DIY Christmas Project: Christmas Card Display

I have to admit that I can't take full creative genius for this idea as I originally saw it on Pretty Handy Girls blog.  That being said, I followed through on re-creating her project and although mine isn't as fancy, I think that it serves it's purpose beautifully. 

On Saturday I had to go into work, so while I was over in St Louis, I stopped into the Habitat for Humanity's ReStore.  It's pretty much like a Consignment Store for any possible home improvement item you could ever need, so it was a perfect place to go scouting for old shutters. There were a lot of option of shutters that were flat, but I needed to make sure it had slats (or louvres as I've been told from those "in the know").

This is the closest picture that I could find on Home Dep*ts website for what I ended up buying. Home Dep*ts price was $32.50....the ReStore was $10!  Happy Girl here!

Again, nothing fancy with mine other than stringing a few lights around the edging and along the back so that light illuminates through the louvres. I just bought small clothespins to attach the cards.  I also put a few gold snowflake ornaments on it to help tie it in better with the Christmas tree's color theme.  It looks so festive with all of the Christmas cards arriving. 

This project was super easy, super inexpensive, and I like the new way of displaying our holiday cards this year in the front room.  Hope this gives some inspiration to others. There's so many ways to put your own little touch on it, maybe decorate the clothespins in festive colors (thanks YHL), or spray paint with silver or gold, maybe get crazy and decorate each louvre a different color.  Please let me know how your project turns out!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our Christmas Tree is up and I am in the holiday spirit!!  We actually put it up on Thanksgiving weekend, but I haven't gotten around to finishing all of the decorations until this past weekend.  Terry went out and bought it at Lowes and we had it out in the garage for two days to soak up all the water it could handle.  Then we brought it into the house on Sunday morning to let it acclimate and allow the branches to fall (although I was rip-roaring ready to start hanging ornaments and string the lights as soon as he brought it through the door).  

Our pretty tree in gold this year.  Each year we have done a different color theme; 2008 was silver, 2009 was blue, 2010 is gold. Wonder what 2011 will be?

In the process of hanging ornaments.  Terry's such a ninja, his left hand decided it didn't want to be a part of the picture....so it made itself disappear. 

A picture I snapped this morning on my way out.  Also, here's a sneak peak at my DIY Christmas Card display in the background.  Will post soon. :-)

How's everyone's decorations coming along?  Anyone being a grinch? Anyone already expecting coal in their stockings? 

Corky Update

 I introduced all the Reindeer and their Sleigh last week, but they weren't quite complete.  Heres the finished product.  I LOVE the antlers!! They were made from grape stems.  :-)

Happily sitting on the mantle

Lighting in the Dining Room

So you can see what we finally decided on for our lighting in the dining room. It took one un-install and two purchases turned into returns before Terry found the perfect one online.  It was between 3-4 different ones, so we hashed it out (i.e. he asked which one I liked the best which was the one he liked the best as well....tada) and bought our new beauty.

We just need to re-finish the dining room table and we are DONE!!!!  :-)

Low Key made BOCA 2011!!!

SO proud right now!!

Low Key made the Best of College A cappella 2011 CD from a song off of their newest CD, Keychange!!!

They are officially Track 9: Hit 'Em Up Style - James Madison University Low Key

I found a live version of the song that they performed back in 2008

This is the second time that the group has made a BOCA CD, the first being while I was in the group in 2006 
This is a snippet of the song from 2006, as soon as they release the new CD, I'll put up a sound-byte.
http://acappella.colormaria.com/1811C/1811C%5ELet_Go.mp3

Here was the article announcement from VarsityVocals.com:
"We are thrilled to announce the track list for BOCA: Best Of College A Cappella 2011 and BOHSA: Best Of High School A Cappella 2010-2011!
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who submitted their tracks. We know how much of each of you goes into producing these albums, and we really enjoyed listening to each and every track we received.
Hundreds upon hundreds of tracks were submitted. With so many groups pushing the envelope -- in everything from vocalists and arrangement, to recording and production quality, to song selection and genre -- selecting our lineup this year was incredibly difficult.
We want to thank you for your interest in our annual compilation, and we encourage you to participate in years to come.
Congratulations to the groups who were selected! We are quite excited about these albums and are working quickly to produce them. We will be in touch soon with further instructions.
Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this process! Our 2011 albums are going to be the best yet."


Could not be more thrilled and excited and proud!!!