Hello 2019.
You swooped in so quickly I didn't even have time to give a proper goodbye to 2018.

The months of November and December for me were a complete blur.
So before I forget the details of our Christmas, humor me as I reflect a little bit...

Once again, our home was filled with these beauties. Something about these simple little trees just fills up my heart. My collection grew this year when I found some giant versions of them at Hobby Lobby and some mini mint green trees a friend mentioned on Instagram. The mint ones are just as cute and I really wish I would've gotten a picture of them.

I displayed these pretty little trees on our sofa table as well as on our dining table as part of a centerpiece I created. (the same Thanksgiving Table Garland but just an updated Christmas version of it).

I tried my hand at drying oranges for the first time this year and created a Christmas tree garland using them. I love how it turned out and it ended up being the only thing I even added to the pre-lit tree this year. *gasp*

I absolutely loved the simplicity of the orange and wood bead garland with simple fabric tied on to it. And also, truthfully, I just could not muster up the motivation to pull out any of our Christmas ornament boxes and just left it as-is.

I LOVED the dried oranges and used them throughout the little bit of Christmas decor I put up this year. Not only did I use them on our tree, I tied them on to gifts and even incorporated them into our table centerpiece.

I had intended to add them to our stockings this year but never did.

I had fun learning some things about drying oranges when I tried both the oven method as well the dehydrator approach. The oven produces a more rustic colored orange where as the dehydrator results in a vibrant orange color. I prefer the rustic color for packages and decorating but the brilliant orange would be beautiful for creating homemade potpourri or bath salts + sugars. I also learned that they are no longer fragrant after drying but you can spritz or paint them with my favorite seasonal scent combo: orange + clove essential oils. Adding the oils makes them deliciously but temporarily aromatic.

I definitely love the natural elements the oranges added to the Christmas season. And since you can store the oranges I'll be using them again next year.

All of the dried oranges I was making created an abundance of citrus remnants which was perfect for the "Simmering Christmas" I like to do every year. If you haven't yet tried this easy simmering potpourri...pin this for next year! *wink*

All you have to do is fill a pot with water and add the ingredients above. Bring it to a boil and then turn it all the way to simmer. Add more water as it gets low and turn it off at the end of the day. I'm usually able to get a few days out of mine...replenishing water and spices as needed.

Something else I tried my hand at this year were stamped Gingerbread cookies. AND...my first time making gingerbread cookies at all...if you can believe that with as much baking as I like to do.

These were soooo neat to make and after a couple of batches and testing different recipes I'm confident I've found the perfect combination for successfully making these gorgeous cookies.
I posted these on Instagram and there are friends over there waiting on the recipe so I promised to post it before the end of January! So stay tuned for that.

Of course our annual Cookie Baking was on my list this year...
Unfortunately, my cookies were just "off" for me...for a couple of different reasons.

First, my girls weren't even able to make it this year which really sucked the fun out of the whole process for me.  I believe that's what led to the "second" reason my cookies were "off" - over-baked. My heart just wasn't into it. BUT...frosting makes it all better, doesn't it? It helps hide imperfections and so that helped salvage the cookies somewhat. They aren't as pretty as the Christmas Cookies I made last year BUT I did try a couple of new snowflake designs that I will be using again for next year. (AND...my mom created the cutest little wreath cookies - I'll be stealing it for next year). *giggling*

I'm calling it a "Christmas Surprise" because it sounds WAY more exciting. The surprise was that Jay was on his "Christmas light game" this year and actually surprised me by getting them up on Thanksgiving weekend - I didn't even ask. It was awesome to have them up to enjoy throughout the entire month of December - he knows they are my favorite.

Another surprise was that we did a little something different this year when we made the two hour drive back to Mt. Dora, four days before Christmas, to participate in a 5k with some of our friends. Ella and Jay ran it and I did a nice brisk walk. It was a crisp, cold morning for a 5k but our hearts were certainly warm getting to see our friends and some family for the weekend. We stayed with my mom one night too and then made the drive back home to St. Johns. 

Truthfully, aside from the fact that I nailed the "gift of giving" by shopping early and being done a couple of weeks before Christmas this year...there wasn't enough Christmas spirit in our home. I was really feeling empty and spirit-less on some days and I didn't even do the "25 Days of Christ" to help us really focus on the significance of the season.

