Christmas Craft- Advent Calendar

Hi peeps!  Are you ready to get this party started?  Cassie (Hi Sugarplum) is hosting today's party, so if you have a Christmas Craft to share, go HERE to link up!

I'm linking up the advent calendar I created.  I'm especially giddy about it this year because we have a little one (19 months old) to start sharing the season with and creating our own memories and traditions.

I made this advent calendar with our family in mind, and considering our child's age, but of course you can personalize it to suit your family's needs.  I printed the labels on the computer and taped them to the tags with Japanese tape.

ADVENT CALENDAR ADVENTURES

Take a family photo in front of the Christmas tree

Sing Christmas songs

Make Christmas cards for Grandparents

Make a Christmas ornament

Color a Christmas picture 

Make paper snowflakes 

Drink hot cocoa with marshmallows

Watch a christmas movie 

Go out for a Christmas treat 

Drive around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights 

Visit Santa Claus

Call Grandparents 

Wrap a gift for your teachers

Read a story about the birth of Baby Jesus 

Make cookies for Santa Claus 

Write Santa Claus a letter

Read the book: "The Night Before Christmas" 

Make a snowman

Make a yummy treat

Build a gingerbread house 

Buy a Christmas gift for Toys for Tots  

Donate toys and clothes

Visit Grandparents

Make chocolate covered toffee

I'm hoping to have this advent calendar for years to come in our home! 





***********

Our Gold Christmas Staircase

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the long weekend.  I spent the better part of Friday and Saturday decorating our home for Christmas and it's feeling quite festive here.  I went with a metallic gold and silver color scheme, which I've never done before, and I really like it.  Today, I'm sharing how our staircase turned out.



If you follow me on Twitter, you know that on Saturday night I about gave up on these stairs in the middle of it because I thought it was looking terrible.  But, I got some words of encouragement from Courtney (Courtney Out Loud) that were much appreciated.  I'm glad I stuck with it!

 I used garland from WalMart (the same garland I used last year) and then added the string of gold beads from Hobby Lobby.  

The gold bells were also found at Hobby Lobby.  

I added decorative snowflakes and star ornaments that my mom gave me.  The pine cones provide a natural element. 

And now the tree is up where the chair and table were:)  If you'd like to look at last year's stairs, you can go HERE.

********

Thank you to everyone who entered the RoRo's CinnARolls giveaway.  The WINNER is:

And don't forget to link up your holiday craft with Cassie (Hi Sugarplum) tomorrow:)

Janery Giveaway WINNER!

Hi everyone!  Just popping in to announce the winner of the Janery giveaway:)  Thank you to everyone who entered.

The winner is:

I don't have your email address, so please email me at:  honeywerehomeblog@gmail.com so you can claim your prize:)

Christmas Printables

Hi! How was your Thanksgiving?  Are you stuffed today?  (I am!)  Are you taking advantage of the Black Friday deals?  If you are a Black Friday shopper (or even if you're not), I think you'll enjoy this post from Amanda at Serenity Now about how to prepare and indulge in some good old-fashion Black Friday retail therapy.  Note:  fueling up on Starbuck's is a must!  I'm not much of a Black Friday shopper.  I prefer to spend the morning in my pj's, coffee in hand, enjoying left-over sour cream coffee cake while decorating the tree and our house for Christmas.

And speaking of Christmas, I'm totally in the mood now!  The other day, I found some new (free!) fonts at Fontspace.com and started playing around with them on the computer, hoping to make some printables.  I think if you click on the picture below, you should be able to print it from your computer.  It worked for me, so if you try it, I hope it works for you too! :)

******

*****

*****

*****

********

The winner of the Janery giveaway will be announce tomorrow.  Go HERE to enter!

The winner of the RoRo's CinnARolls giveaway will be announce on Monday, November 28.  Go HERE to enter!

*******

And a reminder that on Tuesday, November 29, Cassie (Hi Sugarplum) kicks off our 

Holiday Blogosphere Link Party!

Can't wait to see what y'all have been up to!  I hope you'll join in:)

So Thankful . . .

DIY Jewelry Storage

I'm back with another storage solution for your jewelry, specifically, the necklaces.  I don't know about you, but for me, if I can't see my necklaces at a glance, I'm much less likely to wear them.  I had a behind-the-closet-door storage system that worked really well . . . pre-baby.  Now, one of my son's favorite things is to pull the necklaces he can reach off the wall.  So, I needed to get them higher.

I wasn't sure if my idea was going to work, so I didn't photograph it step-by-step, but all I did was apply my pretty paper to a piece of foam board and attach pushpins at the top to hang the necklaces on.  (The pins actually poke through to the other side- you could obviously use a cork board too, but so far, my pins are staying strong).

WalMart had a really cute selection of push pins in different sizes and colors (hot and pale pink, light and dark aqua).  I chose the shiny silver here.  

Now I can see my most favorite necklaces right where I get ready in the morning. 

Since I had a shelf handy, I added my watches and some bracelets too (contained in bowls from Anthropologie).

*******

Also, over on my friend Chassity's blog (Look, Linger, Love) she is sharing a sale of artwork created personally by Sally King Benedict.  Visit Look, Linger, Love to order:)