My first Christmas tree! (Updated)

Like I said it my last post I have never had my own Christmas tree, and never really planned to have one. My husband and I didn't really liked Christmas trees growing up, and ever since we were dating we had planned to have some other fun alternative. Our first Christmas was a little over a month after we got married and we didn't really have time to think of anything, so we just didn't have anything at all... except for a pile of presents in the corner of our living room. Our second Christmas we were a little more creative and I made stockings and a wreath, which we hung above an old chest and window panel where we piled our presents.

But, it just never did the trick, never felt quite like Christmas so this year we went out and got ourselves a Christmas tree :) (after a lot of begging on my part). And I love it! I have also spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks making ornaments for the tree, and am proud to say that I made all except two of our ornaments! We have two cats so we didn't want to bother with the glass ones you can buy, so all of mine are cat friendly. Not that I want my cats playing with my tree ornaments, but if they do (like I know they will) they wont make a giant mess and they wont hurt themselves.

I made the star out of a cracker box we had in the recycling bin. Update: Pretty & Cozy  has a tutorial on how to make these kinds of stars. They used cardstock but I didn't have any in white, so I just used some cracker boxes and painted them. The first attempt I did was with regular paper, and it turned out horrible, so I suggest something sturdy. There is a templet available on that website that you can print out. Since we don't have ink for our printer, I just took a ruler and measured the templet on my computer screen and then made my own templet. It was a little difficult to figure out and would be way easier to just print, but I made due with the resources I had available.

Covered styrofoam balls with coffee filters.

The garlands are painted styrofoam balls strung together with beads. Inspired by something I found at a holiday faire.

I hand crocheted "doilies" and sewed them onto a heart that I made from brown linen I had. I made lots of doilies in different patterns. This was inspired by these ones at Ikea.

And last years stockings that I made from burlap and wood letters.

Update: For those who saw earlier, I got a new picture of the whole tree with decorations on it.

The D.I.Y. Christmas is going great so far, although I think I am a little behind.

I'm linking this post up to my first link party! Check out some other bloggers and their DIY Christmas decor!

Just a few improvements

Alex and I moved into our new home at the end of January, so I really have absolutely no excuse for this:

Yep, A whole lot of nothing, for nearly a year (oh except the lovely cat dishes, so attractive right?). I wanted to put a little entry way table there but when I look at any decor or furniture I can not find it in me to justify spending triple the amount I can pay to make my own. And make it the way I want it. Soo, we've spent several months being lazy while this was awaiting us in the garage...

So. much. better. And yes, we made this lovely piece (along with a dinning room table for a friend that will be posted soon, hopefully). We bought pine and stained it to give it an old barn wood look. It really looks much better in person. I'm not even going to pretend I'm an awesome photographer, I took these with my iphone. 

This also gave me a lovely place to hang my wreath that I made last year. I was inspired by one I found  on design sponge. You can check it out for a tutorial, but just to warn you it took FOR.EV.ER. I added some of the berry things (technical name?) I got for super cheap at Joann's and this year I added the little birdie.

We have a few more Christmas decorations up, which I am temped to show, but I think I am going to wait until we have everything up. What I will say is that this is my very first year with a Christmas tree of my own, even though this is our third Christmas together. My husband and I have never really been fans of Christmas trees (I know, I'm a horrible person), but this year I kind of got the tree bug and I had to have one. I was literally jumping up and down when we made plans with some of our good friends to go get some wild trees! Ahh! I'm excited just thinking about it now. Anyways, we got our tree over the weekend, but it isn't totally decorated yet. I'm attempting all homemade decor and presents this year (aside from the Christmas lights). Here is what our Christmas looked like last year, so it can only get better from here on out, right?

The chest was actually completely covered in presents but this is after we opened all of ours up. I think this year will be a vast improvement. Ahh, I love Christmas. 

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

Just a couple things I'm thankful for...

