Christmas Tablescape - Part 2

Did anyone else have a crazy busy weekend?!  Ours was full of fun and merriment, and as it turns out it was totally exhausting!  In the best way, of course.  

After a LONG time of searching photo archives on my computer, social media, etc., I wasn't able to find quality pictures of some of my Christmas tables from years past.  I'm sure they are on some external hard drive tucked away in the back of a closet somewhere.  But I do have this year's table all set and ready to go, and I'm excited to share some photos.

This is the first year that I'm not using any red on my table.  It's a pretty look, and I think it is a little more sophisticated than some of our previous years.(which is odd, since we'll have three high chairs surrounding our table this year :) ). 

The Breakdown:

Tablecloth: Crate and Barrel

Runner: Burlap from JoAnn (didn't even hem it, just folded it over and ironed it)

Vases: JoAnn

Mirrored Christmas Tree: IKEA

Mercury Glass Votive Holders: West Elm

Chargers: Target

Dinner & Salad Plates:  Lennox from Macy's (a wedding gift)

Glitter Pine Cones: DIY

Place Cards; DIY

Happy {Fancy} Holiday to You!

I love holiday parties and I usually end up buying a new "Christmas dress" each year, whether I need one or not.  It's just one of those traditions from childhood that stuck.  I loved my dress from last year so I knew this year I wanted to go in a totally different direction.  Below are both looks, both under $250 each (not including last year's shoes).  I hope that you may get some fun ideas (or score great deals) for your holiday parties!

Last year's attire:

What I'm wearing:

Dress: Marshalls (yes, Marshalls!  It was kind of expensive for that type of store, but I found it later on a super expensive department store's website so it turns out it was a GREAT deal!)
Belt: H&M last season.
Hoisery: Back seam hoisery from Nordstrom, still available in store this year.
Shoes: Nine West from Nordstrom several years ago.
Headband:  DIY - all it took was a plastic headband from target, some ribbon and some hot glue.


This year's attire:

What I'm wearing:

Dress: Banana Republic - I happened to be in the store on a day when all dresses were 50% off, so it was another awesome find.
Hoisery: Black dots from Nordstrom.
Shoes: Target!  Another fun find at a great price.  I've been getting tons of compliments on these little treasures and they are decently comfortable.  Totally recommend giving them a try!  (They even have a zipper on the back!)
Headband: BP at Nordstrom, available in several colors.

Both these photos are from our friends' annual Christmas party.  My dear friend Sarah is an AMAZING cook, and her husband makes the most fun trivia.  We look forward to it every year!

Eggless Snowflake Donuts

No tutorial here, just a link to some delicious donuts for those of you with food allergies.  These can be vegan or just egg free depending on your needs.

Since we made these on a whim, we were relatively under-prepared.  A few substitutions:

1) I didn't have agave nectar, so I just used white sugar.
2) We don't have a donut pan so we made ours in our snowflake muffin pan.
3) I didn't want to dirty another bowl making icing, so I warmed some Pilsbury frosting I had in the fridge in a glass bowl and dipped each donut individually.

The donuts were decently healthy (read: not fried), tasted fantastic and disappeared quickly.  ;) Enjoy!

PS - You can still find the cute snowflake pan here!

17 Days 'Til Christmas!

Here's a little snapshot of our living room this Christmas.  I love turning on the tree, snuggling up on the couch, and enjoying the merriment of the season.  Wishing you a peaceful Advent season!

Christmas Craft for Little Kids

We have lots of out of town family that we don't get to spend Christmas with each year.  To let them know we are thinking of them, and to give them a little token to see how much M has grown, we decided to make homemade crafts to include with our Christmas card.

M is just two, and likes to be very involved.  Because of that, I had to chose a craft that didn't involve scissors, hot glue or anything potentially dangerous.  We landed on some fun holiday hand print projects, and I think they turned out looking pretty cute!

 I drew the reindeer outline and face by hand, then painted M's hands with a brush and helped her stamp them onto the page.  Then we found a water bottle cap and dipped it in red paint and stamped it on the face.  M insisted that her reindeer be a girl, so we added some eyelashes for good measure.

For this Christmas tree project, we used the same techniques as the antlers above.  It is important to do the star first, as the lighter colored paint won't stamp well over the green.

One more note.  We did our project in our kitchen.  We have black granite counter tops, so we didn't have to worry about paint stains.  If you don't have a dark surface to use, make sure that you cover your surface well.  The red paint can stain sometimes.  Have fun!

M painting away with her favorite color -- red!  She loves Christmas because everything is red, red, and more red.

Heel Help!

Weird title, I know.  But I need some help finding new black patent leather heels that are cute and (gulp, I'm getting so old) are comfortable!  I have a cheap-o pair that I love the look of, but my feet hurt within five minutes of putting them on, and I end up waddling around like a wayward duck when I wear them.

What is your favorite pair of heels?  I'd love your help finding a new pair before the next round of holiday parties!

And Presents Under the Tree

Pretty packages make me smile.  Each year, I try to be "wrapped and done by December 1" and this year I actually made it!  There are two great benefits to finishing our Christmas shopping early.  The first is that we get to relax and skip the stress and hustle of shopping during the busiest days of the year.  The second is that we (who am I kidding?  It's just me.) can enjoy looking at beautifully wrapped packages under the tree for a few extra weeks.

Each year, I try to keep all our gifts wrapped in one or two different types of paper.  Crazy, I know, but it makes me happier.  This year I branched out and decided to try something new: washi tape instead of traditional ribbon.  And, I did sticky bows.  If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever use sticky bows, I would have emphatically replied that they were practically against everything I believe in and that I would never use them.  My how times (and lack of time) has changed!  I actually love how the packages look and I'm glad I tried something new.  

I found this cute paper at Marshalls last year.  I bought two rolls, but I only ended up finding one so I had to buy extra.  Of course, like two days after finishing my wrapping I found the other roll.  Boo.

This pattern is from Target.  The paper is thinner, so it was more difficult to wrap with.  Next year, I'll stick with more quality paper.

I found the black and white and red washi tape rolls at Target, and layered them on top of each other. The sticky bows are also  from Target, and the gift tags are free printables I found on this blog!

Christmas Tablescape - Part 1

Happy December to you!  In Seattle, we got a fun sneak peek at winter, with a TINY snowfall on Saturday.  I love snow more than almost anything, so I woke up my 2-year-old and we marveled at the pretty white dusting before suiting up to play outside.  She is happy in any weather, so she willingly obliged my inner child.  It was a blast!

The beautiful snow also helped to get me in the mood for the holiday season.  In our family, Christmas is like a marathon event.  We celebrate on the 23rd with my immediate family, on the 24th with my extended family, on the 25th with my husband's family, and we wrap it all up with a day full of soccer and snacks on the 26th (my husband is a big English football fan, so Boxing Day is a sacred day for him ;) ).  It's busy, but we love it.

We have the opportunity to host my family on the 23rd, and it is something I love.  Every year I look forward to planning my table decorations, and try to come up with something new and creative each year.  Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing tablescapes from the past few years to give a little inspiration if you find yourself hosting any holiday dinner parties this month.

The vases are my favorite part of this table setting.  I ordered some vintage Christmas carol sheet music online, trimmed the music to size, and wrapped the vases with the music.  It was a one-time-use thing, but I loved the way they turned out.  My mom borrowed the arrangements the next day for her Christmas dinner, so they got some good use.

I'm still brainstorming this year's table, and I'm so excited to share more ideas with you!