It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

We’ve pulled out the Christmas decoration fun…and just for FUN–I thought to help some of y’all brain storm in your Christmas ideas for the month ahead–I’m going to share just a few of my favorites from past Christmas Babe of my Heart posts!

Decking the Halls…

Here’s a inexpensive way to decorate your banister. You’ll need magnolia leaves, wire, cardboard and spray paint. It only cost me $3 to make this…

The only thing I had to pay for was silver spraypaint. Martha used glue and mica–which sounded too messy to me. I opted for a can of silver spray paint. Parker gathered the magnolia leaves from the yard, Rico Suave spraypainted, and I hotglued them to little cardboard arches. You can see how Martha did hers here. Kuddos to Martha for thinking to break down the cardboard stock. And don’t waste your money on cardboard stock–just take apart some boxes as things arrive in the mail. This is really super easy–and super cheap. The way I like my crafts:).

Keeping Christ in Christmas in your home…

I made this banner last year–and it hangs on our mantel above the nativity scene. I heart:) You can go to the tutorial by clicking HERE.

ANOTHER thing we do every year is our Jesse Tree.

You can read about this in THIS POST--and download free ones online. For older kids, I love the one you can download FOR FREE on the One Holy Experience blog RIGHT HERE. (Hands down…the sweetest thing we do all season as a family each day!)

If you are dreaming of White Christmas…

Then you’ll love this wreath that costs $4 to make (out of coffee filters!) You can go to the tutorial HERE…

Getting ready for the beautiful cards…

Need a place to display all those Christmas cards??? I made these magnet boards several years ago–and they are a fun way to display LOTS of cards in a pretty way:-)

I bought huge packets of magnets and hot-glued some of Martha Stewarts flowers that are for card decorating and scrapbooks on them. The packets were just $1.50 for 20–so it is pretty inexpensive to cover 40 or even 80 magnets…and they are so pretty…and sparkly:). If you’d like to see the tutorial on making magnet boards like these–simply CLICK HERE.

A quick, sweet treat–that makes a fun little gift for little friends

We made chocolate covered marshmallows every year:). Because they are easy–kids can do them…and they’re much lighter than normal lollipops:) Aren’t they pretty??

Here’s how we like to make them in this post HERE. (Fun looking at these old posts and seeing how my kids have grown…and that one was while we were still waiting on our referral from Ethiopia!)

Getting crafty with the children’s gifts…

For those of you who want to keep things sweet and simple–and you even want to get crafty as you consider gifts–think about making a TENT for your sweet ones this holiday! You can use ANY material to make it for a boy or a girl. Last year I made Parker and Laney their very own tents to match the decor in their rooms. Easy peasy and very inexpensive!

A tent like this can seriously be whipped out in 1 hour if you have all the supplies ready!

And here’s just a little Christmas fun from our home to yours…

Now…to work on Christmas cards:)

Blessings to you!!!

Andrea:)