Just a little reminder.

Sometimes, life is crappy.

Accidents happen. Christmas gifts need to be bought and bills need to be paid.  Money is short.  You wonder if you'll ever get ahead.  You find out one of your favorite teachers from high school did something unthinkable and it has you wondering how you can trust anyone in the world.  You worry about what kind of world you've brought your child into.  Time is short and you watch your to-do list growing and your free time shrinking.

 It's December.  You struggle with what should have been right now.  You look in the mirror and feel sad that your stomach isn't a basketball size right now.  This should have been the month you would be finding out if you'd be having a boy or a girl.  You think how different your life should be right now.

You can't help but feel sorry for yourself. And alone.

And then, one day, you're in Walgreens.  You're shopping for a card.  And you come across this.

And you ugly cry.  In the middle of Walgreens.  Next to an elderly lady picking out a birthday card.

And you're reminded that you're not alone.  There's Someone with you all the time.  And that you'll get through this.

Then you buy the card.  So you'll always be reminded that there's always going to be bad moments and bad days and maybe even bad weeks.  But you don't have a bad life.

Christmas-ing on a Budget

I LOVE Christmas.  The magic, the feeling in the air, the lights, the trees, the wrapping, the smells.  All of it.

That being said, I don't do much decorating for Christmas.

Because I don't have much to decorate with.

I don't have many Christmas decorations out of choice.  I love Christmas so much that I don't allow myself to buy that many Christmas decorations.  I know that once I start, it will be like an addiction taking over and I will not be able to stop.  I want it all.  I want the outdoor decorations with the light-wrapped garland and the icicle lights hanging from the gutters and the outdoor Nativity set and the outdoor Christmas signs.  But my bank account tells me a very loud, resounding "NO!" every time I start to think about going to buy new stuff.

So I make do with what I have.

I take that back.  We actually bought a new Christmas tree this year.  Our old tree was a 6 foot tall tree....or so the box says.  Marty was taller than our old tree...and he's 5'11"ish.  Lies.

We knew we wanted a new, much taller tree for our house.  But have you seen the prices of Christmas trees right now?!?  Highway robbery.  Maybe I'm a Scrooge, but I am NOT paying $100+ for a Christmas tree right now.  Most definitely not a budget necessity.  So we were prepared to put up the "not quite 6 foot" tree this year when I saw a Facebook friend of mine post that she had a 7.5' unlit tree for sale....for $25.  Now that price, I can live with.

So, $25 and a couple of boxes of lights from Dollar General later, we are the proud owners of an actual 7.5' foot tree that looks appropriate for the ceiling height of our new house.

I'm kind of going for a natural/rustic/simple feel this year.  Would I love to go all out and make my house look like something from Pinterest?  Absolutely.  But, again, I'm making do.

Going pretty simple this year.  I tried to do a red, white and silver theme on our tree using ornaments we already had and a couple of homemade/cheap touches.

I found the "Peace" gingham word and the burlap Christmas shaped clothespins in the dollar bin at Michael's (can you tell I love that place??).  I had some computer paper laying around and cut out a couple of snowflakes (after a quick tutorial from Pinterest...duh).

I also went super, super simple with my mantle.  Garland, my Willow Tree Nativity set and some decorations I already had laying around the house.

 I had told my mom that I was needing something to hang above my Nativity and I really wanted a Star of Bethlehem.  Nothing on Pinterest was inspiring me.  Just when I was on the verge of just painting a star on a canvas and calling it a day, my mom found this gorgeous 3-D star at Pier One...for only $19.99.  Anything under $50 from Pier One is a steal.

The rust colored star and the candlesticks were already decorating my pre-Christmas mantle.

The snow covered sticks came from....Michael's!  You're shocked, right?  They were $5.99 each and I bought two.  They're standing in a huge pickle jar that I picked up at Glendale Days for $28.  Can someone say "deal??"

I also added a little bit of garland in the kitchen above my cabinets (side note:  isn't the above space just awkward??  I never know how to decorate it.).

After putting up my garland and adding some pinecones here and there (garland, $5.99.  pinecones, $3.99), I stole borrowed my mom's Country Living magazine and saw this tree.

Pinecones as ornaments!  And simple white ornaments and paper flowers!  Genius.  This is probably going to be my next year tree.

On the next page, I saw this garland.

It's real birchwood.  For $48.  Not gonna happen.  But why couldn't you pick up some wood printed paper at Michael's and make your own garland?  It'd be a fun family project and it would add a little homemade look to the tree.

And that's it.  I have some holly berry wreaths hanging on the shutters by my TV and my gorgeous handpainted ceramic Nativity that my Meemaw made me for Christmas two  years ago...and that's the extent of my Christmas decorations.

Maybe one year, my bank account will allow me to go all out and decorate how I want.  I would LOVE for my house to look like Buddy the Elf came and went crazy decorating while I slept.  But until then, I make do.
Do you have any money saving Christmas decoration tips?  Share!  Share!!

DIY Gift for my Niece. Nailed It.

If you're my sister-in-law Shannon and you don't want to know what gift your daughter is getting from me for Christmas, you should probably stop reading now.


Shannon, if you're still reading at this point, you've been warned.


I am not a girly girl.  I don't do frills.  I don't do sparkles.  I'm not good with makeup.  And I definitely don't do pink.  I'm a farm girl.  While I was far from a tomboy, I was too busy playing outside to mess with baby dolls and dressing up.

That being said, I LOVE the Disney Princesses.  All of them.  I wanted to be a Disney Princess at Disney World until I heard you have to be between 5'4" and 5'7".  And they don't want you to wear makeup to the audition so they can see your face.  Yikes.  Since I wasn't exactly to that height in high school and this unmakeup-ed face isn't going anywhere in public, I decided to go to college instead.  Harrumph.

