It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Welcome to a Riedel Christmas! 

I'm obsessed with the " Be Merry" decal I bought from Etsy. I love how it looks. And you can read it as you drive by which hopefully will spread some joy. Matt built me a wreath holder but if you like the thought of that my sister in law sells them and they are gorgeous. My giant present is to hide some electrical cords. But it does the job. Here is the street view 

The candy canes light up in front if the garden. My Walmart purchase. 

The front entry. My college Christmas tree  that is home to all of the ornaments we have been gifted over the years. There are even some Sigma ornament exchange ones! I drew the "oh come let us adore him". It's a foam board from the dollar store written on with silver sharpie to fake a chalkboard. 

Our stockings still need initials. Work in progress. Matt's nutcrackers. He really likes them so I try to get a new one each year. 

Here is our tree. I love the colors. 

Here is our first tradition we are starting with P. I have wrapped Christmas books and we will open one each night of December. I wrote the titles more for Matt and I but as she gets older it will be a surprise. 

I wrapped our canvas with our wrapping paper. Yes I'm weird and use plain brown paper. I think it fits my rustic-ish tree but I like it better than crazy wrapping paper. I like things to visually match. Weird I know. 

Last our just some minor decorations.  Sock monkey pillows with a tiny couch runner to match. I made these a couple years ago with a pattern my co worker found. Super easy. They make great gifts.

These are the salt and pepper shakers my mother in law gave to me my first Christmas as a Riedel. She has a pair just like them. And then of course our Charlie Brown Christmas tree Matt bought at a silent auction to benefit ATO. Those silent auctions get him every time. 

Here is the wreath on our pantry door. I also have put up my Christmas card penants I made last year but the sunlight from the windows did not let the picture do it justice. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing a glimpse of our home! I have more Christmas crafts on my to do list to hopeful complete this year and it will continue to grow. This is my favorite holiday :) 

Mason Jar Salads

I have to admit I have been contemplating this idea for months and too nervous that this wouldn't work and all this wonderful food would go to waste. I do not appreciate throwing out perfectly good food. So with school quickly approaching and memories of last years debacles with remembering to pack a decent lunch I decided to go for the gold and give it a try. 

This was SO easy and I will definitely be continuing this trend for the school year. It has even helped while I'm at home because its difficult to turn down a ready made beautiful salad staring at you in your fridge. There are a ridiculous amount of ideas on Pinterest on different salad recipes but ultimately I think we all have our preferences. I found this great picture to be my inspiration. 

This tells you how to layer which is the most important part. But it also gets your mind turning on fun twists and substitutions you can make. For now in just doing a traditional salad but I'd love to try some quinoa in my salad. Yum! 

Moral of the story. This works. My best advice I have learned so far is use less dressing than you think. The depth of the jar deceives you. You can shake the salad in the jar to get an even coat of dressing. It made me remember the McDonald salad shakers. I used to love those things... But anyways give it shot. I recommend :)

A chair, dresser and coconut oil.

So I have always been intrigued by furniture makeovers but too terrified to try. Lets be honest and admit that I would say only 75% of my projects are completely successful maybe higher but still it is not a 100%. Furniture is not always cheap, fixable or replaceable so that is why I have always been afraid. These were two simple projects but I'm obsessed with the results. 

I went to my parents ranch to pick up Paisley and they were replacing the garage door. The color teal naturally catches my eye so I saw this chair covered in old feed sacks. I asked if I could have it and the teal clock I saw in the corner and to my surprise my stepdad said yes! He tried to give me our huge old church pew ... But transporting that puppy might be difficult. That and finding a place for it. 

So here is the diamond in the rough before. The leather seat had been painted and disintegrated when I started pulling the furniture tacks. So I washed the chair. Removed the seat and old tacks. Sanded. Put a dark mahogany stain on. Removed the stain and then used my new favorite weapon.., coconut oil. AMAZING stuff. I then added the fabric that I bought from the remnant bin and tacked it into place. And here is the after!

