Deck the Halls

 I had so much fun decorating the house for Christmas this year. This is our third Christmas in this house so I'm still finding new things to add lights and decorations to. I still have yet to talk Matt into putting lights up in the roof. :( Maybe next year.

 Mom brought a cute old sled that I put by the front door with some leftover branches from our Christmas Tree.

Matt and I aren't coffee drinkers. Well, actually Matt likes to pretend he's a coffee drinker but he really only drinks it on Sundays at church and then about 3 times a year at home. Sorry hon... it's true. Anyway, it's still nice to have a warm cup of something so we set up a hot chocolate station. This is only a  great idea if you want to consume massive amounts of hot cocoa. It makes it way too easy.

 

This Santa is one of my favorite decorations. My aunt Debbie made it years ago and I just love it. 

And my newest Christmas decoration... a Christmas Sign for the mantle.  Matt and I made this sign the other night. I love doing projects like this with my hubby. He's so crafty. ;) Matt built the sign and gave it a quick coat of paint and I painted the letters. It took about 3 hours but it was the most fun I've had making a sign so far. I free handed it and that made it much easier and more creative. I think you can tell how much I love making signs. Our walls are getting a little crowded.

A few friends have asked for a tutorial on making the sign so here's the process if you're interested.

 Since I free handed this one I used chalk to write the letters at first. That way I could get the spacing and it's easy to wipe off if you make a mistake. After I was happy with my chalk letters I outlined them very lightly with pencil... so lightly you can hardly see it in the picture.

 Then I sat on the floor for 3 hours trying to work around my belly watching "13 Going on 30" with my sweetie pie.

 After it's all dry Matt takes it back out to the shop to beat it up a little. He sanded the edges and distressed it a bit. Then I put a coat of stain on before wiping it off with a rag. This makes the bright white less "new" looking and brings out the wood grain as well.

 

And that's it...