That’s what I named my tablescape.

On any given day you will most likely find our dining room table cluttered with diaper bags, baby shoes, cloth diapers draped over the backs of chairs drying, mail, and my current craft project. But since this was our very first Christmas at our house hosting others I wanted to make it a bit more special.

I’m not very good at putting a beautiful table together. I can just never decide on how I want things. Not to mention I decided not to register for fine china when we got married so I don’t have any of that fanciness. Nor do I have a ton of random decor stuff just tucked away in the house for random occasions. We simply don’t have the room for things like that.

So, here’s my sweet little table. Pun totally intended. Even my cute little moose got all gussied up for Christmas morn. I call her Bessie.

I’ve been dying to use my red and white napkins I picked up at Pier 1 last year after xmas. All the more reason to make my table a bit prettier. They look so cute all tied up with some jute and a candy cane.

I used a cream scarf from Old Navy as the runner. It had just enough whimsey to get the job done. I had big, giant coffee mugs at each setting ready to fill our bellies with coffee or hot cocoa.

And as the name states…there were quite a few candy canes on the table. I put a handful of small candy canes in two of my Crate & Barrel mercury votives. I wish it were okay to display snowflakes all year, because I would totally be leaving these lookers out. In the middle of the table was a cute Spode casserole dish.

Ahhh, my sweet little Spode dish. She played host to our cinnamon roll Christmas tree.

We also chowed down on a delicious breakfast casserole that Derek prepared for everyone. I love when a man cooks. Don’t you?

As I type this my dining room table has again become a miscellaneous item wasteland. Boo. It was cute while it lasted. Does anyone have any table decorating tips they could offer for a novice? Or just point me in the direction of a blog or website that can help my feeble efforts.

Our mantle this year is nothing fancy, but I love every square inch of it. It’s fun, simple, and a tad bit classy. The only thing I purchased for it was the greenery, and it was 60% off at Joann’s.

Hey you! I see you eyeing my burlap Santa. Guess what…I made that bad boy. I love him to the 9th degree, and so does Grayson. He lights up every time he sees him.

I love this white urn. I guess it’s an urn. That’s what I call it. Sounds kinda morbid though. I’ll just call it a pot. Anyway, I found this pot at Goodwill for $3. Love.

I hope everyone enjoyed lots and lots of turkey, tofurkey, or turducken today. Since I was a total slacker and finally finished putting my fall mantle together yesterday I made sure to take a photo of it. I’ve been so busy these past few weeks with holiday photo sessions, people love their photo holiday cards…I know I do, and editing non-stop I haven’t had much time to make my mantle look all purdy-like.

Luckily, I made that wreath during October or else it would never have been finished. I love how it turned out. I was able to reuse many pieces from my Halloween mantle and the other decor was just grabbed from around the house. So, this bad boy was F, to the R, to the E-E!!!

I figured I would take the few spare minutes I had to myself yesterday to make it look pretty, because who knows how long it will take me to get our Christmas decor up.

Well, I’m off to eat some pie and a second helping of turkey. Peace.

Peeps, J.Crew now has baby clothes! I was so excited when I saw this, but a little bummed that they didn’t carry clothes for teeny tinys when the G-man was a wee one.  I was no longer bummed once I saw the prices and that the selection (at least currently) isn’t all that grand. Here are a few pieces from the baby collection.

photo source

photo source

I am thrilled that my little dude can finally fit in Crew Cuts. Oh if I only had the money. That baby would be Crew Cuts head to toe.

A couple of months ago I hit up the HUGE Goodwill store here in town. (which just got a remodel by the way. sounds like a perfect reason to go back for a “visit”) I was just browsing really, not looking for anything to specific, but low and behold…I found way too much stuff. I picked up few board books for Gray at $.99 a pop. (I made sure they were wipe-able since my kid often eats his books like a dog, as opposed to reading them.) I found a couple of sturdy metal candle sticks that were looking for a good coat of spray paint, for $.99 each. I couldn’t just leave them hanging. I also picked up that white ceramic pot type thingy for $3. I have no clue what it is actually for…I have it displayed on the mantle with some white ceramic vases.

