Merry Christmas To All…

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas has changed so much for me and my family over the years. When I was younger I was the typical child that enjoyed waking up in the morning and opening all my toys. Now as I’ve gotten older I’m more into sentimental gifts and spending time with my family. Christmas has never been about gifts, but in this society Christmas has turned into a manmade holiday. It’s about gifts galore and while gifts are nice the real meaning has been forgotten. 

Looking back on Christmas past I’ve always wanted to do the infamous YouTube Christmas Tag so, let’s get to it. 

1. Do you like to stay in your PJs or dress up for Christmas?

Being that my family celebrates on Christmas Eve, I’m Team PJs for Christmas. 

2. If you could buy one person a present this year who would it be?

Definitely my grandmother. I made her a calendar this year filled with old and new family photos. 

3. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

For the past few years Christmas Eve.

4. Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

Yup, a few years ago. Not the best work. Never ate it, but then again, aren’t they more for decorative purposes?

5. What do you like to do on your Christmas break?

I’m not in undergrad anymore so I don’t have a Christmas break. When I did I liked having time to myself whether it be occasionally hanging with friends or binge watching TV. Oh, and of course, catching up on sleep.

6. Favorite meal or treat?

White hot chocolate with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

7. Favorite holiday movie?

Any version of A Christmas Carol. 

8. Candy Canes or Gingerbread Men?

Sweet candy canes.

9. Have you made a snowman?

Yup. Lots of snow here in the tri-state area, although my snowman have never been real circles.

10. Which do you like better, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

The older I get I definitely enjoy Christmas Eve more. Christmas Day has turned into a day of napping and watching movies, which is fine, but Christmas Eve is filled with lots of family, great food, and laughs.

11. White lights or colored lights?

White lights for sure!

Today, December 25, 2015, I spent my Christmas staying up until 5am and then waking up at 9 to watch a few movies on Netflix. Although Netflix movies can be pretty corny and generic I ended up watching:

• Christmas Bounty
• The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
• 12 Dates of Christmas 

I added to my planner and then took an epic Christmas nap. Now I plan to spend the rest of my evening with my boyfriend with hot cocoa and Christmas movies.

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the ones you love! Enjoy some of my favorite Christmas tunes below:

 

Plan With Me: December 14th-20th

Welcome to another plan with me! I’ve been super sick courtesy of the spring weather in December which has thrown me off in terms of blogging. I’m back this week with a snowy themed layout. I’ll be doing more of these in January. As for last week, I used a set from the etsy shop Fabulously Planned and I absolutely love how it turned out. It’s not super ‘Christmassy,’ but I love it. Definitely one of my favorite layouts of the year. Be sure to click the pic to check out last weeks plan with me.

This week I centered around the Darice  sticker book ‘Snow & Ice’ along with scrapbook paper that I had precut to fix the boxes of the ‘Good Things Are Going to Happen’ happy planner. As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, this planner has longer boxes. The other versions of the planner, aside from the box kits, have headers similar to that of the Erin Condren Life Planner. The paper I used was difficult to deal with because with it being adhesive paper opposed to typical scrapbook paper it was hard for me to move it around when it wasn’t completely straight. Thankfully I didn’t ruin the layout.

I then went into my sticker binder and found blue headers that would match. I went back to my usual ‘to do’ / ‘today’/ ‘blog’ format. Being that the paper was light blue I also added teal and grey and gold and I just love how it all came together. Other than the checklists, headers, weekend banner, and the other usual stickers I use, all the other stickers are Erin Condren. I never thought I’d use to many EC stickers in one layout, but I love how it turned out. I find myself writing that a lot, but a successful spread means I’ll actually use it.

Be sure to click the links below for to purchase stickers/washi used:

• Snowflake washi
• ‘Snow & Ice’ sticker book
• Erin Condren ‘classic sticker book’
• RorysSweetAddictions ‘Pittsburgh Steelers Football Helmet’
• ImagineThatByLori “Steelers Schedule” (sold out) – Similar Style: abundanceoferica “NFL Scheduling”
• TheSassyPlanner ‘Garbage’ & ‘Camera’
• ThePaperlyBowtique ‘Colorful Heart Checklist’
• PineapplePaperCo ‘Weekend banner’

Personalized Gifts

It’s difficult to shop for someone who has it all. You don’t want to do the typical gift card although cash is always a great option. The person can buy what they want, but you can really give cash anytime of year. Shopping for my grandmother is always the hardest because she really has everything. I have to get creative with gifts, but this year I’m taking the personalized route.

My grandmother, like many grandmothers, save just about everything. Anytime something was made for her by me, my siblings, or cousins, she’d save it. As I get older I know the little things mean the most to her. With my family scattered across the U.S. and abroad, my grandmother is a fan of pictures and loves showing everyone off. Knowing that, I knew exactly which route to take when creating her gift.

