Christmas Living Room Tour

Only 16 days to go folks!  Our weekends are pretty much packed solid until the big day so I wanted to get done decorating early enough to actually be able to enjoy all the holiday feelings.  I mentioned before that I had done a big cleanse earlier in the season, and while I put out some of our usual decor in the rest of the house I tried to only add new stuff to the living room this year (you can check out the full living room reveal here)

Maybe it comes from the house I grew up in, but I like to feel like Christmas has exploded onto every surface (No minimalist approach for this girl!) But instead of just buying stuff I concentrated on adding handmade pieces wherever I could.  I already shared the mantel in an earlier post, so this week I wanted to quickly share the rest of the room.

The biggest addition was the village that now lives on the shelf above the TV.  I quite literally got bored one day and thought "hey, I've got tons of scrap wood in the garage - what can I do with it?" and started cutting out house shapes, building this village as I went.

 

The whole village is almost 10 feet long, so I attached a few pieces together at a time to make it easier to display and store.  Once sanded, I painted it all with white chalk paint.  I added some pine and holly branches from the trees outside, as well as a bunch of bottle brush trees from Target's Dollar Spot.  I may add some more colorful trees next year, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

On the other shelves I added in some more pine branches (the little white bells are from IKEA a few years ago), a faux white antler I found at Michaels, and made a hand-painted sign with this lovely quote I found on Pinterest.....oh and my husband is OBSESSED with Poinsettias so I've had to utilize every space I could to display them.

The tree got a little makeover this year too.  My husband insists that Christmas trees need colored lights (in trade I get to keep the outside lights all white) but to make it a little more cohesive I found lights that only had Red, Green, and Blue lights.  I had him mix in a strand of white lights, and picked up a few strands of white beaded garland from Target (which he correctly realized look like strands of popcorn) and presto - it looks great!

Last year the tree skirt and the Roomba had a contentious holiday season, so when I saw this galvanized metal tree collar from Hearth and Hand I grabbed it immediately and it's so much better.

On the bookcases behind the tree my husband had the great idea to set up some of his father's old train sets.  The boys of course love playing with them and I love that it's kind of a modern take of the "train around the tree" tradition.

One of the main reasons I built the picture ledges during the living room makeover was so that I could have a place to put our Santa Pictures from each year and I'm happy to say they're working out wonderfully.  Of course, I couldn't resist even more Bottle Brush trees, and I was able to sneak in our pixelated Reindeer from Ikea.

On either side of the fireplace I added two ornament shadow boxes based on these plans from Shanty-2-Chic and filled them with two pretty mercury glass ornaments from Home Goods and some more Pine branches.

Behind the couch I built one more ornament display stand to replace the planter box that is usually there (plans also from Shanty-2-Chic) and filled it with ornaments from Target (the stars and the Snowman are from this year's Wondershop; the balls are from last year).

And of course, I couldn't resist some new pillows and blankets for the couch!  The big light blue one and the red striped pillow I found at HomeGoods...I honestly am super cheap when it comes to pillows and HomeGoods is my go to place - they're a good price and almost all of them have removable covers and down-filled inserts.  I went a little crazy in the blanket department and bought 3 of the big cozy green blankets on Black Friday (in my defense they're 3 different colors and they were only $18 that day)....oh yeah, and I also got that little gray plaid one too (for only $10!)

Speaking of that big green blanket - I don't usually do this but I have to share one more thing.....this amazing little tool from ConAir!  Those blankets are amazingly comfy, but they leave lots of nasty little green fuzz on the couch - this little battery operated baby to the rescue!  I'll post a video of how it works on my Instagram, but I just lightly brush it over the couch and it sucks up all of the pilling.  It's only $12, can be used on all kinds of fabrics, and for some reason comes in 4 or 5 different colors - so it would make an awesome stocking stuffer!!

Even though Cash isn't feeling the holiday spirit, I sure am...now to cuddle under the blanket and enjoy the lights!

Christmas Time Starts.....NOW!

