{Favorite DIY's of 2010}

2010 was a great year for DIY projects! I am so excited as to what all I will dabble in the next year!

Here are pictures of my top & favorite DIY projects of 2010. If you want to look back at the posts for tutorials, or to see what all I used and the process it took, you can find them under DIY on the right hand side of the blog.


Bayler's 1st Birthday Invitation




Wedding Announcement Subway Sign



Painted White Table & Bridal Booth




Birthday Cheap Artwork



Digital Silhouette Necklace



Happy New Year!!

{Thinking Ahead to Christmas 2011}

Am I crazy? I am already thinking ahead to Christmas 2011 ... and I am SO excited about it :) Let me explain ...

I never, ever, ever ever buy Christmas decor at full price. My favorite day to go shopping is the day AFTER Christmas, because all Christmas decor is 50% OFF. I scope out everything I really want ahead of time, wake up too early, and go grab it all up. Now, I don't know about you, but I was a little disappointed in Target's Christmas selection this year, there were only two things I wanted and that was it! SO, I decided to go to the Schaffer House, a home decor shop with everything you could possibly want for your home. And ... of course, all Christmas was 50% off. SO, I grabbed a few things ...




Love these birch flameless candles ... actually I just LOVE birch wood.




and I don't know why, but I had to have these mercury glass birds. I have no idea what I am going to do with them, or how I am going to use them, but I had to have them!




And don't you just love this slate chalkboard? It's going on to on my bar area next year and I'll use it as my drink menu. Love Love Love.




For next year I am still planning on decorating in all silver like I have done in the past, i just can't get enough of it, but ... I will be adding LOTS of birch and lots of mercury glass ... all DIY of course. And I am starting on some next week! Can't wait to share it all with you!

Do any of you get all of your holiday decor at 50% off also??

{Christmas 2010}

** Warning: Picture Overload **

Wow, as I am writing this I am realizing just how exhausted I am :) It has been a wonderful, family filled Christmas, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. My husband and I were sitting on the couch tonight and saying "It was perfect." We felt like a complete family, and having two small kids with the excitement in their eyes was absolutely amazing!






We started celebrating on Friday night, we went to church and had our own "Christmas Miracle." We actually were able to sit through the whole service and not have to walk out with either of the kids! Wooo Whooo! We followed church by going over to Ryan's grandma's house where we met his family and my family for the Imhoff Tradition of Christmas Eve "Surf N' Turf." It was ... AMAZING! Love me some crab legs! After dinner we just let the kids run and open gifts and it's a five minute haze of wrapping paper and bows. We still have no clue who gave what, but the kids loved it! After relaxing we head back to our house, my parents come too, and we do our family stockings. Always fun!


















Of course Christmas morning the kids woke us up super early to open presents, and we have our own family time ... I love this part of Christmas! Ryan and I also exchange gifts as well that morning. And then we head over to Ryan's parents house for yummy breakfast, gifts & lounging. Oh so fun!







I just LOVE Christmas time, and I can't believe our festivities are over! The kids had an absolute blast, and I will cherish these memories forever! :)

{Merry Christmas}

Merry Christmas to you and your families! I am so excited to see what 2011 brings!





- The Imhoff's

{Christmas Traditions}

One of my favorite things about Christmas is all the family traditions that have been passed down, and new ones we're creating with our own family. It's something to look forward to the entire year, even the kids are starting to remember them.

For documentation purposes, here are some of our family traditions:

1. In early November, all of the women on my mom's side (really we take our kids too so there are guys there) but we all gather and bring TONS of cookies for our cookie exchange. This year each of us made 4 dozen per person ... yeah, add that one up :) This way we do not have to bake very much during the holidays and we have an assortment of cookies. We also make my Grandma's famous sugar cookies there, so the kids can cut them out and frost them!

2. Every year, a week or two before Christmas, we pack up and head to KC for my mom's side of the family. It's our "Steak Fondue" Christmas celebration. Have you ever had Steak Fondue? It's SO yummy and unique. We all are able to sit around the table, talk and cook our own food. It allows for a longer dinner, which is wonderful when you haven't had a chance to catch up with family for a while.

3. Of course we always take the kids to see Santa sometime between Thanksgiving & Christmas, it's always funny to see how they will react. I love it! Lately, Bass Pro has offered FREE pictures at their locations, so we don't have to go to the mall and pay a ridiculous price for their pictures, which are bad quality too! Plus, who doesn't love to walk around Bass Pro, we all think it's fun!