Today I just want to say how thankful I am for my friends, all of them. There are a couple friends in particular that I know, in some shape or form, will always be a part of my life. There have been years where we haven't talked at all, years that we have fought, years that I thought we would never speak again, and then years where I remember that my life would be so different had I never met them. Sometimes we live in different cities, states, and even countries, but somehow our paths have always found a way to meet up.

This is true friendship. Not one that is fake, but one where life pulls you apart and pushes you together and even in the times were you are angry with each other, you couldn't imagine your life without them. 

I just want to say thank you for sticking with me through my personal battles and constant ebbs and flows of life, and helping me grow and become a better person along the way. Both of you mean a lot to me, regardless of what we have been through, and I'm so grateful I met each of you so many years ago.

My first yarn wreath and a flower tutorial.

Over the last few months I have sort of taken a little crafting/blogging hiatus. At some point awhile back I went from working 20hrs to 30hrs a week and then this summer went to full time. Unfortunately this hasn't left me a ton of time to do all the things that I love. Since we've been back from Hawaii something just kind of clicked and I realized that what is important to me is for both my husband and I to be doing the things we enjoy, and not just the things that pay the bills. It just isn't fulfilling to wake up every morning and wish you could spend the day doing something that you actually enjoy. So with that said, in January I will be going back to school and soon after going back to part time. I'm so excited to be taking a step towards the future we want. Also since being back we have kind of gone a little crazy on overdue projects. Ok, let's be honest I have gone a little crazy and he has just given in to my whims.
So to kick off the soon to be Christmas season, here is the yarn wreath I made yesterday:

I know that the yarn thing has been done several times so I'm not going to bother with a tutorial, but here is one by Take Heart if anyone needs to see how it is done. But it was super super easy.

Here is another fabric flower that I made with different fabric which shows you a little better what these guys look like in person.

There are tons and tons of fabric flowers out there and I'm sure someone somewhere has a tutorial for these, but I personally couldn't find one so I will show you how I made mine.

Step 1: Cut a strip of fabric, tapering it so one end is wider than the other. It doesn't have to be much wider, just about a quarter to half an inch.

Step 2: Fold fabric in half (hot dog style) and cut slits in the fabric. This should be self explanatory and you probably don't need me to tell you this, but I made the silly mistake of accidentally cutting all the way through the fabric a couple times and had to start over, so beware of that.

Step 3: Fold in half and do a simple stitch through the solid side of the fabric (aka: the non-loopy side)

Step 4: As you are sewing pull the thread through the fabric so it starts to gather. Continue to the end of the fabric. As you go the fabric will spin into a flower shape.

Step 5: (No photo) The fabric should be all gathered into a flower shape now, you can adjust the layers as you like and then sew through all of the layers of fabric until it feels good and secure. Add buttons or whatever embellishment you like.

 Well hopefully that was helpful! Hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Amazing Artist

While Alex and I were in Hawaii we went into a few art galleries. They have many galleries there with some very talented artists, and if you are ever there you should just walk in some of them. Amazing! Anyways, there was this one particular surrealist artist that we were very impressed with, his name is Vladimir Kush. This is honestly one of the most talented painters I have ever seen and I just had to share, here are just a few of his pieces. These are not necessarily my favorites just some that I really liked. He has so many paintings I couldn't decide which ones to share.

Not sure if you can tell because of the low quality of the image but on the hill where it is raining there are people doing a rain dance.

You can visit his official website at http://vladimirkush.com/ but I also did a google image search and found a ton of his work. These images don't capture even half of the amazing detail. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Two years ago today...

I woke up and had my hair and make up done...

I put on my white dress...

Saw my soon to be husband for the first time...

We said our vows...

...and skipped down the aisle as husband and wife.

And here we are two years later, celebrating our anniversary from the beautiful island of Maui. Four years ago when we first met I never would have dreamed that we would be where we are today. And I am excited for the years to come. Sometimes I forget what we went through to be together now, the months of waiting and just wishing that I could hold his hand or tell him how much I liked him (not that he couldn't tell). The horrible flirting. The giggling and uncontrollable smile that I couldn't help but have every time I got to talk to him. I am so blessed to be his wife. Even when he drives me crazy, or when I nag him to death (sadly I can't deny that I nag sometimes) I couldn't be happier, and I don't regret a day of our life.

