Christmas Decor: Tree Ideas

After debating what to do with my own tree, I thought this post might be helpful to those who have yet to put their trees up. I can guarantee that my in-laws have yet to do this, as they always wait until the very last minute. It's a cute tradition that includes a few drinks, decorating the tree, wrapping presents and talking until the wee hours of the morning... all on Christmas Eve. I can never stay up that late, and the thought of doing all of this on Christmas eve gives me an ulcer.

Now, having said all of that... I recently went to the Christmas Store here in our little town, and took a few photos of inventive tree decorations.

Christmas Decor: The Tree

Like most people, December is a month for putting up decorations for us. This is our second year with our new artificial tree, and our second time attempting to decorate it. 

I started at the bottom by giving the ugly stand an inexpensive new look.
All I used is some burlap to wrap the stand, then used plastic bags to puff it out, and wrapped it with a simple bow.

Canadiana: The Nursery

With our wee Millie having been born we decided that perhaps we should find a better place for her to sleep than the bottom drawer of a bureau. :)

SOOOO, we set to turning our storage room into a nursery.
I can't find a single before photo... mostly because I am forgetful.
I think they call that baby brain.

We used a small chalk board for the door, just so Millie knows that this is her 'crib'... ha... get it... crib. It is both gangsta' and accurate at the same time. Thanks to hubby for his fondness of puns.

Proudest DIY Moment

For anyone who follows my blog... (okay, I guess I am really only talking to Alex of Hydrangea Girl then... *wink*) you know that my blogs have been few and far between over the past year. It has been a hectic time in the Wheele house, what with our most incredible DIY project ever!!!

Of course I am speaking specifically about the one project that I laboured on (ha... laboured) the longest.

I am pretty sure my husband would have liked to spend more time on the beginning stage of this project (hehehe) but I think we can both agree that it turned out pretty great.

I present the finished product:

Hanging Stuff: The Red Green Influence

Are you pregnant? Expecting guests? Feeling lazy?

Then I have the perfect DIY project for you!!

Behold! A wall with a hole in it. No need to patch and paint it when you can be twice as efficient with your time!

Canadian Cabin Nursery: Chair & Pillow

If I hadn't mentioned it before, our nursery theme is Canadian Cabin.
I figure it works if it is a boy or a girl!

Blog Hop!

My very first Blog Hop!!

I was nominated by the lovely and talented Alex of Hydrangea Girl. Her quirky love for skulls, graffiti, and all things slightly geeky are right up my alley, so it was only natural that we would end up blog friends. I kind of want to eat her up like a Zombie with a wagon full of brains. Please check out her fantastic DIY projects at Hydrangea Girl, and see her nominating post here.

So, here we go... as best as I can tell, I am to answer 4 questions and then nominate 2 more bloggers. This, I think I can do.

Garden Labels: Cutlery and Copper

I bought a letter punch set last year at Lee Valley, but never got around to using it for anything.

This year, however, I have made some garden labels!

I had an idea to make them using wood but didn't like the results.
I then thought that perhaps aluminum sheet might work...

Art Deco Hutch - Part 2

So last you heard, things rapidly went downhill from the last post, which you can find HERE.

In the description of this blog, I say "the sometimes disastrous, sometimes fantastic results of D.I.Y.".
This post definitely fits into the "disastrous" category!

the whole finish came off within minutes of putting it on... kind of pilling like an old sweater.
SOOO in for a penny, in for a pound. I began the arduous task of scraping of the sticky, goopy finish.
Gross.
And messy.

Growin' Stuff: One Become Two

Last year we had a fantastic idea to have a garden box to grow some of our own veggies.
To my mind, it was a great success.

I blogged about it here:
http://wheelehouse.blogspot.ca/2013/06/growin-stuff-garden-box.html

It was a 6'-0" by 12'-0" box and did extremely well for us last year.

It was so exciting to see the first of the plants starting to grow from seed, and even more exciting to see it really flourish.

Reclaimed Coat Rack: Everything Old is New Again

This house and the modest sized yard, have been a great source of found items. I kind of love how I have managed to find new uses for them.

Included in this found items list is an old coat rack that we found in the shed.

It is a simple design, not necessarily something to sand, stain, and bring inside, but certainly can be a very useful item.

Easy Home Fixes: Replacing the Thermostat

A bit of a benign project, but aren't most household jobs?

Anyway, I thought I would share changing an analog thermostat to a digital one.
For some reason, I have to do this every time we move into a new house.
This house being 140 years old, it is understandable that it had a crappy analog thermostat, but our last condo was brand new, and still had one???

The before photo - pretty standard old thermostat. Ours is really not very accurate either. Also, perhaps being a designer has made me nit-picky, but I can't stand the fact that it doesn't line up with the switch plate.

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2013

This is a lovely winter we are having this spring, don't you think?

As we speak, I am watching the snow fall here in Carleton Place. It looks like we already have 6-9 inches out there. I wonder how much longer it will fall?

Anyway, last post I showed you all our first annual Christmas card of 2012. 
This time, I will show you this year's annual card.

Of course, we enlisted the help of our very talented friends from heLENS photography, Jeff and Helen again.
You can find their photos here: http://www.helensphotography.ca/PhotoShoots/Friends
I had a wacky idea to do a cabin theme with the whole family's head mounted on the wall. Fun idea, but the execution of it was interesting to say the least.

Christmas Fun: The Annual Card 2012

We just received another 10 cm dump of snow, so I feel justified in doing some more Christmas catch up.

Today, we talk about our annual Christmas card!

We started thinking about our annual Christmas card after we were married, but didn't actually put one out until Christmas 2012.

I am not sure what caused us to be so daring, but the idea was in my head, and there was little I could do to stop it. Also, as usual, our friends Jeff and Helen of HeLENS Photography were more than willing to help us out with this little project, no matter how bizarre.

You can check them out here: http://www.helensphotography.ca/PhotoShoots/Friends

Anyway...

...We invited them over to our house and gave them the basic concept. We were hoping to get all three of us in the photo, but Grey was less willing to stay put, or to catch the light the same way our extremely pale faces did, or keep his Santa hat on.

They say never work with kids or animals...

Christmas Fun

Alright it is has been far too long since my last post - Soooooo you are in for a bit of a Christmas re-cap.
Besides, the way I look at it, winter is still in full swing here in Carleton Place. As I speak it is -20C and with a huge dump of snow a couple of days ago, I think winter will be sticking around a while longer.

This year the in-laws were coming to see our house, and spend Christmas with us for the first time.
Of course, we needed to do a little preparation before they came, you know, clean and Christmas-i-fy the place.