Christmas Tree Skirt DIY

I have wanted to make a tree skirt to fit my "artificial tree" (gasp!) for a while now!  My mother would be so sad that I have taken on the tradition of an artificial tree.  Growing up we ALWAYS had live trees and when I mean "live" I mean they still had roots on the bottom and we planted them in the yard after Christmas.  The house did smell amazing!  I like to use the Bath and Body Works plug-in scent in fresh balsam to try and enhance my fake tree:)  I sure do love my tree and am counting down the days to put her up and dress her in this cozy tree skirt!

This is a NO-SEW tree skirt!  Can you believe it!  This baby is put together with a hot glue gun!  I looked at a few no-sew tutorials on Pinterest and then made mine.  I would check Pinterest out before you decide what to do since I am not the best at explaining every detail!

1) The first thing you need is a canvas to glue the strips of fabric to.  I went to Sherwin Williams and got their contractor series drop canvas in 5 feet by 5 feet.  It was $9.99.  I then folded it two times going opposite ways and traced with a pencil two curved lines one to cut the top for the tree trunk and then a big curved line at the bottom so when you cut it it unfolds into a circle.  Remember if you have an artificial tree that you don't want the top curve to be very big.  That is the part that will be the hole that goes around your tree trunk.  You then cut a slit up the side.

2)  I used three yards of fabric.  One yard each in a different pattern.  I used one black pattern and then two patterns in white...

I made a cut with my scissors and then ripped the strips at the cut all the way down into long strips.

3) Here comes the fun part.  Turn on a movie or invite some friends over to chat with while you start gluing for a while.  I had some friends over who were working on their own projects that kept me company so it went really fast.  It took me two hours of just hot gluing.  Start at the base and glue a 6 inch strip of glue onto your cut out canvas.  Take your strip and pinch the top of your strip of fabric onto the hot glue.  You will be pinching the fabric to give it a gathered look.  You will get the hang of it.  I didn't do heavy gathering just a little so the fabric didn't go on flat.  When you do the next row of fabric make sure your fabric overlaps a little with the fabric below so you don't see the canvas come through.

4)  If there are any spots because of the way it is gathered that you see the canvas peak through just take a dot of hot glue and make it go flat.

5)  OPTIONAL:  Pick a ribbon and cut it into four pieces and hot glue two on opposite sides to tie together.  Make sure to hot glue them underneath the skirt onto the bottom side.  Do the same below with the other two pieces.  This is optional because you could just overlap the slit a little when you wrap it around the tree in back.  The ribbon ties are going to be on the back side of my tree.

I am loving the way it turned out.  The canvas I bought has a good weight to it so I think it will lay nicely around the tree.  The best part is that the small hole will fit snug against my skinny tree trunk since it is custom made!  I think you could choose so many cute color combos for fabrics to make it your own.  It would be fun to take a bunch of random christmas fabrics of reds too.  I think next year I might make it reversible and make one on the other side.  This was a fun project that turned out to not be as hard as it looked!

Jane is TWO!

We love this girl!  She has been a happy spirit since the minute she was born.  When I was in labor the nurses kept mentioning how calm and steady her heartbeat stayed throughout her delivery.  She is adventurous and is always making sure I watch her jump off things by shouting "SEE?!"  Jane loves babies and takes care of all her dolls intently.  She sleeps in a big girl twin bed and shares a room with her big sister.  Evelyn wanted to sleep in my bed one night while Daryl was out of town but Jane made a scene and dragged Evelyn to their room so they could be together.  She loves cause and effect and enjoys throwing balls, playing with her trains, and hanging off the chairs in the living room.  She always sets up a pad of pillows to catch her landing off the formal chairs.  Even though she is active she is also cautious and sweetly shy.  She stays close to Mom, Dad, and sister until a Grandma walks in the room and then she's running to their arms.  She loves her Grandmas and Grandpas!  I love watching Jane free play and make her own games and routines around the house.  She is always discovering the little things in the big world we live in.  Happy Birthday Jane!  We love you!

We celebrated with our little family and Grandma Harvey.  It was a fun night.  Above is an intense game of balloon volleyball between Evelyn and Grandma Harvey.  Unfortunately earlier that morning Jane was acting like she had an ear infection which turned out to be true after going to the doctor.  She had her first ear infection on her second Birthday but I think still enjoyed all the balloons and playing with her presents.  We are so grateful to have Jane in our family!

She also helped me make her chocolate birthday cake...

Halloween Overload

We had a blast celebrating halloween this year.  It began with a fun Halloween party in costumes with some friends.  It was a fun date night.  Check out some of the costumes...

