I'm so glad you guys loved my Elf Yourself advent calendar! Our kiddos love it and I think it's pretty hilarious to see them dressed as tiny elves, so be sure to get one started this year or bookmark it for next year.

Today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite do-it-yourself Christmas and holiday projects I've done over the years. My theme? Fun, festive, easy. Think you can sign up for that?!

Even though HDawg is officially able to eat dairy now, I'm sure we'll recreate this dairy-free gingerbread man experience from last year.

If you're in to sharing small gifts for advent, check out my rustic paper bag + chalkboard tag advent calendar. You can fill each bag with small goodies throughout December.

My Santa Hat Bugle and sugar cookie chex mix recipe is a big hit at Christmas parties and so easy to make!

On the decorating side of things, another simple craft is this holiday pinwheel garland.

Pinterest loves this super easy (I mean, really easy) Christmas decorating idea: fill a shadowbox with tiny ornaments like I did in this vignette.

Another favorite decorating holiday project I did was these DIY glitter candles. These could be used for Christmas, New Years or really any special occasion!

I'm excited to share one of my favorite DIY projects from Little Lady June's nursery- the ribbon and tulle wreath I created for her closet door. While slightly time intensive, this is a simple project that would be perfect in a nursery or kid's room or even as decorations for your next party or holiday.

Here's what you need for this craft:

-metal wreath form

-tulle (and lots of it- I probably used eight of these spools)

-scissors

-colorful ribbon

-white felt or spray paint

To start, I covered my metal wreath form with white felt so that the black metal wouldn't show through the white tulle. You could also spray paint the wreath form or buy a white one (duh).

After covering the wreath form, I started tying strips of white tulle over and over and over... and over. Each strip was about 4-5 inches long, but you could make yours longer or shorter depending on how flouncy or tight you want your wreath to be.

Keeeeep tying. At some point I had David jump in (don't tell him I told you that!) because there were hundreds of these things to tie. I didn't double knot each strip, but simply tied once around the wreath. I made sure the next strip was placed right next to the previous strip. They were almost on top of each other they were so close so that my wreath was nice and full.

 

Phew. We've got ourselves a fluffy tulle wreath.

 

Now it's time to add some pretty ribbon. Since my wreath was for June bug's room, I used alternating strips of plain, polka dot and striped light pink and dark pink ribbon. You could do green and red for Christmas, pastels for spring, green for St. Paddy's Day... you get the point.

 

I took the unplanned approach and sort of randomly tied the ribbons where I thought they looked nice amongst the tulle.

 

Your finished product.

And here's the pretty wreath in her nursery!

Such an easy and fun little project, right?

Check out some of the other DIY projects and posts from Little Lady June's nursery!

nursery makeover room reveal

nursery makeover source list

the rocking nook 

shopping for the nursery glider

a vintage inspired girly quilt 

LOVE paper gold glitter art 

creating a dresser/changing table space 

the polka dot flat weave rug 

DIY ombre yarn pom pom garland tutorial

In light of my postnatal nesting phase, I am thrilled to shake off winter and to welcome the beautiful spring that is hopefully ahead of us. There's something about spring that feels like a fresh start.

With that said, I'm excited to bring some pretty spring touches into my home. Let's start with the front door, shall we? Check out my pretty pink spring wreath.

As part of National Craft Month, I teamed up with Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores to create this floral spring craft. To show their love for all things crafty, Jo-Ann not only has an awesome spring craft inspiration website available right now, but they've also got a $5 off of $25 purchase coupon available for you right here!

This DIY project was super simple, friends. I picked up a plain grapevine wreath and some pretty faux blooms at Jo-Ann.

All I did was simply snip the faux florals and greens from their stems and piece into the wreath form. No gluing, no sewing. Just shove 'em in and voila! I've got a pretty pink spring wreath. Hey, that's a pretty good DIY project when you've got a two week old baby on your arm ; )

Speaking of adorable baby girls, Little Lady June has totally inspired me to think pink these days. I'll bet you see a lot more of this color popping up in my house this spring and summer!

What are you crafting up for spring?

Yo! Just a heads up, I was provided with the products mentioned in this post as part of the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores National Craft Month campaign, but all opinions and thoughts are from yours truly.

 Have you ever had one of those projects that you pinned a million years ago and have never gotten around to? Yeah, me too, about four hundred times! Recently, I tackled one of those infamous projects: a do-it-yourself yarn pom pom garland. I've adored these sweet little garlands for awhile and decided to create one for Little Lady June's nursery. And of course, share a tutorial with all of you! You could easily create a pom pom garland for home decor, party decor or any holiday specific celebration. Do I see a green ombre version in the near St. Patrick's Day future?!

All you need for this project is yarn, scissors and clear fishing line.

Step one. Wrap the yarn around two finger widths.  

Now wrap the string around your fingers about forty times.

 

Step two. Gently slide the yarn ball off of your fingers and tie in the middle. Make sure you plan ahead and leave a few inches of string unwrapped on either side of the ball. You can use this excess yarn to tie the ball in the middle.

