DIY Golden Animal Ornaments

This winter I've been gearing up for the Christmas season with a bit of decorating and crafting! One of my favorite crafts of Christmas time is creating the ornaments for the annual ornament exchange several of my girlfriends do! This year I opted to try something totally different from last time. I created little wintery scenes inside a plastic globe ornament. 

What you need: 

- Small animal figurines

- Gold acrylic craft paint 

- Large plastic globe ornaments that open in half vertically

- Winter Trees (sized to fit in the globes you choose) 

- White Glitter 

- Ribbon 

- Hotglue gun 

Here is how you make them:

1. Prep your little animals by painting them gold! This may take several coats and can be done with gold spray paint or a paintbrush and acrylic paint. Beware that this step takes a little time allowing the paint to dry between coats. 

2. Heat up the hot glue gun and choose which animals will go with which tree and approximately where you want them positioned. 

3. Hot glue the bottom of the tree and animals inside the ornaments. I chose to put a tree on one half of the ornament and the animal in the other, this allowed for best placement when closed.

4. After the animals and trees are secured carefully dump some white glitter in the bottom half of what will be the back of the ornament. (My glitter ended up sticking to the sides a bit, which is why I suggest trying to aim it towards the bottom of the backside) 

5. Close the ornament by attaching the front half (side with animal). I decided to add a drop of hot glue on the bottom seem of where the two halves meet to help them stay closed! 

6. Tip it upright and watch the glitter fill the scene like snow! 

7. Add ribbon or another type of attachment to hang the ornament! 

8. Hang on the tree and admire your pretty little winter scene! 

Merry Christmas! 

Belated Holidays!

Better late than never! Sorry this is a bit over a month late- the holidays were crazy! Here are some pictures from my holiday season!

 Ken when he has code red! 

 Macey

 Marilyn

 Yahtzee and Popcorn with Mom!

 Christmas Eve Church Service- It was so beautiful!

 Mom & I- can you see the resemblance? 

 Christmas Eve goodness- while watching the Grinch and Polar Express!

 Christmas Morning! (Notice the freshly fallen snow)

 She's so pretty! 

 Christmas Morning- Fireplace and PJs! 

Christmas Dinner- was delicious! 

 And Dessert was sooo tasty!

 My sweet Kitty Maggie!

Some serious snow! 

Sorry I don't have more pictures from the holidays- My Christmas was so lovely! I spent it in Massachusetts with some of my family- Gabby, Heather, Andy, Justin, and Kate were missed! 

I am so thankful for my family- and this lovely time we got to spend together! 

All that Glitters

Sorry it's been such a long time since I have been able to post. My schedule has been crazy lately (T-minus 13 days until Graduation)! I spent Thanksgiving in Massachusetts with my family- and it was wonderful! I love spending time with them, and miss them all so much when I am away! Ever since Thanksgiving weekend I have had some super intense Christmas spirit. In fact the same day that I drove 7 hours home from MA I decorated my entire apartment for Christmas! (Like I said kind of intense).

Along with winter and Christmas comes a lot of adorable things in the stores. I mean everything from festive holiday clothing to party decorations, or even adorable looking food! One of my favorite trends every year around Christmas is Gold. There is this beautiful sparkle on everything around the holidays and finally once a year you are allowed to wear an entirely sequin dress and no one will care. Speaking of sequins, I have been looking for a dress that I can wear to graduation, Danielle's rehearsal dinner, and for any possible New Years celebration. Honestly- I'd like it to have some sparkle. (Now I am not thinking of a full sequin dress, something a little less flashy and more classy). All this being said- a lot of my mind has been consumed in gold glittery things. And you know what? I don't even mind it. Here are some beautiful pictures of pretty gold things. I hope you have a lovely day!

 Most adorable ever. I love this wallpaper and would even consider using it in my room!

I would love a dress like this for graduation! 

Not the case I am getting, but maybe it'll be the next case I get. 

 I saw this blog post last year about this neat way to make a photo backdrop! 

 I actually already own this nail polish- it's so great! 

I need to incorporate some of this beautiful wrapping into my Christmas gifts this year! 

I'd love to add this to my collection. :)

 I need to try this Gold-Leaf DIY

 Beautiful wallpaper!

