Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a break from DIYing and show you all how awesome our Christmas was:)  It was so fun waking up Christmas morning and opening presents with Luci.  She still doesn't quite get the idea but it was fun to play with all the toys!

Playing angry birds with daddy for the first time.  So funny.

This hat is something my dad got my mom many years ago.  It has been a running joke in our family for some time now.  I mean, who would honestly wear that ugly thing.  Haha, it was a good thought but seriously dad... fail. (if you can't tell, it is the world's ugliest trucker hat and he had a picture of my sister and I printed on it.  He also chose the worst picture of us EVER.  Our hair is a mess and I'm not sure we even brushed our teeth that morning!)  As bad of a gift as it was, we have kept it around all these years just to get a good laugh.

Don't judge my awesome hair... I did not get ready before opening presents.

These are the amazing pictures my dad had printed on canvas and then he built these custom frames.  These are actually pictures my mom has taken over the years of our horses.  It was such a personal gift and they turned out so pretty!  You did not fail this time dad.  Good job.  This almost makes up for the horrible hat.

A little family picture in front of the tree.

While the boys were cooking breakfast burritos Grandma and I went outside to try out Luci's new sled!

So cute!  Not so sure about the snow yet.

All our babies together!

We spent Christmas Eve with Kyle's family.  This is Kaleb and AJ opening presents.  They are so stinkin cute!  They even did a little Christmas play for us.  It was the story of Jesus' birth told from the animal's perspective.  AJ was a mouse, Bryce (not in this picture) was a cat, Carsyn (also not in this picture) was a grumpy ox and Kaleb played baby Jesus.  I wish I had it on video, but I'm sure you can imagine how cute it was. 

Luci loved Aunt Sara's necklace.  She just kept saying "pitty!"  It was a fantastic night. 

All in all, it was a perfect Christmas.  We got to spend it with both of our families, had great presents, even better food, and tons of fun.  It doesn't get much better then that.  I hope you all had a very merry Christmas as well!

Rope Baskets

Ok, I know it is after Christmas but I totally forgot to share with you these adorable rope baskets.  I made them using rope I got at Home Depot and tins I found at goodwill.  They are perfect for making little gift baskets.

They are so fun to make gift baskets out of!  I made a few with the blue rope you see in that rope coaster too but didn't take a picture:(  Sorry.  I can tell you that they turned out great though!

A Little Face Lift Magic

I decided to give some of the random things that were beginning to pile up in my garage a face lift.  My poor husband would like to park in the garage at some point and considering we just got a foot of snow, it is probably best to start fixing up the furniture.  So I started small... which didn't do much for making more space but I am intimidated by some of the bigger pieces in there.

I redid a little book shelf that my cousin gave us.  I just went with a 2 tone, natural wood and heirloom white.  What do ya think?

Before:

After:

Next I ventured over to the chair section of the garage.  You probably think I am kidding, but seriously people, I have about 10 chairs in my garage waiting to get a face lift... well, now I can say there are only 9:)

Before:

After:

I didn't want to ruin the vintage integrity of the wood.  It has such pretty flower detailing and is in really good condition.  The fabric however needed help... BAD!  So I gave it this gold seat, and it made all the difference!  

Hint:  I have a secret.  Fabric is seriously expensive.  Especially the really heavy upholstery fabric.  Well, instead of buying it at a hobby store, I get most of my fabric from the clearance rack at Target or Goodwill.  I know what you are thinking... They don't sell fabric at Target and Goodwill.  No they don't, but they do sell curtains and bedding.  This seat is reupholstered using a curtain I found at Goodwill.  It cost me $1 and I still have more then half left over for another project.  This much fabric, at even the cheapest hobby store, of this high quality would cost at least $15.  So there it is, my little secret... don't judge:)

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas.  I sure did:)  I will share some pictures soon.

Cheers!

