Pinterest, my brain and my craft stash

This year's Christmas decorating has taken me longer than usual. My little Elf, while she is cute to look at, isn't much help this year. I suppose next year she will be trying to "help" but will be tearing everything down that I attempt to put up. Christmas decorating has forever changed, indeed because of the baby. No biggie! Adapt and overcome, yes? We have just turned our once 3 hour decor event into a festive 3 day marathon. And please hold, she is crying..

Ok I am back.

 I always have these awesome decor themes in my head for Christmas but when the time comes, I am hit with the reality that I am not a millionaire thousandaire  hundredaire. So, with the help of Pinterest, my brain and my craft stash, I've come up with other ideas that are more practical.  Maybe they aren't super trendy but if I like it, I do it. Simple, shmimple.

I had ribbon, clothespins, buttons and some old ornaments.

The only things I could come up with were these:

A ribbon wreath.

It has all of the colors of my living room in it so that's handy.

And someone gave me this little sign a while back that I never know what to do with. It seemed that it needed to be in the wreath.

It took me 3 hours. Not because it's a 3 hour project but

 because it was a bad nap day for Dahlia :)

Thennnnn, per Pinterest, I found this cute use for my buttons and clothespins. The idea I found had scrapbook or wrapping paper decoupaged onto the pins. No mother of a 3 month old has time for that. But I did have time to mass paint them with my acrylics and hot-glue buttons onto them. It took a total of 15 minutes, I think.Again, bad nap day = not so great memory for mom.

Handy, eh?

And here are the awkwardly hung balls,er, ornaments ;)

I saw the idea on a commercial and of course, commercial lady's turned out a bit more luxurious.

But, as is the theme of this year, it's hodge-podge and works for our house. Dahlia rather likes it. I put her in her bouncer and place her on the table and voila!  a Christmas mobile that mesmerizes. Bonus: glitter from the ornaments makes her extra sparkley.

 And there is ribbon placed everywhere on the light too. I just really like ribbon this year!

Our Christmas tree (glowing in the right-hand corner) is decorated with the fancy ornaments John's mom made over 30 years ago. I've not come up with a topper yet so it's kinda naked up top.

I like that when I walk in to my house, it's lit up with Christmas lights everywhere and is a cozy this 'n that combination of randomness,  very us.

Perfecto.

3 Whole Months of Dahlia Jane!

3 months ago, she was so tiny, so sweet, so JOHN-like. 

I think she looks like his mini-twin here!

Today she is an even sweeter babbling brook of happy, chunky baby!!

New this month:

Talking to her stuffed animals

Sitting in the Bumbo

Eating her hands ferociously

Squealing

Loving to snuggle with a blankie but mostly mommy still :)

Getting scared :(

Lots more jabbering!

Trying to lift her back off of things

Coughing to get attention :)

Sleeping through the night every so often

Such a big girl with her house slippers on!

Stunning little eyeballs!

.and she still loves the bath. 

 she's looking more like me in my humble yet accurate opinion

me,  in a lovely spring bonnet @ 6 months

John, in a girl outfit @ 3 months

What do you think?
She is a good mix..

Either way: she's so pretty.

And she's a joyful little thing too.

So thankful for her!

Crafty and free is the way to be

Buying accessories for my baby is a bit pricey and overrated. (and can be a total obsession for me!) For something she will wear once or twice, anything that is over the price of $free is pushing it. (and it draws me into that obsessive space that can suck me in like a black hole [*go space!])

I digress.
 For Halloween I made her a fun "Dahliaesque" headband with materials I had in my craft stash.

Professional looking, it's not.

Easy and cute, it was.

It takes about 15 minutes if you do it one sitting. I did it over the course of 3 days. 

Here is what I did:

I cut random shapes out of Halloween colored felt and layered them..

 ..sewed a simple x stitch through the center with embroidery floss..

arranged them uh-like uh-so (say it like an Italian)..

 ..cut notches in them to give them some flare..

..hot glued them onto a nylon headband and voila..

 cute baby headband that cost me $0.00 since I already had everything

"I like it thiiiiis much", she says

soakin' up some rays, sportin' the headband.

Easy peasy punkin' squeazy!

It would be adorable with buttons or other fun embelishments in the midst, with lace in between the layers, fabric or any other fun variation. I might even make myself an adult-sized version in more neutral colors!

Bada Bing!