Making a house a home: Living room edition

The past few months have flown by. I look back and can't believe that it's already been 4 months since we have moved into our new home. Between moving, starting a new job, working on the house and settling into a new area it has really left very little time to blog so I'm hoping that since things are starting to calm a bit that I'll be able to focus on blogging a little more regularly. When I think back about all that has happened this year, it boggles my mind, but that's a post on it's own that I'll go into at another time.

In the small amount of time we have spent in the new house we have been able to complete a lot of projects. The whole downstairs area has been re-painted, that includes the living room, family room, dining room and kitchen, including all the cupboards and trim as well. I can say that I'm completely sick of painting, and to be honest I did little of it compared to Ryan. As much as I hate painting, it makes such a difference in a home. Before we moved in we had this icky yellow/off white color on the wall the reminded me of a smokers home. A new, fresh palette really made a huge difference. Adding in some personal items and lots of love have definitely made this house a home.

I can honestly say that I love our new home. Moving here has allowed us to be so much closer to family and friends and we love the simplicity of being able to call someone and meet up the same day, instead of making travel plans days/weeks in advance. I feel like this area is a step up from where we were before and as much as I loved the college town atmosphere, it's nice to be somewhere different and more...evolved. Living in town in so convenient for running to the store to pick things up and close to local events. Having the high school and middle school nearby is great for all the extras they provide (pool, tennis courts, track, football stadium). This small town atmosphere is definitely something I admire and am so thankful to have.

Here are a few photos of the home and projects we have completed so far. For now, I'm going to just show the living room and family room area.

Before: Living room looking into the family room.

Before: Living room (love the big picture window)

Before: Keeping Ryan busy with all the painting.

Before: Our old frumpy furniture (which now has a new home in the basement)

After: New furniture (FIL gave it to us because too large for his new home) & rug that we LOVE. Such a step up! Still need window treatment and a hanging light in the top left corner.

Cozy fireplace that is getting a TON of use already. 

Christmas Love

Our musical corner: Piano from my childhood home that my parents gave us and guitar from my dad. The area to the left leads to our dining room and kitchen. 

 Do you have any home projects that you are working on right now or the near future?

Day 1 & 2 #Elf4Health Recap: Homemade Cards

The #Elf4Health challenge has been going great so far. Meatless Monday was a pretty good success and day two was a task that I was really excited for because it gave me an excuse to be creative AND get in touch with those most important to me. I had been planning on making all my own Christmas cards this year and this was a perfect start to it. The #Elf4Health task for day 2 was to send a handwritten note. I took it a step further and also made all my cards using my Silhouette machine (similar to a Cricut). 

Lately, I've been really wanting to get my creative spark going again and this seemed like a great activity to do it. I'm really happy with how they turned out and hope that the recipients enjoy them too. I really love handwritten notes and hate that email is taking away from that tradition. There is just something about a hand-written note that makes it that much more special than some plain text on a computer. Maybe because it feels like a tangible part of the person and their personality. Am I the only one that feels that way? I doubt it. 

Below are the cards that I made yesterday to be sent out to friends and family. I still need to make about 10+ more of them and hope to finish them by the end of the week.

This challenge reminded me about all the handwritten notes and cards I have at my parents from high school. They are locked up in a toolbox in the attic so I'm hoping to stop by there soon and hopefully be able to crack the passcode to get into it. I think it will be a great laugh to see those from the past and our silly antics. 

Do you miss the art of handwritten notes? 

Did you take part in day two of #Elf4Health? 

Did you save your notes from high school?

My New Love

Christmas is over and I can't believe how quickly it flew by.  It seems like every year it goes by quicker and quicker.  We had a wonderful Christmas (3 actually) with our families and I hope that everyone had a fabulous one as well.  It's been nice the past few weeks to see our family more often since we have been able to travel downstate.  Every time we go down, we always keep an eye out for our next dream house for the day when we finally move back down there (within a few years).

Speaking of Christmas, I got some amazing gifts.  I've had my eye on one thing for quite some time and finally have it! The husband did a great job and bought me the Silhouette SD!!

I finally had a chance to play with mine today since we were back in town after being gone the holiday weekend.  I LOVE it...already! I spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon playing with it.  I had never used any type of scrapbook/craft cutting device before so I was a little apprehensive, but it was so simple.  I love how many different types of projects it can do.  Today I worked on a Thank You card for our parents (only got one done though -- need more paper) and also made a cut out box.

I used a template for this since it was the first project I was doing.

So much easier than trying to do any of this by hand.

I plan on working on another card to send to the in-laws this week! Hoping to pick up some double sided paper tomorrow for several projects.  It came with a $10 gift card and I bought several other templates for thank you cards since I love them (I have a basket full of them, but handmade ones are so much better!)

The box template once it was cut & waiting to be punched out.

Lots of punching out to be done.  Not gonna lie, was a bit tedious
after awhile but also one of the most labor intensive ones.

All punched out and put together.  Need to tape together
at top once I get battery operated tea light for inside.

Won't it be gorgeous lit at night?

Close-up

Best craft glue...ever!

Messy desk...need to upgrade!

I can't wait to learn everything that this machine is capable of!

Does anyone else have one of these nifty machines?  Any favorite crafts you've done or seen?  Any must follow blogs for scrapbooking/Silhouette lovers?  

DIY Cranberry Vodka

Phew, winter has rolled in with a vengeance and what better way to embrace then to warm up with a little bit of seasonal vodka to keep you warm.  The bitter cold and tons of snow have me cooped up in the house and I figured why not try out a recipe I've been waiting to do for awhile.  I'm kind of wishing that I had tried this earlier so that I could have possibly used it for a fun Christmas gifts for our friends.  It would be especially cute to put into a small mason with one of these fabulous labels and have a festive seasonal fabric topping it.  Such a great personalized, affordable holiday host gift!

The recipe is super easy and has rave reviews, so within a week I'm hoping to enjoy a wonderful cocktail or martini!

DIY Cranberry Vodka


Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split
• 2 oranges, peels cut into 2-inch strips
• 1 (750-ml) bottle vodka

Directions:

1.  Place cranberries, sugar and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Place pan over medium heat and stir. Simmer cranberry mixture until the berries burst, about 5 to 6 minutes.

2.  Place orange peels in a large glass container with an airtight lid, or large mason jars with lids. Pour vodka over the orange peels.

3.  Allow the cranberry mixture to cool. Pour the cooled mixture into the glass container(s). Cover tightly and set aside for 1 week.

4.  After 1 week, strain out the cranberries and orange peels and pour mixture into a clean bottle, using a funnel. Store vodka in the refrigerator.

 I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out and looking forward to enjoying a drink with friends and family.

Have you ever made your own flavor infused alcohol before?  I'd love to hear others experiences. :)