It is not beautiful... But is exactly what I wanted. Distressed fabulousness for my craft room. I cannot have a sleek, modern or organized craft room the aura would just not be right. I need distressed, semi organized chaos and fabulousness. The craft room is still a work in progress. I keep getting distracted by old and new projects. 

So before the chair I read all about the amazing wonders of coconut oil. So I gave it a shot. We have this gorgeous antique dresser that I love but was in bad shape. It was just not living up to its potential. It has a beautiful design on the front that I do not want to lose to paint or stain but it has all kinds of dings from being my husband's college dresser. So this is before. 

This is after. Absolutely gleaming. All I did was clean and then buff with coconut oil. I will swear by this stuff now. It also took out the musty smell which was awesome!

So maybe I will build up my courage for a bigger project... Maybe. 

Paisley's Fall Outfits are taking shape

It is mid JuLy but I have begun creating P's fall collection. I'm loving the very hippy and fringe vibe. It is becoming an obsession. These are just some of the starter pieces but they are coming along. This first piece is a Damask Poncho. Never thought I'd make my daughter a poncho... Sigh.... Here it is and I love it. How cute will it look with jeans or black leggings. This took all of two seconds to make with some cute knit. 

Here is the leopard poncho. I started to put fringe on it but changed my mind. The fringe still may happen...

I LOVE this vest. It is simple but I think it would be adorable with a pop of color tee underneath. 

Easy leopard knit pants. 

I had some leftover fabric from the vest so I made some shorts. I think a sweater would be adorable with this. 

Peasant top with chevron pants. I am thinking I may add a chevron P and embroider her name. It is under construction but I haven't decided. 

Please don't judge my mess behind the clothes. I have a problem with fabric. I just love it. 

Seriously... P is 10 months

 I seriously cannot believe she is 10 months old. Ridiculous. She is a pure bundle of joy and wiggles. She is constantly on the move. She has figured out how to open cracked doors, drawers, and anything she can find. She also loves pulling clothes out of drawers, laundry baskets, etc. She then drags them around the house after her... cleaning I guess? It is always a new day with P.

 As you will notice in her 10 month photo shoot she gets very distracted outdoors. Especially if Buttons is running around in the background, there is construction next door.... you know every day stuff.

 She knows "uno". She feels so proud when you acknowledge this skill.

 So I thought bringing a lamb out would be cute seeing as its almost Easter. Hmmm... distraction?

 And then she was done for a moment.

 Here she is talking to her new friend.

 She wanted to share her grass that she handpicked to try and chew on. How sweet?

 The lamb did not want the grass either.

 I moved the lamb to try and get some good shots. She just kept pointing to it. I guess she didn't want to leave him/her behind. She is a thoughtful one!

Easter photos to soon follow!

My little monkey is on the go!

Our little monkey is 8 months! She has hit some major milestones and I couldn't be more proud. These are some snapshots of what it is like in an afternoon with Paisley. This is what most of my shots looked like. Silly Monkey! She loves to crawl towards anything interesting... including a camera.

 My Happy Baby!

Then we decided to have some fun in a Valentine themed outfit. We added some red tissue paper which definitly lived things up. She loved ripping and crumpling, the best part was she stayed in one place for a few minutes!

 She has discovered her voice. It is wonderful to listen to her talk.... all the time.

 We have also learned bye (and adios), hello (hola) *She waves* and Basistos (Kisses *Not sure on the spelling....*)

Well on our third outfit she had had about enough of the bed. She was ready to move around.

 She loves to stand up. She can walk if someone holds her hands. She makes a weird grunting sound when she picks up her left foot, just her left, not her right. Strange.

 And now we are close to perfecting crawling. She crawls in the correct body position for a few inches and then its back to belly down.

 And she can go from crawling back to sitting.

Doesn't she just melt your heart!

Ok so after our mini photo shoot she decided that if we put her in one room she is just going to come find us. She crawled out of her room and down the hallway. New accomplishment for today. And now I guess no more independent time in her room unless that is what she wants to do.

P and her best friend Buttons.

 Love this girl! Happy Valentines!