Christmas Pillows with Cricut

Today, I'm talking about something that I wish I could have shared a month ago - Christmas pillows! I'm sharing these now because all of the pillows are with their owners! I didn't want to post any spoilers before giving these as gifts. I love doing homemade gifts around Christmas time, and these pillows were fun to work on and served as great presents! I'll walk you through what I did as well as the end product! I've shared several cricut projects before, so I won't walk you through the nitty gritty of using HTV vinyl. But, I will share the materials I used along with a little of my creative process.

I always start cricut projects by doing research. Research might not be the right word here, because what I'm really doing is scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration. For these pillows, I was looking for quote and design inspiration. I ended up choosing to make 5 different kinds of pillows. I made pillows that say Holly Jolly, Noel, Joy, Merry & Bright and Jingle. The designs all came together a little differently. In most cases, I create some sort of preliminary design, run it by my family then make adjustments before printing.

I decided on white pillow cases and this was the hardest decision by far. Ultimately, I decided on white in hopes of working with everyone's Christmas decor. I tried to pick something that wasn't too bold or too plain knowing that all of the pillows are going to homes with different decorating styles. I got the pillow cases and inserts from IKEA. They had great options and by far, the best pricing! Here is a peak at all of the pillows:

Deck the Halls

This post is long overdue. I've been meaning to share a little look into our Christmas decor for weeks, but am just getting around to it now. I snapped some pictures to give you a little look around some of my favorite parts of my house at Christmas time.

Before we get started, I should mention - we went smaller than usual this year. I love that I got to grow up in house that does Christmas (& Christmas decor) so well but I can totally appreciate us going a little smaller this year for a couple of reasons. 1st - We are in a major renovation. Everything is turned upside down so we didn't get all of the Christmas stuff out. 2nd -  We are leaving on a fun trip just days after Christmas. We have gotten to enjoy a few decorations all through December and I know we will be glad not to have to put too much away when we get home from our trip! And 3rd - We have had some pretty extravagant Christmases and while I love to celebrate big, I love that we are having a quieter year to focus on togetherness instead of material things.

Picking our Christmas Tree 2018

Every once in a while I have a little moment while I'm blogging - I just sat down to write this post and realized this is my third time recapping my family choosing our Christmas tree. How crazy is that? You can read those old recaps here - Picking our Tree 2016 // Picking our Tree 2017. Somehow, this day never loses it's charm. I love the Christmas tree farm, it's the very best way to kick off the season!

What I Got I Christmas 2017

Christmas morning is something I look forward to all year. There is so much magic and love wrapped up into one day - I just love it! I know that this holiday is about so much more than gifts and I love relishing in all the non gift related festivities but I do love the gifts! This year, Christmas morning was full of such fun surprises! Here is a little look into my favorite Christmas gifts.

This is a little cube that I can plant to grow my own Christmas tree! I'm assuming it takes a couple of years to grow a Christmas tree, but maybe one day my family can decorate a tree that I grew!

Top 5: Christmas Funnies

Christmas has come and gone in a whirlwind of fun and such joy! I hope you all got to celebrate with your favorite people. I am still clutching on to the festivities that will last through this week and the rest that will come before I go back to school! I know that there is still so much fun in store for this holiday break! I have a little bit of Christmas and some delicious recipes to share with you this week, but today, I'm sharing my favorite funny pins from this Christmas!

Friday Favorites: Merry Christmas

Happy Friday! I am so excited for all of the Christmas festivities to come this weekend! Last year, I did a wrap up of all of our Christmas fun and I can't wait to share again this year! I will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures! I will be taking Monday (Christmas day) off to celebrate with my family but I will be back Tuesday.

Gingerbread Biscotti

Today is the first official day of winter. It has been quite snowy for a couple of weeks, I am so excited for all the winter activities! Especially skiing! I can't wait to go skiing! Today, I'm sharing a recipe for gingerbread biscotti! I mentioned these biscotti last week in my favorites, and said that when they were baking, it smelled like I was living in a gingerbread house! Totally strange description, I know! But believe me, once you put these in the oven, you will be thinking the exact same thing!

This recipe is from She Wears Many Hats, you can find it HERE. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely but I eliminated some of the spices. The original recipe calls for cinnamon, ginger, allspice, ground cloves and black pepper. I only used cinnamon and ginger - I wanted to keep the spices a little more simple. Let's get started...

Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party 2017

This past Saturday was my family's Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party. It was a quieter party this year, but it was still so much fun! I love gathering with my favorite people to celebrate Christmas! I blogged about our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party last year. You can find that post HERE. We didn't do anything crazy different this year but I thought I would share it again!

For starters, we ask everyone to come in their Christmas jammies. When we hosted this party a few years ago, people were super skeptical. The kids all came in PJ's but the adults came is regular clothing. I am so proud to say that we have converted them all! Everyone comes in PJ's and I love it! We start the party every year at 6:30pm, so people eat dinner before they come then at the party we only serve dessert (hot chocolate and doughnuts). This feels like a major win in many ways - prepping a meal for a large number of people is hard and with Christmas quickly approaching, that is exactly what I wanted to avoid! Yes, making the doughnuts and hot chocolate requires time, but I think it's easier for my family to prepare than making a full meal.

