12 Days of Christmas Days 11 and 12 Adding Stencils to All the Things

Oh goodness, we are coming in hot to Christmas so I am finishing up my final two days of 12 Days of Christmas projects with a few fun things I created using Old Sign Stencils. If you need a super last minute idea or gift, check out these ideas!

Sunday Verses

Happy Sunday! Have you watched the series Alone on the History channel? We have been binging this show, a reality, survivor type program where contestants are dropped off in a remote place with very few items. They film themselves as they try to build shelters, find food, stay warm, and safe. They can "tap out" or quit at any time, and whoever stays the longest, wins. Different things cause the participants to leave--hunger, injury, loneliness and boredom. I often wonder how I would respond to the quiet, to being alone with no electronics, no distractions. We are experts at keeping ourselves, our thoughts and activities, busy enough to distract us. Sometimes diversion seems good-- it keeps me from worrying and stressing about the hard things. But, distraction keeps us from paying attention to what is good, what is true, what is worthy. It prevents us from completely sitting with and fully experiencing our thoughts and feelings. I am working at finding those places and spaces, both in nature and in my thoughts, that allow me to pay attention to worthwhile practices and ideas--to the important things that draw me closer to Jesus.

12 Days o Christmas Day 10 Easy Ornaments Made From Blocks

I am still tweaking my Christmas decorations here and there and decided I needed (and I use the term needed loosely) a few more ornaments. So, I went to my little craft stash (a few shoeboxes filled with junk, aka treasures) and found some blocks to play with. Um, oops, I didn't mean to spell out an inappropriate saying in the middle of the ABC blocks.

I knew a little paint and some beads and tassels would easily transform these children's toys into ornaments. 

12 Days of Christmas Day 9 Easy Wood Wall Hanging

I knew I needed a little something in this wall space between our front door and family room windows. Normally I have a lovely piece of art picturing the Montana mountains that hangs there, but the blues and oranges weren't working with my natural and green Christmas color scheme. 

I knew I wanted something natural, something temporary that won't be stored, and something with a rustic, boho feel. 

This wood wall hanging is the perfect solution and took me 20 minutes or less to make.

12 Days of Christmas Day 8 Twigs and Stockings

And the stockings were hung...

So, I have a confession...I think I might have a stocking problem. Here's the thing, when you (and by you I mean ME) frequently change up your Christmas decor scheme, new stockings are necessary. This is the fifth set of stockings I have made in 32 years of marriage, that isn't too many, is it?

Sunday Verses

Happy Sunday! How do you quiet your soul? Seems like slowing down and being still should be easy enough, but for many of us, it isn't. And in this season when we are trying to create some normalcy amidst uncertainty and upheaval, contentment seems even more challenging. David, the author of this verse, certainly knew about living a life of strife. He experienced fear and weariness, defeat and what it felt like to be overwhelmed. And because of this, he absolutely understood the importance of stillness and the gift of peace and being at ease. As Christmas approaches, I can't help but think that there was no room at the busy, overcrowded inn for Mary and Joseph because incarnate love needed to enter into this world in place of calmness and stillness. Today, this week, let's practice being still. Find a place to sit with the quiet, notice contentedness, look for serenity and in it, recognize Jesus and the love and peace that can only come from him.  

12 Days of Christmas Day 7 Temporary Christmas Art

If you took my Christmas Home Tour (see post below if you missed it), you might have spied my snowy woods Christmas art.

Holiday House Tour

Welcome to my Christmas House Tour 2020. This year I am linking up at Jennifer Rizzo's Holiday House Walk Tour Linky Party 2020. For TEN years now Jenn has been sharing wonderful holiday home tours. I look forward to this event every year and always curl up with my laptop and a cup of tea to slowly peruse each home shared. I often wish I could crawl into the pictures to sit down and enjoy each home a little more.

A new home in a new state means all kinds of new Christmas ideas and decor for me this year. It has been fun and challenging to come up with new things for a home that is much smaller than my home in Montana.

Sunday Verses

Happy Sunday! We all have some battle, some uphill climb that we face. Each person's struggle, mountain, staircase looks different. When someone we love and care about is hurting, we want to make everything better and take their pain away. But, because our strife is unique, we cannot  complete someone else's arduous climb for them. We can't fix it or make everything better, even though we so badly want to. What we can do, however, is lighten the sufferer's load and help bear the burden. We do this by listening, by being present, by holding a hand, by praying. When your dear ones are hurting, when the scramble is steep, do not take the strength building, hard climb away from them, but rather offer hope and encouragement and life-giving tools to teach them and help how to ascend their staircase step by step.

12 Days of Christmas Day 6 Cute Curtain Ring Ornaments

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...how shall I decorate thee this year? Decorating the tree happens in layers at my house. First, I like it just with lights on it, then garland and a few ornaments. After a few days of that, I add more ornaments, mostly in one or two colors. 

I've added the tassled pinecones I made (HERE), and some warm and fuzzy ornaments (see tutorial from a few years ago HERE), and snowflake ornaments. 

I decide I wanted a few more natural looking, boho style ornaments so I dug around in my craft supplies and found some wood curtain rings and wrapped them to make these cute ornaments.

12 Days of Christmas Day 5 Easy Custom Pillow Covers

When Funky Junk Old Sign Stencils introduced her newest stencils for Christmas, I fell in love with the Christmas Sweater stencil. I knew it would be perfect for fabric and I was right.

Using the Christmas sweater stencil and some scraps of fabric I had, I created custom Christmas pillow covers in less than two hours.