{DIY} Christmas Card Holder

Every year I place the Christmas cards we receive on our fridge, this year I wanted to do something different and display them more in a way where our guest and we could enjoy them better. I decided on a green, white and silver theme this year for the holiday so keeping with that theme I picked up some satin ribbon in my color choices. 

I cut two pieces of green ribbon the same length, they can be any desired length. 

Then I cut a shorter one out of white satin ribbon. 

Using double sided tape I taped the ribbons to the wall with the two green ones on the outside and the white one in the middle. I snipped the ends at an angle to finish the look.

I then took my same white ribbon and made 3 bows, which I just eye balled and did free handed. I like that they are kinda perfectly imperfect, if you know what I mean! 

Here's what they look like all finished:

 Pretty little bows, a perfect little touch! 

Now, all I need to do is wait for the cards to arrive in the mail and use some double sided tape and tape them to the ribbons. I can't wait to start getting cards in the mail from all our loved ones. I love seeing how they have changed throughout the year. 

And this way, I have a pretty little way to gush about all the people I love so dearly. 

Be Creative Challenge

Week #46

{All That Glitters}

This has been the second year in a row that we've headed to downtown Glendale for their annual holiday celebration that kicks off the weekend of Thanksgiving. Glendale Glitters is now in its 15th year and is home the most charming little lit up downtown you've ever seen. They have carnival rides, horse drawn carriages, food vendors and of coarse the Christmas tree lighting and tons of special music and events during this time of year. 

Last year it was just Orion and I, this year we took our little girl (who had a major poop accident on the way there) to join in on the fun with us. 

Trying to get a family photo these days is proving to be a hard task, she moves everywhere and is all over the place but she's too cute and keeps life very fun not to share. 

 {Daddy & Ava}

 {Mommy & Ava}

We had a really great Thanksgiving weekend making some new and fun family traditions of our own. We spent the weekend decorating and I'm excited to share what we've been working on here in our home. Orion even helped me and came up with some ideas of his own.

This is my favorite time of year, I love everything about Christmas. I can't wait to share another holiday with Orion and this year I'm looking forward to Ava experiencing Christmas with us. To my surprise the tree has been up for 4 days now and she hasn't tried to touch it once. 

She's too fascinated with the piles of shipping boxes we've got lying around the house to be concerned with the tree. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful night & staying warm where ever you are! 

Blog Roll Monday: Tart House

 Blog Roll Monday is a weekly feature, where I high light one of the blogs on my reading list and tell you why I love them so much. To check out a full list of all the blogs I love, see my reading list on the right side bar. 

*****

I'd like to introduce you all to Erica, she's a local Arizona girl and her and her Mom own a design consulting business called "Tart House." She also has a DIY column in the Arizona Republic that is pretty awesome. Her design blog is filled with ideas from her own home, as well as mood boards and client before and afters. 

http://tart-house.blogspot.com/

She's got some pretty awesome and fab ideas! I really love her latest Christmas decor that she's put together. Her style is clean and modern, with a little bit of classic mixed in. Check out her yellow and navy themed wedding here, on her personal blog. It's equally swoon worthy. Her and her Mom design stylish and affordable rooms, and they shop at some of my all time fave places to do so. 

Check out Eric's blog, and give her some love tonight!

Happy Monday Everyone!

{Gerber Goodie Bag Winners: Jamie, Alicia, Mrs. B and Michelle}

Email me ladies at andreaworley@live.com with your address

and I'll get your goodies shipped out to all your lovely babes!

Thanks for entering! 

Design Inspiration & Ideas: A Green Christmas

Usually I do a red, gold, silver theme with my decorations but this year I'm dreaming of something different. Hubby says I'm on a green kick and it's carried over to Christmas. He maybe right. 

This year I'm inspired by greens, white and silvers, take a peek:

This picture is one of my faves, it reminds me of my Grandma's house. I love everything about rustic meets modern Christmas. 

The stockings on the stairs, swoon...... if I didn't have a mantle and had stairs I'd totally copy this idea! I already had all the white and silver ornaments and decor since that's what I've worked in the decorating for the last 3 years. But, I needed to get the green elements. Lucky for me Hubby was on board with this idea [he even had a few of his own] and helped me shop earlier today. 

So now, I have all my trimmings and I'll be spending the rest of the day decorating our home. We're gonna listen to Christmas music and decorate. Later today, we're heading to our town's annual Christmas celebration, Orion & I went last year and had a lot of fun. This year we'll take Ava with and have some happy family time. 

