It's All About the Bump

A few photos courtesy of my husband:

Christmas Card Saver

 How many years worth of Christmas cards do you have? My mom told me she has years and years worth, from when my college-age cousins were in elementary school. My husband and I began receiving cards as a couple in 2007 and I have the cards to prove it. Our friends have gone from singles to engaged and married and now their dogs have been replaced by children in their pictures.

I decided it was time to do something with our cards, and I came up with a pretty simple six step idea shown in the photos below.

1. Sort

2. Stack

3. Cut

4. Punch

5. Decorate

6. String

1. Sort. I did this by size and put 4x8 photo cards first then other photo cards (by size) and then all non-photo cards sorted by size.

 

2. Stack. I stacked all greeting cards by size so the smallest was on top and largest on the bottom.

3. Cut. Cut pieces of cardboard slightly larger than your largest card for the front and back cover.

4. Punch. Using a hole punch, punch a hole in the same corner of each card. To make sure mine were all in the same place, I inserted the corner of the card as far as it would go into the hole punch.

5. Decorate. Using scrapbook paper I already had, I cut sheets to cover the front and back cardboard covers (four sheets per year). 

I used Mod-Podge on the cardboard to adhere the paper to the cardboard and then used another layer of Mod-Podge on top of the decorative paper to seal it.

I used more cut paper and some alphabet stickers to label the books.

Front and back of my 2009 and 2010 books.

6. String. I used thin holiday ribbon to string the cards and covers together. Make sure to pull the ribbon tight before tying it off so there is less stress on the holes in each card and it all stays stacked better. I originally planned on using metal binder rings, but cannot find them sold loose anywhere.

I put our Christmas cards as the first card in each book and plan on putting out these books each year to see how much everyone has changed and remember those who are no longer with us. I think it will be fun to have out with the album of old Christmas pictures I made earlier this year.

Linking up: Making the World Cuter Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Motivate Me Monday, DIY Holiday Showoff, The DIY Showoff, Mad Skills, Get Your Craft On, Tip Me Tuesday, Blue Cricket Designs Show & Tell, We Did it Wednesday, Mid Week Mingle Blog Hop, Hookin Up with HoH, Paisley Passions, It's So Very Cheri, Craft Catwalk

Christmas Past

Not too much text in this post since it is Christmas and I have plenty of relaxing and celebrating to do (confession: I did not actually write this post on Christmas Day). Earlier this year I started an album of old Christmas photos of my husband and I. I am going to take it out every Christmas when we put up the tree and add photos every year. We are still gathering our childhood photos, but here are a few from then and a few from the more recent years - enjoy!!

my precious husband at 5 months old

2 years old

5 years old 

(Mom, if you still have that nightgown, it is probably worth some $$ now!)

8 years old

Yes, our pajamas coordinated, I know.

1st Christmas with my boyfriend >> husband

1st married Christmas 

(At my in-laws since we didn't have a tree in our apartment)

2009 family gathering

2010 Christmas card

Holiday Table

As I mentioned in my previous post, our dining room table was the first thing decorated in our home this year. We do not use this as a formal dining room, but a place to eat everyday because we have a pretty laid back style at home. I actually prefer an everyday dining room, otherwise, why spend all that money on furniture you rarely use?!

I purchased a new tablecloth and runner from Homegoods this year. My mom also sent another runner and the gold placemats you see below. We have an 8 foot old barn wood table so I have to buy large oblong tablecloths to cover the table. I started with the cream/gold tablecloth that I loved as soon as I saw it.

The scalloped red runner has holly cutouts all along it with gold thread, which compliments the gold tablecloth.

These glass candle holders were a gift from a relative last year at our Christmas open house. The silver candlesticks are from Pier 1. Surprisingly I did like the silver candlesticks with the gold tapestry, but it didn't seem to be "enough."

I transformed the candle holders with a bag of unopened cranberries from Thanksgiving! I split the cranberries between the two vases and the red immediately made it all come together.

This is what it looked like before the placemats from my mom.

Looks much better after, don't you think?!

And finally is the garland framing our double windows. most of the garland I found in stores was boring, too skinny and not what I was looking for. Well I feel like Black Friday at Michael's was my lucky day because that is when I bought two strands of this:

I suppose the garland can stay up for awhile since it is more "winter" than "Christmas", but we'll see. Sadly, everything else with a tree will be coming down in the next ten days (sigh). Time to go enjoy it while I can!

Word of the Week

...SNOW. Yes, it just stopped snowing yesterday. I have not been in to the city to go to work for one week since I worked from home last Friday. We got an additional 12 inches of snow yesterday and the conditions warranted a blizzard warning because of high winds and snow drifts. I am getting restless. I should be scrapbooking. I should finish cleaning. Should I try and do tons of projects around the house that I have been thinking about? Believe it or not, I have been content reading, watching a little tv and one movie a day. But now I am getting anxious for all this snow to be done because I want to get out of the house.