Pinterest Inspired Christmas

You already know how much I am in l.o.v.e. with Pinterest, but I have to confess that I have so many things pinned and rarely have make time to work on Pinterest projects.

Between kids and work and “life” time passes too quickly! This Christmas season I vowed that I was going to do a couple of Pinterest projects. It was easy to tie them into my holiday decorating and actually didn’t take long AT all!

A bit before Thanksgiving I pinned  these adorable pillows that Denise from Frazzled Joy made. By the time I saw them it was way too close to Thanksgiving to make them but I made a mental note to get these done in time to decorate for Christmas.

Here’s what I came up with (I already decided I can keep the ‘love’ pillow out through Valentine’s Day and whip up another coordinating one to go with it!):

I followed almost all of Denise’s instructions, except that I didn’t put zippers in my pillows. I decided it would be much faster to make an envelope back. The one thing I don’t like is how tight my inserts are in the pillow. Denise mentioned making your finished measurement smaller than the actual size of the insert to keep the pillow looking more full. I think this depends on how full your inserts are to begin with. I made my covers 19×19 for a 20×20 insert and they are TIGHT! I am sure no one else will even notice except me! and next time I make them I’ll go up in size. Even so, I LOVE how they turned out!

My other pinning obsession is chalkboard stuff! I have a large chalkboard that I change out with every holiday and season, but deep, deep down inside I really have wanted a chalkboard wall in our house. The ideal place is the mudroom or kitchen, but there really wasn’t a good spot for it. Finally I decided which wall would be perfect! Between our kitchen/stairs/dining room we have a buffet area where we would eventually like to do some built-ins. Deciding that it’s only “paint” and I can always go back, I painted the wall on Sunday night…less than an hour and it was done!

Monday night I added this wreath that I had pinned from The Lillypad Cottage. It was so cute I knew I had to have it! My kids told me there was no way I could duplicate it (they know how bad my free-hand drawing is!!)! But, I printed it out, and had it in hand and decided to go for it. For the most part, I think it turned out pretty well, definitely not at good as Kelly’s, but not bad!

I thought I would also share a Christmas decorating tip with you! I love, love, love the smell of a fresh tree, but I really hate the hassle of a real tree so we always pop up our fake tree. Instead of a real tree, I use plenty of fresh garland and we enjoy the smell! This year I stopped in at Home Depot and asked if I could have their tree trimmings they were going to throw away. They gladly love to give these away and I can fill my home with fresh garland…for free!

I am hoping that this little Pinterest inspired Christmas post has inspired you to jump into one of the projects you have pinned!