It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It really is. I LOVE Christmas. And it's been fun decorating this year~ I've been a little overwhelmed with having a new house to decorate because I had NO idea where to put anything. And I actually got most of the decorating done before we left for Thanksgiving in Texas, and am so THANKFUL now that I did that. It was great coming home and having most things done. The crafty bug has hit me hard this week, and so I've been working on a couple things. I was inspired by some stars similar to these on Fancy Pants' blog. I know, I know....I'm always inspired by Fancy Pants. :) They're my favorite~ I swear they are in my head. Crazy.

Pretty simple, basic project...some wooden stars, dowels, and spools. Add your favorite Christmas papers~ the ones I chose are from Basic Grey and Fancy Pants (I know, shocking). ;)
Black paint, E6000 to glue it all together, and some mod podge because I wanted a shinier finished product, some leopard print bows because 1) they go with the stockings I'm working on for our mantle and 2) I love leopard print. :) And voila! They're done.

A little "happy" for our mantle. :)

I was wanting something big for our entryway, and was inspired by something I saw in a Potterybarn Teen catalog. Their version had peace sign ornaments hanging on it, which was kinda fun, but I changed it up a little. We had these old deck boards in our yard (Brian replaced them this summer), so I asked him to put a few of them together for me so I could paint a tree on it. Thankfully he's used to my weird requests and happily got busy hammering. Love that man. :)

So I painted a tree, nailed some jute to create some trim, added some chipboard stars, a paper one on the top, hung these red snowflakes on the nails (purchased at Walmart), and it was done. It's different, fun, and adds something substantial to our entryway. What do you think?

And as a bonus, here's a pic of our dog, Addy, in her Christmas fleece jacket. Because apparently I've become one of those people who like to dress up their dog. Who would have thought? ;)

A Very Hatcher Christmas (album)

So....a couple weeks ago our women's minister stopped me at church to ask if I'd be willing to share a Christmas album with our mom's group and talk about our family traditions at our last meeting, coming up in a week.

I told her I would love to except....I don't have a Christmas album. :/

I know...I'm so ashamed. ;) Someday I will have time to scrapbook my family, right?

Thankfully, she said that wasn't a problem, and set a budget for me to go shop for things to make a Christmas album to share with the girls.

Seriously!?! Does that girl know the way to my heart, or what? Just kidding. Kind of. ;)

But really, how much fun would that be? :) :) :)

Lots, I tell you. Lots.

I headed to Archivers and was once again thankful that there were plenty of Christmas papers and embellishments to choose from in October. :)

I'd love to show you more, but I've only done the cover. :) I know....this week will be busy. Really excited about going back over these last 10 years and re-living our family Christmases.

*Please excuse the picture quality....had to use my flash, which I usually avoid, but it's night time, so what's a girl to do?*