Merry Christmas!

I attempt to mail Christmas cards every year and fail miserably. One thing I do manage to do is to purchase a template on Etsy and post on Facebook. I figure all of our friends and family are on Facebook - it's not the most traditional way to go but it gets the job done.

  We would like to wish EVERYONE a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

*Don't forget you can catch daily dose of us on YouTube! Vlogmas is in full swing!!**

2014 Christmas Home Decor Tour

I LOVE Christmas. I love Christmas decorations. I love the season of giving. I just love it all!  I'm so happy Kelly is hosting a Christmas decor link up. . because I also loving looking at everyone's Christmas decor.  It's as if instead of seeing a Christmas tree lit up outside your window I get a tour of everyone's homes. So without further ado, grab a cup of hot chocolate, coffee or tea sit back and enjoy the tour of our home:

*picture heavy post! If you'd like a video tour please visit our YouTube Channel - Nelly and her Nerd - (and subscribe!) to view a video of our home*

I put together entirely new mantle decor this year to replace the Texans mantle we've had previous years.  No worries! We repurposed the Texans stuff. . .you'll see later in this post.

I purchased the wreath from Home Depot and added flower picks (Michaels) and starfish (Amazon). The wreath is pre-lit but sadly does not give as much light as I want so next year I'll be adding an extra string!

I originally wanted to use the tree branches I purchased from Blooms and Branches (see this post) but they were too big.  Instead I used glittery picks I found at Michaels and put them in turquoise frosted vases I found at Hobby Lobby. 

Added the deer (Hobby Lobby) and candle holders (Walmart) to fill it out - though I have yet to light the candles.

The blue mecury glass looking candle holders were a steal at Walmart - only $6!

For the garland I wrapped 2 garlands on top of each other to help it look nice and full.  I then strung lights (Hobby Lobby), wrapped glittery garland (Michaels), added floral picks (Michaels) and the starfish (Amazon).

The deer were purchased by Mrs. Debbie (Life is Better by the Pool) a few years ago.  Out of everything on the mantle these deer get the most compliments! Now if only I could figure out a way to pack the antlers so they don't come out of the box broken. . .EVERY YEAR. 

Ideas anyone? I've tried bubble wrap, tissue and old receiving blankets.

The stockings are new this year and are from Hobby Lobby.  I was late and unable to get them monogrammed this year - definitely on the to-do list for next year!

And this is where the branches ended up! I repurposed the glass containers and tinsel to hold them.  I saw the Angel at Hobby Lobby and knew I had to have her.  This is on the table behind our sofa is one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door. 

Santa's bell hanging on the branches. . .can you hear it ringing? (Polar Express Reference)

Pardon the crooked Angel at the top of the tree.  I wrap our tree in white deco mesh, add the silver, glittery picks to the top and then let Hubby and Miss J go to town putting the ornaments on.

The ornaments are a combination of family heirlooms, childhood ornaments from both Me and Hubby, ornaments Miss J has made in the past few years and ornaments we've collected over time.  This one is extra special to us because Hubby's mom gave it to us in 2010.  When his Mom was alive EVERYONE called Miss J "Peanut". Well, after she passed away the name did as well so this is a special reminder that Miss J used to be ours and everyone else's "Peanut."

The entryway table is where we display our nutcrackers.  

Miss J's favorite is the Home Depot one. . .of course!

This tree is my "coastal" tree.  I purchased most of the glass sea ornaments from Strand Bass in  Galveston, TX. This tree goes really well with the portrait wall next to it.  The pictures next to the tree are of Miss J's first trip to Pensacola Beach and our honeymoon in Tahiti. (not shown)

Close-ups of a few of our sea ornaments.

For the tablescape on the dining room table I wanted to use more rustic colors to offset the white decor.

I call this my "clearance" table because it's a collection of decor I've picked up in after Christmas sales over the years.  It goes together well - don't you think?

We are huge Houston Texans fans and this wreath and garland used to be over our mantle.  After we repainted the living room this fall I decided to change it up and Miss J's doorway is where the decor ended up.  She is  HUGE Texans fan.  .  .or should I say JJ Watt fan?

I crafted the wreath out of red, white and blue deco mesh, added the footballs from the craft section of Hobby Lobby and printed out Texans clipart to hot glue onto the wreath.

The garland is red deco mesh with blue wired ribbon layered over it.  I floral wired the helmet and ornaments to it to keep it snugly in place.

Our Disney tree is located in Miss J's room. It is mostly filled with Disney's Sketchbook ornaments which can be purchased at any Disney store.(wait for a coupon to get a good deal) Instead of Mickey ears, J decided she wanted her reindeer antler headband as the topper. It's her tree so I let her do whatever she wanted.

Some of our favorite ornaments:

I inserted silver glitter picks all over the tree to give it more pizzazz.

That's it for now! Please leave a comment below with a link to your Christmas decor - I would LOVE to see it!

*Don't forget you can catch daily dose of us on YouTube! Vlogmas is in full swing!!**

The Problem with trying to recreate Pinterest photos

is your 5 year old daughter looks at you like you've lost your mind and incredulously says, "Mommy. . .you bought 2 tree with no leaves??

