Gifts from Afar

Well here we are friends. Rounding the corner on the colorful and crazy block that is Christmas Week! J and I (well at least I) have all my shopping D-U-N Done! besides a few small stocking stuffers. It feels good. I started early this year and was pleased when all my larger purchases were made by the first week of December. Its given me more time to relax and go on a cookie baking spree!!! I work with a crew of sugar lovers, so I bring the majority of them to work. Happy co-workers = happy workplace.
Today I just wanted to share a little change I made to our Fall Wish Tree, as well as a cool little ornament I received in the mail earlier this week. 

First up, the tree!!! You all remember the easy craft I made for Fall and our wedding a few weeks back. I am super obsessed with the gnarly, organic shape of this branch, so I moved it into our bedroom and took off all the tags, replacing them with colorful shatterproof (aka puppy proof) balls!

Our bedroom has been one of the last places to receive much decor of any sort since we moved in. We made the epic mistake of painting it the same Peanut Butter color as our living room, and haven't done anything about it since. The funny thing is, our bedroom faces North, and the color is much more comforting in that space. It honestly doesn't bother me as much, I think its the lack of natural light. It warms the room up. Either way, our bedroom will eventually  become a soothing gray, with accents of white, coral and navy blue, but that's a whole other blog post.

The wish tree is perched upon one of my first furniture makeovers, a cabinet that my mother gave me when I moved out. It was a wham-bam-sand and stain job, but you have to start somewhere right? I like it.

In my blog crawling as of late, I came across Julia's blog, a living space. I found her through Hi Sugarplum's holiday craft party, and her Oregon Ornaments she linked up! As an Oregon girl, it was like a moth to flame when I saw that project, I was dying!! So of course I left a comment, spilling my guts about my love for her craft, and Miss Julia emailed me back, asking if I wanted one!!!!
Of course I replied YES!!!!, then ran around the house like a crazy person I was so excited!! She glazed the heart in purple (fave color duh) and sent it off right away!

 

Doesn't it look fabulous on our tree?  It makes me smile every time I catch a glimpse of it. Also, I find that this a perfect example of blogging and how powerful it can be. Here is someone I never would have met, but came across by chance, and now I have an object they created in my home, and the buds of a new friendship. Before I started a blog, I was drawn into the world of kind and passionate people all sharing their creativity, and this is a real life example of that. And I am thankful for blogland and all that it contains. 

So on that note, Merry Christmas to all!!! 

The Third Annual Christmas Tree - Inside Edition!

Hello hello lovely lovers!
Welcome back to knowing more than you ever need to about a tree we chopped down in the woods! If you didn't catch the details of our hunt yesterday, click here!

As I'm sure all of you know, photographing a Christmas Tree all lit up and shining is next to impossible! Especially if your rocking a Canon Powershot like me, but editing tools make it slightly easier. Only slightly.

Without further ado, here is our tree this year!

 

Each year, we place it next to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and office. Our ceilings have a lovely peak, and our giant tree last year could only fit in this place. I personally wanted to switch up the location, but old habits die hard with my hubs, so it went in the same location. This placement has got me jonesing to make a couple tweaks to our furniture placement, which again was done right when we moved in and hasn't changed. James is resistant every time I try to convince him. Why are men like that? I'm just gonna do it, and see what he has to say about it. Woah tangent... 

Since we are still so new at this whole decorate-for-the-holidays thing, we went basic, using what we have already. I am a huge fan of white lights on the tree, thus making our colorful array of ornaments stand out more. For filler between our special ornaments, we bought several large boxes of shatter proof balls, just in case any sneak into a puppy's curious mouth. We also refrained from decorating the lower third of the tree with anything but lights. Big shiny balls that sway back and forth are just too tempting for the baby.

Each year, we buy a special ornament that speaks to us to add to our tree. Our first year together we got our initials, complete with some blinging crystals. 

 

Last year James got a Rottweiler pup wearing a Santa Hat, and I got some dangly silver stars. 

sorry for the blur, night shots = difficult

For our engagement party, we received two bicycle ornaments in appropriate colors of red and green.

Last year, my momma sent me home with a box of Christmas decor that I  loved when I lived with them, as well as several yearly ornaments from my childhood, so of course my hero had to make his appearance on the tree.

 

The whole shebang is topped off with my DIY tree topper. Cute, no?! I made it last year, and it promptly fell apart in storage, so it was reassembled using my bff, hot glue. 

 

Pretty easy if anyone wants to try at home, I just found five sticks of similar size, arranged them in a way I liked, hot glued the corners together, wrapped some shiny silver ribbon around, gave it a light mist with silver spray paint, attached the red ribbon for some flair, and used twine to make a loop to mount it on the tree!!! Got all that? I can make another with a better tutorial if anyone is interested. Let me know. I love the simple and rustic look it adds to our tree. Plus, by using things I had on hand (aka sticks from my yard) it added up to a low cost of FREE!!! Booyah! 

In closure here is a final shot, during the day. 

 

Sigh. 

Something so beautiful about a Christmas Tree. 

And see all those gifts? All for James, from me.

He needs to get on it. Hopefully he has referenced my list from earlier this week, and gotten me some sweet gifts. 

So how is shopping going at your home? Any tree traditions you can't let go? 

I'll be linking up to the Christmas Cheer party at Honey were Home!

