North Pole burlap pillow

I had seen a similar pillow at Christmas time last year and I figured if I still liked it a year later, then I definitely liked it enough to make a copy-cat version. I made a stencil of the wording using my silhouette machine, and filled it in with a black sharpie. The reason that I didn't use paint was because I didn't have any vinyl. I just made the stencil using card stock and paint tends to bleed around the edges when it is not completely stuck to the material. I actually really liked the look of the Sharpie lettering. It was really pretty simple. The hardest part was spacing the words and keeping the lines straight. The best part of the project is that the only thing it costs me was a little time. I already had all the supplies on hand. Now I have about 5 other Christmas pillow designs that I want to make but probably won't get around to.

Holiday Decor Preview

We finally got the downstairs painted, just in time to decorate for Christmas. Since the walls are now beautifully neutral, I decided this year's holiday decor would be too. I'm just so over red and green. I took a rustic glam approach with silvers, golds, and plenty of natural elements. I still have a few projects left before the Christmas decorations will be complete, including our stockings. Since I now have a pretty awesome camera on my iphone 4s and a photo app that I am in love with, I have been playing around with different effects. I will post more in depth about my dining room tablescape, pillows, etc. But for now, here are some shots from around the house.

tree trimmed with burlap ribbon and a rattan star

living room (now painted Bennington Gray)

new cowhide rug

lanterns filled with cotton, moss, and mini ornaments

The mini bar with a few festive touches

curly willow with silver mini ornaments

The unfinished mantle...stockings coming soon

I have a slight obsession with mercury glass

Kitchen buffet and hutch

Rattan Star (the larger version of my tree topper)

My fancy reindeer (about 4 feet tall)

still haven't added the mistletoe (trying to figure out how to get it out of a really tall tree)

rustic glam dining room tablescape

cotton place cards

jingle bells

Pottery Barn advent calendar

Following graduation in December, I have dedicated quite a bit of time to my newfound passion for "do-it-yourself" projects. My favorite part is creating a designer-inspired look for a fraction of the retail price. My first project was a gift for one of my friends Jennifer. She is getting married in March and had an ornament shower right before Christmas. I wanted to do something special for her, something with a personal touch. I love advent calendars and had been drooling over the ones in the Pottery Barn winter catalog. The board alone, without any ornaments was $149. I knew that I could recreate the board with 25 ornaments for much, much less. I just so happened to have a large cork board and a few yards of the perfect material. The material that I used was a sand color linen fabric. I used a staple gun to secure it to the back of the board. Next, I found some blank white tags and smaller brown tags at Hobby Lobby. I used these to number the spots for the ornaments. I measured and taped off the board into 25 sections, placed the larger white tags evenly, added a brown tags to each white one, and secured them in place with silver straight pins. Then the hunt for the perfect ornaments began. I wanted to stick to a neutral theme using whites, browns, silvers, and golds. Some of the ornaments were fillers but others I intentionally picked out for Jennifer and Brad. I wanted to use things significant to marriage. I chose a gold "D" for their last name, the number 2 because it signifies a couple (I also have a thing for decorating with numbers), a wedding cake cookie cutter, a "diamond" ring, and a cross. I made some of the ornaments including the burlap ball and the jute covered ball. I could not have been happier with the final result. I wish I had taken pictures of the project in progress but at the time I didn't have any intentions of blogging about it. It really was pretty easy to make and I plan to make one for myself next Christmas.