Merry Christmas and Blog Plans for 2016!

Please join me in 2016 on my blog, where I plan lots of posts about getting organized, decluttering, and motivation for getting our homes under control.  I am tired of feeling overwhelmed by it all, how about you?

Also there will be more Trim Healthy Mama Posts, which I hope will be helpful to you, and will help me to stay motivated.  I do not want to gain the weight I have lost back in 2016.

I am planning on lots of POSITIVE THINKING.  So, lets make 2016 the best year ever! 

Meanwhile, I am wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  Here are a  few pictures from around our home, past and present.

A Little Christmas Wreath DIY

Several years ago I made lots of grapevine wreaths.  Since then, I have used them year round, by just changing out the decorations and bows. 

This is the way I decorated one of them for Christmas last year.  I still like it, but it didn't show up too well on our front door, which is painted brown.

So I took off the decorations and using a cheap can of spray paint from Dollar General, I painted it white.

Then I used several rolls of Christmas ribbon that I also bought at Dollar General, along with some of the same decorations and some red shiny balls to decorate the wreath like this.

I'm a little rusty at making bows! I regret not buying nicer ribbon, but it is what it is.  In about three weeks, I'll be taking it down.  Maybe I can find some nicer ribbon on sale after Christmas for use next year!

This is a tutorial that I used for inspiration to make these bows:  SOUTHERN CHARMS WREATHS.

And I also LOVE this wreath HERE.

Maybe I can make a new wreath for Spring along those lines.

Mini Cheesecakes

I made some of these mini cheesecakes for Christmas this year. Aren't they cute?

The recipe makes WAAAY too many!  Next year I will make half or one third as many.

The cherry on top is from a can of cherry pie filling.

Baking in the oven.

Have a great Monday!

Merry Christmas!

A Little Christmas in the Kitchen.

 I am using the appliqued table runner that I made last weekend on the counter in the kitchen. I think its truly "country" looking. All of the fabrics were in my stash and scraps.

I love the chicken basket that we found in a thrift store.    It holds my cloth Christmas napkins in this picture. 

Moving Right Along.....

A cozy rainy day totally spent at home has allowed me to get some Christmas things done. Here are just a few glimpses.

This plant was a gift from my Hubby's coworkers when Mama died. I put a dollar's worth of tiny red glass balls on the twigs to make a Christmas Twig Tree.

Hubby loves to make cookies.  (Thanks Pillsbury!)

A thrift store wooden painted Santa.

A few more wristlet key fobs for coworkers.

A few Christmas ornaments.

My Farmhouse Kitchen at Christmas

I like down to earth, country, farmhouse-ey type Christmas decorations. Especially handmade ones.  Here are a few glimpses of my attempt at this in the kitchen.

This primitive wreath with the added "Wish" star hangs on the door between the dining room and living room.  After Christmas I will just take the Wish star off and the wreath will be perfect for Winter. 

I tied a scrap of fabric on this slightly rusty grater, placed red kitchen utensils in the white pitcher, and replaced the autumn scene in the wooden tray with a piece of Christmas fabric.

These Christmas coffee mugs are waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.  The red one is mine and the brown one is Hubby's.  He really prefers his NC State mug, but humors me a little on this one.   I Love my pumpkin spice or peppermint mocha creamer, especially this time of year.   Hubby just wants a splash of 2% milk in his coffee, but I need my flavors and sugar!  After the holiday flavors are a thing of Christmas past, I will return to the fat free hazelnut.

A handmade table runner with another of the wooden trays containing handmade cloth Christmas napkins.   We really do use the napkins and hardly EVER buy paper towels or paper napkins.  I do need paper towels sometimes for certain messes, but just not on a daily basis.

This little basket contains some handmade Christmas coasters.

The dishtowel drawer takes on a whole new style this time of year.  I love to switch over to these Christmas ones for a couple of weeks each year.   The red checked and plaid ones stay there year round, but I temporarily stored the other colored ones.

I enjoy having some Christmas dishes along with my standard thrift store white dishes on display on this wooden dish rack. I don't dry dishes on it, but its so convenient to just grab a plate, mug or glass off it when we are "fixin our plates"! I place the Christmas mugs and a few short Christmas glasses on the side part.

So far I have only scattered a few Christmas things around the house, but haven't put up a tree yet. Maybe this weekend.  I love a few cozy decorations like Christmas quilts, flags outside, a wreath, and the kitchen things in this post. But I don't like to decorate every single possible corner. Just not enough time and money for all that.