Un-Lucky Catch

Going for gold this St. Patrick's Day season...

 

... gold chain, made from stickers and string...

... gold nuggets, made from river rock and spray paint (bonus: a new family picture at last).

Throw in a horseshoe to catch some good luck...

... but the only thing we caught was the sick bug!  Onyx and I threw up all day Saturday, leaving us in bad shape for the holiday.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Inspiration:

The painting was to be done in this same manner (originally created by me for the Salt Lake Parade of Homes, then purchased by my sister), only with more organic trees (vs. abstract), and colors that worked in to the surrounding space.

Key to my (Broken) Heart

A little inspiration along with some already owned supplies combined to create our Valentine's Day decor.  We strung some playing cards for a look that wasn't too sweet.

Pom-poms and doilies carried over to the entry.

Jar of hearts with skeleton keys...

  
As seen here...

And here...

Sadly, we lost a glass lid as Onyx pulled a jar forward when excitedly showing off the hearts inside.  My heart broke right along with the lid.

We made a chandelier...

Out of this inspiration...

Bonus:  Onyx artfully arranged all the pom-poms atop the credenza and the floor.

White Christmas

Made this...

After this...

Wish I could find a better source.

And attempted this...

 

Just didn't create the same effect, 

especially once the marshmallows started sliding down the strands.

After this...

And a parting shot of our tree...

We'll space the lights out more evenly next year (this was the first year with twinkly white lights, it was hard to anticipate how many to buy), but the metallic silvers and golds were very elegant.

Jungle Safari Nativity

When I was a child, my grandparents made a tradition of gifting each of us a new Christmas ornament each year in addition to our other gifts.  Today, my parents carry on a similar tradition for each of the grandkids by gifting them a new nativity set piece each year, starting with the baby Jesus.  

Onyx now has baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as part of her collection.  This year we set the scene with a stable found at the D.I., and a jungle safari backdrop (received on her birthday from Aunt Whitney), complete with animals and vegetation.  Even the animals came to adore Him, right?  Why not exotic animals?

Once Onyx proudly showed off her exciting nativity grouping to Andy, he said, "What, are they in Africa?  I knew that baby Jesus was black!"  You see, ever since Onyx received baby Jesus lying in a manger her first Christmas, Andy has teased that he is a black baby Jesus because of his stained finish.  I suppose we unconsciously catered his surroundings to fit!

Put a what on it?

Dollar store trees + a mini VW bus on hand + a bed of white sugar = simple yet stylish apothecary jar filler for Christmastime.

Just like this + this ...

It wasn't until after it was all put together that I spotted this Christmas Trees on Cars roundup.

Apparently, we couldn't get enough of this trend in 2012.

What can I say?  I guess sometimes I jump on the bandwagon, even if it is unintentionally.  Take Onyx's nursery for example.  Birds ended up being a huge trend, even though I had collected things like the bird mobile pattern, leafy lamp shade, and printed paper above the crib years before we even brought a baby home.  I naturally put a bird on it to help "spruce it up, make it pretty!"