Ugly Sweater - My Ugly Attempt

Ugly Sweater parties have taken over and I'm a huge fan.  I'll take any excuse to dress in "costume"! 

Work puts on an annual "ugly sweater" day so I seized the day and took my opportunity.  I assumed finding the perfectly hideous top would be a simple task.  So I waited until the night before and raided the local thrift store. 

Apparently you can no longer find ugly sweaters these days.  I went to 2 Savers and a Goodwill before I gave up and decided to make my own.  While at my final Savers I walked through the doors and took about 5 steps before seeing the ugly sweater Mecca.  Holy marketing genius!  Savers hand crafted ugly sweaters of all sorts and slapped a $20 price tag on each!  Unless I'm purchasing furniture at a thrift store I have a very hard time spending much more than $6 on anything.  This gave me many ideas though!  (also, I don't know that I could have worn one of these sweaters without washing it first).

Supplies: Christmas decor, sweater and hot glue

Step 1: Wash thrift store sweater

Step 2:  Map out desired ugliness and glue to sweater

Step 3: Proudly wear Ugly sweater

Cost: $10

• Thrift store sweater: $6 (this could be free if you have an old one you don't mind globing on the hot glue)
• Christmas decor: $4 (easily free if you have Christmas decor you don't mind parting with) - anything Christmas was 50% off!
• Hot glue: on hand

I got so many compliments on my sweater so I guess it wasn't as ugly as I thought!

Linked with:
funky polkadot giraffe
my simple.homelife
chic on a shoestring decorating
Its a Hodgepodge Friday
504 Main
the thriftiness miss
my repurposed life
the answer is chocolate
liz marie blog
wait till your father gets home

Christmas in Ohio 2011

Last Christmas was just like any other day for me.  The Arizona weather seemed to erase the magic and not being with my Ohio family was quite depressing.  

I'm thankful that the Husband and I were able to spend this Holiday in the Midwest!  Seeing all of the kids open their presents from Santa brought that magic back, making everything right again.  

No snow though! I guess I can't have everything ;)

 

I felt my photography skills were lacking so I don't have many pictures to share.

Let me start by saying that the younger half of Design DNA does her Holidays BIG!  This girl had 3 live trees (living room, dining room, basement), and 2 artificial trees (foyer and guest bedroom).  Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture all of the Christmas flair.

Dining Room:  Colors were white and silver.  The Brother-in-Law informed me that he used 17 strands of lights on this bad boy!

Living Room: Colors used were very rustic - brown, maroon and cream.  She did a lot of ornament clustering this year.

Going along with the rustic feel of the living room, sticks were grouped in a large vase and finished off with the same  coordinating ribbon from the Christmas Tree.

The stairs even got the Christmas treatment.  White lights and live garland were strung up the railing.

Thanks for taking the tour.

We wish you and your family a great new year!  

-Design DNA

Confession Sunday

We hoard Christmas cards!! 

Reasons why...

1. They are too pretty to throw away
2. The guilt of throwing away overly priced cards from loved ones eats us up in side
3. We are determined to recycle them and reuse them in ways unimaginable (unimaginable may be a bit dramatic)

They all seem true but # 3 makes me feel less like the lady who finds dead cats in her garbage filled living room....

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Big sister - I like to break down the greeting cards from years past and turn them into new Holiday cards.

Greeting Cards Pre-op

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The patient is prepped for surgery 

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Creating a new base for the card (folded card stock in half)

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I used double stick tape to adhere the 

old greeting card image to the new folded card stock

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New cards made from old - mission accomplished!

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Little sister - She recycles her old greeting cards into gift tags.  

 Cut your desired shape, use a hole punch in one of the corners and put a ribbon or piece of yarn through the hole.  Attach your gift tag to whatever your hearts desires!

Cubicle Wars 2011

I work with a great group of people and although the content of our job is quite serious, we manage to cut loose from time to time.  

Last year we started the tradition of decorating our work spaces for the Holidays... some of us became very competitive!  

We'll try to top ourselves and each other every time ;)  

2010 - Team Stefanie and Corie 

That's right, we had a fireplace !!

2011 - Team Stefanie and Corie 

Welcome to our Winter Wonderland!

2010 - Team Elly and Lawinna

2011 - Team Elly and Lawinna

2010 - Team Aleah and Jason

2011 - Team Aleah and Jason

2010 - Team Jennifer and Chiquita

2011 - Team Jennifer and Chiquita

Coming soon...

Christmases past...

I've been busy making Christmas gifts for friends... Gifts that have to be mailed across the country... Gifts that I can't post until they receive them...and it's killing me!! 

I feel like it has been a lifetime since my last post and I was itching to put something out there. Here are some pics from Christmases past...

2008

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What: 

My Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and handmade snow ball ornaments.

How: 

• I raided the backyard for branches (and glued white glitter to the tops to simulate snow)
• The snow ball ornaments were created from white string, a balloon and fabric stiffener (glue, mod podge, etc.)
• Blow the balloon up to your desired snow ball size, wet the string with the glue and wrap it around the balloon in several directions.  Let the snow balls dry over night.  Deflate and pull out the balloon. 

2009
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Above: Grandma's hand painted village (which Jaime {sister} and I later inherit).  Below:  Grandma's hand sewn stockings

2010
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Last year's Christmas card - 

featuring our beautiful children ;)

 The first Christmas away from my Ohio family :(

Below:  Grandma split her Christmas village between Jaime and I.  I proudly displayed them in lieu of a Christmas Tree (I'm scared the puppies would be too curious of the tree).

We {the Husband and I} received so many greeting cards in the mail - I just taped them to the brick fire place.   

How do you display your Christmas cards??!

Holiday DIY Gift Catalog - Link Party

With Thanksgiving almost behind us and Christmas right around the corner, I'm a little panicked.  I've never been the kind of person to start shopping in July and you'll never catch me out on Black Friday fighting the crowds for all of the "great deals" (Tickle Me Elmo caused quite the riot if I remember correctly).

This year will be a mix of store bought and handmade gifts so I need to jump into gear.   Anyone else freaking out??  I'm compiling a DIY gift "catalog" if you will....  Please inspire us {ME} !!

Holiday Link Party Rules:

• Link to the specific post for something YOU have created - DIY Gifts (not to your main blog page). 
• Grab the Design DNA button to add to your blog page.
• Be sure to visit other posts and leave them a comment! 
• Let me know if you've featured me, and I'll let you know if I've featured you ;) 
• This party will stay open through December 15th.
• No limit - post away.  Just remember only DIY Gift ideas will be accepted.