Baubles baubles {Part Two}

What a crazy week we had last week, huh?  With tornadoes and all!  So sad to hear about the lives lost from that scary day, but also from all the wrecked homes that families couldn't go home to.  My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.  Let's hope for continued beautiful sunny days like today from here on in!

Remember, last week I shared Part One of my bauble series?  Well, today, I'd like to share Part Two with you.  I know, I know, I was supposed to share this with you last Friday...so sorry!!  This project is my favourite because it's so simple, unique, and you can get your kiddies involved!!  Plus it's sooo much fun and adds such a different look and feel to your Christmas tree!  {Note: just be careful with the glass bauble if getting little kids involved, because they will break if dropped on hard flooring - speaking from experience here, hehe}.

Depending on how thick your paint is, allow at least a couple of days to dry.  If you want to be safe, leave it for about a week to ensure complete dryness!

Now, feel free to give this project a go with your family and don't forget to share your final projects with me here!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!

Have a blessed day and week!!  See you back here tomorrow!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy New Year!!

2012!  Can you believe it??

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and a wonderful new year celebration!  I had an amazing time with my family.  We ate, we laughed, we ate some more, and laughed even harder.  It was an awesome break from everything.  I actually enjoyed my time away from bloggin' (as much as I love it).  It was nice to just focus on nothing but the family and what fun we were going to get up to each day.  Thank you Lord for the abundant blessings!!

Now that I'm back from my much-needed break, I can't wait to share some Christmas highlights with you all!

First, let's look at the crafty Christmas costumes my family and I got into for our Christmas Eve celebration  (or as we call it the noche buena).  Our theme this year last year was GAMES.  So my son Javaughn thought that our family should come as PLANTS VS ZOMBIES.  Lui and I jumped onboard (mainly because Lui didn't like my idea of coming as BAKERY STORY where we would've had to come dressed up as cupcakes and other sweets, haha).  Lui was our Zombie (he had no choice in the matter, heehee).  I was the sunflower.  Javaughn was the gatling pea.  Javier was the sea-shroom.  And Carlyle was the puff-shroom.  You're probably wondering "huh?" well, here are some pics to help you understand :-)

From left to right: Conehead Zombie (Lui), Sunflower (Me), Gatling pea (Javaughn), Sea-shroom (Javier), Puff-shroom (Carlyle)

And now, my family as Plants vs Zombies...

All our costumes were made out of cardboard, masking tape and a lot of paint.  We used whatever was available to us to avoid more spending.  I did, however, buy a red tie and an orange cone from the dollar store for Lui's costume, but that's about it.  I painted some white stripes on the red tie, to copy the actual character.  It needed several coats which was a bit of a pain, but at least it looked great!!  My green dress was actually made by my Mum for my best friend's wedding in Rarotonga (Mum's amazing at sewing).  I didn't have time to iron it though, oh well.  Here are some progress shots...

Javaughn painting his helmet (aka mixing bowl, lol)

Thanks for visiting my blog this new year!!  I'll be back some time this week to share more Christmas and New Year's highlights!!  I look forward to another exciting year with you all!!

Enjoy your holidays and see you back here soon!!

xo,
Jackie

Christmas family portrait

Good Monday everyone!!  Wow, I am sooo happy that we have a sunny day today, after one long rainy week!!  Woohoo!!  Let's pray it lasts fro

Now, this has got to be one of the coolest Christmas eCards ever!  It's by JibJab, and I couldn't help myself from trying it...check out my family video by clicking on the link below...

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/V9kNbE3MxoBPln3d?cmpid=jj_url

Pretty sweet right?  I love it!  It makes me laugh every time I watch it!  You should go and try it for your family!  It's a quick and fun way to send a unique Christmas greeting to family and friends around the world.  Some of them are free, too, like the one I used.

Today, I want to share with you our fun and unique family portrait for this year!  But before I do, let's visit the ones from the previous years just for fun!

I scanned this one because I couldn't find the original.  2009 family portrait.