New photo frames can cost an arm and a leg, and a kidney, and the really big ones they’ll ask you to throw in your 1st born son. I’ve kinda grown to like mine so I am always looking for cheaper alternatives. Enter these Goodwill beauts. Both frames have the paper backing to them meaning they weren’t intend to have their pictures removed and replaced, but I did anyway. I love breaking the rules. I’m so bad A!

My favorite score of the shopping spree that wasn’t intended is the giant solid wood mirror for $9. Do you see the size of this thing? My MIL has very simular frames in her bathroom and I know for a fact that at Marshall’s they cost at least $50. That means a simular mirror this size probably cost around $100, and I got this thing for $9 smackeroos. S C O R E!!!! When I saw this gorgeous guy I knew it was an amazing deal. I don’t typically purchase things that I don’t have a purpose or a place for, but there was no way I was passing this deal up. I figured that one day we will move to a larger home and THEN I would find a place for it. I mean I would design an entire room around the thing if I had to. It was just to good of a deal to pass up. Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am a novice hoarder. Or at least I will be soon, if I keep buying things that are toogoodofadealNOTtobuy. The wooden frame of the mirror has a few scratches and knicks in it, but I think a little sanding and some white paint and she’ll be good as new. And the mirror itself…perfect condition.

I decided to start with the white square frame. I spray painted it a glossy white and since the mat had a blue bevel to it I decided to spray paint it too. (Note: I used the same glossy paint on the mat that I used on the frame. Not the best idea. Glossy paint sticks to glass, but that’s all I had and I was going for a free theme here.)

Next, I cut a square of burlap from some I had sitting around the house. I dry painted a chipboard lower case D that I had left over from Grayson’s birthday party. And voila!

The crazy thing is that shortly after making this I saw a simular project popping up all over Pinterest. I was rather proud to be just a tiny bit ahead of the curve. Even if it’s by a millimeter. I haven’t hung it on the wall just yet, but here is a (slightly crapy) photo of the finished project.

Has anyone else made a cute little something only to begin finding simular projects being pinned on Pinterest? Doesn’t it just feel like Martha herself is patting you on the back for a job well done? Or is it just me?

BTW…I think I just decided where I want to put my $9 mirror in my current house.

P.S. – I’m linking up to Get Your Craft On

No one else probably even cares about this but I’m super excited about it…

I just bought my little dude the cutest fall madras pant set from Chase and Company on Etsy. I got the pants in a 2T so he can hopefully wear them into the summer. Because what little boy doesn’t look totally presh in some madras pants and a polo?

Here’s his new little fall outfit on an adorable little boy.

photo credit Chase and Company (Etsy)

Now all I have to do is decide what shoes. I feel some fall pictures coming on!

Oh, and I participated and won in my 1st Facebook children’s clothing auction today. Squishy baby will be struttin’ around this winter in a super cute blue snowman longall. BAZINGA!!!! I’ll tell you one thing, those FB auctions make me happy to have a little boy. There are so many people bidding that you have to be really on your game to get some of the girl outfits. Sheesh! Those women are fast.

Does anyone else out there participate in the children’s clothing auctions on Facebook? I’m so indecisive that I’m quite surprised that I actually made a decision quick enough to actually win something.

I stumbled upon the cutest store for little boy clothes. Having a little boy you soon come to find out that there is TONS of adorable outfits for little girls, but not a lot for boys. Yes, stores have clothes for boys, but I am a fan of simple classic pieces with out a ton of graphics on them. And since we plan to be on the lake quite a bit this summer I was hoping to find a few nautical inspired pieces for Squishy. Zara answered my prayers. Check out some of their baby boy clothes.

Now tell me these are not the cutest things you’ve ever seen? Did I mention they are reasonably priced? They are.