SOCIAL MEDIA

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Girl Chat - Favorite Christmas Ornaments

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

It's time for another round of Girl Chat and this month we are talking about our favorite Christmas ornaments. If I put every single one of my favorites up, this post would be crazy long. So I thought I would just pick out some of my more recent favorites (and a few oldies).

 First up (in NO particular order)....my wedding invitation ornament. I saw this on Pinterest a long time ago and I knew I had to make it. I cut my wedding invitation into strips, curled the strips around a pencil and stuffed them into a clear ornament.
DIY wedding invitation Christmas Ornament
 You can buy your clear ornaments here)

Next up....a gold light up ornament that my mom gave me. It was my ornament from her tree and I am not sure who bought it for me, but it has always been a favorite of mine.
light up ornaments

Next up...two ornaments that I made for my girls using their hospital hats and bracelets. I am sure you have seen these on many people's trees and mine is no different. But I did get the idea to put their names on them (after seeing Emily's tree) and I plan on doing that before I put them away.
hospital hat and bracelet Christmas ornament

hospital hat and bracelet Christmas ornament

Next....the girls first Christmas ornaments. I ordered them from Pottery Barn Kids. They are red wooden blocks that have their initial, name, stats, birth date and the day they were born. I didn't take a picture of each of them as they are very close to the same. These are the cutest first Christmas ornaments.
Pottery Barn Personalized Baby Block Ornaments
 Ornaments can be found here (no affiliate)

Next....is my first Christmas ornament. It is a gold flat ornament with my name and year of birth.
babies first Christmas ornaments

Next...my parents got Rory and I a Hallmark First Year of Marriage ornament. It's white, sparkly, has our wedding year and two red love birds hanging in the center.
Year of marriage Christmas ornament

Next....when I went to Scotland in 2016, I started to buy Christmas ornaments on all of my work travels. I found the cutest Christmas shop in Edinburgh (in September) and I bought the ornament below. I have been buying ornaments from all of my travels since then and I get to add a few new countries this year!
Scotland Christmas ornament

Finally, my mom gave me this little guy when I moved out. He is simple, but so cute and reminds me of my childhood.
Christmas ornaments

What are your favorite Christmas ornaments?
To link up - just grab our graphic, link up, and let's getting to chatting!  Make sure to stop by a few others linked up for an extra bit of girl chat!  
Girl chat monthly link up

 

Labels: , 24 comments
Posted by at
Thursday, November 15, 2018

Girl Chat - Tips for Juggling the Holiday Season

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

 It's time for another round of Girl Chat and this month we are talking about tips for juggling the holiday season.

 TIP 1: Don't put to much on your plate at once. We host Christmas dinner every year. We have been doing that for about six or seven years now. I love it because everyone comes to my house, so I don't have to drive home later, my house gets a good cleaning, the girls can go to bed whenever and we get to have both sets of immediate family over. 

 Each year, I change up the main dish, and I ask my mom and my MIL to bring over one other dish each. Then I usually provide the rest. My MIL usually brings over an appetizer and my mom brings over a side. Then I provide another one to two sides, the fixing with the main dish and the dessert. By asking for a little help, I don't overwhelm myself in the kitchen. Between making cinnamon rolls the day before (tradition) and prepping for Christmas dinner, I don't have time to do it all, so I ask for help and that is ok.

 TIP 2: Make a Christmas shopping list for each person you are buying for. I do this early on in November, so I can start shopping around for the best deals. I usually buy almost all my gifts on Cyber Monday, but some of them come before if I find a better deal. Which many places have 40 to 50% off right now. If I figure out my gifts early on, I stay on track and usually don't overspend or wait until last minute. I am all about the lists.

 TIP 3: Save money all year. You can do this many different ways. You can put everything on your credit card and use the points at the end of the year towards your Christmas shopping (we do this). 

 You can put x amount of money into a savings account once a month, twice a month or however often you would like. Whenever I am saving for something, this is my go-to. I set it up online with my bank to transfer over x dollars from my checking account into a special savings account the day that I get paid (so twice or three times a month).

 TIP 4: Use ebates. I use ebates all year long when I make online purchases. I get a little bit of cash back per purchase and then I save it all for the end of the year.

 TIP 5: Plan ahead. This one seems so simple, but is the best policy. Or maybe that is just my type A personality right there. If I plan things out, I can make sure I don't double book, book too much in one weekend, or over extend myself or my family. 

 TIP 6: Know your limits. This can mean so many things, but you should know your spending limits, your kids limits, your time limits, etc. I usually set aside a budget each year for Christmas. It varies each year and most of our Christmas budget goes to the girls. But if I say we are spending X on Christmas, we don't go over. This means I don't rack up credit card debt (we pay our credit cards off monthly).

 Knowing your kids limits is huge. I know that my girls need a nap daily. That nap can go from 30 minutes to two hours, but I know that we have to work that in our schedule. I also know that they usually can only last til about 8:30 pm on most nights. I know that we need to leave wherever we are at before that "witching hour" happens.

 Knowing your limits will make for a less stressful Holiday season. 

 What tips do you have to share with me?
To link up - just grab our graphic, link up, and let's getting to chatting!  Make sure to stop by a few others linked up for an extra bit of girl chat!  
Girl chat monthly link up
Labels: 20 comments
Posted by at
Thursday, October 18, 2018

Girl Chat - DIY/Crafts

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

It's time for another round of Girl Chat and this month we are talking about Inspiration and sharing some DIY/Crafts. I am not the most crafty person, but I feel like I have pulled off a few amazing crafts in my day. I am sharing with you two DIY's and then linking to a few other DIYs/Crafts I have shared in the passed.

