Cheap and Easy DIY Holiday Decor

My home entryway

     In my last post I talked about making your own heirloom Christmas ornaments.  You can check them out here.  This time I'd like to show a few simple Christmas home accents that I have made that are very, very easy to complete, and very affordable.

Heirloom Holiday Ornaments

My tree and centerpiece.

     Ask anyone, and they will tell you, I love Christmas!  I love baking and sharing cookies, I love giving gifts, I love celebrating Jesus, and I love decorating!!  I'm sure if I had a limitless budget then my house would look like some sort of shrine to Christmas, beginning the day after Thanksgiving.  So my next couple of posts will of course be about some of the crafty little things that are part of my decor, maybe you'll have some time to incorporate them into yours if you want.

The Terrible 2's, Times 2

     When God answers prayers, sometimes he doesn't answer them the way we would have expected.  At some point in my life I must have prayed for patience.  I can't remember when, but I'm sure it had to do with my daughter.  I imagined that the answer to this prayer would feel like a great blanket of calmness coming over me.  Instead, he blessed me with twins, and with them an abundance of lessons in patience.

Counter Transformations (a review)

     When my husband and I were viewing our house to consider purchasing, there were a lot of things I loved about it.  I loved the big open floor plan, the huge corner lot, the extra bay on our garage and the master bathroom.  But, we knew if we bought it there would be a never-ending list of changes to be made.  Of course we wanted to remove wallpaper and paint to our tastes, but I was also envisioning different flooring, carpeting, landscaping, appliances and of course, new counters!

     There is nothing inexpensive about new counters.....until now.  After searching forever for any idea to turn our mediocre laminate counters into the focal point in our house that they should be, I finally found Giani Granite.  I recommend checking out the photos on their website as well as their facebook page.  In fact, facebook is what had me hooked on trying this product.  Here is my review and how-to:

Diaper Train

Who doesn't love the traditional baby shower centerpiece, the diaper cake?  When a good friend of mine told me she was pregnant, I immediately started trying to come up with an idea for her diaper cake.  Aside from being adorable I think these are amazing gifts!  Especially when adorned with all the little things babies need, but can really dent the wallet as they add up.  I had never made a diaper cake before, but I knew I wanted it to be special. 

Traveling internationally...or at least to the airport.

     As anyone with children would know, traveling anywhere with children can be a daunting task.  Now add twins and border crossing to that recipe and one can only expect disasters!

     My husband is from Edmonton, Alb. Canada.  His family still lives there, we do not.  Infact, it is a 3 day drive for us to get there.  Last week my husband received a call that we needed to get up there for a family emergency.  All 5 of us.  Plane tickets were purchased, and we were supposed to be flying out in 24 hours.

     Now anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to overpack for everything! It took me a week to get everything ready for our family vacation in September.  Trying to pack in less then a day was panic inducing for me to say the least, plus I had to work that night too!  So fast forward...

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

My intentions with this blog is not to focus on only one thing but sort of an eclectic mix of my life.  Focusing mainly on my experiences and philosophies mothering twins and a teenager, my (mostly) frugal approach to DIY home improvements and decorating, sprinkled with my occasional opinions on whatever seems noteworthy at the moment.

I welcome your comments and opinions as I am getting started, especially if you know of a better way to accomplish something I am doing!  I plan to use any feedback to improve A Champagne Mind.