Happy Black Friday everyone!  I usually spend the day shopping by myself but I'm actually pretty much done my Christmas list so today I am going to switch over the house from Thanksgiving to Christmas (and then possibly go shopping tomorrow LOL).  I really enjoyed pushing myself to blog weekly during the One Room Challenge (you can check out my final Guest Bedroom reveal here) so I'm going to try to keep the momentum going and do a Friday post each week if I have something fun to share.

To kick off the season I'm sharing a few pics of my mantel decked out for the holidays - which I couldn't resist putting together before Thanksgiving.  I picked up this wreath during the Hearth and Hand launch at Target and it was too pretty to put away for a month....so then I just kinda leaned into it and kept going.  As much as I love all things white these days, my husband loves decorating our XMas tree with multi-colored lights, so this year I'm trying to figure out a way to blend the two into something we both love.  The colors I'm going with are blue (the antique window frame), green (the wreath), and classic Christmas Red...along with a lot of white, gray, silver, and gold.

I saw someone share this red and white pom-pom garland on Instastories and ran out to Michaels to grab it (and I'm glad I did because it's totally sold out now!) and then winded two strands around my candlesticks, which I'm keeping gray this year but would love to change out to something different next time.  To keeps the garland in place I like to use a few craft glue strips or dots....they're nice and sticky but I can get them off easily when I'm done.

To bring in more green I wrapped some $3 garland I found earlier this year in the Target Dollar spot around each white candle (which are all from World Market and don't smell!) - small candle / medium candle / large candle

The stocking holder I built last year (if you are interested in a good beginner building project this is perfect - you can totally build just using hand tools and this tutorial from Shanty 2 Chic is great...or you can always shoot me a note and I'd be happy to build you one!)  The little red stockings are from Kohl's....I like to keep the small ones down here so the kids can't pull them down as easily.

I have some Styrofoam blocks on the bottom of the box, and then I filled it with some pine cones (which are great to pick up super cheap after Christmas), some ornaments I found at Michaels, and the leftover Target Garland.

I want to try to add something in front of the fireplace, but I'm pretty happy with how everything is coming together!  Hopefully these smaller weekly posts are fun to read....next week I have something new I want to try out, but until then...enjoy the long weekend!

A New Christmas Tradition......

Happy Holidays everyone!  I have been working feverishly on my laundry room for the last two weeks and now that the washer/dryer are FINALLY IN I plan to put on the finishing touches before the New Year and then will share all of that project....

BUT FIRST - I wanted to share a special "project" that put together for my oldest son that I'm hoping will turn into a new Christmas tradition at our house.

Last year the lead up to Christmas was honestly terrible at our house.  My youngest son was still too little to really get into the holiday spirit beyond just decorating the tree, but my oldest son Blake was all too ready for the big day, just not in a good way.  We have a traditional advent calendar that I would fill with leftover Halloween candy, but then I saw the great idea on Pinterest to wrap up 25 books each day and leave them under the tree - perfect right! - well it totally blew up in my face.  Blake would get up every day around 4:30 - 5am, open the present, find the candy, and then start asking about the next day....and complaining about what book he got, and that he had to share with his brother, and basically everything else you can think of.  Then - when the big day finally got here - he would open his presents, throw them aside, and then topped the whole thing off with pouting that there were no more presents.  The whole month honestly made me feel like a terrible parent who was raising a completely unappreciative and just plain spoiled kid - so much for the holiday spirit : (

This year I was determined to make something change!  So I decided to do away with the candy, and the books (which BTW I still think is a great idea!) and instead give Blake little tasks to take the focus off of himself and put it on other people.  So on the first day of December I wrote him a letter from Santa -

Every day, I'd put a rolled up piece of paper in the advent calendar with a different task for him to complete, and once done we collected them in a small mason jar that I tricked out (LOL).  I kept the tasks pretty basic (draw so and so a picture, help with dinner, clean up the playroom, buy so and so a Christmas present) and didn't put a time limit on any of them - as long as he completed all of them by Christmas Eve there was the promise of a "special" present from Santa as a reward for his help.

