A Tiny Prints Inspired "Bright and Cheery" Christmas!

When Tiny Prints contacted me again this year to collaborate on a Christmas inspo post I was honored and overwhelmed all at once. I took a little while to think about it because as most of you know I’ve gone back to work full time, as a Project Designer for Barbie, back at Mattel Toys. This has been a real shift for me in what I’m able to accomplish creatively outside of work and just how much free time I have compared to this time last year when my life revolved around chasing after the kids, planning parties and crafting/blogging in my spare time.

(See my last years "Black, White & Gold Christmas" Tiny Prints post here...)

When I went on the Tiny Prints website to see if anything “spoke” to me, I was immediately drawn in by their fresh Christmas color palettes and unique card designs and holiday décor… SOLD! I couldn’t stop thinking about all the different card options and I loved the idea of offbeat Christmas colors like coral, turquoise, mint and peach. I love that Tiny Prints offers matching envelope liners, return address labels and custom photo stamps to really bring the entire look together. 

What really sold me were the new custom name stockings for our entire family. I became obsessed with the idea of finally updating our stockings and I’m so happy I did, I love the way they turned out! Stockings that are cute and high quality, with our names on them… What more could you ask for!?

I got around to styling our Christmas mantel a couple of weeks ago- one of my pure joys in life! I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration and came across a photo backdrop made out of ribbons that I thought would translate to a mantel backdrop quite nicely! I got out the ol’ ribbon bin and started pulling out anything bright and cheery, my 2015 Christmas theme. After so many depressing things have gone on in the world these last couple of months, I figured a bright and cheery Christmas is exactly what we needed. Nothing cheers me up more than woodland animals and kitschy pieces, so I gathered everything I had in this feel and brought them all together to live on my mantel for the month! They're simply loving the reunion.

I happened to have a wreath from years past that I knew would tie all the bright colors together, and I hit up Target for some cute felt ornaments to hang on the blacks pom-poms that I had draping across our white bricks. 

Our Tiny Prints Christmas cards came and I was even more blown away by their quality than last year. If you haven’t used Tiny Prints before, they print on thick card stock that has a bit of a texture to it, making it look almost canvas like. I was a little concerned how our card with only one photo would print, since the card itself relied on great photo quality instead of a cute graphic backdrop… And it was stunning! The card with two photos was a real crowd pleaser, all of my designer friends simply loved the scalloped edging... It's all in the details, am I right?! I was so proud to mail out our cards this year!

Aside from the mantel, we have another section of the house wear I switch out our decor for the holidays, and that is on top of our credenza. Like so many of us I have been collecting Santa pics of my kids every year since they were born. Every Christmas it brings the biggest smile to my face to see the kid's and their planned out/ color coordinated Christmas outfits sitting on the big jolly guy's lap... This year I let Cormac skip the traditions-old bow tie which was a total drag (for me) but my little surf/skate rat was fighting for shorts so I had to give in somewhere!

 

Seeing the Tiny Prints holiday inspired pillows made me giddy to place my order as we have these two chairs, one on each side of the credenza that I love to put holiday pillows on. I love the quality of these pillows- the colors are bright, the fabric is thick and they just look fabulous. You can even choose the wording on a few of the designs... I actually did the Merry, Merry, Merry one on my own! Each design they have is a nice modern twist on Christmas pillows! 

Notice our last years acrylic photo block there on the left... LOVE this piece. Such a great gift, I actually ordered two of these this year as gifts- they're really fun alternative to a picture frame... I can't wait to give the two I got away as presents! 

To go along with decorating the house this year, I got in to making “Ugly Christmas Sweaters” for a couple of parties Cormac and I were attending. At first, like everyone else I hit multiple thrift shops to see if I could score anything downright horrendous to wear. I came up empty handed and I’m convinced no ugly Christmas sweaters last more than a day in a thrift shop now, since this theme has become so freaking popular in the last 10 years. As a side note, I heard about a new theme this year, “Christmas Onesie Party”… Freaking genius and why haven’t I been invited to one already? I can most definitely fit in to a kid's size XL onesie, I tried one on at Target the other day just in case an invite were to come my way...

MAKING UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS:

For mine, I decapitated a moose ornament (kids not happy about this decision, FYI) and sewed him closed at the neck. Then I got some brown and tan felt and created somewhat of a tree stump look to “mount the moose head to”… Get it? I took a brown Sharpee and lightly drew in some tree rings on the tan part of the trunk. I then cut off a few gold glitter branches and hot glued them on- I could have sewn them but I figured there’s no way this thing is surviving a wash, so why waste time on sewing when hot glue will do the trick. To make the moose head cute (you didn't really think I'd be making something actually ugly, did you?) I added some earrings and a bow to her head. I topped the design off with a couple of fake tree branches and a red ornament just for some much needed gaudiness...

For Cormac’s I took an argyle sweater he had and crafted a Santa out of felt to add to it. To make the Santa, I cut a face shape out of cream felt, 2 pink felt circles for the cheeks, one smaller pink felt oval for the nose, two blue felt circles layered on top of two bigger black felt circles and a two small white accent marks created the eyes. For the mouth I cut a lips-like shape out of red and gave a white smile line for some contrast. I gave him a Santa hat out of red felt trimmed with white felt and Cormac found a bag of bells in my craft room so I added one to the end of the Santa hat! I took white batting and created the eyebrows, mustache and beard… And last but not least I took gold wire and twisted up some specs for ol’ Santa to see… When all was said and done I hot glued it on to the sweater and he got some great compliments at his school party! All in all, neither sweater cost me a penny and I maybe invested an hour total... WIN.NING.

Believe it or not, I am about to be off of work for 7 days! In this time I'm hoping to get a blog post up on how I ended up back at Mattel and what the transition has been like for our family... I have it all written in my head, I just need some time to get it on the computer!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas or other holiday if that's what you're celebrating. As a Christian, I am proud to celebrate Christmas... However, I don't say Christmas to offend anyone else, there is never spite in my Christmas wish or my Christmas cards... If you celebrate Hanukkah- blessings upon you! If you like to say "holidays" because you don't believe in Christ... That's fine by me man! I wish you an amazing season regardless of what you believe!

Thanks for reading the laziest blogger who ever blogged, blog.

xoxo

Kenna

Everything I have said in this blog post is my own thoughts and words... However, I have been compensated for this post... DUH.