Saturday, December 22, 2012

DIY Monogrammed Gift Tags

My inspiration for this idea came from my love of all things monogrammed and our dwindling supply of gift tags! This is also probably the easiest Do It Yourself ever!


To start head on over to maybooks.com and begging "designing" a notebook!

Next choose a monogram style, type in the letters (in the order you want them to appear), choose a shape (squares work best), and a color that matches your wrapping paper!

Once you have done that right click on the image and hit "copy image."

Now open up a word document and paste the image onto the new sheet.

After that crop your image so that all you can see is the square containing the monogram.

Resize the image to a size that will properly fit your present.

Print the sheet and cutout the monogram. Position it onto your present and adhere it with some tape and you are good to go! I recommend printing the monograms onto card stock so that they won't be so flimsy but regular copy paper works also!

Viola, you have just made yourself some monogrammed gift tags!

dWa

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

My Rooms Holiday Decorations, Colorful Ornaments, and a Giveaway!

I am so excited to share with y'all how I've decorated my room for the holidays as well as a giveaway all in one post!

As I walk upstairs to my room I am greeted by holiday decorations from the start! I have has this wreath on my door during the holiday season for as long as I can remember! It is pretty clever with all of the Wizard of Oz characters and I can't imagine the Christmas season without it!


As I walk through my door and enter my room I have a strand of white lights draped along my shutters! I love the way these look when my other lights are off and the only thing missing are some stockings!


Now for my favorite part, my colorful christmas tree! Not only did I want to share with you how it turned out but I also wanted to share with you some fun colorful ornaments I found on etsy! Sadly I took this photo a while back before there were wrapped presents under it!


 How cute is this whale ornament from ReLoveProjects. Not only is it bright and fun, but it is also made to of recycled material! I can't help but want to keep this ornament out all year long! Anne, the owner, also sells the CUTEST octopus ornaments as well! The best part about the ornament is that it is completely one of a kind!


Felt ornaments add such a unique look to any tree and this ornament from I am Craftish is no different! The traditional christmas ball style mixed with modern colors and designs allows this ornament to fit right in among my mix of old and new ornaments! The colors in this ornament really seem to tie my tree together and it definitely draws the eyes in! The owl ornaments in this etsy shop also add fun colors and a unique shape to any tree!


The detail within this one ornament is hard to believe! The background of this owls skin is a watercolored design that seems unique to lots of BittyBits&Baubles ornaments. I can't help but smile when I spot this ornament getting some shut eye while hanging on my tree!


This Vineyard Vines inspired felt whale is a necessity for any preppy christmas tree! I squealed when I saw how closely it resembled the actual Vineyard Vines whale! This cute ornament was found on LexiFeltique where I also spotted a precious pinterest logo ornament, how fun! Fortunately for y'all this ornament came with a buddy who is itching to find its home on one of your trees! All you have to do to enter to win this ornament is comment below and I will email the winner next week!


I hope y'all enjoyed this peak into my room!

dWa

Monday, December 17, 2012

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas: My House's Decorations

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year! One of my favorite parts is putting up and admiring decorations! Today, I decided I would share with you the decorations at my house and tomorrow I will show y'all my rooms decorations!

Here are our outside decorations. We put our garland above our front door and place two christmas trees in planters on either side!




We have a very natural looking garland equipped with pinecones and poinsettias.


We also put large red bows on either lantern to add some more red to our front porch.


Next we have our living room. This year we didn't do our typical wrap the garland up our staircase and hang the stockings accordingly and sadly our stockings were left completely out of the decorations. That is okay though because our stocking at my grandparents house are hung and ready!

Above our fireplace we have a garland and blue and white decorations dispersed among the branches.


We also have this gorgeous winter flower arrangement in the living room!


On our dinning room table we have a tree with silver ornaments and some fun holiday decorations around its base.


And last but not least we have our Christmas tree! This is in our "formal" living room and is decorated with white, gold, and silver decorations.


Around the base we have some fun boxes that look like presents so it doesn't look so bare underneath! We usually don't see our real wrapped presents until we are loading them in the car to head to my grandparents house.


Tomorrow you will see loads of colorful decorations and lots of colorful ornaments when you get an inside peek at my rooms holiday decorations!

Merry Christmas!

dWa

Monday, December 10, 2012

Exam Week Necessities

My exam week starts tomorrow and let me tell you after six other exam weeks to think back on you are quick to realize what works and what doesn't. Fortunately this year my exam week is less stressful because I am exempt from some of my exams. (Being exempt is one of my schools senior privileges and you become exempt if you have a 93 or above in the class. Unfortunately, you can not be exempt from AP classes). I exempted out of ADV Calculus and Government and I have to take AP French, AP Environmental, and AP Lit. Over time I have figured out what my exam week necessities are and I thought it could be helpful to someone so I decided to share it with you!

Exam Week Necessities

1. COFFEE: Not sure if I could get through exam week or school for that matter without it! I like to make Peppermint Mocha Starbucks Via when I need a caffeine fix.

2. Index Cards: I find index cards helpful when I need to memorize key facts. These are great for classes with lots of information. For my AP Environmental class we were given an exam review sheet so I wrote each question and the answer on flash cards and it has made memorization easier!

3. Hair Ties: This may sound silly but I have to have my hair up to study otherwise I find myself playing with it which distracts from fully focusing on studying.

4. Highlighters: A must in my mind! Highlighting key words and separating them into categories (for history for ex. people in one color, wars in another, etc.) helps you remember the color as well as the word. Especially helpful if you are a visual learner like me!

5. Pandora: I don't know what I would do without my Instrumental Holiday station. The perfect way to put you in the Christmas spirit while still staying focused!

6. Socks: Warm and Comfortable when studying! Cold feet would be a distraction so I avoid that from the get go. I advise finding a fun pair to wear so that everything involving exams are not boring!

7. Colored Pens: Similar to highlighters, while working on study guides I find it helpful to break lists and other topics into different colors. 

8. PJ Pants: Similar to 6, if I am not comfortable studying will not come as easily. Although studying on my bed would be so nice, it is not practical to getting things done. Sitting at your desk while wearing PJs, leggings, or sweatpants is the next best thing!

I hope these tips help some of you! What are your exam week necessities?

dWa

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