4. Christmas Eve is a big day for us. You can usually find me in the kitchen baking something for dinner that night. The kids are off playing, and Ryan is usually putting gifts together that need to be assembled before time. We all go to a Christmas Eve service at our church just down the road, and afterwards head to Ryan's Grandma's house for dinner. This is not just any dinner ... this is Surf n' Turf Dinner ... complete with steak and king crab legs. Seriously, my favorite meal of the whole entire year! What's great about this dinner, is it's Ryan's family & my family ... now how many people can say that? It's great to have us all under one roof. After dinner the kids get to open some gifts and we all sit around and relax and the men indulge in some Crown. AND after all of that, we head back to our house, and throw some cookies dough (made that morning) into the oven for Santa. Baths are taken and we all curl up and read The Polar Express. Nothing is better than that!

Christmas morning we all wake up and enjoy our family Christmas with all the Santa gifts as well. Eat a good breakfast and go crazy with excitement! This is one of my favorite times! Once we all clean up and shower, we head over to Ryan's parents for gift giving, lunch and just relax.

Christmas evening we head over to Ryan's Grandma's Sisters, where the whole extended family is for food and games. Usually the women are upstairs playing board games and the men go downstairs and play poker. It's a great way to end the Christmas day. And as you can imagine, we are all EXHAUSTED afterwards!

What are some of your family traditions?

{Easy DIY Last Minute Gifts}

These gifts may be last minute, but that doesn't make them any less important! Since Braeden is in school this year (daycare/preschool) I wanted to be sure to pick something up for his teacher and the Owner who is a friend of ours. Before I had an idea, I found it really hard to come up with something that would say "Thank You" but still stay a bit classy as well. What teacher really wants an apple? Anyways, I saw this free printable over at Twig & Thistle and I immediately knew what I wanted to do!

I mean, how cute are these??



Of off I went to Starbucks! I picked them each up a gift card (just $5.00, enough for them to get some joe) and I asked the man behind the counter if he could also give me 2 cups with lids.

I just went home, printed off the free printable from b*spoke and pasted it onto the cup. Inside I dropped the gift card, and now it's complete. SO easy! Here is how mine turned out ...







The perfect way to say "Thank You!"

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Secondly, here is a quick DIY gift that I am giving the hubs this year. It only cost me $2.00! It's just a little something I will put in his stocking, not the main focal point gift of course, but just something that says "I was thinking about you."

While I was shopping for my digital silhouette necklace items, I found these cuff links. Nothing special, but I thought, since I am already buying this Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, I could use it with these. Are you ready?

I printed out "I"s for Imhoff. I did 2 in white and 2 in grey (so they would work with all suits). I cut out small circles so they would fit the insides of the cuff links. I poured the dimensional magic in and waited for them to dry. That's it! They do have a few bubbles in them, but that is because I didn't catch them right away, if you watch it, it should not bubble. Unfortunately for me, I decided to make them right under his nose, but I didn't want them out drying for him to notice, so I put them downstairs ... which is why I was not watching them :)





Like I said, nothing special, just really easy, but really cool! I think he'll like them!

{Digital Silhouettes Gift #2}

Okay, this DIY gift is one my favorites so far. I love it so much, I am ashamed to say how many I made ... okay I made 4, but they are SO cheap that I wanted to give them to all the grandparents after I saw how beautiful they turned out!!

Let me introduce to you, my digital silhouette necklace...



Not only are these cheap, but they are incredibly easy to make as well! Here's how it's done ...

Take your digital silhouettes (I used they same ones I did the other day, but I scaled them down to a little smaller than 1 inch. Take a 1 inch circle cut out tool and cut out both silhouettes like so.




I put my silhouettes on a glass pendant that has a silver ring around the sides. It's actually supposed to to have something inside both pieces of glass. I however decided to put my silhouettes on the outside of the glass. One on each side. (Found mine at Hobby Lobby for $3.00) I took some super glue and glued my silhouettes to both sides of the pendant, and I made sure the edges were completely down, that is really important.

After they are both on good, take your Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and go over the entire pendant like this ...



The silhouettes will turn blue and the Mod Podge will look unclear (first picture), but they will eventually look like the second picture and become hard.




I let them dry for about 12 hours each. After that side is dry, I then flip it over and do the whole thing over again with the other silhouette. Obviously you don't have to do this step, but since I have two boys, I wanted one on either side.

You'll have to get a chain as well, but they are easy to find. I also picked mine up from Hobby Lobby, and let me tell you how impressed I am with it. I would have paid a lot of money for this at a department store, but at Hobby Lobby only $1.00 because it was 50% off :)

So there you go, a beautiful, easy & cheap Christmas gift!






** Did I mention that I made one for myself :) I have worn it the past couple of days and I have had 3 people come up and ask me where I got it! YES!