Also I am in love with these journals. Just bought them the other day :)

Halloweens Past

Happy Halloween Everyone! Tonight I am not really doing anything fun to celebrate the spooky holiday. In fact I don't even have a costume this year, it's kind of sad. Some of you might know that when I was a kid I was never allowed to participate in trick-or-treating, or really anything Halloween-like. So when I got to college I started actually dressing up for Halloween. The past four years I have managed to make plans and dress up, but this year no plans, and no dressing up. :(  So in order to commemorate the day with costumes I have decided to post pictures of Halloweens past.(aka 4 years of college)

Freshman year I dressed up as Barbie! (Every little girls dream- haha)

Sophomore year I dressed up as a French Maid (the non-trashy version)

Junior year I dressed up as Baby Spice of the Spice Girls (Left to Right Scary, Sporty, Baby, Posh, Ginger)

And Senior year I dressed up as Daphne of the Scooby Do Gang! 

So as I said before- Happy Halloween to all! Hope your holiday was full of fun and lots of costumes! Crossing my fingers I have an occasion to dress up for next year!

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend! I certainly did! It was full of good company, good food, and good times. Gabby came down to visit for the weekend, and then we drove to my sister Heather's house to meet up with the rest of the family for a Saturday-Sunday Easter celebration. I didn't take any pictures while I was there, but lucky for me all the women in my family are bloggers- so there are plenty of pictures to go around! For more pics and the full story check out Heather's post!

We decided to take a family picture and well here was the result... a lot of blinking and not looking at the camera I must say Ken's face is my favorite... He looks so unhappy... (which certainly wasn't the case!)

Top Left: Justin, Andy (holding Jack the cat), Christopher, Ken, and Mom (Leslie)

"2nd Row": (kneeling) Katie, Heather, Ben (standing) Me, Gabby

  I must say one of my favorite things about the whole weekend was getting to spend time with my nephew Ben. I got to read bedtime stories to him and have lots of quality playtime. I must say though I almost died of happiness when he came over and plopped on my lap for a few minutes. I am glad that I am close enough to be apart of his life, and I hope as he grows I can remain a big part! 

Happy Belated Easter everyone! 

I love my family so much and I feel blessed for Jesus's sacrifice he made so we could live and have forgiveness. God Bless!  

P.S. My Mom just started a Blog- I helped teach her how to use all the tools... Check out her first post!
 

Leading Lady

I am not exactly sure why, but all of the sudden this line from The Holiday got stuck in my head. I think it's because lately I have been feeling so out of control, like an on-looker in the story of my life. I know it happens to the best of us, but I really want to pull things together and regain some leading lady gumption before the semester begins! Here's the clip- good movie, cute and girly, but worth watching.

Have yourself a very Ugly Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! This week I have really been in the Christmas Spirit, Family time, Shopping, Movies, Food, Pictures, and most of all Ugly Sweaters. Our Second annual Ugly Sweater Party happened this past Sunday and it was a smashing success! We were sad not all of our original party guests from year one were able to attend, but we were excited for our new comers, and gladly welcomed them into our tradition! 

Here are select photos from the evening (most taken in front of our tacky photo backdrop!)

Enjoy the ugly- try not to throw up!

<3

 Kissing Kitten: Josh & Alyssa

 Glitter & Glitz: Audrey & Gabby

 The Christmas Lick: Justin & Kate

 Awkward Couples Pose: Danielle & Eric

 Reindeer Games: Brian & Danielle

 Snowball Fight: Kelley & Danielle

 The Ladies:

 The Men:

 The Family:

In case you are wondering who won the categories... here they are:

Ugly Sweater Champion: Alyssa Magee

Most Festive Sweater: Eric Glynn

Most Creative Sweater: Josh Lowery

Best head-to-toe outfit: Alyssa Magee

We had a fabulous evening full of food, fun, 

and rating videos of fireplaces on youtube for quality. 

Thanks all for reading, Merry Christmas!

Ugly Sweater Contest

Judgement Day is Here!