2010 family portrait

And now without further ado, our 2011 Christmas family portrait...(drum roll please)...

Something fun and unique!!  Thanks to our friends from Photobooth Auckland for the fun experience!!

This year's one was definitely more chillaxed.  I mean, we didn't even dress up for it, apart from the Christmas props that our friends Tamara and Alec provided for us to use.  I mean, com'on now, I was still in my sweaty touch clothes with NO makeup whatsoever!  Definitely a more natural and honest take on my family!  Which is why my hubby and I love this year's one sooo much!!

Have you done your Christmas portrait yet?  Do you get yours professionally done each year?  Or do you do the sit-on-Santa's-lap thing that they have at malls this time of year?  Or are you a DIYer like us?  However you do it, I'm sure it will be great!!

I'm so excited for Christmas!!  Mainly to celebrate such a special day with the people I love.  

Enjoy this sunny Monday guys!!  See you again tomorrow!!  Oh, and this week will be my final bloggin' week for the year!!  I will have some time off to spend with my family then see you all back here next year!!  Oh yeahhh!!  

xo

Snowy Christmas at the Nesi's!!

Even though I was feeling very lazy these past couple of days (I'm blaming the weather) I still managed to keep myself occupied with craft-ivities (did I just make up a word?).  Since the weather has been nothing but wet and cold, I decided to add 'snow' to our Christmas decor.  Javier (my eldest twin) was actually the one who initiated the idea.  He pulled out the insides of our couch cushions and we ended up with 'snow' all over our  floor.  I decided to reuse the 'snow' and applied them to our tree.  Really diggin' the snowy look right now.  So I went a step further and made snow ornaments, garlands and chandelier out of doilies.  I know, I went a bit crazy, but I was on a roll and couldn't be stopped.  The chandelier 'snow' is probably my favourite one, because it's so pretty and it really looks like snow falling from the sky.  I love it so much that it's now going in the master bedroom as our light feature, instead of the dining room where it was originally intended.

SNOW ORNAMENTS & SNOW GARLAND

SNOW VIGNETTE (ENTRY WAY) - added a snow wash to these pics to really get into the snowy Christmas spirit hehe

SNOW CHANDELIER

Ok, so I washed this pic with 'snow' to give you a real snowy feel :-)

Now, with the lights on!

Ahh, so pretty!  Will be moving it to the master bedroom soon xo

Click after the break for the how-to on the snow chandelier!  It's super simple!  Anyone can do it!!!

A creative Christmas streak...

Yesterday I was in some sort of creative and festive mood.  I was making Christmas decorations for my house, and didn't realise I ended up with quite a few goodies by the end of the day.  Here are some things I came up with, and of course all DIY stuff (because that's how I roll, on the cheap side, lol).  Be warned, today's post is packed with festive ideas!  :-)

To refresh your minds, I shared with you a creative idea (again with cereal boxes) using our family's initials as decorations.  Click here if you'd like to re-visit that post before proceeding to all the other festivities that's in store for you today.  :-)

ONE
First up, our very own Advent Calendar.  Ok, now this I made last week, but thought why not share it with you today along with all the other festive stuff I made yesterday.  This advent calendar was inspired by one of my favourite blog reads, Brown Paper Packages.  I used paper towel rolls and cut them into thirds.  Wrapped them in packaging paper as well as some Christmas gift-wrapping paper, added ribbons and numbers, and that's about all there is to it.  It is easy, but just a bit time-consuming (because you have to make 25).  The fun part was putting in notes and lollies in each one.  Some examples of what's inside the little packages are:
- make an ornament for the tree
- go for a drive and check out Christmas lights
- go out for ice cream
- play a game
- write Christmas cards for family and friends
etc etc...

Here's a collage I put together that show some of them...

TWO
Ok, so this was the first thing I made yesterday, our very own Christmas wreath made of cereal boxes and cupcake paper liners.  Now, I wish I had taken progress shots, but I didn't even think of it because I was on a roll !  Instead, here's a list of what I did, in case you wanted to do something similar for your casa.