The first DIY/craft is a Christmas Ornament. This is the easiest craft to make.
DIY Wedding Invite Christmas Ornament

What You Need

  - Clear Large Ornament Ball (I bought mine from Hobby Lobby, but you can get a bunch from Amazon here)
- Items to put inside the ball (I have made one for my wedding using the wedding invitation and one for the girls which contains their birth hat and bracelets)
- Hot Glue Gun (optional)

Directions

Wedding Invitation Christmas Ornament

1. I cut my wedding invitation into half inch strips. It doesn't have to be perfect.

2. Using a pencil or pen, put your strip on the pencil and roll the strip around the pencil. I tightly roll it and then remove the curled piece. Continue to do this with all of the strips.

3. Once you have finished making your rolls, you can unroll them a bit to make them different sized rolls.

4. Put each roll into the ball. I used the pencil (eraser side) to move around and open the rolls up even more inside the ball.

5. Place the hanger back inside the ball and then you are finished. You can also hot glue the top on.

6. You can put a ribbon on the top if you would like, or just hang it up.


Ornament Ball Garland

 I saw this on a blog I used to follow (now I just follow her on IG) and I knew I had to recreate it. I will forewarn you that it is hard to store it, so make sure you plan accordingly.

What You Need

 - Ribbon (lots of it and the fabric kind)
- 2 to 3 Sets of Plastic Ornament Balls (I bought the 50 count packs at Target)
- Tape

 Directions

 1. Lay out all of your ornaments and cut your ribbon.
Christmas Ornaments

 Tip: Buy the shatterproof ones if you can. 

2. Take your ribbon and fold it into a point, like the picture below.

image


3. Now string each ornament along the ribbon (at least 6 plus feet of ribbon, you may have to adjust later). You can put the ornaments as close as you would like (I think the closer the better). Make sure you leave a lot of ribbon on each side, so you can hang it from the wall. If you plan to put it on your fireplace mantel, then you own't need as much ribbon. 

Note: I had a few of my ornaments pop off the tops, so you can use a little hot glue to keep them on if need be.

4. Tie a knot at the end of each side and hang in your desired location.
Ornament Garland
As you can see, I made this when we still had our old kitchen.

Ornament Garland
We don't have a mantle over our fireplace, so I hung it up on a blank wall that we normally put all of our Christmas cards on.  I love this decoration and it was really simple to do.

Here are some other DIY/Crafts that I have posted in the past:
DIY Cake Topper
DIY Whitewashing a Brick Wall
DIY Lace Mason Jars
DIY Shadow Box

To link up - just grab our graphic, link up, and let's getting to chatting!  Make sure to stop by a few others linked up for an extra bit of girl chat!  
Girl chat monthly link up






Labels: , 25 comments
Posted by at
Thursday, September 20, 2018

Girl Chat - Fall Bucket List

It's time for another round of Girl Chat and once again I am not here for it, but luckily, I wrote this one in advance, again. I love this month's topic which is Fall Bucket List. This allows me to add new fun things to my list each year (I get inspiration from you all).

FALL BUCKET LIST 2018

 - Apple Hill. Each year we make our trip over to Apple Hill where we visit the different orchards to pick apples, buy crafts, try apple desserts and foods, ride a train, taste some wine and beer, buy the best apple pie and donuts and have a fun Fall day. We look forward to this every year and this year is no exception.
twins dressed up as minnie mouse
 Apple Hill 2017

Apple Hill 2016

- Attend a football game and tailgate. And bring the girls to one of these. It is no secret that my husband and I are huge football fans, so we have season tickets to Nevada football. We want to bring the girls to a game and a tailgate. They have been before when they were small, but I think they will enjoy it more now.
Babies and tailgates
Babies and tailgates

- Go to a pumpkin patch.

- Bake a pie from scratch. We have tons of peaches from our peach tree and I have NEVER made a pie from scratch. Sure I have used pre-made pie dough and made a pie with store bought apples, but I want to do it all from scratch.

- Attend a Fall Festival.

- Take the girls Trick or Treating. Last year was the first year that we took the girls trick or treating. They had a blast and lasted a lot longer than I thought they would. So we are going for it again this year. The girls have expressed interest in wearing their Minnie costumes again, but then keep saying they want to be Anna and Elsa. So I am on the hunt for Anna and Elsa costumes.
Minnie Mouse toddler costumes

- Decorate for Fall and Halloween. I have been so so on this each year. I want to decorate a lot more than I have in the past and really usher in Fall and Halloween.

- Carve pumpkins. Again, this has been something we do some years and others we do not. We even grow pumpkins in our garden each year and only manage to sometimes carve pumpkins.

- Eat an apple cider donut. We usually get these from Apple Hill, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. But believe me, they are soooo good and so worth it.
Apple Cider donut

- Take family photos.

- Watch Hocus Pocus with the girls. I am not sure if they are technically old enough for this movie, but it was a favorite growing up, so I hope we can watch it together.

- Make spiced apple cider.

- Eat caramel apples.

- Roast pumpkin seeds. This will be easy to do if we carve our pumpkins.

Fall Bucket List

To link up - just grab our graphic, link up, and let's getting to chatting!  Make sure to stop by a few others linked up for an extra bit of girl chat!  
Girl chat monthly link up


Labels: 30 comments
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Blog Design by Blog Pixie. All rights reserved.