The last couple was the host of the party and I'd say the best dressed.  And I have to add that she made their entire costumes by hand.  She is SO CREATIVE!  We played some minute-to-win-it games followed by the dating game.  It was hilarious listening to all the couples answers to each question.  How it works is you are asked a question like "Where did you first see your wife for the first time?"  You then both have to write down what you think each other will say and if your answers match you get a point.  Seems like an easy enough question but you'd be surprised!  It was so funny listening to all the stories.

Here are a few of the minute-to-win-it games in action...it was boys vs. girls and the girls swept the boys under the rug!!!

MAD DOG:  tic tacs taped to each side of ruler had to be emptied faster than their opponent

QUICK SHOOTER:  each empty soda can had to to be cleared from the stools by only using a rubber band

RAPID MUMMY:  Wrap your partner with toilet paper until the roll is gone.  If the roll rips you are disqualified

We went to Daryl's brother Ryan's house for dinner Halloween night and went to a trunk-or-treat.  After the trunk-or-treat we went to houses around the neighborhood.  The weather was awesome!  Evelyn ran off with all her girl cousins to all the cars so I just had Jane to take around.  She was really nervous but accepted all candy donations.  Once she started chowing down on some chocolate all her shyness went away!  Imagine that.

I got to help in Evelyn's classroom for their harvest party!  I had SO much fun and fell in love with her little classroom...

Evelyn's awesome teacher Mrs. McCullough

The girls she sits next to everyday

The "green" table--these are all Evelyn's table mates

yum!

Evelyn's Kindergarten Class and future class of 2025!

                                             Fall is in the air inside our house too...here are a few random fall pictures...

the leaves came from a tree outside our back window

buddies

Daryl's new suit

us:)

"Love at Home" Wall Art DIY

You would think I'm having a baby in two weeks with all my craftiness lately.  I have definitely caught the decorating bug.  I had seen all the pins on Pinterest for printing enlargements at Staples as an "engineer print" for under five dollars and thought to do lyrics to a favorite hymn instead.  Every Sunday I am always inspired by a hymn's lyrics and always declare it my favorite hymn!  Well at least for that week anyway;)  I chose Love at Home and printed it off from lds.org under the music section.  I am so happy with how it turned out...

I used a wood board that was sitting in my garage and told the guy at Staples its measurements.  The gentleman at Staples did the math for me so it would fit.  I used modge podge to attach it and that was it!  When I first started with the modge podge I thought something went terribly wrong with all the folds and creases but once it dried flat it looked awesome.  I ran out of modge podge and used elmers glue mixed with equal parts water instead (which is much cheaper).  Daryl drilled a small hole in the wood on the backside to hang on the wall with.  Don't you just love it when a project turns out as planned!

Fall Getaway

My friend Lauren invited me to come with her to North Bend for a quick trip.  We both wanted to see the fall leaves on the drive to Seattle which we saw along with a lot of snow!  We spent the night at the church camp site at Ensign Ranch.  We were both worried how our two little ones would sleep but they slept through the night with no problems!  Big bonus.

The first day we stopped at my favorite bakery in Yakima for lunch, did two hikes, and ate out for dinner that night.  

The next morning we woke up to snow so we shopped at the outlet mall in North Bend and ate lunch.  The girls were pretty tired so we headed back that afternoon.  I loved every minute of our trip which included girl talk for a full 24 hours!  It was a nice getaway.

Fall + Trees = HAPPY MAMA

Me and Jane

Lauren and I

Deer!  They were eating the grass in front of our cabin

Both our girls are named Jane.  Which is fun because Evelyn also has a really good friend named Evelyn too.

This picture doesn't do justice but it was beautiful!

They wanted to stop at every quarter ride which felt like every five feet.  We let them get on each one without putting in a quarter and they thought it was awesome!  Every time I pulled out the camera my Jane would not look though.

The drive home-- I loved the snow capped trees

And they're out!  True Story.  We were parked outside the outlet mall and Lauren was getting out the strollers but had to take a couple hiking backpacks out first when the lady parked next to us rolled down her window and asked what kind of car we were driving.  Lauren told her what kind of car it was followed by the lady saying "wow, that thing has crazy trunk space."  When I got out of the car to help my friend I couldn't stop laughing!  I couldn't believe how much stuff she had pulled out!  It was like a magic trunk that had fit everything.  I think I would of asked what kind of car it was too after seeing someone pull out a boat load of baby carriers and strollers.  Lauren assured the lady it was just her mad packing skills:)

Grandpa Jones

It always seems like a good idea to wave at everyone so they look at the camera except that my kids always wave back!

My Dad was able to stop and visit with us for a day after his business trip in Seattle.  While he was here he replaced a toilet and the front door lock.  Thank goodness for Dads!  We ate lunch and went to the park.  It was a chilly fall day, but he got to see and play with ALL his grandchildren!

giving Bella loves

playing trains--Jane's favorite activity

Goodbye Grandpa!  We love you!