sure exactly what the packages look like from other sellers, but this is what I sell and this is how I make a ‘cupcake topper.’

Required/*Optional Tools:

1. White cardstock (available at Wal-Mart, Target, Staples, etc.).
2. A printer (you’re on your own here).
3. Glue or tape (I use hot glue and double-stick tape)
4. Lollipop sticks (4″ is a good size for food toppers)
5. *Scissors or…
6. *Craft Punches (I’ll go into details a little later on WHICH craft punches you need).

If you buy a PDF Print-At-Home Party Set from me, this is what you’ll get: 5 pages of instructions and patterns, all of which you can print over and over again and use however you want. Just don’t give the PDF file away or sell it. I worked hard on it…I’m sure you understand.

This is the instruction page – it gives you some tips on how to use the patterns:

These are my ‘Ghoulish Glam’ patterns that you can cut out with scissors or with a 1.5″ circle craft punch (see below).  It’s much easier/faster/nicer looking with a craft punch.

These are the striped backgrounds, which I’ve made approximately 2.5″ wide.  You can cut them out with scissors, or punch them out with a craft punch.  I use a 2″ craft punch (a scalloped circle), but you can also punch out regular circles, squares, ovals, etc.

The same thing here with the solid backgrounds – I didn’t put the graphics directly on the backgrounds so that you can customize them however you’d like!

And this is the striped pattern that I’ve included as well!  You can cut triangles out of it (3 per page – instructions are on my instruction page) to make a pennant banner, you can use craft punches to make gift tags, napkin rings, cupcake topper backgrounds, confetti, or print them on label paper to make wine bottle labels.  You can also fold them to make place cards, Halloween cards or favor tags.  Or use your imagination because the file is yours to use however you’d like!

Here are some examples that I made using the file!

These are my “Little Monsters” party set, which is the same as the “Ghoulish Glam” set, except the center graphics are different!

So what is a ‘craft punch’ and where do you get it?  Most people would just head down to their local craft store and find them in the paper crafting section (Michael’s, JoAnn’s, etc.).  If you live in Likely, nowhere near a Michael’s, you have to shop online.  I like Scrapbooking Alley.com because they don’t charge tax and have free shipping!  Then you can (usually) find what you need – they seem to be sold out of the 2″ scalloped circle punches right now but I’ll show you the different brands anyway!

• {Click here for a list of places that sell the Uchida of America Super Jumbo 2″ scalloped circle punch.

• And click here for a list of places to buy the EK Success XL 2″ scalloped circle punch.}

What you’ll need is something like this (this brand is EK Success Paper Shapers – but this link will take you to the 3″ size – you need the XL 2″):

There is also the Uchida of America brand (which is what I have – but this link will take you to the Mega size, which is 2.5″ – you need the Super Jumbo):

When buying the Uchida of America brand, they come in lots of shapes and sizes, and here is a handy guide to their sizes:

• Xtra Giga (Blue/green color) is 3.5″
• Giga (Purple) is 3″
• Mega (Pink) is 2.5″
• Super Jumbo (Blue) is 2″ (the perfect size for making cupcake toppers!)
• Extra Jumbo (Yellow) is 1.5″(the perfect size for the center circles for cupcake toppers or napkin rings, etc.)
• Jumbo (Green) is 1″
• Standard (Peach) is .5″

You can also buy punches from a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, if you happen to know one.  Stampin’ Up sells the EK Success brand.

Now how to make a cupcake topper: If you haven’t figured it out yet, I simply punch out the background color (printed onto white cardstock) with a 2″ scalloped circle punch, punch out the center graphic with a 1.5″ circle punch and then tape them together with double-stick tape.  To attach lollipop sticks to the back (I use 4″ and I buy them on eBay), I like to use hot glue.  Easy peasy, right?

And don’t forget, that if you want someone else to make some for you (ahem…me!), then you can buy them from my Etsy shop (I always pay for the shipping)!  My oven is finally fixed, which means that I can bake some cupcakes to photograph my new cupcake topper designs – be on the lookout for new holiday toppers — so cute!!

Happy Halloween!!