Merry Christmas!

It's His birthday.



Invite Him to the party.



I pray that all of you have a blessed and very merry Christmas!

Christmas Mantle {Makeover}

I love decorating my mantle every year for CHRISTMAS.



It just makes me smile.



One of the reasons I enjoy it so much is because it's where I display my favorite nativity scene.



The nativity is the centerpiece of my living room.



And the SEASON.



If you're like me, you have a slight pinning problem. You know, a finger that keeps clicking "pin" on the very addictive website, Pinterest?



Can I get an "amen?"



While obsessively pinning I came across an amazing sign that I thought would be the perfect backdrop to my nativity scene.



So I pinned it.



And then I made it--with a lot of help from the hubs!



Here's the final product:

The hubs built the sign and I painted on the text. Yep, the hubs has got some mad skills. . .

I pinned it.

We made it.

And we love it.

Every time I look at my mantle I'm reminded of the true meaning of Christmas: the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The crazy thing is, He gave us the greatest gift ever on HIS birthday.

Wait, aren't we supposed to do the gift-giving when it's someone else's b-day?

Now that's some crazy love He has for us!

Merry CHRISTMAS!



Jazz UP a Soap Dispenser!

I suffer from the curse of the soap dispenser.



You know, the curse that involves one purchasing a gazillion pretty soap dispensers only to find none of the pumps work?



That "one" would be me.



I have a graveyard of beautimous dispensers in my bathroom cabinet.



And do ya think any of 'em work?



Nope.



So I surrendered to the cheapo-looking ones the soap actually comes in.




'Cuz at least they work.




But it just went against my grain.





So I came up with a solution:

Here's how I did it. . .

I gathered my supplies. In addition to the supplies pictured you will need some ribbon, green felt, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, three red beads, and a cute puppy.

Cut a large square of fabric big enough that it comes up at least to the top of the pump when you pull it up on all sides.

Find a cutie patootie puppy to help you tie up the fabric around the soap dispenser.

Cut off the excess fabric using good scissors. Not those sorry ones you use to cut everything from duct tape to floral wire. You know you have some.

Finish it off by tying it up with a pretty ribbon. I cut out a holly leaf from green felt, glued on three red beads, and glued the whole thing to the dispenser with hot glue. Booyah! No more staring at an ugly soap dispenser!