Quick Christmas Pillows!

I've made purses out of placemats but what about pillows? Here are a few ideas that are SIMPLE to make. And of course, they're pretty cheap! I love fabulous frugal gifts and decor!

Wouldn't these make great Hostess gifts!

Get yourself some killer looking Christmas placemats. Kohel's sells Christmas placemats (often 50% off) and they're about $3. I was just there on Friday... plenty to choose from. You can also try Big Lots, Walmart, and Target.

Aproach 1- sew 2 together and stuff with polyfill. WARNING... if any of you have a sewing machine that acts like a princess and is particular... she's going to be sad about thick seams... ya may wanna stock up on sewing needles. For all you fancy machine owners... ignore me and read on.


Aproach 2- Only will work if the place mat has a lining on the back that is not attached in the center. ( You can test this by holding the front and back fabric and pulling.. do they come apart? GREAT!) Cut a slit on the end of the back side lining and stuff poly fill on the inside... sew up the slit!

If you don't want to give pillows... try one of my Pretty Organizers, Pretty shamelessly plugged, Pretty Nifty, but Pretty none the less:) Happy Shopping!

Weekend Shopping Guide

Okay ladies, it's official... the race to Dec. 25 has begun.  Only 28 shopping days until Christmas.

Please take the time to support those moms who are doing their best to balance home and family while adding a cushion to their budget with their creativity.  

As long as you have to buy for Dear Aunt Sally, and you know she needs a $25 gift, why not put that money into another moms pocket so she can buy for her Dear Aunt Sally?  Genius.

Here's a link to the Mom's Unite shopping guide and of course, the links to my sites as well.

Can you afford $5 for a great gift?  Why not surprise the kiddos in your life (grandchildren and nieces and nephews included) with a letter from Santa postmarked from NORTH POLE, AK!  Right now they're on sale until Monday!  Drop by www.NorthPoleSecretary.com fill out your form, pay with PayPal and your letter should arrive in a few weeks... just in time for Christmas.

All letters include recognition of an achievement and a paragraph about the true meaning of Christmas.

If your Dear Aunt Sally has a need for something beautiful to keep things in... check out my etsy store! 

Winterizing

Okay, with Thanksgiving 2 days away I'm finally ready to THINK about Christmas decorating.   My favorite style of decorating is one that peacefully blends with the decor already present.  If you have plates on a wall (courtesy of Pointclick.com), wrap them with a bow, if you decorate with neutral colors... add a little red or green or gold... 
Am I a plate nut?  Love these colors, love the touch of Christmas though... this IS pretty opulent.
Clear jars... don't have ANY.. Gotta get me some of those pretties!  I'm afraid of my kids using them to catch bugs in. This pics from jodyguler.wordpress.com... this setup was for a wedding.
Yep, I'm a fan of red, black and white... this rooms been kissed by Christmas.  LOVE IT! Homegoods.com
Terri's Village.com   How about a winter mistreatment... the fame of Nester!  Snowmen, snow flakes, wreaths, monograms, bows, you name it... just safety pin, glue or duct tape them over what you already have.
These are real.  Use foliage to decorate... bring some of the outside natural decorations in!

Do we need to discuss this?  

Have a great Thanksgiving! Love to all my readers and my you all be richly blessed!

Pretty Organizer

Vintage Office

I've been combing the decor magazines office ideas... I need a rehaul on this office. The Santa Letters are taking over and I'm covered in Christmas paper and Pretty Organized Hat Boxes.

My style is a little frenchy, a little vintage, a little Pottery Barn. I'm pretty loose on the rules, it just has to "go" together. Check out this fabulous office. I thought you could appreciate the budget inspiration that so perfectly collided with style! This is from Better Homes and Gardens.

Gotta love drawer pulls and door knockers. I bought stunning iron door knockers at JoAnns on clearace (garden aisle) and they are a site and conversation piece at my house.. great for hanging things:)

Who'da Thunk!! Not sure how they got these gizmos on the wall 3M double sided gluey tape? Great idea... I always have rogue cutlery that reappears after I replace a set.



Muffin tins as drawer organizers!! CHEAP!! Now your office can double as kitchen storage too!! I lOVE dual purpose design!



Honestly, Can you have too many memo boards when they look this great on a wall? Notice how none of them match but the colors and textures add spice to the room. This room has great details to look at! Now I just gotta get me that desk!

What the Doctor Ordered for the Medicine Cabinet.

Here's the greatest idea I've found so far to clean up your medicine cabinet clutter. Anyone have an avalanche every morning of hairspray, tooth brushes, and Chapstick? What? Only Me? Oh, humor me people and PLEASE let me think that some of you struggle with an ugly medicine cabinet! (yes, I'm reposting... lazy me on vacation!)

Well, Marth Steward organized this one in Jan. of 2006. Check out instructions here.