The Third Annual Christmas Tree Hunt!

Hello hello my fine friends! Welcome to the third edition of our family Christmas Tree Hunt, and the first that has gone viral! (Unless you are my friend on FB, then you've likely seen the last 2 years of trees.)

This year's hunt has taken us to the forest outside of Sisters, Oregon, where a fine mix of Pine and Fir yields the perfect holiday tree, if one only searches hard enough!!
Each year, the Forest Service in Oregon offers tags to go cut-your-own trees in the National Forest for the low cost of $5. Yep, heard that right, five big ones for a perfect tree, which also benefits your forest by helping to thin the woods, thus decreasing fire hazards come summer.
There are a few simple rules that must be followed :
- Trees must be less than 15' in height.
- The tree you cut must be within 12' of another tree.
- The tree must be at least 300' from any water source, and 150' from any roads.

Pretty simple right?
So James and I packed up the boys and headed out HWY 242, The McKenzie River highway, outside Sisters Oregon. It was a beautiful sunny day, and all sorts of people were out, dogs and kids playing in the dusting of snow, barbeque's and firepits blazing. We drove down a dirt forest service road until we found a stand of Firs nearby. Then we got out and started hiking.

Among the statuesque Ponderosa Pines, White Firs and Douglas Firs, we found an ancient lava flow. The only sounds were birds chirping, a light breeze rustling the pine needles, and in the distance, shouts of joy from other families enjoying the afternoon.

 

I snapped a pic of this tree, which I liked but James didn't, just in case we needed to remember it. Ha! As if trees can be so easily identified by a picture. 

After a couple hours of tromping though the woods, we found our perfect tree. It actually had a split near the base, and another, smaller tree was growing from the same stump, so we felt really good about our choice, since the tree will continue living even though we took part of it. At this point, Cash was also pretty tired, so it was time to head back to the truck. 

Look at those belly rolls! He's got some skin to grow into! 

Here is our tree, all loaded up and ready to drive back to Bend. The boys took it upon themselves to load up. The woods are great for tiring out wild puppies.

We got the tree all decorated and trimmed up but.... you have to wait until tomorrow to see!!! I must admit, its our best one yet.
See for yourself...

This is last years... barely under 15'... it was insanely huge. 

And this is 2009, our first tree together. This one was so tiny, James carried it out with one hand!! It was a Charlie Brown tree for sure. 

Anyone else head to the forest to chop down a tree the old fashioned way? I grew up going to local tree farms and hunting down the perfect tree with my family. I love continuing the tradition with my family now! 

Be back tomorrow with our tree, decked out for the holidays!! 

Peeks of Christmas Cheer

Holla holla my fine friends!
Man, I am such a bad blogger. Either that, or I am just super busy, and it seems like every day I have more and more to do! Yikes! Between work and our crazy expansion that is happening in like 5 weeks,  taking care of a sweet baby puppy who is growing like a dandelion (crazy fast), trying to squeeze in wedding planning, holiday preparations, AND, my best friend just got engaged too!!! Seriously now!
I feel thankful when I can get 8 hours of sleep.

Anyhoo... last night I decided to pull out our box of Christmas decor and start fancying up the place for the holiday. First things first, I swapped out our Bath and Body Works wallflower for my favorite, 'Cranberry Woods', to get the house all stinkified and put me in the mood for decorating. Do smells do that to you as well? I need to smell the seasonality.

I swapped out the front door wreath for my DIY ornament wreath I made last year.

I also added some ornaments to the trunk of my tricycle planter, which I found at TJ Maxx last summer.

It is the cutest little planter, but don't be fooled, its a killer! I have tried several different plants in this bad boy, and none have survived. I am blaming the bike, since I'd give myself an A- on keeping plants alive. I'm pretty good...

I also decided to revamp my NOEL sign I created last year. It began as an attempt to knock off Pottery Barn's hella spendy but hella cute version. Here is how it looked last year:

Pretty basic, got the job done. Also pretty flimsy, as I had the whole thing precariously held together with just hot glue.

Here is the 2011 shiny new version:

 

I simply painted a canvas bright white, and lightly brushed silver paint over it, then attached the letters (which are MDF and from Michaels), with epoxy. Man that stuff is schtinky. Phew. But now its much more durable, and the canvas gives it more substance on my 'mantle'. (We don't have one, boohoo) 

I plan on adding much more seasonal decor to this shelf my mantle, when I have time of course. The one thing I don't seem to have enough of. But I love the sign, it makes me feel in the spirit, and I love how its neutral color, makes Cruzie's Memory Ball on its DIY candle stand pop!
Its so bizarre to me that the wall is now a different color, but it looks orangey still to me. Ugh. That paint color will never stop haunting me.

So that's the Christmas that has shown up at our casa these days. Hopefully this weekend we will get our tree, and then the madness can really start!
In conclusion, here are some adorable pics of my babies. Cash will be 14 weeks old tomorrow, is excelling in puppy kindergarten, and still doesn't sleep past 7:30am. Sigh. Happy holidays friends!

 

I was holding a treat, which is why they are so focused and serious. I love doggie focused faces. Isn't Cash huge?!! And Sammy, handsome and dapper as always. I love his silver whiskers that are appearing. He's aging well. 

I'll  be linking up to Hi Sugarplum's Christmas Cheer party!