To the love of my life, thank you for always (for the most part ;) ) putting me before yourself and loving me regardless of my faults. You help me be a better person everyday!

A Beautiful Mess

Alex and my two year anniversary is coming up this November. I can't believe it has almost been two years already. I also can't believe how drastically our relationship has changed in the last two years, and we still have many many many more to come.



After some recent conversations with good friends (married and single) I have realized that there is such a miscommunication about what marriage is like. We always hear how "hard" it is. I'm not sure there is a more vague description. It is so much more than just hard, at least in my experience. Marriage is a constant struggle to find each other, yourself, and God. It is painful and yet, rewarding. It is a wonderful, fun, peaceful, fulfilling, most difficult thing that you can ever experience. Or at least I believe it can be. It definitely is not perfect every day nor is it constantly full of emotional love. It is more natural and real than that. Love is just a fact. It is always there, but not always felt. And I don't believe this is in any way a bad thing.



On top of all the pressures of being married, there is this horrible stigma of arguing. Since divorce rates are so high, it seems like many couples are just out there trying to beat the odds. And it seems as though fighting has been the blame of divorce, or at least that is how if feels for newlyweds. We are so scared to argue because we think that other people will think we made a mistake, or will not think we are right together or they will say "I knew they should have waited". But don't you think it should be normal for couples to fight? Especially in the first few years of marriage? You are two completely different people with different backgrounds who have usually made many mistakes. We all have our own pasts and our parents mistakes to overcome. We learn so many of our behaviors from our parents and we grow up in completely different houses, towns, sometimes even with different spiritual beliefs. Shouldn't it be ok and accepted to have some arguments? To do things "wrong" every now and then?



Women (at least in the Christian community) have become so consumed with not being the "overbearing controlling woman" that they have tried so hard to fight off all of their anger. As a woman I can say that sometimes I am completely irrational. Sometimes I get really angry about something that is incredibly stupid. In the very beginning of our marriage I had no idea that I could get so worked up over something so small and insignificant. Sometimes, when I got too angry, I would just lock myself up in the bedroom and not talk to Alex for hours. It wasn't because I was mad and he did something wrong and I felt like he should be punished, it was because I had no idea how to communicate to him how I was feeling, what I was thinking and why this small thing was such a huge deal to me. I usually felt like I was crazy. I was so concerned with people knowing that we fought and being a terrible wife, that I would get more insecure and irrational. Very very gradually, with much patients on Alex's part, I learned how to communicate in a healthier way. However, if we just stifle our anger and emotions, we can never get to the good stuff.



I am not trying to say that all arguing is great but I don't believe that fighting alone can ruin a marriage. I do believe that if one person is unwilling and refuses to accept their own faults and doesn't try to see the others point of view, that is how arguing can go bad. But if you aren't free to express anger and frustration in a healthy way, even if it looks a little ugly sometimes, how can you change and grow together? How can you love each other through "the good times and the bad" if you don't allow yourself to express your true emotions?



All of the married couples that I am amazed by, and who have been together for many years, argue. Not only that but they are incredibly honest about it and they don't even think it is a huge deal. These aren't the marriages where the woman says "I just had to learn to bite my tongue because I wanted to be the loving wife, and eventually I learned not to get upset with him." These are the ones that sometimes say "I literally thought I was going to kill him, but eventually we began to understand each other and the small issues became easier to work through."



Many people say that the most important thing in a marriage is communication, and I wholeheartedly believe this. It isn't about being "perfect for each other" "meant to be" or "the one". Those people get divorced too, and find new "ones". It is important for every couple to accept that sometimes things are going to be messy, and your relationship may never look like some other couple, and that is perfectly ok. If we are always trying to prove that we are happy and comparing ourselves to others, we are going to miss out on something so much deeper and more meaningful.