Next week, I'll be showing some of the DIY Christmas projects we've been working on. Stay tuned. Happy decorating to all of you this weekend! 

photo credits: bhg.com & realsimple.com

Watch Me Grow: 8 Months

Look who's already 8 months old!! Seriously, time is going by way to fast. This time last year I was pregnant and thinking about spending our first Thanksgiving with her and now that it's here I can't believe how fast a year has come and gone. 

Ava is doing so much these days, she's so active and into everything. Ever since she started crawling everything is different, she's busy, very busy. SO curious about things, wanting to check them out and find out for herself. 

She's pulling herself up now. She's got some pretty cute new expressions. She has learned to spit her food, which she thinks is funny. She's eating more and more now. She eats every 2 hours, and has baby food twice a day now. 

Lately she tried some "puffs" and was a little weary about them at first but now, she likes them. I love watching her grasp them and put them in her mouth. 

She weighs 13 lbs. 14 oz. and she's 25 1/4 inches long. 

This next month I'm looking forward to more new things and experiences that she'll have. The Christmas season coming up, and watching her open gifts and having her there with us. 

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

We had a great Thanksgiving celebrating with friends, relaxing all day and making memories as a family. 

Orion got up way to early [7 am] to go play football with the boys in the Alfonso Turkey Bowl. He scored a touch down, and was pretty pumped and proud of himself. 

 [after and induced food coma]

Ava and I spent the morning cuddling, playing and staying in our pajamas until we had to get dressed. I dressed her in her "Gobble, Gobble" shirt that Grandma sent! She looked adorable!

There was food, good food. And chocolate cake. I saved a slice and hid it in a corner in the kitchen until I was done drying dishes, then I put my feet up and enjoyed!

Thank you Destiny, it was delish! 

 [Happy Thanksgiving from The Worleys]

Before we left for the day we took some pictures together. I'm so blessed to have our daughter as part of our lives this year. She brings so much joy to everything, we feel like we're experiencing the holidays again for the first time with her in the house. 

Orion worked today, but tomorrow we're hanging out together and pulling out all the Christmas decos from storage and trimming tree here at the Worley House! I can't wait to play Christmas music, sip cocoa and dance around the house as we decorate and spend the day as a family. 

It's going to be fun! 

Happy Weekend everyone! 

Happy Thanksgiving

From Our Little Pilgrim

To YOURS! 

We have so many things this year to be thankful for, but the two that are most important to me and stick out the most are my Husband and my daughter Ava. I am so thankful for a loving husband to live this life with. I am thankful and blessed to have a beautiful, healthy girl. The light shines bright in her eyes, and she teaches me so much everyday. 

I am thankful for all that the Lord has blessed us with this year. He has given us so much, and been so faithful to us. This time last year, I was pregnant and we were preparing for our first baby. I'm excited that we get to share in holidays now with Ava. Our family has expanded this last year, and our hearts are bursting with so much love and appreciation. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones! 

{DIY} Pottery Barn Style Lanterns

I saw these great little mason jar type lanterns in the Pottery Barn catalog a while back. I love the look of lanterns, I have a few on our patio. These little guys come with a hefty price tag, so I decided to try to find a way to re create these. 

{pottery barn version}

And here's a little tutorial on how you can make your own version of these guys:

{Gather your supplies}

Cut two strips of the craft wipe to your desired length. And then twist the two together, till they look like a rope. 

 Using the craft wire tie a bunch of it {to your desired thickness} around the neck of the jar. Cut the ends and tuck them into the existing wire. 

Then attach the rope wire you made to the ends so that it looks like a handle, like this in the picture. Tah- Dah, you're done. Now time to make them pretty. 

You could add rocks or sand in the bottom or leave them plain like I did here and add them into a centerpiece. 

I added a sweet little mini pumpkin, and places them all onto a white serving platter I had and placed them on our kitchen table. 

What do you think? Pretty simple and awesome don't ya think?!! I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. They are really easy to make, I think I might try to make a few more for our patio to hang. 

Be Creative Challenge

Week #45 

Gerber Mommy & Me Party

This past weekend I hosted a Gerber sponsored Mommy & Me party where we got to sample and try out the latest Gerber products. 

 {product table}

 {Gerber Goodies}

 {lunch tote & literature}

 {goodie bags}

 {mini carmel apples}

 {food spread}

 {coffee station}

{what's inside the bag}

Have you hosted any fun parties lately?