 

Tie a knot in the middle of the ball.

 

 Step three. Cut the loops on the yarn ball. 

After you break each loop by cutting them, feel free to trim the strings for a tighter pom pom. Or keep them long and straggly for a looser pom pom! I went with the neater, tighter version.

Step four. String the pom poms with clear fishing wire. You could probably also use a thick thread or maybe another type of yarn to string each pom pom along.

And voila! You've got a yarn pom pom garland!

I love how my little project turned out and I can't wait to show you the garland hanging in our sweet girl's nursery. Have you ever made a yarn pom pom garland? Any tips or tricks to share?!

Hi guys! Thank you so much for your love and support over the birth of Little Lady June. We are so happy and blessed to have had a safe delivery and a healthy baby. We're so in love!

 

Today I want to share an easy little do-it-yourself art craft I created to celebrate our sweet girl's arrival.  

 

Choose scrapbook paper or fabric that has some fun color or pattern as it will serve as the backing for your thumbprint art. I love this raised polka-dot turquoise paper I found at my craft store.

 Your first step is to create your backing. Simply cut your scrapbook paper or fabric to fit the inside of your picture frame. I chose a white frame from Ikea. 

 Now, cut your piece of white card stock to fit inside your new backing. My card stock was approximately a 4x6 size inside my approximately 5x7 backing. Now, ink up your thumb and start stamping.

 As you can see, I sort of rolled my thumb as I printed it, creating a potato-ish shape. It's imperfect, but I love it! Under each thumb print, I wrote the family member's name. I also added plus and equal signs and the word "family" to the bottom of the art. 

  Once the ink dries, glue your card stock to your backing and add the piece to your frame.

How sweet is this art?! I love how special and sentimental, yet fun, it is. And now that little miss is here, I need to add her thumb! I haven't decided if I'm going to hang this piece in the nursery or in a shared space like the kids' shared bathroom. Either way, I'm loving this DIY art!

Woop, woop. I've officially got my first Christmas decor craft of the year done, up and ready for the season! Well, my first Christmas decor of the season besides that one time I decorated my living room for Christmas in October.

I am so excited about this Christmas. HDawg will only be sixteen months old, but I'm going to pretend like he understands all of the fun holiday stuff to come. That includes all of the fun stuff like Santa, Elf on the Shelf and... an advent calendar! Seriously, I fully understand that he will not have any clue what's going on this holiday season, but I do know that he will have so much fun with the advent calendar opening trinkets each day and repeating the motion of opening the bags.

I decided to DIY an advent calendar and went with a simple paper bag + chalkboard tag version.

I simply wrote the numbers for each day on chalkboard tags that I found in the dollar bin at Target. I used chalk markers instead of chalk for a cleaner look. Then I clipped each bag with clothespins onto baking twine. I hot glued faux evergreen pieces onto a few of the clothespins for some extra pizazz.

HDawg, if you're reading this, cover your eyes! I filled each calendar bag with some sort of holiday trinket that H will love. The first day is a big gift- a set of Christmas pajamas for the season! Then the rest are small items from the dollar bin like Christmas stickers, board books, coloring books and finger puppets. Oh, and Ninja Turtle socks. Because what kid wouldn't love those?

 And that's it, folks! Like I said, really simple. I strung the bags and bakers twine along the wall in the hallway in our stairwell. H already points to the display and smiles every time we walk past!

For more advent calendar inspiration, check out my post on BabyCenter today: a round up of seventeen DIY advent calendar ideas. So much fun inspiration!

If you're anything like me, the arrival of September means the most wonderful time of the year. It's not just the fall fashion or the pumpkin spiced lattes or the fact that my birthday is this month... it's the football. College football! There is nothing more fun than spending fall Saturdays camped out at a tailgate with your friends, cheering on your team. I love waking up and saying, it's game day, baby!

 

In honor of the start of football season, I've rounded up five fun football season DIY crafts.

 

Last year, I created this DIY burlap football sign. It is the perfect little craft to hang on your front door, a wall in your home or at a tailgate. 



I can't even handle how adorable these FREE printables are. She's got a few different SEC teams available! I am definitely using these for a tailgate at some point this season.

 

 

Every girl needs to look accessorized for her favorite team... this DIY braided bead necklace is one way to cheer on your team with their best colors!

 

 

Last year, I made the perfect personalized plates and cups for tailgating on Shutterfly. I used photos that I had taken at UGA games and simply put them and some text onto the plates and cups. Boom. You have the perfect dinnerware for a tailgate!

 

 

You can't talk about tailgating without food. These easy, scrumptious football brownies are screaming my name.

 

 

How cute is this foam finger centerpiece DIY? It looks so easy and cute. Doesn't hurt that it was made in my favorite football team's colors : ) Go Dawgs!

 

 

There are just a few of my favorite football season DIY crafts. I can't wait to get started on a few of these to make tailgating even more awesome this year. Have you made any football crafts this year? Do share!