In deciding how I wanted to decorate our mantle for Christmas I started with Pinterest.  Pinterest is a great resource in looking for inspiration - you can search for ANYTHING and chances are it has been pinned.  After combing through pin after pin I was determined recreate THIS PICTURE from Centsational Girl's 2012 Holiday Home Tour. I thought the branches would be perfect to anchor the mirror on my mantle and I set about to make it happen.

Did you know branches are the latest trend in wedding centerpieces?  Well I did not until I googled "DIY Branch" and came upon a plethora of ideas. My search led me to Blooms & Branches where I found myself purchasing 2 Sandblasted Manzanita Branches.

A big box showed up at my doorstep and the branches were perfectly packed and in great condition.

I will admit that once I saw the branches my first thought was, "What am I going to do with these?

They were huge and leggy - just what you would expect branches to be but they looked NOTHING like THIS PICTURE.  The base was also too big for the container I planned to use on the mantle:

At this point I started to think I've made a huge mistake and see if Blooms & Branches has a return policy.

The lesson in all this is you can never recreate exactly what you see on Pinterest and if you try you may just find yourself with 2 large tree branches wondering what to do.  I did manage to make it work and you'll have to stay tuned in how I did it. Hint: the branches never made it to the mantle

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down In My Heart!

Under the tutelage of our friend Mrs. Debbie we have been decorating for Christmas early the past 3 or 4 years.  This year decorating the house only took a week which is AMAZING considering all the remodeling we've done the past two months.  I could not resist turning all the Christmas lights on and snapping a few pictures before I left for work this morning.

I left them on for Miss J to enjoy when she woke up and whispered in her ear to enjoy them before My Nerd turned them off. (he's a scrooge and does not want us turning on the lights until after Thanksgiving for fear we'll burn the bulbs out)

As I was walking out the door I sang, "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!" and I truly do!

2010 Santa Picture

This year's picture is almost the same as last year's - CRYING!

Click here for last year's pic.

2010 Christmas Doorway Decorations

The conversation went something like this: (copied and pasted from our gmail chat)

Nelly: I'm gonna try to do something similar to this on our front door for Christmas: link to pic of Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas decorated doorway
Hubby: Cool!
Nelly: would you think i was crazy if i painted our door a different color for christmas?
Hubby: YES YES YES I WOULD!!! :-P
Nelly: but if i do a red wreath it won't show up on a RED door which is why i need a BLACK door temporarily or at least for christmas
Hubby: hahah, we'll need to put black facade on door somehow

Lucky for him I came to my senses and decided to work with our red front door.  In searching for inexpensive Christmas decor ideas I came across Thrifty Decor Chick and was totally inspired by her Christmas Doorway and was determined to recreate it - on a budget of course!

How I did it and a few details:   I first purchased 4 artificial garlands thinking I would only need two BUT just in case bought 4. Thank goodness I did because when I saw how puny one garlandwas  I knew 1 would not work. I wrapped two around themselves, then attached them into one long string with floral wire.  I then strung the garland with a string of lights leftover from last year.  The wire was white but in the name of the budget I did not care. :-P   I then loosely wrapped wired ribbon around the entire strand of garland.  Wired ribbon is awesome because you can shape it anyway you want and don't have to worry about it slipping etc.  I love the detail on the ribbon was so pretty and at $1/roll the price could not be beat!

The Christmas ornaments at Walmart this year are GORGEOUS! I initially purchased 2 ponsiettas but then decided that I wanted them scattered around the garland.  I could have CRIED when all the red ones were sold out at my store. Luckily the store next to Miss J's pediatrician's office had a few but still not enough for what I envisioned.

  To make up for it I purchased two dragonfly ornaments to fill in a few spots.  Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up a few extras next year.  Note to self - shop for Christmas Decor EARLY! I'm amazed how the shelves were empty and it was only December 7!
  Thankfully I had the potted artificial trees from last year otherwise I have a feeling purchasing those would have been a budget breaker. Taking a cue from Thrifty Decor Chick I stuffed the bottom with red shatterproof ornaments.
  $5 for a box of 24! :-)
I lamented over what to use as a wreath over the door. I first thought of purchasing stems of white ponsiettas and creating a wreath much like Thrifty Decor Chick's.  A red wreath was out because it would blend into the door. (hence wanting to temporarily paint my front door black. :-P )  I then saw a tutorial for creating ponsiettas out of felt and thought that would look cute.  Both were great ideas but TIME CONSUMING and I was simultaneously working on stuff for Miss J's 2nd birthday party.   The coffee filter wreath (visit nesting place for tutorial) had been sitting on my mantle waiting to be hung up when one day a lightbulb went off and I found my solution!

I layered it in front of my existing wreath using a cable tie and it worked perfectly!
See the cable tie?
I love the ruffles!
What I love even more is it only cost me an hour of time and $3.50 for the wreath form! (the coffee filters had been sitting in my pantry for YEARS)


Doorway in the daylight:



Budget Breakdown:
(all items from Walmart except Wreath form which is from Hobby Lobby)
Garland $8
Glitter Ornaments $7
Ribbon $2.50
Wreath Form $3.50
Tree Ornaments $2.50
Coffee Filters $0
Lights $0
Trees $0
Green Wreath $0

Total: $23.50

NOT BAD!