I highly anticipated some kind push back - crying, whining, I even thought the first week would result in a pile of un-finished tasks.  But - HE WAS TOTALLY ON BOARD - from the very moment he thought that Santa had personally wrote him a note he was hooked.  A few days before Christmas we were driving in the car and he said "Mommy, Christmas isn't just about Candy or Presents...it's about loving one another".......I gotta tell you, that felt really good!!!! (He then followed it up with "Some people eat too much candy....my brother eats too much Candy" but hey, still a win).   I couldn't have been prouder of my little man and in his words again "This was the best Christmas Ever."

In proud mom moment #2, he has even said that he wants Santa to do this again next year!!  As they grow up I have plans of taking this idea beyond just our family and friends (things like "Visit a retirement home" or "volunteer at a food pantry") and may sprinkle in some candy treats every few days (more to get rid of the Halloween candy than anything else) but baby steps.  And if any of this idea appeals to you, PLEASE feel free to pass it forward!!  The more children we can inspire to help others (even in the smallest way) the better we can make the world for everyone.

I wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

Spread the LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!

I was going to get a December/January round-up blog posted first (cross my fingers that I get to that tomorrow) but thought it would be more fun to share what me and the monster's have been up to for Valentine's Day First.

Valentine's Day Dessert - Chocolate Mousse with Puffed Pastry Hearts

I found this really easy idea on Pinterest to just take a toilet paper roll and turn it into a heart stamp with a simple piece of scotch tape - easy peasy right!  

I bought some pre-cut hearts and gave the boys some pink, purple and red paint and thought this would be the perfect thing to make for all of the girls in their life.

Well - like most things with the Boehmke Boys, that lasted about 5 minutes.  Then we decided it was more fun to mix or eat the paints (depending on the kid) and the stamps ended up on the ground.  I have to say though, Blake made some REALLY GREAT hearts and gave his favorite one to his self-proclaimed Valentine (his cousin Addy).

I'm happy to say that my Valentine's Day project turned out a bit more successful.  I found this really cute/simple button covered heart on Pinterest.  The black/white/red color scheme is not my thing, so I picked up some really pretty shades of blue and some white buttons instead.  I taped off lines on a piece of canvas, and used one of the pre-cut hearts that the boys used as a template for my felt heart.  Then I used my handy hot glue gun to randomly place the buttons and Voila

For a final touch I added a super sappy signature....right now it's chilling on the mantel.  I don't really do a lot of Valentine's Day decorating, but I think this will be a nice sweet memento to bring out every year.

Hope everyone got to spend some time with the ones they love - I know I did

Thanksgiving Craft time with Blake

Getting this one up before I have a chance to forget!  Since it's been way too cold to go anywhere, Blake and I took Tuesday to work on our Thanksgiving craft (before, you know, Thanksgiving).  I wanted something pretty simple, so I settled on this easy painted tree from Pinterest.  We traced Blake's arm in the morning, and then he actually was good long enough for me to paint the tree (!!), before he got to fingerpaint the leaves after lunchtime.

As you can see, Blake is more of a "march to your own drummer" kinda painter, so it didn't turn out exactly as I was thinking but hey - It does look like a tree!  Now it's chilling on the mantel w/some corn and pumpkins.  I asked Blake how it looked and he said "It looks GREAT mommy!" so I call that a MomWin

**Side note - one of the best recent purchases I've bought was a huge plastic table cloth roll from Party City for GOBs bday.  Now I just whip it out for craft time and throw it away afterwards.  Double MomWin!

In my last craft post I mentioned that I was trying to work on decorating my front door more, so that's what I'm calling my Thanksgving craft for the year.  I picked up these beautiful lanterns at AC Moore and sprayed them with Rust-O-Leum rust proof spraypaint since I don't think they're necessarily meant to be outside.  Blake and I went a little crazy at the pumpkin patch, where I also got a pretty purple Mum - note to self: next year get a heavy pot to put it in...it's looking a little worse for the wear after being blown off the porch MANY times this fall.  The thing I'm most proud of is my little box crate - which was my first attempt at staining something.  It was leftover from Blake's bday so I used some never used stain I had in the garage, stole from sealer from my dad, took an afternoon, and Voila....I love how it turned out and it's held up great throw the weather.