In a nutshell, you remove the shelves, buy sheet metal and have it cut to fit the back of your medicine cabinet. Glue the galvanized metal in place. Use magnets to help store things vertically both on the back of the cabinet and on the door! Great for hair ties, clippers (ours always walk away), medicine, etc.

Notice though... to get your cabinet to look this good, you can only buy Clinique make-up and silver colored bottles... Don't even think of having a colorful tube of CREST toothpaste in your cabinet!!! If you're a matching nut I guess you could spray paint your toothpaste tube each month... I'll pass.



Of course, if your cabinet looks like this... you're laughing at this post. Yours probably comes with luxury parking for your lipstick, a Ben-gay garage, and Q-tip closet... standard... these cabinets hold things and look good.



A drawer? Wow, what a great idea! Carving... Oooo.... Ahhh.... Nope, this Pretty Organizer will have to wait for such luxury. Maybe for the laundry room expansion (questions??? see this post).

If you're looking for those magnetic holders, Cost Plus world market has several in their kitchen storage area... so does The Container Store (paradise for a Pretty Organizer) and I would guess Bed Bath and Beyond.... if you're looking online, this is an option.... I know, dork to copy the whole page... using the hubbys MAC- no clue how to grab an image.

Check out Magnapods

OR you can be ultra cheap like ME! I'd run out and buy a bunch of magnets, glue them on to cheap boxes or old medicine bottles and recycle my stuff to work in my Ultra Organized Magnetic Medicine Cabinet!

Simple bedrooms, Simply Wonderful

Out of the office...

I have two boutiques going on today and it's 2am.... so, I'm re-posting for new readers.  A little eye candy of home decor... if you click the link!

IF you love this picture.... you are going to LOVE this post!

Don't forget to get your Santa Letters... (with a special sacred message)... They're only on Sale through Monday!!! $5 each!

Head to www.NorthPoleSecretary.com and order today!  Proceeds go toward paying off our adoption tab.

Christmas Tradition

My friend Melissa at The Inspired Room is doing a Friday Linky day.  

For some children it's difficult to separate "holiday" hustle and bustle and the true meaning of Christmas.  

Here's our tradition:  We reenact the Nativity story with our family members while my husband narrates from Luke 2.  Everyone grabs costumes (bathrobes, towels, trinket boxes etc.)  and we sometimes invite another family over to share in the joy.  Every year it's a little different but we are reminded of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Another tradition in my husbands family that I LOVE is writing Christmas letters to each other and putting it in the stockings. He comes from a family of 7 kids. On Christmas Eve after the big dinner, the kids would exchange the letters they wrote for each sibling.  One by one they take turns reading aloud the kind words and well wishes of their brothers and sisters... often very emotional.  My mother-in-law then gathered the letters and saved them in a Christmas book... no doubt a family treasure.

Winner of the Pretty Organized Giveaway goes to.... Drumroll......... JMOE / and Natalie's Sentiments blog (Natalie, I'll explain later via email..). Shoot me an email and we'll talk details.

Congratulations!

Announcement:

You only have through Monday to order letters from Santa with a Christian message at the $5 sale price.  Prices go up after Monday so hurry!!! www.NorthPoleSecretary.Com

There are only 19 days left that we'll be accepting orders!! (they all will be mailed to North Pole, Alaska for a cancellation stamp- so we stop orders early to ensure your letter comes before Christmas!)

Please feel free to spread the word on these.  All of the proceeds are going toward paying down our adoption tab on our 2 amazing girls.  Check out www.NorthPoleSecretary.com and read through the sample letters.  Each has a paragraph from Santa on the true meaning of Christmas and encouragement to serve or share as Jesus did!  A great way teach about gifts and why we celebrate Christmas... and a fun new tradition too!

Silk Stockings...

These are all from Frontgate.com  who boasts, "Outfitting America's Finest Homes"   I'll let you believe I have one of Americas Finest Homes... but then again, you saw my laundry room post yesterday... I'm keep'n it real.

I have to hang 6!  My mantel almost falls every year...

2 year old loves batting at hung stockings.

Thinking of sending these to In-laws in Africa... except ooh they're like $200 EACH!!!!  I'm sure they used real zebra fur.

You can have some as fabulous as these if you have some serious moola.... OR a crafty eye!

CHEAP at only $55-- I know you can do better!!
How about this cutie at 100+?  They must not use hot glue to apply all that extra cute stuff!
Elegant at $299!!!!  Yep, fine silk, lined with more fine silk, dripping with silky fringe... poor worms!!  So for 6 kids... $1,800!!!.. no Christmas until they're 18!
Tree Skirt anyone?.... This put the silk farm out of business... $800!  Ouch... us moms can do MUCH better...There's no shame in calling all your neighbors for their 40% off coupons! Now get to that fabric store, haul out your glue guns and get to work!