Touches of Christmas around our home...

Before Christmas is OVER (I'll be SO sad when it is!) I wanted to share some of our Christmas decor. I love to decorate at Christmas time!

Our Front Door

In the kitchen, found this plate at a yard sale this summer. Just happens to be from Christmas 1977, the year I was born! My mom gave me the vintage Christmas candles this year, they were my grandmothers.

Our dining room table

Our Nativity

All the stockings were hung...

Yes, I have a thing for Nutcrackers and Christmas books!

Our tree, we LOVE it! 16 feet tall! Makes you feel like a kid again. :-)

For fun I'm linking up to Rednesday over at It's A Very Cherry World. Be sure to visit for LOTS of fun RED treasures! :-)

A moment of JOY and... more matchboxes

So Tuesday morning I woke and declared to myself, "today, I am going to have a good day!" I have been feeling overwhelmed with my Christmas and daily to-do lists and wanted to experience JOY. It was so simple really, I consciously made the choice to focus on Christ, to ponder the reason we are celebrating and to listen to worship Christmas music. A funny thing happened, even though I was washing dishes, sewing a Christmas gift while helping Jilian, doing laundry and on and on. I had one of the BEST days I have had in a really long time! I experienced JOY and it was so simple. I just had to choose to keep my mind centered on Christ and not on the to-do list and the next thing to be done and to accept the fact that there will be interuptions (from little people). I share this to offer encouragement. We expect so much of ourselves this time of year and others expect a lot of us. But if we choose to keep our mind on the "reason for the season" then we can enjoy it, not survive it.

Matchbox #12 comes from Bonnie at Bonnie Lass' Art Cafe.


Matchbox #13 was made by Wendy at Stitch Duchess' Crazy and Sane Quilting World


Matchbox #14 was made by JoAnne at Vintage Dragonfly


Matchbox #15 comes from Jenna at Corgi Pants



Thanks to Genie from Buttons for Baga I now know the creator of matchbox #7! She too received a matchbox from Marcia over at Vintage French Hen and recognized the stamped cloth. Thank you Genie for helping me out and thank you Marcia for the beautiful matchbox!

Handmade Gift Ideas and Matchboxes #10 and #11

All this week is Holly Bloggy Christmas! Each day is a fun blog party on a Christmas related topic. I participated last year and it was SO much fun! You can visit Simple Sweet Home for the list of bloggy parties.




Today's party is about handmade gifts, hosted by Tater Tots and Jello. I wanted to share a couple gifts I made for friends this year. Monogrammed lavender scented sachet pillows and a lavender scented eye pillow. They were very simple AND fun to make.





To make the sachet pillows I used my friend Heidi's Big Shot and punched out six squares with a scallop edge out of muslin. I then hand stamped the flowers and initials using Staz On Jet Black Ink (it works well on many different surfaces). Once the ink was dry (just a few minutes) I machine stitched two squares together leaving a small opening to stuff the pillow and add the lavender. Once the pillow was full, I machine stitched the opening closed. And there you have it! Only took about 30 minutes to complete.

For the lavender eye below, I cut two pieces of material approx. 4" x 8". I stamped my images the same way as the sachet pillows and machine stitched the rectangle closed leaving a small opening. I then filled the pillow approx. half full with rice and added the lavender. I finished off the pillow by machine stitching it closed. The pillow can be put in the microwave to heat, about 20 seconds. If you wanted a finished edge, you can sew the the rectangles together (with the stamp images on the inside), turn right side out, fill and then hand or machine stitch the opening closed.

I made these little chocolate kissed filled jars for the girls' ballet teachers. I wanted to give them a little something but more than a plastic bag filled with chocolate. Then I remembered that I have some empty baby food jars (great things to keep, I have all my little embellishments in them). Using my scallop punch, I punched out three scallops (one for each jar) out of Christmas paper, added a circle Christmas sticker, some glitter around the edges and then used a glue dot to adhere it to the lid. I added a piece of thin red ribbon around the rim of the lid. *Use a small glue dot to hold the ribbon in place while you tie it because the ribbon likes to slip! Lastly I filled the jar with red, green and silver chocolate kisses. A simple, affordable gift.


Matchbox #10 comes from Amy at Paper Trails Leaver. Amy covered the matchbox in paper and embellished it with fun Christmas stickers. I love the RED bling she added to the Christmas tree! Hidden inside was a tag/ornament with a scrabble piece that reads "JOY". A reminder I often need! :-)


Matchbox #11 was created by Angela from Down to the Darling Details. Angela used a vintage image and then outlined it in silver glitter (ohh!!). Inside was a bottle cap magnet. I just love them and want to make them now!

Three more matchboxes

I feel SO bad! I can't find the packaging for Matchbox #7 and can't remember who made it! I have looked everywhere, even in the trash! :-) I love it, it is so creative, a little cabin and on the inside was a stamped cloth banner. IF you happen to make this and are visiting my blog, please comment so I can give you the credit you deserve.


Matchbox #8 is from Angela over at Pages By The Sea. A lovely matchbox adorn with roses with a matching rose pin. Love it!


Matchbox#9 was created by Sophia at Blue Chair Diary. A RED felt stocking (I heart felt!) is on the outside and a jumbo paperclip was hiding inside.

More matchboxes

Sorry follower swappers, I have gotten behind! I knew that I would get a little behind over the weekend (having the family home) but this week has been full. The girls and I have still been opening them each day and love all of them. Here are #3 to #6.

Matchbox #3 came from Michelle at Faerie Dust Dreams-Michelle. This is probably my favorite so far because it has the vintage look I love so much. The image on the front is a vintage stamp and the treasure inside was a bottle cap magnet with the same image.


Matchbox #4 was created by Carol from Heirlooms For You. I really like the gems she used to create some sparkle. Inside was a beautifully dainty beaded ornament.


Matchbox #5 was made by Mary over at JMP Pastimes. The wings are SO neat! What a creative idea! Tucked inside was a mini reindeer ornament, so sweet!


Matchbox #6 is from Jill at File-Under-Misc. I really like the ribbon with it's RED button and handmade tag, Grace's favorite part was the big gold snowflake. Inside was a handmade paperclip. It acts as the "star" for our mini tree, which holds all the matchboxes.


Thank you all for my matchboxes, I love them! I hope to get caught up with the rest tomorrow and share with you our Christmas tree hunt! :-)

Matchbox #2 and silly Jilian...

This morning Grace opened our second matchbox made by Linda at Country Pickin's. Tucked inside was a sweet raindeer ornament and a tiny key, I just love the key! Thank you Linda. :-)



I took the picture in the windowsill and Jilian insisted on sitting there too so could take her picture!

Matchbox #1

In October I participated in A Swap for All Seasons matchbox swap of giant proportions! It involved 70 swappers that created 25 matchboxes, one to open each day of December, the 1st to the 25th.

These are the matchboxes I created each with a surprise tucked inside (don't want to give it away for anyone).

Today is day one and we finally got to open one! It was hard to wait. Even Grace remembered this morning when I told her it was the first day of December, she declared, "we get to open a matchbox!" :-)

The first one was created by Kim over at BlackBerry Crows Prims. I just love the charm she made and can't wait to add it to our Christmas tree (just have to go get it!). Thank you Kim!