So that wraps up my fall crafts....next up - cooking Thanksgiving and then onward to getting ready for Xmas!

Getting Crafty

A big part of my New Year's March resolution was to start crafting things again.  It's been too long since I've sunk my teeth into these fun projects and it's time to start again.  I know it's not everyone's thing, but for me it's a real stress relief and gives me a much needed dose of self-accomplishment.

So I've set two goals for myself that I got to take for a spin over the last few months:

Goal #1:  Start to give people more hand-made presents.

My mom saw these cute pottery barn chalk tags in their catalog one day, so I thought - "Hey self, you can probably make those!" and got to work.  I think they turned out pretty cute...can't say that I saved that much money on them compared to the PB ones, but I got to test drive chalk board paint for the first time and was very happily surprised with the results!  Can't wait to put up a big chalk board in the mudroom for the boys to destroy

For my niece's bday, I stole borrowed this idea straight from my favorite DIY site (which, side note, they are discontinuing and I am still in deep denial about).  I bought her a Tinkerbell tea party set last year, so I thought this cake stand would be the perfect compliment.  I decided to stick to her favorite colors and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It also gave me the excuse to set up my new table saw....turns out I LOVE POWER TOOLS.  I forgot to get a really good picture of the whole thing together before I gave it to her (of course) but got a good close up of some of my favorite cakes

Goal #2:  Take on one craft project each holiday/season for the house, and one with Blake

This fall, we went a little pumpkin crazy so we have quite a few painted pumpkins around the house that Blake made, and we took a craft class together - so I'm checking the second half of that one off the list.

For my project, I found this picture on Pinterest....fast, cheap, easy = GO.  So I took one slow morning, a lot of googly eyes and a glue gun and churned out this for my front door.  I've had a few eyes fall off on windy days, so in retrospect I should have used super glue from the get go, but have been able to get them all back on with no problem.  I'm also really concentrating on putting together simple but pretty arrangements around the front door.  I never really concentrated on that in the Townhouse besides hanging a wreath, but this new house deserves the finest in life!

So that's my early fall craft round up;  I've got a few more brewing already for the Thanksgiving season....now gotta push myself to remember to blog about them earlier!

The Easter Bunny Odyssey

We were hoping that Blake might be old enough this year to sit happily on the Easter Bunnies lap....we were sorely mistaken.  Here is a snapshot of our Easter Bunny saga this year.....it took about 20 minutes to get him to sit on my lap next to the Easter Bunny, after he proceeded to try to pick up all of the fake carrots and eggs in the "garden" and give them to the Bunny.  Once he did make it onto my lap, the camera man had to actually hit himself on the head with a plastic egg (Mike Wasowski style) to get him to smile.  Needless to say, the KOP Easter Bunny Team went above and beyond

Grayson, meanwhile, sat quietly smiling the whole time.......

Happy Spring Equinox Everyone

Top Ten Favorite Things...Christmas Time Edition!

Top Row:
1 - Cash the Dog getting tangled behind the Christmas tree.  He doesn't panic though, just sits there and quietly wines until someone notices him
2 - Blake "singing" Jingle Bells at his school pageant
3 - Yummy French Toast Casserole on Christmas morning - best part, made it the night before
4 - Color-coordinated Christmas wrapping paper - this year's theme, blue and silver
5 - Blake's letter from Hershey Santa....he requested Thomas the Tank Engine toys and Pizza

Bottom Row:
6 - EW's End of the Year Issues....this is why I got nothing done the Friday before Christmas
7 - Waking up to White Christmas Morning
8 - Spending time with the best boys in the world!
9 - The world did not end...take that Mayans
10 - Congratulations to Eaphis for winning this year's Mr. Sparkle Trophy....enjoy it while it lasts because next year, it will be mine!

Finally...Christmas Time!

And now for our main event...Christmas Morning!  Spent the morning at home and then headed off to North Wales to spend the day with my family.  Very long day, but what a great day hanging out with my favorite little man and lady.  Maybe next year we'll be more interested in the toys then the boxes : )