It was also the first year, in my whole life, my two older girls were not there with me on Christmas morning. It was a hard pill to swallow and most certainly made Christmas seem entirely different.

Emalyn drove up at noon on Christmas Day to have an early dinner with us and exchange gifts. That made things a lot more tolerable and I was happy to have been able to see her on Christmas.
I hope next year is different...as I'm not sure I can take another Christmas morning without them.

Thankfully my sweet Ella helped bridge the gap of the emptiness I felt in my heart as a mama missing two of her daughters. She woke Jay and I up at 4:00am on Christmas morning when she discovered the new bike Santa left for her by the tree. *wink*

I intend on making a few changes for next Christmas since there were things I didn't experience this year and my heart was really sad about it. I felt I was just watching Christmas float by and all I did was look up for a minute and give it a little nod.

BUT...there were also things that filled up my bucket/heart.
And truth be told, I didn't realize how many "joyful" things I had actually experienced until I started writing this blog post.

So yes...I NEEDED to write this Christmas recap because it allowed me to realize just how many wonderful things were tucked in between all of the disappointment I was feeling.

Thanks for being here friends!
Looking forward to sharing again soon!

KEEPiNG iT REAL
Stuart, our elf, made his annual visit...which is a good thing because Ella, at ten years old, is still very fond of him and misses him like crazy when he leaves after Christmas. It was a little sad this year because Ella and Stuart had been writing letters to each other every day until Stuart slipped on a skittle Ella left for him one night. Oops! He fell and injured his writing arm and "Doc Elf" had to make a visit and bandage him all up. It just so happened it occurred right before I left to go to Magnolia in Waco, Texas. *wink*

HOME | Entryway Photo Art

Yes, it's true...I might not have very many Christmas decorations up around my house just yet...
despite being about two weeks away from the big day!!

I did, however, put something else up this week that is near + dear to my heart and that will add a very special touch to our home this holiday season and far beyond that...

Three new 24x36 photo canvases from Shutterfly of all three of my girls

I've been wanting to do something like this for some time now and finally made it happen using Shutterfly's "Design-A-Wall" feature. It really made the entire process super easy - from selecting the right photos, creating the perfect layout as well as physically hanging the art on the wall.

Since I've been dreaming of oversized artwork of my girls for some time now, I knew I wanted to go BIG and fill as much of the wall in our entry as I possibly could. I was looking for a high-impact result and I got it!! I think color photos would've been really pretty too but I chose to go with black and white because of the timelessness they evoke. 

Want to know how easy it was to make this happen?

PICK THE PHOTOS
Even though I toyed with the idea of using photos of the girls when they were each two years old,  (how fun would that be?), I ultimately decided it was more important to make sure I selected photos of each girl that had similar backgrounds and lighting since they would be grouped together. I narrowed it down to a few of each girl from our Christmas Photo Shoot last year.

PICK THE ART MATERIAL 

Now all I had to do was decide which art material I wanted the photos to be printed on.
There are six different options to choose from on the Shutterfly website - see below. I admit choosing the art material was a little tough because the wood and metal artwork sounds WAY cool but I ended up selecting a more tradional option - canvas. It's easier on the wallet and they are light as a feather which makes hanging them even easier.

PICK THE PHOTO ARRANGEMENT
Shutterfly offers quite an array of pre-arranged photo layout templates to pick from. I measured the wall in the foyer where my artwork would be hanging to narrow down the selections based on what would work best in my space. I went with the 78x36 Layout - see below.

UPLOAD YOUR PHOTOS
Next, I uploaded the photos I'd previously decided on to the Shutterfly website and inserted them into the template.

CROP PHOTOS 

In order to give a more cohesive flow to the photos I selected, I had to crop Ema and Clara's photos so their faces filled up more of the frame/canvas. Notice how it looks as if Clara is tall and Ema is short in the original upload and layout? (see above).

This was super easy to fix by just clicking on the photo I wanted to crop which then took me to an editing window where I created a box around the area I wanted to zoom in on. (There are other editing tools to choose from as well like adding a filter, removing red eye and even rotating the image if you need to).

Isn't that a lot more balanced now after having cropped both Clara and Ema's pictures? (see below)

ADD TO CART + PLACE ORDER
With my photos uploaded and cropped, I just pushed "Add to Cart" and placed my order.