Christmas Traditions

With Christmas just a few days away I have been thinking about Christmas traditions.  Luci Rae is 14 months now and starting to really have some fun.  This year is technically her second Christmas but last year she was only 2 months old so we didn't really do a whole lot for it.  I am very torn on how to shape our Christmas this year and thus future Christmas' to come.  I love giving presents and decorating our house and all of the fun things you get to do in the holiday season, however I really want to teach Luci that this time of year is about more then just presents.  So, here are some of my ideas for what our Christmas traditions will look like.

This year I got Luci Elf on a Shelf as one of her presents.  She doesn't understand it this year but next year we will be able to have a ton of fun with it!  That tradition should be a really fun and silly one that I think we can all get into.

Now for the real traditions.  I have decided that on Christmas morning we will have four presents under the tree plus her stocking.  One present and her stocking from Santa of course and the other three will be from us.  I want to read her the story of Jesus' birth and talk about why that is so special.  Then we will open our three presents, just like the three gifts Jesus got.  I feel that this will give her a sense of what this holiday is really about and she will still get some fun presents at the same time.  At some point during December I would also like to volunteer somewhere with her.  This can be her choice.  We can bring presents to The Children's Hospital, or donate to Toys for Tots, or really anything she chooses.  This way we can talk about giving and not just receiving.

Anyway, these are just some random thoughts I have been having.  I would love to hear about some of your Christmas traditions too!  I am always looking for fun ideas to bring teachable moments to my little girls life:)

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

On a side note, I went ahead and started a facebook page for The Dented Lampshade.  I would love it if you liked my page!  The Dented Lampshade 

DIY Rope Coasters

Did I mention how much I am loving rope projects lately???  I did some rope Christmas balls last week and decided that I wanted to keep going with the rope theme.  I seem to get on kicks.  I was on a very long rosette kick that is still an ongoing thing, and then there were ruffles, now it is rope:)  At least rope is a little more manly for my poor hubby.  Here's what I did:

I bought cork circles from Hobby Lobby for $3.  It comes in a package of 6.  I already had the rope left over from my Christmas ornament project.  Then I busted out the hot glue gun and started wrapping.  It was so easy and they turned out so cute!  What do you think?

And here are a few using the blue rope I got at Hobby Lobby.

Hope you love them as much as I do. Cheers!

Mini Holiday Wreaths

Just wanted to take a moment and share a cute little Christmas DIY project.

I found these mini twig wreaths at Goodwill the other day.  They weren't very cute to start but after I added a little rope and some fun holiday paper they were awesome!

Hope you have enjoyed this little project.

A Christmas Explosion

With less then two weeks until Christmas it seems that my house has exploded with Christmas. Yep, it's like Christmas puked all over my house... and you know what... I love it! Wanna take a look at the Christmas joy I am attempting to bring to the Remley home? Hold on to your pants people, it's about to get Fan-Christmas-Tastic up in here.

The lace bows that my mother in law gave me a few years ago.  They look so cute on my tree!

And we decided to take a little family trip to the Botanic Gardens' Trail of Lights.  Luci loved all of the lights and in her words "TEES!"

Grandpa, Luci, Kyle and I.

So pretty:)

Love that sweet face.

The boys pretending to have a little fun.

TEES!!

Happy Holidays!

Built in Redo

I have a problem... I am addicted, ADDICTED to Goodwill.  However, this time it paid off :)

I found this beautiful, I guess we will call it a "hutch", since I don't really know what else to call it.  It was actually a built in that someone removed at some point.  One side is finished and the other side is open (which gives it that much more character!)  It was ugly at the time but I knew I could give it a new life.

Well, I rolled my sleeves up and got to work.  After a ton of sanding and washing I decided I would white wash it, only I tinted my white paint with a little blue.  After just two coats of white washing or "blue washing" in my case, I loved it!

I didn't even have to get new knobs because the originals were so stinkin cute!  See:

And here she is at my new shop, The Dented Lampshade:

P.S. I promise to put up some pictures of the entire shop very soon!