Journaling Christmas - the setup

I read several scrapbooking and stamping blogs for inspiration, and saw an idea on one that caught my attention. The challenge was to journal and scrap everything you can about Christmas this year, from December 1 until January 6 (the 12th day of Christmas). The challenge cost $30 to join and included prompts, layout sketches and access to discussion among other scrappers. Well, I know how to keep a journal and how to scrapbook, so I don't need to pay somebody $30 to tell me what to do! It's a great idea and I'll make it personal by doing it all my own way.

The first order of business was finding a suitable journal for the project. I didn't want something too small or fancy, and I didn't want a traditional scrapbook. I wanted this to be something that could bear my handwriting mistakes proudly and would end up stuffed with photos, embellishments and trinkets from the season. This is Bear's second Christmas, but the first he'll really be aware of, and I don't want to miss a thing.

I happened upon this journal at Target, and it's absolutely perfect. It's 8x8, spiral-bound, and has lined pages. There are even some heavy cardstock pages with pockets for storing bits of things that won't fit on the page. And at $2.79, it was a complete steal. I bought two others but might see if they still have a few more. There's so much that can be done with these journals!

(Aren't my placemats cute? I practically stole them from Kohl's. I got four of them for $2.00!)

My personal challenge is to journal and scrap every little thing about Christmas this year. I started the day of my son's birthday (which was the day before Thanksgiving), because Christmasy things happened that day. I think I'll finish on whatever day we put away our decorations. I hope to carry my camera with me everywhere, and if I see pretty decorations or something festive, I'll snap a photo and write about it. We have concerts, parties, lots of good food and a sweet baby's excitement to capture. I want to remember it all!

It's not too late to do this if you want to. Just find a journal and start writing. Your decorations haven't been up too long, so snap a few pictures of them and write about the experience. Did one of your kids break a pretty glass ornament? Write about it! Have you tucked into the eggnog already? Journal it! is there an awfully gaudy house in your neighborhood? Sneak out at night and take its picture! If you're not a scrapbooker, who cares? Just have fun.

Be present this Christmas. Remember it all.

Totally rad!

My mom is a total hoot.

My husband and I have been taking a photo of the Bear every day in 2008. I upload them all to my Flickr account, and my mom looks at them faithfully each night and comments on them. Here's tonight's photo, with oh-so-clever cropping:

Her reply?

Hey Dude, Those red socks are the bomb!

Mimi

She cracks me up!!!

more autumn decor

Despite the fact that it's hovering close to 85 today, I am welcoming the first day of autumn with a little house-sprucing. I'm not going to show you the coffee table that's never cleaned off, or the piles of laundry that haven't learned how to wash or put away themselves. Nooo. None of that. I'm going to show you my little bits of fun. Showing off your home decor is all about creative staging, girls. Nobody has to know about the clutter. We all have beautiful, Southern Accents worthy show homes if we know how to use the macro setting on our cameras.

Enough with the chatter that my husband will never read.

I'm kind of tickled about this. I took a heavy crystal cake plate (read: useless but pretty wedding gift) and turned it upside down. On the base I set this happy little pumpkin, which I think was originally purchased at Hobby Lobby for my classroom a few years ago. It needed a little something else, so I pulled out some pretty picks I got last year and arranged them around the upturned plate. Voila!

Is a pineapple a summer thing? Don't tell me. I don't care if it is. My mom gave her to me when we bought our house, and she usually sits on the mantle. The hurricane is filled with little pinecones I picked up on the playground of the church where I work. I'd be some kind of fool to pay $5.00 for a bag of pinecones when I can spend a few minutes picking them up, dumping them in a Walmart bag, and washing them off at home for free. I am cheap, y'all.

Yes. I like pineapples. This is usually on my mantle, too. The pitcher is Gail Pittman (any self-respecting Southern girl knows who Gail Pittman is) from my days as a Southern Living at HOME rep. My mom got the little bird for her yard but never used it, so she gave it to me. It has a friend around here somewhere.

I know they're awfully trendy, but I love me some white pumpkins. This one came from Hobby Lobby. Of course. I hear the Dollar Tree has some cute ones, so I might get a few and spray-paint them white. I need more pumpkins!

What, you've never seen a little bird in a compote bowl before? Well, here you go. I got him on clearance at the end of spring this year at Pier 1, and the bowl is also from Southern Living At HOME. It would appear I have a thing for birds, too. Hmm.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to have cute things, nor do you have to decorate the same way every year. My autumn decor was completely different last year, using mostly the same stuff. I haven't spent a penny out of pocket this year, but everything feels fresh and new to me. I love making our home comfortable and pretty on tiny or non-existent budgets. That's much more satisfying to me than spending big dollars on high-ticket items. Where's the fun in that?

Anyone reading who's decorated, leave your links here! I love looking at other people's homes and need to do a better job of showing mine off here!

Happy fall!!

WELCOME, AUTUMN!

I loooove autumn. It is by far my favorite season. I know it seems weird to say this, as a bona fide Mississippi girl who loves her state fiercely, but I hate summer. I hate it! Every year I say I'm going to be positive and happy about it, but when it hits 102 in July and we know we've got two more months of misery to go, it is just not easy to be happy about that, girls.

