Projects for December

Our apartment complex was having a decorating contest. The prizes were money off your rent. J and I wanted to decorate but still keep it cost efficient. What's the point of winning if you spent all your earnings on decorating the thing in the first place? Here's our patio:

The icicle lights I bought on clearance last Christmas. The tree was decoration for our wedding reception six years ago and so were the hanging ornaments. There are some snowflakes also attached to the ceiling, but you can't really see them in the picture. I bought those at the Dollar Tree. It may or may not win, but at least it looks pretty.

For my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, I made them these frames and printed the text and put a picture of each one of their kids in a separate frame.

It's a poor quality photo (aka I took it with my phone). The text says "I love you because _____". With these frames I gave them a set of dry erase markers. Hopefully they will hang these pictures together in their hallway or another spot where all the kids can see them. Then the parents (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law) will take the dry erase markers and write accordingly for each child. With the dry erase markers, they can wipe off what they wrote off the glass and rewrite something else later. I can't take credit for the overall idea, I found it online but loved it!

For the four kids, Jeremy and I made a cornhole game (aka beanbag toss). We made the two different boards and I painted a big "E" on each of the boards for their last name and 6 stars, one to represent each member of the family. I failed to take a picture of the boards - can you help me out Jen? I did take a picture of the homemade beanbags I made, 2 for each member of the family.

In addition, I made a bucket for each child with their first letter on it, that I made using my Cricut. Oops, forgot to take a picture of that one too.

I made this print using my Cricut for my niece. Their whole family moved into a new home and she needed another wall hanging. Her room is decorated in pink, black and white is all things French - Eiffel Tower, fleur-de-lis, etc.

The same niece is saving money for a computer, so J and I found a piggy bank in the dollar section of Target and I jazzed it up using my Cricut. She calls her money "beans".

I also made some more placemats for my family. J's mom got a set - sorry, forgot to take a picture. My mom and aunt also got a set of placemats with matching cloth napkins. The placemats and napkins are reversible and are made of complimentary fabrics. Here's a picture (my aunt's are on the top of the screen and my mom's are on the bottom) of side 1 and side 2.