DECOR8Rgirl

I decided that since I couldn’t find a 2012 printable calendar that fit on one page that I really liked, I’d make my own and share it with you. Enjoy! [PDF]

“A Christmas Story” is a bit of an obsession for my step-father and me. For us, it’s not Christmas without Ralphie, Flick, Scut and the gang. Thank God TBS plays it 24 hours straight. But if they ever fail, we have our DVDs so we can make sure it’s always running in the background around Christmas. Right now there’s a leg lamp glowing in my window, licensed ornaments on our tree, a growing collection of Department 56 light up buildings and accessories on display and thanks to this week’s Iron Craft challenge, presents wrapped in “A Christmas Story” wrapping paper with matching labels! The only way I can outdo this next year is to find the box that contains my “A Christmas Story” apron and cookie cutters so that there is a plate of cookies shaped like the leg lamp next to the wrapped presents.

The labels.

The wrapped and labeled presents in front of the Christmas Story village (sitting on top of the Christmas table runner I made a few weeks ago).

A close-up of the wrapping paper and labels.

What is your favorite “A Christmas Story” moment?

This week’s Iron Craft challenge was to make something for a kid. Since I don’t have one, I decided to make a potty training kit for a kid across the street. His mom is deployed, and so his dad is trying to handle it on his own. It’s up to him if he uses this kit or not, but I figured he might be able to use all the help he could get! The potty chart will encourage him to tell someone when he is wet, when he has to potty, to use the potty and to stay dry all day.

Project Estimate:

• Potty chart, free (made in Excel)
• Stickers for potty chart, $1 from Dollar Tree
• Tootsie rolls for when he fills up an entire column in a day, $1 from Dollar Tree
• Book or toy [not pictured] for when he fills up an entire sheet in a week, $1 from Dollar Tree
• Fruit Rings cereal for aim training (and they turn the water fun colors!), $1 from Dollar Tree
• Pull-Ups informational cards, free from website

Total: $4

Do you have any potty training tips you’d like to share?

Although we’ve been paying rent for over a month, tonight is the first night we get to sleep in our new home! Lots more moving to do, but it’s a huge milestone for us!

Wow. What a crazy holiday weekend! In addition to stuffing ourselves and giving thanks, we started moving into our new rental home. By “we,” I mean “my husband and I.” Yeah - mattress, box spring, couches, boxes, you name it, we made it fit through the door. We are nowhere close to moved in, but it’s starting to look like people could actually live there soon. Yay!

Many of us want to add a little something to our place settings without breaking the bank on getting coordinating tableware and decorations for every holiday. This Thanksgiving I needed a quick way to spruce up paper napkins for Thanksgiving dinner, so here’s what I did: (click the image if it’s small)

I folded the paper napkins into quarters, wrapped gold ribbon around them, and secured the ribbon ends together with half of a glue dot (the kind you peel off paper). I used the other half of the glue dot to attach a fabric leaf that I had written that person’s name on with metallic Sharpie. If you don’t have glue dots, you can use hot glue - just make sure you don’t glue the decoration to the napkin! That’s it - it took me less than 5 minutes to make enough for my whole family!

Project Estimate:

• Paper napkins, two cents each
• Gold ribbon, on hand or $1 a roll at Dollar Tree
• Glue dots or hot glue, on hand
• Fabric leaves, $1.50 at local craft store
• Metallic Sharpie, on hand

Total: $2.52 and up

I love Pinterest. I have the app on my phone, and the quick pin button in my browser. What don’t I love about Pinterest? All the 500 errors I’m getting.

Oh well, it’s so much fun that I’ll get over it.

What is Pinterest you ask? Pinterest is a virtual pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

What do you love about Pinterest? Do you have a board you want to share?

Follow me at http://pinterest.com/hilemanholdings/

Also, read this great article about Pinterest etiquette from Crafterminds

Well, we aren’t done painting after all! We removed the blue tape, and it took off the original white paint from the baseboards and chair rails! At this point all I could do was throw my hands up in the air and give in to painting some more. How do you handle your stressful moments? Get angry? Laugh? Try to find the up side?