Now is the time for your feedback on Ugly Sweater week. I have 11 excited participants who wanted themselves entered into the ugliest sweater contest. Here is the format. Their name will be displayed above the picture, and a description will be below. Voting is at the bottom! Thanks to all the many individuals who participated in this week. Sorry if you had a sweater and you forgot to submit- but I couldn't wait any longer! 

Alex

Alex was proud to be rocking this sweater which he originally found in the ladies section at the good will! Not only was it popular for it's burnt orange and brown colors but the zip up made it both convenient and easy to take on and off as necessary (although who would ever want to take this beauty off?). Alex is sure that this picture will make his mom proud!

Arielle

 Arielle donned this sweater in hopes that she would brighten up people's days and get them into the holiday spirit. Instead, her sweater sent 4 people rushing to the bathroom to vomit from the ugliness. This sweater has no place around Christmas time because it will most likely frighten everyone away! 

Dr. Walters

 Dr. Walters joined in some ugly fun and dug this gem out of the back of his closet. He was caught saying "well it's not THAT ugly," although some of his theory students may have disagreed! One student said, "I couldn't focus on anything in theory all I kept doing was staring at his left shoulder asking myself... is that a pork-chop?"

Gabrielle

 Fearlessly participating from afar, here, Gabrielle sports a wonderful specimen of a sweater that was not purchased for this event, but to wear in everyday life. The sweater itself is a curiosity because of its summer-time rose theme, making it both splendidly hideous and deliciously ironic to wear in December. Pfft, ugly sweaters for the summer... if only!

Jessica

 Jessica is sporting a vintage red and black velvet v-neck sweater. You might notice that the sleeves don't quite reach her wrists. This is because this sweater originally belonged to her grandmother who was dedicated to the grandma look even when she was training to be the best arm wrestler in the world. Her theory? "If I can see my forearm during the match, i can figure out how much muscle to use." The crazy pattern didn't hurt when it was distracting her opponents. Her granddaughter can only hope one day to get as much glory out of this ugly sweater as she did. Don't be surprised when you see Jessica on a Wheaties box showing off her sweater accented guns.

Josh

 You might be surprised to learn that the picture above is not of a where's waldo scene... in fact it is a lovely sweater! Josh wore this sweater proudly displaying his love of golf and ugly things. Josh's favorite feature about this sweater is that no matter where he goes he always has people with him, which is quite suitable for his warm personality and friendly demeanor. 

Natalie

 Natalie opted for a classic pet portrait sweater to celebrate ugly sweater week. Throughout the day she was kicked out of multiple classes and other buildings because of the 'no dogs allowed policy.' Natalie was caught three times petting the dogs on her sweater, talking to them, and trying to get them to perform tricks. These life like dogs seemed to be confusing everyone! 

 

Nicole

 Nicole made a special trip to the thrift store and dug through mounds of ugliness to find 'the black swan sweater.' Not only was she confused with Natalie Portman 4 times that day, but she was also asked to perform in Swan Lake with her sweater. She truly knows how make ugly sweaters work!

Peter

 Peter displays above what I like to call 'the bloody zebra' sweater. The gray/white and black print of the sweater is splashed with a festive blood red shade. He sent students running from how ugly his sweater was when he unveiled it in soupy. However a few people were caught racing to get their photo with him because they had never seen an uglier sweater!

Sarah

 I know what you're thinking and you can stop right there, no, Sarah doesn't model ugly sweaters for a living.  Please take a moment to appreciate her decorated collar in all its splendor.  Also, come to appreciate the amazingly high 'Michael Jackson' style shoulders.  Then, look carefully at her right shoulder, you will come to notice a pointsettia plant perched there, then, as if that wasn't enough, there is a flower stem that traces down the front of the sweater.  Not pictured are the equally decorated cuffs of the sleeves.  Then, as if everything going on here wasn't enough, the fine makers of this sweater decided they would add a cable knit down the front of the sweater, because this sweater is all about subtlety.  

Sydney

 Sydney is rocking her finest sweater above. She thrives on the minimalist approach that the sweater makers took when creating this sweater. During the day multiple people had to take medicine to stop the blazing headaches that Sydney's sweater created. This sweater in conjunction with Sydney's winning cackle made it clear that she is on the right path to becoming a crazy old lady.

PLEASE ONLY VOTE ONCE!!!!