one of my fave presents

another fave present--hat with ears!

Finally hung this up after working on it for a while. I love how it turned out!

one of the gifts in my advent swap. Love it!

mmmmm….Christmas dinner

Christmas wasn't on a weekend this year, but a day off in the middle of the week feels like a weekend, right? Here is Tater, wishing you a Merry Christmas while she wears the sweater that my mom sent.

I haven't found a tree topper that I've liked, so a burlap bow it is!

When Rich came over and saw my tree, he said that I should take some better photos of it and post them. He really likes the rustic feel to it and I do too. What do you think?

How are your holiday decorations coming along?

Today I wrote a DIY for this lovely scarf at Yonder! Julie and I have collaborated together to show you all a couple of DIY Christmas gift ideas. Check it out here.

Here's what you'll need:
-knitting needles (I used a size 10, but probably could have used bigger ones)
-yarn of your choice (I used this kind)
-cotton fabric big enough to make a pillow insert out of 
-polyfill or your choice of pillow filling
-a sewing machine or needle and thread
--a tapestry or plastic yarn needle with a large eye







When you're done just tie a simple knot and tuck the rest of the yarn inside the pillow.  There you have it!!








find me here, here and here 

While I have been looking at items for various swaps that I am participating in this year, I have run across a few items that I wouldn't mind having myself. I thought I would share some items with you all incase they inspire you for gifting others in this advent season.

First up is this ring. Now, I am not really much of a jewelry girl. If I walk out the door with some jewelry on, it's usually for a special occasion or because the mood struck me just right. However, I like these rings in that they can be personalized. One with my name, or love or some other special word would just be fantastic. Plus, most of the rings that I find online are not available in my size thanks to my large, 9.5 size ring finger. This simple ring is--yay! Available at Monkeys Always Look on Etsy.

Those are the ones that I wanted to share for now. Have you run across anything really great that you're tempted to keep for yourself this season?

Hey folks! I would love to offer to organize the second annual ornament exchange. I hope that you can join us!

Since living on my own the past few years, I have been slowly amassing home decor items. One of the items I sorely lacked was during Christmas--ornaments. This was even more apparent to me two years ago when I only had enough ornaments to decorate the front half of the Christmas tree. I have a few more this year than I did last year but still not enough to fill a whole tree. I thought maybe there would be others like me out there who have been slowly growing their ornament collection.  Hence, the Second Annual Ornament Exchange. (Bare with me while I use the graphics from last year…not much extra time equals no new graphics!)



Getting what you want:: The questionnaire includes a section for you to fill out to help your partner pick out or make an ornament that is sure to be something you'll like. So answer the questions thoroughly!

The sign-up:: If you wish to participate in this ornament exchange please fill out the questionnaire below. Please copy and paste the questions into a comment at the end this post or email them to me at jean (dot) emily (at) gmail (dot) com. Submitting the questionnaire is your commitment to follow the guidelines as they have been explained above.

::QUESTIONNAIRE::

Name: 

Email Address: 

Country in which you live: (as well as if you are willing to have an international partner or not)

Your interests in ornament type: (share some of your preferences to help your partner choose or make an ornament for you - i.e. colors, styles, specific item(s) you would like inside of the ornament, texture, a link or two to other ornaments you are interested in, etc.)

5 words to describe you or your style: 

Link to your blog/shop if you have one:

Anything else you'd like to ask/share:


Help spread the word about the Second Annual Ornament Exchange by posting a button to your blog, sharing on Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest and any other social media site you use. 
Best wishes and I cannot wait to see what we send each other!

 Before, this is what the outlet looked like. If you're a renter like me, you're stuck with a lot of these off-white or funny colored outlets. I was so tempted to replace them with white ones but I had two thoughts about that: 1. why should I pay the money if I'm just a renter and 2. the outlets themselves will still be that off-white color and I'm not sure my landlord would appreciate me painting them. However, I did not want to live with what I had, so what did I decide to do? Dress them up with washi tape, of course! If you're like me, you have rolls and rolls of this stuff hanging around, begging to be used.
 The supplies you need will include the wash tape of your choice (completely up to you what kind and how much you will use of each. This is what I had narrowed it down to.) and a flat-head screwdriver. Oh, and your faceplate too. Oh, and an exacto knife. I'll get better at this DIY thing…promise.
 Once you unscrew the plate off the wall, you can start placing the tape. I started at the top and worked my way down. I liked having one different colored/patterned piece to start off and the rest was uniform. You can cut off the ends of the washi tape that are too long and/or you can tuck them around the back of the plate. Then with an exacto-knife, cut out the holes for the outlets and the screw hole.
 Last, but not least, screw the faceplate work of art back over the outlets. Isn't that so much better? I look forward to working on the rest of the apartment now. (And when you're ready to move, you can simply unscrew the faceplate, peel off all the wash tape and screw the faceplate back on. So simple!)
If you try this DIY, let me know how it turned out!