Christmas Decorations

I feel like I've been doing crafts and stuff for a long time now, but I was looking back and realizing that it has really only been for a year or so.  And aside from the blocks I made last year, I haven't made any Christmas decorations. I decided this needed to be remedied.  Get ready for a long post because I went a little crazy with the pictures.

But first I want you to see what happens to my tidy craft room when I try to work while Lucas is awake.

Usually I try to craft during his nap, but sometimes I'm just too excited to wait and then this happens.  Look at his devious little smile.  He likes to get into the games cabinet and pull everything out of the boxes.  He is such a scamp.

This is the first Christmas we have had a fireplace so I decided it was time for me to make stockings.  I used this tutorial and they were actually a breeze to make.  I cut out all the fabric in front of the fireplace to get in to Christmas mood.

Lucas is obsessed with having a fire in the fireplace so they are a common occurrence at this house.  We really need to find a cheaper fire wood supplier!  Here is the stocking all put together.  I LOVE the fabric I found.

As soon as Lucas saw the stocking he said, "Really cute socks, mommy."  He always says everything I make is cute and it makes me happy.  Lucas decided to try the "socks" on.  He was pretty proud of himself for figuring out that he could wear them.

Next I had to make some stocking hangers because we didn't have any of those either.  Everything I found in the stores were pretty expensive, and the tutorials I found online required hardware that I wasn't sure I'd even be able to find, let alone find for cheaper than a stocking hanger already made up is in the first place.  Anyway, I was just looking around the house for ideas and I found some old metal hangers and some cardboard.  After a few hours of experimenting and paper cutting I came up with these.

I gotta be honest, I'm super impressed with myself for coming up with these.  They were basically free because I used all things I had on hand, but they also turned out way cuter than I thought they would, and they stay up on the fireplace without falling down.  I thought for sure after all that work they would be duds.  Most of the time spent on them was just figuring out what to do, but now that I've made them, they would be super easy to do again.  I'm debating doing a tutorial on how to make them, I'm just a little worried you won't be impressed when you see how ghetto it is that they are held together by cardboard and hot glue.

Here they are on the fireplace.

That is the same wreath from last year but I took a few of the pieces that were falling out of place off, and replaced them with paper snowflakes.

I saw this tutorial for making a paper tree on Pinterest and had to try it out.  As with almost all of my Christmas decorations, it turned out way better than I thought it would.  It's adorable.

It looks really cute on the bookshelf with my other Christmas decorations.  I feel silly having the word snow up since it's still 60 degrees outside, but I made them last year so I'm just going to go with it for now.

I added a little greenery to our table.  I'm thinking about making a Christmasy table runner too, but I can't decided what exactly to make it look like so I'm just going to leave it like this for now.

 Lucas loves playing with this little nativity that he got last year.

And last but not least, the Christmas tree.  I love turning off all the lights in the house and just looking at the lights on the tree.

 Lucas is a pretty big fan of the tree too.

And now we're all decorated and ready for Christmas.  I love this time of year!  I really want to go caroling, and have some hot cocoa.  I might go make myself some right now, who cares that it's sunny and warm outside.