Ugly Christmas Sweaters!

Last weekend we went to an ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

This was my uncle and the winner of the ugly sweater party! He won a traveling ax trophy.

My dad and his 3D tree ugly sweater!! My mom took a wall hanging and attached it to his sweater along with several small sweaters that spelled out "Christmas"
The lovely ugly sweater my sister made for her husband (I helped!!) This won an ugly sweater contest the weekend before!! Notice the short sleeves with the nice gold trim!!

This was my ugly sweater! Hot glue made this possible! It's a bit hard to tell from this picture, but mine had Christmas lights that flickered! And lots of bells! I was a little disappointed, I thought I would get a vote, but I didn't!

A group shot of the ugly sweaters! Aren't we all pretty in our ugly sweaters!! Little Man had an "ugly" sweater that I bought at Good Will that was a nice train sweater vest, but he was so excited by it, I felt bad making it into an ugly sweater, so he is wearing Santa Jammies!

Linked up to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Shindig

Easy Christmas Art Work

When preparing for my guests I had this morning, last night this empty frame was driving me nuts! So I created some easy 5 minute art! It really only took me 5 minutes!

My frame before. Empty!

I taped red fabric to the back of the mat, then put the frame back together.


When I made my Christmas pillows a few weeks back, I knew how much I hated using the iron, so I prepared a few extra trees using the Wonder Under product, so I have a bunch of fabric trees with the paper backing on them. I used basic tape runner and glued the trees to the outside of my glass frame.

And we have a super easy Christmas decoration. And all of it can be re-used in the future since I only used tape! The flash on my camera emphasized the creases in my fabric, but they are not that noticeable on the wall.... like I said, I don't like to iron.... but that would be an easy fix!

Christmas Ornaments

I am having too much fun with felt! After making my felt pillows, I decided to make some ornaments! My 3 yards of felt is almost gone! I have been tracing and cutting hundreds and hundreds of frosting cap sized circles.
I found Styrofoam balls at the dollar store which were the perfect size! This is just a small - very small sample of the amount of green felt circles I used.
It's so easy to assemble! Fold the circle in half and then in fourths.
Stick a pin in it and then place it onto the ball. I packed the ornaments a bit thicker than needed, but I liked the shape of it!
I added a red ribbon and we have a nice easy Christmas ornament!

Christmas Pillows

I am so excited, I just finished two Christmas pillows!

The pillow on the right was inspired by the Crate and Barrel pillow.
I started by cutting 3 inch circles form about a 1/2 a yard of green felt fabric. I decided to only do one shade of green for my version.


I cut a tree shape out of felt, and used the fabulous tutorials all over the web folding the circle into forth and then put one stitch through it and then into the tree shaped background.

I then continued this about a hundred times!!


Until I had covered the entire tree.


I then used white fabric to sew a pillow. I like to make my pillows with the envelope closure so I can easily change my pillow cases out. I then hand sewed the tree to my pillow. This was a little harder than I thought because I had to be careful I did not sew through bother layers of the pillow. The inside of this pillow is very messy, but it's the inside, so it does not matter!

The back of the pillow.
I also made another pillow that I pined on Pinterest a while back. The original pin was Quiltish but I found it from the blog: inspired honey bee. I love how this pillow turned out. Even though I am not good at using Wonder Under, I used it and then used my sewing machine to outline the trees to the pillow.



Both of my pillows! Love them!

Play Room Art

In my son's playroom, I painted a wall bright red, but its chalk paint! I thought the wall needed a little something extra, so I made some appropriate artwork for the wall. "PLAY"

The P is made of buttons, L is markers, A is Legos, and Y is crayons. Very easy artwork, but a cute end result!

Gray and Yellow Guest Room Reveal

My guest room is finally ready for visitors! After my previous post about my guest room fails, I am much happier with how this room turned out! A lot of this room is DIY or something I put my own spin on.

I upholstered the headboard myself with a very soft velourish fabric. I also sewed my first pillow - the gray and white pillow on the bed! I have had several tutorials on using my mom's sewing machine in the past and this was the first time I plan to continue to use the skills.
I painted pretty much everything in this corner, except for the frame. The white chair was given to me by my grandmother in 1984. I call it my first DIY project because in college I painted it black and added puff paint gold glittery stars to the back of it! I love that I am now able to include this in my house!
My Good Will find that I painted with Paris Grey Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Love, love, love how this turned out, and how easy it really is to refinish furniture with this paint!

This is my previous hot glue gunned lamp shade I considered a fail. I simply moved it, so you can't see the inside as well! I love how that turned out.


I bought this end table new at Target in an espresso color and painted it with Paris Grey Chalk paint to match the rest of the room. I looked all over for an older piece but could not find anything and was under a time crunch. So I went with this and am happy with how it completes the room. On the night stand is my copy of Chronicles of Avonlea signed by Lucy M. Montgomery that my grandma gave me and a piece of pottery I created.

I love all of the natural light into this room!


In the center is my mirror I made and cube shelves I spray painted white.
Writing this post I am realizing that I have a lot of character and history in this room, which I love! I love the color combo of white, gray and yellow, so this room is a favorite of mine!

Paris Grey Dresser Redo

My second piece I refinished with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! Its a fabulous dresser for our guest bedroom!

This is painted with Paris Grey. I love the subtle shade of grey!

The beautiful before picture - not sure why it's so blurry, but this was taken with my iPhone at Good Will, while I decided if I wanted to purchase this. I am so glad I did!

I really liked the pulls that came with the original dresser, but in moving it twice after I purchased it and before I refinished it, I lost a pull. So for now I replaced them.

Again I was so happy with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and how it turned out!