Merry Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Keiths!

Wishing you peace, joy & hope in Christ this Christmas.

This year's Christmas card was quite the event.  I thought it would be super easy to take some quick photos of us with the dogs using a self-timer and a tri-pod.  COULD. NOT. BE. MORE. WRONG.

As you can see Hudson didn't even make it into our card.  You can catch a glimpse of his head on my lap and Lola looks a little deranged - which she kind of is half the time but I like it this way.  This is just us and our life.  Definitely not perfect (although I have to say Bran and I look more pulled together than we usually do) but definitely happy and full of lots of laughs - thank you Hudson and Lola for that.

Here is a sampling of the ones we decided not to use.....

photo shoot #1

unison crotch sniffing (bad treat placement)

photo shoot #2

    

photo shoot #3

 Here's to hoping we can do better next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

O Christmas Tree

Well I am sorry that I have been a terrible blogger lately.  I've been so busy enjoying the holidays and all my friends and family that I really haven't been doing much crafting, knitting or house projects.  There just really has been nothing interesting enough to share with you all.  And to be honest, I have really enjoyed just enjoying life.  Don't get me wrong though....I still love my DIY and crafting projects and especially sharing it here but I'm not going to kill myself to get posts out if there isn't really anything worth sharing.

This however, is totally worth sharing....maybe.  Christmas is my favorite holiday for so many reasons. First, it is the advent season where we spend time preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus (or the celebration of the birth of Jesus), we celebrate his life and give praise to God for the gift of his Son, our Savior.  It is easy for me to lose sight of this amongst all the magic of the season - the twinkling lights, bedazzled trees, fresh snow, warm fires, pretty packages and even quality time with family and friends.  Oh and the holiday music and movies.  All of these are great, fun things and they are all reasons why I love Christmas but I am challenging myself to enjoy these things second to the joy of focusing my heart and mind on my Savior and what his birth truly means for me in my life.  If you can resonate with me too then I challenge you to do the same and if you have any great traditions, devotions or any other things you do to re-focus yourself amongst all the good cheer then please share with me!

With all that being said, we did have a wonderful weekend picking out tree and decking the halls all by a warm, crackling fire with the holiday tunes blasting. It was such a relaxing, cozy and fun weekend with the hubs and pups!

Hope you all have a joyful and fun and meaningful Christmas season!

my first craft fair ever

Tomorrow is the big day!  My first craft fair.  It is just a small fair at the local college where I work but I am still super excited.  I have no idea what to expect  - I'm not even sure people will show up but either way it will be fun.  I am sharing a table with THE faux martha and her great knit cowls.  (You should also check out her awesome recipes and baking/cooking tutrorials.)  So local friends, if you find yourself on campus tomorrow between 10:00 am - 2:00 pm come check out the fair on the second floor of the BGC.  Here's a peek at what will be on my table (along with kettle corn from the french market).

luxurious towel blankets for infants and children

Heated Neck Wraps

Headbands for all ages

and of course baby hats and bow tie onesies.......

DIY Oversized Framed Photos

I am in love with this project.  I first fell in love with the inspiration when I saw it Pinterest and now I am in love with my version of it.  I still really adore the original - it really can't be beat.

                                        my frame                                                  Pinterest

(Disclaimer: Don't mind the lack of - well - things in this picture.  This corner of the room is a work in progress.  Especially since Lola tore down the curtain and rod on the left.  Next project - turning those curtains into roman shades.)

But since it would cost A LOT of money to frame that many photos I had to come up with my own smaller scale version - that is CHEAP.

And you can make your own too.

First I had my husband use left over wood to create the frame.  With a little glue and a staple gun I assembled the cut pieces.

Then I purchased a piece of SMOOTH MDF or plywood. I know this isn't helpful but I really don't know what it is actually called.  Ehhhh......I bought at our local big box hardware store.....this tutorial is failing.......

Let's get this back on track.  Next I stained the frame using my new best friend, Minwax's Polyshade, a stain and poly in one.  Time and money saver.  Yes.  It is the same stuff I used for the corbel shelf.

I also painted the back board above white for a nice backdrop to the photos.  Based on your photos and room it could be fun to pick black or a fun color to spice it up a bit.  I am a plain jane so due to my fear of color I stick with the basics. 

My next step was to choose my photos.  I knew I needed 27 photos to fill in the frame so I selected 50. Once I had my potential photos I tested out whether I liked color, sepia, or black and white photos for my frame.  I decided that I needed some color but do to my fear of it that it needed to be bleached.

Next I measured out the dimensions and how much space would be needed between each photo so I could measure and secure the photos with a glue stick before going to town with the Mod Podge.

The last and final step was just SEVERAL coats of Mod Podge.  I chose Matte because I love it but glossy is great too.  The one challenge was getting some mod podge behind the photos since they were partially secured with glue.  I only put a dab of glue in the center of each photo so I was able to pull the corners and edges back to give the backs a thin coating.  It definitely was all they needed.  The photos are not falling off anytime soon.

If you look closely you can see the ridges and lines from the mod podge but that doesn't really bother me plus you have to look very closely to see it.  But it is something to consider - especially as you are layering it on.

So there you have it - your very own oversized framed photo display.

Now what to do with this corner?!

What should I put on the other wall?  I am thinking 3 horizontal pieces of artwork or perhaps a verse or wording of some type spread out across three frames....Any ideas?