Countdown to Christmas Signs

I started these signs in June. Yes, you read that right - June! I saw something similar on Pinterest and was inspired! I made 10 Christmas Countdown signs in total and I am so happy with the turn out! I have one hanging on our kitchen, but the rest are being given as Christmas gifts.

These signs were actually not that hard to make. Especially because once I did one, it was easy to do nine more! I got all of the wooden signs at the Dollar Store for $2 each and I stained them with a dark stain I had on hand.

Music for Monday: James Taylor

Happy Monday! This past weekend was full of festive Holiday fun! I got through some Christmas baking and wrapping and my family had our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party on Saturday night! I can't wait to share some of the Christmas fun with you this week (like gingerbread biscotti!) But, today, we're talking music and I'm sharing another one of my favorite Christmas carols!

Picking our tree 2017

Every year, my family loads up in the car and heads off to our favorite tree farm. We try to go the first weekend of December, but the first weekend of December this year was wild. So, we went last weekend instead! The tree farm is always cold but full of Christmas magic! Here are a few pictures from our trip -

This is the house on the property of the tree farm. Every year, I look forward to seeing this house because it is so Christmas-y! There are rocking chairs on the front porch with Christmas quilts hung over them. it is all so quaint!

Arty the Elf

Our elf on the shelf, Arty arrived on December 1st and has been up to no good ever since! Arty is a girl elf - I don't remember how she got the name Arty but the Bean used to like to refer to her as 'Arty the Party.' She totally brings our Christmas party! Here are some of the pranks our elf has been pulling this year!

I kept it simple with Arty's arrival this year. I put her in a little Christmas tin and stuck a little sign over her head that said 'Surprise! I'm Back!' Arty typically shows up with our advent calendars so I added those in even though the Bean already new about them.

Music for Monday: Holly Cole

I am so excited about this post because I am finally talking about Christmas music!! I have been waiting to share Christmas music with you for what feels like forever! I had the hardest time choosing which Christmas song to begin with because there are so many that I love. But I decided to start with Holly Cole! I remember listening to these Christmas songs when I was very little and I still listen to her Christmas album every year!

Top 5: Kitchen Gifts

Last week, I shared some of my favorite gifts that I received this year for Christmas - you can find that post HERE. Today, I'm sharing my favorite kitchen related gifts that I received! These posts started off as one, but it was LONG and I figured this would be a great way to split it up! So, here are my new favorite kitchen tools:

1. How cute are these measuring spoons? They are measurements for a smidgen, a pinch and a dash! I am so excited to use these!!

Top 5: Chrismtas Gifts

I have been sharing a whole lot about Christmas this week, and I'm sharing a little more today! Today, I'm talking about my top 5 favorite presents that I received this year for Christmas! I got some really fun gifts, but here are my favorites...

Christmas Day Recap

I decided to split up my Christmas festivities into a few posts because there was just so much & I thought I should spread it out. Yesterday, I shared a wrap-up of my Christmas eve (you can find that HERE!) and today, I am sharing how I spent Christmas day!

Before going to bed on the 24th, I made a deal with the Bean that we would get up to open presents at 9:00AM. I made that deal thinking she would get up at 6:00 excited and chomping at the bit and hoping to get a little bit of a sleep in because there has not been a lot of sleeping in for me! Well, that was a big mistake because it turns out I was the one who woke up at 6:00 ready to go - really I woke up several times throughout the night!! I was so darn excited!

I helped my mom fold some laundry while we waited for my dad and the Bean to wake up. Once everyone was up we got to open all of our presents!! 

Christmas Eve: Free Food

I have mentioned how my family spends Christmas Eve, but I don't think I did it justice! So here is a little wrap up of my family's Christmas Eve...

Friday Favorites: Merry Christmas

This week has been so full of Christmas goodness & I can hardly believe that the big day is THIS weekend! Here are some of my favorite things from this week...

1. When I did a little Christmas house tour, I forgot to include one of my favorite decorations... This sign! My mom picked this up a couple of years ago at a local gift shop & I love putting it up every year!

Gingerbread Men

I shared a recipe for mini gingerbread about a month ago. This is the exact same recipe but instead of quartering it, I made it in its full form! The recipe is from Sally Fields' cookie book & it made about 100 four inch gingerbread men.

Start by creaming together 1 cup of softened butter and 3/4 cup of brown sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party 2016

My family had our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party this past Saturday and we had so much fun! Here is how we host this party...

First, we ask everyone to come for 6:30 in their favorite Christmas jammies. The picture above is the Bean and I in our matching pajamas. We ordered these pajama bottoms from The Company Store last August and we paired the bottoms with a Pajama top that we got a couple of years ago. I highly recommend The Company Store for Family Pajamas! They are very reasonably priced, especially if you order them off season. You can find their selection of PJs HERE!