With Christmas less than 2 weeks away, I’m running out of time in terms of ordering a gift and making sure it gets here in time. One of my favorite go to websites for customization is Shutterfly. There’s a lot of other similar options such as:

• Snapfish
• Chatbooks
  
• Walgreens 
• CVS
• Target
• Walmart 

The great thing about sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly is that you could find promo codes online and by searching on YouTube. Then there’s Chatbooks which takes your Instagram photos and puts them in a book for just $8. It creates volumes of your pictures or you can pick and choose which ones you’d want. As for stores like Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Walmart, you can now pick up in store which is a super convenient option this time of year.

As for what I’m creating for my grandmother, I’m going for a calendar. There’s canvases, mugs, photo books, phone cases, pillows, and more. Anything you can put a photo on, you can customize. I’m going for a calendar because most photo books can’t be carried on the go. Also with a calendar, it can be customized by month with a specific persons birthdays, or just a collage of pictures.

Since I am running low on time, I would more and likely do same day pick up with Walgreens. I’ve created previous photo projects with Walgreens and the quality has always been amazing. If I had more time I’d more and likely order from Shutterfly, but I’m interested in trying Snapfish just to check out another platform.

Lastly, I can’t mention personalized gifts without shedding light on Etsy. I frequently shop on Etsy for planner stickers, hence my planner obsession, but Etsy has amazingly talented vendors. If you search enough, you’ll find someone with just what you’re looking for.

Holiday Party Planning | 2 Weeks Before

Christmas is quickly approaching and I am hosting a girls night on the 23rd and on the 24th my typical Christmas Eve dinner with my family. On Christmas it’s usually a day of sleeping in and lounging around and a trip to the movies later on. This year I’m thinking of seeing either Concussion or Creed. 

Photo from Paperless Post

Back to my party planning. I sent out invitations in a group text, simply because it’s easier, but I used the website paperlesspost.com. The website offered an array of free templates to choose from and the one I chose fit perfectly with the theme I’m going for. The website was easy to maneuver and you do have to create the invitation from your computer along with signing up on the website.Prior to sending out invites I definitely checked with all those I planned to invite to see if the date would work for everyone.

Next was for me to create a master list of everything I wanted to get done around my house prior to the party and I broke my timetable into four increments: 2 weeks, 1 week, day before, and last minute. I’ll be sharing my entire process here of course. I highly recommend writing down what it is you want down opposed to your phone. Having it on paper and physically checking it off assures that you’ll get it done. I have all of my party planning in my Erin Condren notebook, but you can write it anywhere.

With my party being on a Wednesday my cleaning would get done on the weekend. My entire downstairs will be deep cleaned and in deep cleaning now by next week I will still clean, but just not a deep clean. A deep clean takes more time and with that clean you simply tackle the areas you often avoid. I’ve zoned off how I plan to deep clean. I know that my kitchen will be an entire day and my bathroom will take a couple hours. Don’t tire yourself out, find a playlist to keep you moving, and get it done.

I’ve also created a Pinterest board of all the ideas I may want to use from easy appetizers to decorations, games, a DIY photo booth, and more. Unlike the list I mentioned above, Pinterest is easy to use and you can create as many boards as you want and pin on the go. In adding appetizers I’ve began to create a menu and I’ll narrow it down in my next post, one week before the party.

Lastly, keep in mind a BUDGET! My party will be roughly 4 hours and I just want to enjoy time with my favorite girls with good food, wine, and sweet treats. Regardless of how many people you’re having make use of what you already have and don’t be afraid to ask your guests to bring a dish. For my party I’ll be covering the appetizers which I think is easier so that there’s more options and my guests have offered to bring the sweet treats.

Two weeks out I’m really just focused on cleaning. Next week I’ll be sharing my menu and any DIYs. Until next time…

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas tree, OH CHRISTMAS TREE! I wanted to share my Christmas decorations in my living room, bedroom, and office. This installment features my Christmas tree in my living room. I had to move furniture around for it to fit, but I love how it turned out.

My least favorite thing about putting up a tree would be fanning out all the branches. My sister does a great job at it, but it’s not really my thing. Once the tree was up, I applied fake snow along with the lights; pretty standard. I haven’t really switched up my color scheme over the years from teal, silver, and red. Next year I want to go all gold with hints of silver.

I had the same color scheme last year: red, silver, and teal, but the key difference was adding the fake snow and the ribbon. I would love a brighter star or an angel on top, but the finished result looks great. This is my first year adding ribbon on a tree, but after seeing DoItOnADime‘s tree on Instagram, I pulled out what I had on hand, layered, and voila.

This was the first tree that I bought in 2013 after I had moved out on my own the previous year. My first Christmas tree was a left over one that my dad had in the attic. I knew by the following year that I wanted a tree of my ow. What better place to find one than at Target. Target is definitely my one stop shop for Christmas/holiday decor. The tree is 6ft tree even though I could have gone a little bigger for my space. There’s always next year.

The extra addition I’ve added to the decor in my living room was finally jazzing up this picture frame from Kohls. I really liked the rustic look it had to it, but I haven’t printed any pictures to hang on it. In the meantime I added some ornaments with the hooks and I’ll fill in with holiday family photos once I print them.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on my bedroom and office holiday decor.