DIY Christmas Gift Baskets

Hello all, and hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We were pretty busy, with about 4 different Christmas celebrations over the weekend! And now that it's over, I can finally share what I gave our relatives for gifts this year.

The past couple of years were pretty easy when it came to deciding what to give. In 2014, I gave framed engagement photos to most of our relatives. And last year, 2015, I did the same with our wedding photos. 

Well, we didn't get professional photos taken this year, so I had to get a little more creative with my gifts. :) My decision was made, though, when I stopped into Target and saw these wire baskets in the dollar spot for $3 each:

I decided to put together my own "gift baskets" for everyone, by finding little items and filling each basket with them. I thought these would be pretty fun, since you can not only use the items inside, but you can use the baskets, too. Plus, they look pretty festive. :)

I put together a total of 13 baskets and filled them with things like candles, Christmas mugs and dish towels, chocolate, hot cocoa mix, and a few other random items I found like socks and blankets.

I tried to put about the same amount of items in each basket, but for larger families, I put maybe an item or two extra. Most items I just picked up at Target, Wal-Mart or the Dollar store. For a few, I put in $10 Starbucks gift cards, depending on who I thought might get some use out of them. 

If you wanted to make your own, I think a few other fun things to put in them would be copper moscow mule mugs, travel-size lotions, or Christmas ornaments.

I think they went over pretty well with everyone - at least I hope so! I had fun putting all of them together. Anyone else do something similar this year, or in the past?

Vacation Jar Memento: Jamaica

Whenever we visit a beach somewhere, we like to take a little bit of it with us when we go. Not just with photos, but with physical objects, too - like postcards, souvenirs, and of course, shells. I always spend some time walking around on the beach looking for those perfect shells. Living in landlocked Illinois, it's always cool when we get to see a huge lake or ocean and have the chance to experience the beach.

Over the past few years, I've been putting together little vacation jars to commemorate each beach we visit. I fill them with sand, shells, or other beachy things I collect while we're there.

Here I am on the beaches of Corpus Christi and Jamaica, looking for shells!

I've shared a little about my vacation jars in the past. In 2012, we went on a vacation to the East coast. The first jar I made was full of shells from that vacation. In 2013, we visited Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and I made this jar as a memento. Then in 2014, we went to Texas, and I made a jar of shells I collected in Corpus Christi.

This year I finally got around to making a jar with shells from our honeymoon in Jamaica. I used the same kind of jar I used for my Corpus Christi shells. It was $1 from the Dollar Spot at Target a while back. I had picked up two of them, for this purpose. I just peeled off the label it came with and filled it with my shells.

After getting the entire original label off (I had to really scrub it with soap and water), I filled it with my shells from our Jamaica honeymoon, and stuck on a new sticky chalkboard label I wrote on with a chalk paint pen.  I couldn't find anymore of the brown labels, so I figured a chalkboard one would have to do. :)

And voila! Simple as that.

It now joins the rest of the crew, but I need to find a new place for them now that the new couch is here. There just isn't enough room in the living room for them anymore! I'm sure I'll find a place sooner or later...

Now, let's see if we visit a beach again this year. Only time will tell!

Wine Cork Coasters

Christmas Eve 2012. That's when I opened up a present from Trent that was probably one of the coolest things he had ever gotten me. A wine cork coaster kit. What is that, you ask?

This is the box. It comes with 4 empty wooden "coasters" that you fill up with wine corks you've collected. That Christmas I got all of our used wine corks together and started arranging them inside of the boxes. I only really had enough to fill up 2 of the coasters.

Since then, our glass vase in the kitchen has been filling up with more corks, and tonight I decided I probably have enough variety in my cork collection to make the other 2 coasters.

So I went through my corks and put the other two together. I definitely did have enough! I love the look of them when they're finished. And it's really easy to do. You just place different corks inside of the wooden box, and arrange them so that they fit snug inside. You can actually glue them in, but mine are all pretty snug so they stay in position without having to glue them.

These are some of the most original coasters you can get. Each one ends up being different, and they all have a little character to them, with the various designs and brands of wine stamped on each cork.

Of course, when I was finished I had to have a glass of wine to celebrate. :)

A glass of Cupcake wine, and a cupcake, no less. We celebrated my birthday at work yesterday, so I got to bring home some leftover cupcakes today.

Now, excuse me while I continue watching my movie and eating my cupcake. :)

P.S. - I'm not sure where Trent got this coaster kit, but you can find them at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $19.99 at this link. Happy wine drinking!

Craft Round Up

Ah, the weekend! My plan for this weekend is to be a relaxing one at home. Today Trent and I finished watching the Making a Murderer series on Netflix. It was so compelling, we couldn't stop watching it. Definitely worth the watch and probably the best and most detailed crime documentary I've ever seen.

Onto the subject of this post, though! When I was writing my post the other day about our house renovation goals for the new year, and started looking back on some of the projects we completed in the past years, it got me excited for new projects to come, and also made me want to work on some new projects of my own.

Over the past few years, I've blogged about our progress on the house, but I've also documented little crafty projects in between that I've taken on, maybe after finding an idea on Pinterest, or maybe finally taking a stab at something I've been wanting to make for a while.

