Yet another bottle brush tree deer scene!

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 I told you, I can't help myself. I really really can't. This is the most simple one I have done so far. All of the things are just items I purchased from Michael's and hot glued on! (actually the house is from Target). And it's perfect for my living room ;)

DIY Tree Advent Calendar

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 So I was on the hunt for inspiration for an advent calendar. I knew I wanted to make some sort of tree out of card stock and couldn't recall ever seeing anyone do this...So one night I was just going through diy pics online and I came across a card stock tree tutorial. And here I thought I was coming up with this on my own!! I mean how is anything ever original with the internet these days? Haa!! I have done that with a few things in life actually. Most note worthy is a "long hair don't care" tee shirt. Yeah, I 100% without a doubt thought I was onto to something. Went to google, nope, about 500 people were already on that. I can't! This is real life guys. Like it really happened.But anyway, this tutorial is great. And even though I really thought I was onto something, I WAS glad I didn't have to make the templates myself :)
Templates are small, medium and large

I used all three templates. All you need are the templates, glue gun, card stock (I bought a holiday book from Michael's), some Pom poms, numbers (optional) and treats to put inside!!! I am so excited to get back from this trip so the girls can start opening them!!!

My winter night time look

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Soooo, I finally came around and did one of these Polyvore sets!! I know I know, a little late on this one!! I went to make a winter wish list and then realized that I pretty much wear the same things every winter at night time, so I made a collage of that. Hey, I know what I like….and it's clearly faux fur, faux leather, sequins, lace, and leopard print ;)

DIY Letter

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 We have a goldish/bronze letter "H" from Hobby Lobby that we keep up all year round. It's a good one. If you are looking for a nice surname letter, I totally recommend…actually we have the same "P" one in Priscilla's room as well, but I really wanted to make a fancy holiday "H". I went to Michael's and  went straight to the wooden letter section. I picked out the white one, it's the biggest. (at my Michael's at least). I bought gold spray paint, so that if there was space in between the decoration, you wouldn't see the white in the back ground. I went to the holiday aisle where they have loose bundles of holiday berries. (I am pretty sure that's what they are supposed to be, ha!!) I picked out the colors I wanted to go with….golds. You could really do your letter in any color and it would look nice. The reds would look good, green or even all different colors would look awesome. I would recommend getting them while a sale is going on. Mine were half price when I got them, and I needed a lot. So if you don't get a deal, it could be a pricier craft. All together this craft was around $25.00.

You need:
~ large letter
~glue gun
~ spray paint/acrylic paint (I was just being lazy. Acrylic is definitely cheaper)
~ holiday berries/balls

After I painted the H and was waiting for it to dry, I started popping the berries off of the metal stems and collected them in a bowl. When the paint was dry, I started glueing them on. I started with the outline of the H and then filled the inside. I am glad I choose a few different sizes of berries, because there were parts where I needed a smaller one to fill in space.

These are what they looked like before I deconstructed them:

And the finished product, I am so happy with this one!!

(it is large, don't let the super sized table lamp behind it fool you!!)

Putting up the Christmas Tree!

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I know....it's still November. We like to set our tree up on Thanksgiving, but we won't be home for Thanksgiving. By the time we get home it will be into the first week of December, and I just can't wait that long to set up the tree! We already put the girl's trees in their rooms over a week ago! So it seems perfect right now. The one thing I have learned is that when you are a parent, especially to more than one child- time goes SO FAST. Christmas will be here in a blink of an eye so I really like to make the most of my holidays!! Here are a few pics of us decorating. And Patrick is officially fired. There was ONE photo of me taken and it was if the back of my head. Then you wonder why I have to take selfies ;) haha. 

H&M Home

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 I LOVE H&M. One of the biggest bum outs about where I live is that I have to drive two hours to get to one :/ So I was ecstatic when H&M opened their online store. Like DYING ecstatic.

 THEN they started selling home decor online and I almost had a heart attack. I am really feeling some of this stuff. The floral curtains….I NEED them.

I am really leaning towards this for when we switch Priscilla to a big girl bed. I might have to order it soon just to make sure I have it!!

Can't stand the cuteness!

DIY Bottle Brush Trees

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 This is my all time new favorite winter/holiday craft. I am actually going to the craft store today to get more trees so that every room has some of these awesomely retro trees in them!!

 It's surprisingly easy as well. You can can bottle brush trees at the dollar store, or any craft store. I have purchased them from like five different places, but if you get the 40% off Michaels's coupon, it's best to get the bag, in my opinion. 

 Once you have your trees, fill a bucket or sink with bleach and water.

Put the trees inside. I let mine in for a few hours until white. 

Once they were the color white I wanted, I put gloves on and took them out. I places them onto newspaper on my kitchen table and let them dry over night, this is def a two to three day project. 

Once the trees are dry you can now color them the colors of your choice. I left a few white as well. 

I used rit petal pink and aqua. 

The amount of rit to use depends on what shade you want your trees to be. This took me a few times to perfect. I seemed to like an inch of rit at the bottom of the bucket and the rest filled with water. It doesn't take long to color them, I just kept an eye on them and took them out when they looked the way I wanted them to. 

I let them sit overnight and then glittered them the next day.

To glitter them, I used modge podge and a foam paint brush. I started at the top of the tree and just brushed to the bottom, continuing until I had all of the tree modge podges. I then poured glitter all over and let them dry AGAIN overnight ;) 

So you need:

-bottle brush trees

- bleach

- bucket or sink

- rit dye

- mode podge

- foam brush 

- clear/iridescent or white glitter 

- you may also use little ball ornaments to decorate ;) 

Good luck!