The holidays are always a really fun time to attend and host parties. I've got a few coming up next month, can't wait for Christmas! 

Fun with Food

I love cupcakes! They are small, cute and just the perfect amount for my sweet tooth! Plus they are so fun to make and decorate. This past weekend, I hosted a Mommy & Me Gerber party at my house and wanted some fun things to make for the party. 

I made these spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, sprinkled some fall on top, and used these little toppers from The TomKat Studio to finish them off! Have you guys checked out The TomKat Studio yet?!? Kim, is awesome and so is her stuff. Check her out! 

I saw these little guys on Amy's blog a couple weeks ago and knew I wanted to make them for some occasion. This was the time. My little minis the carmel slowly fell off by the time the party started. But, they were still so cute and fun to make. I just love bite size things! 

I'm having a holiday party with the ladies at my church next month, I can't wait to make a few Christmas goodies to share with you! Holiday baking is my fave!

Be Creative Challenge

Weeks #43 & #44

There's still time to enter the Gerber Goodie Bag Giveaway! Click here, or scroll down!

A Little Inspiration.......

For my most recent move....

Aren't these ladies awesome? Do you know what 

they all have in common with me? Can you guess?

{hilary, katie, reese, jennifer}

images via: google.com


Click here to enter the Gerber give away!

{Giveaway} Gerber Goodie Bag

Happy Sunday Lovelies! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! Today, I hosted a Gerber Generation party, the great people over at Gerber sent me some wonderful goodies for me and my friends to try out! And, you all know how much I really love FREE stuff so this was right up my alley. 

Couple weeks ago Gerber sent me 2 giant boxes of stuff. I've got some goodies left over so I'm offering it to YOU! 

Here's what's in the Gerber Goodie Bags:

1- 3 pack of Gerber Graduate Smart Sips

1- Bib

1- Gerber Graduates Cereal Bar

2- 4 packs of Gerber Graduates Yogurt Blends

1- Insulated lunch tote

1- 2 pack Gerber Organic Baby food

Gerber Nutrition Guide

Exclusive Coupons 

Breast Feeding Guide

Isn't that awesome! Don't you wanna win one of these? Ok, I will tell you how:

Here's the deets:

- 5 prizes will be awarded

- will only ship within the USA

- contest runs from now until Sunday Nov. 28th 11:59 PM Mountain Time

- will announce the winner Sunday afternoon Nov. 28th 

- winners will be chosen by Random.org

Here's how to Enter: 

- Leave a comment and tell me about your baby or babies in your life! Go ahead Mammas, Aunties, Grandmas, BRAG a little! 

Want extra entries? (please leave a separate comment for each)

- Become a public follower of Worley House (sign up with Google to the right)

- Add my blog button to your blog and leave me a comment telling me that you did

- Tweet about this giveaway and come back to tell me that you did

- Blog about this giveaway and come back to tell me that you did

Happy Sunday Everyone!!! 

Today.

It's been three weeks since I've started working full time, I thought by now I'd have a handle on everything. I thought I'd be in a good routine and know exactly what I need to get done, and how to make it all work. 

It hasn't come yet. 

I realized today, that I haven't picked up my camera since I started working. I haven't created something with my hands in a long time. 

I feel like apart of me is missing. 

This past year has changed me, I feel like I'm re discovering who I am. 

Who I am as a person. What I want out of life and what is really important to me. 

I realized today, how much I miss and love entertaining in my home and I don't really know why I stopped or haven't in such a long time. 

It's these little things in my life that make up the bits and pieces of my heart that make me so happy, and make me feel alive and worth living life. 

I miss this blog, it's so much apart of who I am now. I have grown with it, and it has grown with me. 

With every new season in life comes its own set of challenges, priorities and a new way of balancing it and finding a way to make it all work. 

I haven't found that quite yet. I don't know yet how to make it all work. How to fit everything in now in my life. 

But, one thing I do know I no longer want to put away the things that make me happy, complete and are such a huge part of who I am. 

I need to create and craft. 

I need to entertain, cook good food that oozes love to those who eat it. Even if it is just Orion and I. 

I need to grab a pen and my journal and write and write till there's no more room left on the page and it spills over into the margins. 

I need to take pictures for no reason at all. 

I need to learn. 

I need to make time for what is truly important. I feel like time is passing by really fast, and I don't want to miss a minute of what God's blessed me with here. 

So, while I work on balancing it all, doing it all and trying to make it work. I hope that I don't miss the chance to live and truly what matters most in my life.