I didn't have a nice wreath for my front door, so I decided to make one for myself. I had a grapevine wreath left over from an Easter project I never did. Last week, Hobby Lobby (every crafter's best friend) had their fall foliage 1/2 off, so I got a few things with a birthday gift card. I spent a total of $13 and change on that gift card and got to make what I wanted. I don't need to pay $50 for a wreath somebody else makes!

I'd never made a wreath before, but I didn't let that deter me. All it takes is a little poking here and shoving there, and you're good. I only used my trusty glue gun in a couple spots, too. I can add to or change anything I want next year! Easy! On to the pictures...

All the materials gathered together. Don't you love my sassy summer tablecloth and Wilton bowl full of baby toys? We do it fancy around here, y'all.

Dacey the cat. At this point, I still wasn't sure whether she'd really fit with the overall color scheme I was shooting for, but I was willing to give it a chance. She nestled herself in there so sweetly, after all.

Tearing apart the picks was awfully satisfying. And of course, I had to give in to my compulsive need to organize things and arrange it all by type. Stop looking at me with such a judgmental glare. I can stop organizing whenever I want.

More bits. Notice the real feather. One of my sweet baby girls at the church where I work Mothers' Morning Out gave that to me. I told her I'd put it in my fall wreath, and I keep my promises! The yellow "feathers" were just 50 cents each when half off and added a fun pop of color.

I hate that phrase, "pop of color". But there's no better way to put it. It's color. That pops. Got something better? Let me know so I can start using it and eventually grow to hate it, too.

And here's the finished product! Please pretend my front door is black. It will be someday, because of the confused dog incident. Things will pop (argh) so much better on a black door. I think the wreath is pretty good, for my first attempt. Let's just pretend the wreath doesn't have a slight egg shape. Who knows, you might see it again in the spring covered in plastic Easter eggs! There's no telling what I might get up to.

Next up, little bits of autumn fun in my house!

Happiness Challenge - Day 9, 10, 11, 12

Ack! I promise I haven't stopped being happy! I decided not to post Saturday and Sunday and then completely forgot about the happiness challenge! So here are the past few days in one post.

Saturday - Michael Phelps and his amazing skills as a swimmer make me happy. How could I not be thrilled watching him?

Sunday - An afternoon of rest and quiet with my favorite fellas made me so happy Sunday. After church, we rested and were lazy all day. It was great.

Monday - Rain, rain, rain! I'm a girl who loves a rainy day. It's been raining steadily since Sunday, and that makes me happy. The dark sky and cooler temperatures can almost convince me it's October!

Tuesday - I don't know anything about whitewater rafting other than just looking at it exhausts me, but watching Togo win its first Olympic medal ever? That's got to make anybody happy!

Happiness Challenge - Day 8

I'm just tickled for this guy!

Joshua Allen's win last night on So You Think You Can Dance made me so happy! I'd been rooting for him from the start, so I was all claps and happy tears when he won. All season long he's been consistently excellent, able to do anything the choreographers throw at him. He's untrained in every style, yet he looks like he's been dancing all these complicated styles his entire life. All I know about dance is how it makes me feel when I watch it. Watching Joshua makes me feel great. He seems to be a total sweetheart, and he credits his third grade teacher with encouraging him to try dancing. She was in the audience with his family, watching him win, and was absolutely sobbing! Gotta love that. I hope he has a bright future!

Happiness Challenge - Day 7

I get so happy when I discover new music! Lately I've been listening to three really talented young ladies. Two things are remarkable about this. The first is that they're all considerably younger than I am - by a lot! And the second is that I rarely listen to female artists. My favorite has to be Imogen Heap, and she was pretty much alone in the female artist category for me until recently. Below are links to the MySpace pages of the three girls making me happy lately. Oh, as with most artists on MySpace, their music starts playing when you go to the page, so be ready if your speakers are turned up!

1. Adele - I've been listening to her for a while now. I think I first heard her song "Hometown Glory" when it was the free single of the week from iTunes. I got her album, 19, and I love every bit of it. She's from London and has a wonderful bluesy, folksy sound.

2. Duffy - Another one-named youngster, this one from Wales. Her song "Rockferry" is all over top 40 radio lately. I first heard her as iTunes' free single of the week, too!

3. Missy Higgins - I didn't know anything about her until this week when Courtney danced her solo to one of her songs on So You Think You Can Dance. She has two albums, On A Clear Night and The Sound of White. Lovely stuff.

Happiness Challenge - Day 6

Today's been a long day full of traveling a total of three hours, helping my mom set up her classroom, trying to placate a sleepy and fussy baby, so the thing that will make me happiest just a few minutes from now is... sleep! ;)

Happiness Challenge - Day 5

Taking photographs makes me happy. My husband and I are taking a photo of our son every day this year, and it's been so fun to watch how he's grown and changed since January. I love taking pictures of things in my home, trips we take, projects in progress... If there's a photo op, I'm there with my camera! I recently joined a photo challenge and created a photoblog to go along with it. I've made a few posts since starting, and I'm having a blast. It's a nice little mental challenge to come up with that day's subject. So click the link below and see what I've done so far!

Mississippi Mama Shoots!