don't waste your space. our home for the holidays.

 we have been spending our time doing a little bit of this...

 great great christmas idea!!! aunt sara (professional photographer) got this for ava. we write on it each day...we love a lot things about this little girl. (email her to order one for your house sarabethfloyd@yahoo.com)

 

we love baking. especially snickerdoodles. in turn my jeans are tighter. just the way it goes i guess if you decide to eat cookies pretty much daily. ava loves using straws...so these cheap 97 cent snowman straws from walmart (4 in a pack) are perfect.

my friend trish taught me to crochet. let's just say whenever i get a second you will find me on the couch working on yet another scarf. i love it. especially when the yarn i love is from micheals and those 40% coupons come in real handy.
 

we have been busy picking up christmas/baking gifts this week which = lots of wrapping.

 

this year we used brown craft paper from the dollar store to wrap gifts & then when i ran out of that i improvised with using some of my craft design paper. a huge packet from micheals is around $10. i used it for smaller gifts as well as paper bunting hanging in most our windows.

first off i am not a huge fan of pictures of dirty kitchens, etc on blogs. i mean all of our houses get messy. no one really lives in a perfectly neat house. if you have kids there is not a chance that your house remains picked up for longer than ten minutes. all that said...check out our craft room.

i am really loving decorating this year so i wanted to share a bit of our house...

 twine and some mini clips.

 

 musical note garland. found an old book and cut it up...felt a little guilty. but i love how it turned out.

 

ava's little tree in the basement. thanks roma. we love it.

 

 ava's bedroom has a little bunting too.

 the house smells a lot like this. i love it. i love it. i love it.

***now i must admit. i come up with nothing on my own...well sometimes i do. but for the most part a lot of things in our house are a straight copy from things i see on this BLOG. take a look***

they are offering a free pdf file with lots of design ideas for the holidays. they are free and all you have to do it simply print. i have been printing on brown craft paper and it adds a little punch. i have already used her gift tags &party invites & art prints. & some bunting and garland.

you can download it all HERE for FREE.

now for the best part of this post. our new sponsor MAMALODE is offering a sweet giveaway. this magazine is full of all sorts of women and momma's sharing their stories and some daddy's too. it is about life. motherhood. babies. career. trying to do it all but stepping back and remember that we all  need a little time too. to write. to read. to create. to be. mamalode provides that place. for women to be women. there are slew of mags all over our house right now and i am loving it.

 

you can get your own subscription HERE.

just in time before the next issue which comes out in feburary (i am honored to be included).

one lucky blog commenter will win a one year subscription.

(winner will be announced monday)

comment away. what are your favorite holiday decorations around your house?

every house needs some christmas gels. just $1 at walmart.

(all the pictures on the blog are taken on my iphone with the free Instragram app. i am libbyryder if you want to follow our feed.

some of my decor ideas are pinned on my pinterest boards. check it HERE


i just have to say this...um, i had cancer at this time last year. yup that's right. never ever under estimate the difference  one year can make.

it's the weekend baby. enjoy it.