Notice the little exclamation marks in the upper left of each photo? That's a warning from Shutterfly that the resolution on my images may not be high enough for a good quality print. I personally ignored the warning and went ahead and placed the order - hoping it would all turn out all right - and they still printed beautifully! (tossing the confetti)

DISPLAY THE ARTWORK

When the order shipped, there was a handy dandy paper template that was sent separately which also included "Easy Hang Guide"instructions and a small level in a tiny envelope. (see all three below)

I unrolled the paper template right on the dirty floor of the foyer and just followed the written instructions.

Keeping It Real Disclaimer
I was too lazy and too focused on getting these canvases hung to bother moving the pot of wilted mums belonging to Clara or our dog's tennis ball from the photo. 
And all of that junk on the right is spilling out of my studio. 
This is real life folks.

First thing the directions mention is to attach the self-adhesive level to the paper template in the "PLACE LEVEL HERE" spot at the top. So I did just that.

With the level on my paper template, I grabbed some painter's tape and a ladder and managed to hang it up on the wall all by myself since no one else was home. (I recommend enlisting the help of someone if you are hanging something this wide because it would be a lot easier to manage). *wink*

At first I used some cheap painter's tape to attach it to the wall. I somehow managed to get it straight after a few adjustments, a lot of up and down on the ladder and a little huffing + puffing wishing one of the girls was home to help. I even considered putting off the project until someone got home but I was too stubborn + excited and wanted to get it hung up to surprise everyone. Besides all of that, I really wanted to prove to all of you that you could really do this project all on your own.

I stepped off the ladder and because I used the cheap painter's tape...this started to happen. (see below) Oh heck no! After all of that "up and down and back and forth" business, eyeing the level and getting it just right, I found myself repeating the process all over again. So frustrating.

So then I reached for a wider (and higher quality) painter's tape I had here at the house and went to town by applying double strips of tape to all of four corners of the paper template. This was a much better call and I should've just done that in the first place.

Once the paper template seemed nice and level and was positioned on the wall exactly where I felt the photos should be, (and was hanging securely this time),  I referenced the key at the bottom of the template to determine where to place the holes to mark the wall for hanging.

Since I have canvas prints, spot "A" was where I needed to push a nail through the paper. There were 3 "spot A's" because I was hanging three different canvases.

After I made 3 holes in the wall, I took down the paper template I had just worked so hard to hang and proceeded to hang up each canvas using one nail. (the canvases come with a mounting bracket you hammer into the back of the canvas frame - easy). And Voila!! They are up!!

They look awesome and it really was easy - and they were level!!  So important!!
I pushed the antique church pew back into it's position and just added a couple of items to make it seem a little more decorated - just so I could get a final photo to post here. *wink*

And if you are thinking the canvases seem pretty high up on the wall, you are right. And there were two thoughts behind this decision:

1. I wanted to make sure I was adding more height to this space by placing them closer to the ceiling and eliminating a lot of empty space above the photos.

2. My goal is to add some wood work to this entry eventually, perhaps in the form of wainscoting or maybe even some faux shiplap? If I go with the wainscoting, I want it to be pretty high up so that it would be taller than church pew.

I am so happy with how this Shutterfly project turned out.
I love that when someone walks into our home now, they will immediately see the three most beautiful + important things in my life.

If you've been toying around with the idea of creating a space in your home with some high impact visuals of your family, I would highly recommend using Shutterfly to help you create the perfect space.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST BY SHUTTERFLY.  

PEN +  PAPER FLOWERS HAS RECEIVED COMPENSATION AND/OR PRODUCTS 

IN EXCHANGE FOR SHARING...BUT FRIENDS…AS ALWAYS...

ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN + I ONLY SHARE PRODUCTS + IDEAS  I LOVE + ADORE.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

KEEPiNG iT REAL
Of course, now that I've got some beautiful artwork hung up in the entryway, now I'm forced to have to add a new rug, perhaps paint the inside of the front doors, replace the light fixture and add a little more charm to the space. *wink*

I am fully aware that decorating a home is a life-long project. I giggle to myself when I hear people express their desires to finally be "done" with a specific space they've been working on. Really? Because being "done" never really happens for me. I LOVE changing things up too much to ever think something will ever be final or permanent. Anyone else like that?