1- Prepare a circle for your base.  I used a 12" cake card, I just cut out the centre using a smaller plate.  You can use cereal box or cardboard.
2- draw out a leafy pattern on the inside of your cereal box.  Cut this out and trace as many times as you need (I used 16).
3- Once you've cut all the traced leaves out, tape/glue them onto your prepared circle.  I used painters masking tape (because I wanted to play around with spacing first and didn't want anything permanent).  Space as desired.
4- Add your ribbon and *cupcake pompom on the right-side of the circle.
5- Choose a wall to stick it on!  I used painters masking tape again, as this is gentle on walls.
6- Admire!

*Cupcake pompom
Simply flatten your cupcake paper liners and fold in half.  Glue on top of each other to create an accordion.  You will need at least nine cupcake paper liners to make this.

THREE
Next, I wanted to create another wreath but this time for our front door.  I wanted to use something else other than cardboard, so off to my box of crafty goodness I went.  I found unopened wooden pegs which I thought would be perfect for this project!

1- Like the cereal box wreath I made (above), prepare a circle for your base, using a 12" cake card (or cereal box/cardboard), cut out the centre.
2- Peg the cardboard until the entire circle is filled (only leaving about a one inch gap for the ribbon).
3- Add ribbon as your loop and voila!  Your very own and unique Christmas wreath!

FOUR
My eldest son, Javaughn, wanted a 'J' of Christmas lights on his wall.  Without planning or marking, I decided to just 'wing' it, since I was still in this creative streak.  I pulled out some Christmas lights that my hubby bought last weekend from his work sale and began to attach them to the wall using painters masking tape.  I was going to use command hooks, but decided it would be less effort (and less expensive) to use masking tape instead, plus I didn't want anything permanent.  What I ended up with was pretty cool, especially in the dark.  Here are some pics I took last night, while my son (and hubby) were sleeping.

My hubby is sleeping in this pic, if you can see...

FIVE
Our JAR OF THANKS.  I made this a couple of weeks ago, inspired by one of my favourite DIY couples, John and Sherry of Young House Love.  This is something we look forward to because it is a time where we get to reflect on our day and think about what we're most thankful for.  The fun part is we get to read them all out on Christmas day as a family.  It should be interesting to see what each member has written down.

Well,  I hope you had fun with me today!  I'm glad to have shared some Christmas ideas with you.  If you haven't done any decorating already, then why not try some (or all) of the projects I shared with you today.  And don't forget to share them with me!!

xo

December 1!

Happy FIRST OF DECEMBER everyone!!  Wow, it's December already????  That was quick!!  Thank goodness all my Christmas shopping's done!  Well, almost all, just have a couple more to do.  So, today I want to discuss Christmas activities!  What are some special ways you're celebrating this wonderful month?  My family and I have started our JAR OF THANKS, where we write one thing we're thankful for each day until Christmas, then read through all of them (more on that later).  We also have an advent calendar (handmade and inspired by other talented people out there) that we will be going through as a family.  There will be activities for each day to keep our December even more festive and fun (more on that later, too)!

One simple and inexpensive way to decorate your home is by using and repurposing what you already have.  As a family, we go through boxes of cereal like nothing!  What happens to the boxes?  Well, nothing, they end up being collected by the paper waste truck every fortnight.  I thought, why not use this for something cool?  So, I decided to cut out our initials and tape them (using painters masking tape) onto our wall by our Christmas tree.  Of course, I added Christmas ribbons which immediately turned them into awesome, meaningful Christmas decor!  Here are some pics for you to enjoy!!

Front view

Close up

Side view

There's also bunting that's going on top, across the wall, but that's not finished yet.  Also, I'm still yet to put up our advent calendar, so stay tuned for those Christmas goodies!

I hope you enjoyed today's second post (wow, lucky you!).  See you again soon!!

xo