christmas printer's tray! yay!

it's finished! yay! if you want to see closer, better pics. i'm being lazy. check it out over at studio calico

Spoiler Alert...

if you are one of our family & friends who gets our christmas card and you want to be surprised when you get yours in the mail.... don't read on! i finally finished all 100 cards. the letter is written. cards are stamped and ready for drop off at the post office this afternoon.
i'm not sure what i was thinking with the design on this year's card. it was ridiculous! i used some very lovely fancy pants pom pom trim. very cute stuff... however, the glue dots did not want to stick. grr... i had to stitch it all on. are you kidding me?!?!?!? and then there were the adorable little girl stamps i wanted to use. what a pain - i cut out 300 of those little things... i hope everyone enjoys their card this year! :) it took:
*2 boxes of envelopes
*110 pieces of kraft cardstock
*600 pop dots
*over 300 mini glue dots
*7 stamps
*1 stazon ink pad (dried out now!)
*8 sheets pattern paper
*1 versamark pad
*20 yards of pom pom trim
*1 now dried out pen
*16 pkgs of making memories vintage findings red flowers
*200 mini white pom poms
*way more patience than i posses!





also, thought i would shared the adventures of our little buddy elf. he needs to come up with some more clever hiding spots! the kids keep finding him quickly! below he is on the mantle.


this morning, we found him in the kitchen

do you share our affinity for elf culture?

i'm not sure how we never heard of the elf on the shelf. i'm really not. what a clever concept! i mentioned it to several friends who all said, "oh yeah! we did that when i was a kid!" well... apparently, i am behind the game. but no more! we now have a scout elf residing in our home. the kids looooved the book! i decided to hide our elf somewhere somewhat obvious since it was the first morning for the kids to find him. so, he sat at the top of our tree. they were soooo excited to find him this morning. they decided to name him buddy (after "elf.") i, personally, wanted bernard after the head elf on "the santa clause," but whatever. buddy it is. it'll be interesting to see where that buddy turns up next! sneaky little elf!

pottery barn chic.... on the cheap

who doesn't love the look of pottery barn? seriously. i know i do! but, with a captain's income and three kids, pottery barn is just too much! in the same boat as i am? just a frugalista? i have good news! you can get a lot of the same look for a whole lot less! (my photos are the ones with the black vingette on them.)

this is our mantle this year (the open spot is for that, yet to be made printers tray...)

these are the stockings from pottery barn. they are $19 a piece. i got mine from target a couple of years ago for about $10 a piece. they look pretty darn close, right?

the apothocary jars from pottery barn are from $39 - $69. i bought mine at micheal's for $19.99 and and $14.99 (and then used 40% off coupons... even cheaper!) the pinecone and berry fillings??? $4.99 a package at michael's. (they were half off when i bought them.) at pottery barn, it is $8-$14 a bag. huge difference! michael's also has bags of mini bells, if you want that look too.

i didn't do any candles like the one above, but i am thinking i should! this would be so cheap and easy to do!

i got all these little lovely candles at target. the owl was $3.99 and the wood candles were $9.99-$16.99 each. their pottery barn brethren? the animal candles come in a set of 4 for $14 (not bad, but you have to buy all 4.) and the wood candles? for the same sizes, they are from $16-$29.

this cute little guy is actually an ornament. bought him at target for less than $3. they had a large selection of pinecone critter ornaments at target. they also have a whole box of owl pinecone ornaments for $10. (michael's also had a large selection of ornaments in this style.) at pottery barn, a set of 4 is $26.

i know my wreath is not exactly the same as the one from pb. but, the one at pb... $99. the one i bought at costco? $15. i think i'll save the $74 and call it close enough!

okay... these items below are not pb copies, but i wanted to share anyway!

my little owl came yesterday. his name is humboldt, by the way. isn't he adorable?

the photo frame, pinecone, candle and tree are from target and the garland is from mike's.

this is our centerpiece on our kitchen table. the hurricane came from target ($19.99) the garland is michael's ($6.99 - on sale half off for $3.50) and the cute little birdie is from target - $.99 (if you look closely, you'll see several of those on the mantle too!)

oh. my. heart....

alright... anyone else out there like me who totally missed out on these bamboo letters from making memories this summer? i mean, woulda loved them. was heart broken when i heard they weren't going to make them anymore. :(

well... this morning, i had an email. they were in stock. are you kidding??? i ordered 4 packages. whoo hoo. so, if you were like me & and pineing away over these beauties, skedaddle on over to scrapbook.com and grab some up! seriously. my excitement for the day. sad, no? well and maybe that the hubs got the pilot light re-lit for the hot water heater. it keeps going out. i've had a cold shower for 2 days in a row... not excited about telling the land lady the hot water heater has a problem. but, that's a whole 'nother post!