Every Princess had something I wanted.  I wanted Belle's library, Sleeping Beauty's looks, Ariel's ability to be a mermaid (wouldn't that be AWESOME??), Tiana's take charge attitude, Rapunzel's hair strength (seriously....she lifts people into her tower without a single split end?), Snow White's daintiness, Cinderella's ability to clean (girl can visit my house anytime), Jasmine's abs.  Love me some Disney Princesses.

So when I found this project on a blog I follow, I knew I was going to have to make these Princess dolls.  Lil Blue Boo is a fabulous blog full of craft ideas.  But it was the Disney Princess Peg Dolls that blew me out of the water.

I HAVE to make these. 

I bought the peg dolls forever ago, in hopes that I would make them for my niece's birthday.  In June.  Didn't happen.  I'm trying to get a head start on Christmas gifts this year.  My aunt brought her boys over last night for us to watch while they went on a date for their anniversary.  All three kids (Avery and the boys) played happily together with Marty.  Leaving this momma to tackle the peg dolls. 

First, I Googled the images for each one of the Princesses.  In the original on Lil Blue Boo, the Princesses were pretty basic (but still awesome).  I knew I wanted to kick it up a notch.  Aka...add more details.  

So I followed the Google image and sketched out each Princess, marking what color needed to go where. 

 Then I painted.  I love to paint, but there have been few projects I've had as much fun with as I did with this one.  By the end, I was considering keeping the dolls for myself and going to Walmart to buy a Barbie for my niece.

True story.

Presenting.......the Peg Doll Princesses! 

Belle

Belle is one of my favorite Princesses in real life.  She's spunky, she loves to read, she doesn't take any crap from the Beast and his bad attitude.  But Peg Doll Belle gave me more than a few problems.  I feel like the finished product is still looking a little flat.  Maybe I need to add a ball on the top of her head for her little bun thing.  Or a rose?  Sorry Belle.

Jasmine

No Jasmine is complete without her headpiece, giant gold earrings and funky braid thingy.

Snow White

I'll be honest.  Snow White isn't my favorite.  The nasal voice, the perfectness...it's all just rather grating to me.  But I'm pretty pumped about the Peg Doll Snow White. Can I just do a little bit of bragging?  Nailed it. I'm just debating on whether or not she needs an apple. 

Ariel

Ariel is my favorite Princess, by far.  She's just darn cool.  She's a mermaid, for goodness sakes.  But like the Belle doll, I think she needs something.  Maybe her tail?  Not sure yet.

Cinderella

Can I just talk about the actual Cinderella movie for a second?  Girl goes to the ball and dances with a guy for hours....and never tells him her name?  I get being coy, but they spend a couple hours together and she ends up marrying the dude, but she doesn't tell him her name right off the bat?  And that shoe.  There must have been something funky about Cinderella's feet if those shoes fit only her out of all the women in the entire kingdom.  Just sayin'.  

Onto the doll.  I'm really thinking she needs her bun on top her head.  Thoughts?

Aurora

Poor Aurora.  Girl's got more names than she knows what to do with.  I remember one time, I was working at the Disney Store and I asked a little girl if Princess Aurora was her favorite.  She was so confused.  I had to correct myself and call her Sleeping Beauty so the girl knew who I was talking about.  Fail. 

Anyways, I kind of love this doll.  She's so simple.  And the crown is so fun. :) 

Rapunzel

If Rapunzel's Peg Doll were true to the actual character, the entire thing would have just been wrapped in hair. As is, I think I did a pretty good job. 

Tiana

I'm just going to come out and say it.  Peg Doll Tiana is my favorite.  The curlicues in her hair, down to the flower on her dress.  Love it.  Love. 

There you have it.  Eight, painted with love, Peg Doll Princesses.  My niece better love these. Shannon, if you did give in to curiosity and are still reading this, please don't ever give these to Goodwill.  If she outgrows them (or hates them at Christmas....shudder), please let me have them back.  :)

Now, here's the question that everyone's been asking me....are you selling these?

Answer:  Yes.  But not until after Christmas.  I've been blessed with a ton of canvas painting orders and there is no way in this world (without cloning myself) that I can get all the canvases done and take on a significant amount of orders for these.  So, January 1st, you can start ordering your very own set.  I will take pre-orders now, as long as you know that you won't be getting these until 2014.  A set of 8 Peg Doll Princesses will be $55.  You can choose what Princesses you want (ones I didn't include:  Mulan, Pocahontas, Merida from Brave).  Or we can think completely outside the box!  Ideas I'm pondering:  a Peter Pan set (Pan, Wendy, John, Michael, Hook, Smee, Tink....), the Princes!! to each of the Princesses, Cruella and the Dalmatians (thanks Dayna!).  Starting in 2014, the options are endless!!  

HOLD THE PHONE.  

I'm not going to start taking orders for these until 2014. 

BUT. 

Here's your chance to win this exact set of Princesses dolls.....RIGHT NOW.  As in, before Christmas.  As in, hello happy Disney Princess fan on Christmas Day!

Wanna know how?

This is going to be so easy.  Just comment here on the bottom of this blog post OR comment on the Facebook status where I will share the link to this blog post.  That's it.  You can't comment on a shared status or on my Facebook wall.  It must be either on THIS specific blog post or the Facebook post where I share this link.  Got it?

You'll have until Friday, December 6th at 11:59 pm to comment.  Any comments made after this time will not count.  I will draw a winner at 8 am, Saturday, December 7th.  

Good luck. :)