Today I thought I would gather some of my favorite crafts that I've made and blogged about over the past few years all in one spot - right here on this post. Sometimes the little projects can be the best or most rewarding ones! I always love finding inspiration from other blogs and around the web for easy projects and things that I can make that are not too intimidating.

So if you like to be crafty, take a look - links are under each picture. Maybe you'll find a little inspiration of your own!

Vacation Shadowbox   |   Fabric-covered Memo Board

Necklace Holder

Earring Holder   |   DIY Chalkboards

Burlap Wreath

Rustic Christmas Ornaments

Tissue Paper Tassel Garland

Card Box Banner   |   Burlap Tie Garland

Welcome Pumpkin

"52 Things I Love About You" Deck of Cards

Mod Podge Canvas Art

Painted Wine Bottles and Jars

Skeleton Key Art

Vacation Jar Mementos - Here and Here

Hope you've enjoyed this little post round-up. Here's to more craft projects in 2016!

The Time I Was Featured on HGTV.com

You guys. One of my organizing ideas is on HGTV.com right now! I can barely hold in my excitement. Here's what happened. This summer, amid planning a wedding and a bazillion emails in my inbox, I got a message from a writer for HGTV.com that she wanted to feature my portable holiday gift wrap station for a Holiday Organization article she was working on. At first I kind of questioned whether it was even legitimate (I mean, it's not every day that you get featured on the website of one of your favorite TV stations), but I signed the release and sent her a hi-res image of my gift wrapping cart, and now it's live on the HGTV website!

Here's my lovely little gift wrapping station that was featured, and that I still use to this day:

The idea seemed so simple to me at the time and I had a need for it, but I never imagined someone else would see it and think it's a great idea, too. I guess that's one of the cool things about blogging. You never know who else is going to see your projects and ideas and want to share them as well.

Here's the link to the photo and the little blurb about my gift wrapping cart on the HGTV website. I love it! The full article / gallery is: 12 Clever Christmas Decor Storage Ideas. You should definitely check the full gallery out. There are tons of good ideas in there, and with the holidays coming up, some of them could definitely be useful.

Ok, please excuse me now while I pinch myself again... :)

Painted Pumpkins

Who has carved or painted their pumpkins already for Halloween this year? Most years we carve them, but a couple of years ago, we drilled designs in them for a little change. Here's a look back at our pumpkins throughout the years to jog your memory. This year, I decided to just paint a couple. Trent hasn't done anything with his. Party pooper. :p

Here are my lovely little painted pumpkins:

A realistic looking tree and of course an owl, just because who doesn't like orange colored leaves on trees, or cartoon owls?

I had to be cheesy and take a picture with my pumpkins. And I'm all by my lonesome. Maybe Trent will get into the Halloween spirit and carve one tomorrow night. We'll see!

And here are a couple of close-ups of each. I can't seem to move them back outside and out of the house. I think they'll be staying in the living room for a while. :)

Can't believe it's Halloween on Saturday! Trent and I watched the entire Scream movie franchise in 2 nights to commemorate the holiday. All 4 Scream movies. Good times!

We're headed up to Chicagoland to visit Haley and Dan this weekend. It will be nice for a break from the usual day-in, day-out! 

Happy Halloween, folks! :)

Fall Front Porch

I hope you all are enjoying the fall season. It's taken me a little while, but I'm starting to come around. Must be the pumpkin coffee and the fact that it's now sweater and boot season. :)

I'm sharing my fall porch today. Fall decor is the best. Mums and pumpkins galore! Here are a few shots of our porch this year. 

I've incorporated some elements from falls past, along with some new items. There are also plenty of DIY projects in the mix. I made my new burlap wreath this past weekend. You'd be surprised how easy that project was!

The new welcome mat is from Joss and Main, and so is my new burlap garden flag. Cute, right? I love the big white mums! They're from Walnut Grove Farm in Knoxville - A Scenic Drive find.

Ol' Scaredy the scarecrow is back again for another year.

My welcome pumpkin is also back again! I painted a craft pumpkin a couple of years ago - see this post for more info. The basket it's sitting in was made by Trent's aunt and was a wedding gift. There are landscaping bricks inside to fill space, along with a fall leaf garland. Those glass votives on top of the wooden crate were old fruit jars that I just painted yellow at the bottom.

I threw in a chalkboard this year - one that I DIY'ed from a picture frame last summer. The apple and hydrangea arrangement was a Scenic Drive find from years' past. So was the old green shutter. This shutter was used in our wedding. :)

Our door, and the porch floor, are both eyesores at the moment - so I guess the fall decor is my way of making it look a little easier on the eyes, until we can fix up the rest of it!

It's not much, but it makes things feel a little more festive around here. The leaves are slowly changing too! They create the perfect fall backdrop, that's for sure.

Have you decorated your porch for fall yet? I'd love to see it!


Linked to: Grace at Home, The Winthrop Chronicles, The Pin Junkie, Home Matters Link Party, Tatertots & Jello, Weekend Retreat Party, Blooming Homestead, Natasha in Oz