paint prints for Christmas

the boys and I found some time after Thanksgiving to do a little Christmas crafting for their grandmothers.  this holiday season wasn't feeling much like Christmas for me for various reasons, but I really wanted to make these cute penguin prints and I think this project helped get me more in the mood for festivities :)

I picked up a couple of white aprons from Hobby Lobby to decorate.  all the boys had to do was sit still for a black footprint, and I painted the details on after those were dry.  the simple footprints ended up being a lot messier than I remember on past paint projects.  maybe it was the black paint on the white surface... I don't know.  they still came out cute.

we added some fingerprint string lights for a border, which I think really helped finish it off.  this was time consuming, but easier to control than the footprints since we went one finger at a time instead of a whole foot.  I added their names and year as well.

there's still room at the bottoms to add more, so maybe next year we can add some reindeer.

fall decorating

 

for most of this year I haven't felt much like doing anything around the house, so I wasn't interested in any sort of decorating until Leo's birthday.  now that that's over I'm excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations :)

I loved the wreath Recaptured Charm did and tried to make one like it for myself.  it didn't come out how I thought it would, but it's still okay... as long as I don't look at hers for too long and see how much better the original inspiration is! ;)

I got my coffee filters from the Dollar Tree and they were white, but I was going to spray paint the wreath dark brown anyway so it didn't matter... or so I thought!  I think next time I'd dye them before I start so I don't have to worry about the white peeking through.

I found my ribbon, butterflies, berries and spriggy stuff from the Dollar Tree, too, and pine cones and feathers at Michael's.

I made a little table from two flower pots and a plate to fill up the corner of my porch by the door. I spray painted the pots with the leftovers from the wreath and bolted them together, then set a green Dollar Tree plate on top.  I'm gonna keep an eye out for good deals on more interesting looking pots from now on.  maybe make a bird bath or use them as plant stands.  for now I like it as my faux pumpkin holder, which I got at Michael's - 60% off :)  they're staying whole this year, but maybe next fall I'll do a flower arrangement in the bigger one.

lastly, I used shelf paper and cut out "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart" on my silhouette and put that on the door.  I like using the shelf liner because it's cheap, but it takes longer to apply than regular vinyl.  still looks good, though, and I think it's my favorite part :)

all my decorating was done outside besides my glass pumpkin that I fill with peanut butter cups and Twix - that stays close to me in the living room O:)