Okio B Designs

Christmas is a big ol' blur for me. Between all of the Elf on the Shelf craziness, shopping, wrapping presents and hosting Christmas day, I'm finally able to breathe. I've already taken down a bunch of our Christmas decorations. In their place, I'm going with a winter theme. The winter vignette above is in our livingroom.

In the dining room and on our antique desk, I have another winter setting. I found the winter printable on Pinterest (it's free!) and I swapped out the Christmas message on my Jello mold pin cushion with Let it Snow. As you can see from both pics, I'm not parting with my little red trucks just yet.

I also made a sweet snowflake banner using vintage images found on The Graphics Fairy. I used vintage dictionary paper and some twine. Easy peasy!

And I may or may not have already started making some Valentine's Day pieces. All I needed for this was some Scrabble tiles, the holder and hot glue - and of course a love of all things French!

I'm making some changes for the blog and my Etsy shop for 2019, so stay tuned!

Jeanine

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I love, love, love scented candles! I couldn't light them for years when my boys were small because I was always afraid they would get burnt or knock them over. Now that they are older, I'm thrilled to be able to indulge in my passion once again.

With that said, I must admit I'm a picky candle connoisseur. If a scented candle doesn't actually give off a scent, I will skip it. So imagine how thrilled I was when Goose Creek Candle Company sent me their White Icing Cinnamon Roll large candle (on sale now for $10.99!).

Let me just say: it smells delish! When my boys came home from school the other day, they asked if I had made cinnamon rolls. Seriously that's how good this candle smells.

If you're not familiar with Goose Creek Candle Company they are based in Kentucky and offer an amazing selection of affordable, scented candles. Each is proudly made in the USA and feature a patented duo-wick that ensures your candle burns evenly and clean. They also use lead-free, 100 percent cotton wicks.

Other flavors I'm dying to try: Balsam Fir, Dazzling Popcorn and Teakwood Merlot, to name a few. If you've been on Santa's nice list this year, maybe you'll find a Goose Creek Candle under your Christmas tree. If not, just visit their site!

Jeanine

Disclaimer: I received a free product sample in exchange for a review, however, all opinions, text and photos are my own.

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I don't know about you, but my kids are itching for Christmas. And as the day draws near, I'm finding it harder to keep my 11 year old from getting antsy. So I was happy to team up with The Zebra to share some awesome holiday games!

From picture puzzles to writing activities, these family Christmas games are good for all ages. Adults or older kids can work with little ones, while having fun themselves.

A festive twist on the classic I-Spy and Bingo games, Christmas Decoration I-Spy Bingo is great for any outing. Whether you’re taking a long trip to see relatives or simply going to the grocery store, you and your family can keep an eye out for these holiday decorations. Consider laminating the pages to turn them into reusable cards.

Christmas Decoration I-Spy Bingo

Test your knowledge of famous songs for the season with the Christmas Song Lyric Challenge. This printable features fill-in-the-blank song lyrics for all of the holiday songs we know and love.

Christmas Song Lyric Challenge

For those looking for a little more challenge this season, they can try their hand at the Christmas Picture Puzzle. This is what’s known as a rebus puzzle, a word or phrase made through the sounds of symbols. You and your family will love working together to solve these — it can get a little tricky.

Christmas Picture Puzzle

Head on over to The Zebra to print our your family Christmas games (or click the link above)!

Jeanine

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I'm not going to lie. I've been a bit consumed with coming up with different Elf on the Shelf ideas for my little guy. As I mentioned in my previous post, it's probably the last year he'll believe in the elf, so we're all in idea-wise. Above was my version of a mad scientist.

Then we moved on to getting Daddy off of the naughty list. I printed out several pages of simple white paper with only his name and info on them, and then added them to a stack of cardstock for full effect. My boys thought it was hilarious. It really did look like every sheet had my husband's name.

Next up Milo and Otis went to the museum, and were promptly asked to never return. This one is tied with our deejay Milo as my favorite! I don't think a lot of people noticed the reindeer poops.

We were very sad when Milo went missing. Luckily, he was found safe and sound in one of our kitchen cabinets.

The next morning we were treated to a magic show, where Milo sawed a reindeer (Otis!) in half. This was a tough one to create, but it came out great (according to my 11 year old).

The weekend was tough as I couldn't disappear for a spell in order to get my ducks in a row for those nights. So we kept it simple and played Bingo! I can't believe we have 3 more weeks of this. Help me, lol!

What shenanigans is your elf getting into this season?

Jeanine

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This is probably the last year we'll be doing Elf on the Shelf. My 11 year old still believes (or at least we think he still does!) in Santa and the Elf, but I get the feeling by this time next year, he won't. It makes me very sad, so I decided to step up my game this year and go full on Elf on the Shelf!

Our first night wasn't incredibly creative, but I still loved using this vintage Scrabble game. Milo is our elf and his reindeer sidekick is Otis.

They spelled out I'm Back and Be Good. Last night, however, I pulled out all the stops and went a bit old school.

Meet deejay Milo! He's spinning those freestyle jams.

I had a lot of fun with this one as you can probably tell. Everything I used is from the house. Skylander portals served as my record players. Legos held up the disco ball. And a host of characters made it onto the dance floor.

When I woke up this morning, my son said, "Milo is having a dance party in the kitchen." It was too cute!

I've got about 20 other ideas floating around in my head. We need 30 - yikes! Wish me luck on coming up with 10 more and stay tuned as I have a cute one planned for tonight as well!

Jeanine

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(Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

Wishing you a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Jeanine

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I am full on decorating for Christmas! I know some of you wait until after Thanksgiving to start, but breaking out our Christmas decor always puts me in a wonderful mood. It could be something as simple as adding some Mercury glass acorns to a bowl filled with shredded vintage sheet music.

Or placing bottle brush trees into an old milk glass dish.

Adding a joy banner to our new flocked tree.

To even upcycling a wood plaque with a simple Christmas image.

It all makes me happy. And at my age I feel if it makes you happy (but doesn't make you fat!): go for it!

Jeanine

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I love Rae Dunn's ceramic pieces. I mean, who doesn't, right?! After spying some copycat projects on Instagram, I decided to make my own Rae Dunn-inspired candy jars.

All you need are some jars (I bought two of these from Hobby Lobby and the the third is a pickle jar!) and clear sticker paper. Download the Skinny font from DaFont.com and print out your words onto the label paper. Cut to size, peel, stick and done!

Super easy, right?! I filled mine with peppermints and candy canes from the Dollar Store.

Jeanine

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How are excited are you to be crafting for Christmas?! I can hardly contain myself.

Don't these Mercury glass bottles get you in the holly-jolly spirit?! I picked them up from the Dollar Store. I used my Cricut to cut out the noel and joy words, and added tea-stained seam binding and some vintage floral enbellishments to them. I'm in love! I have to go back for more.

This reindeer ornament is also courtesy of the Dollar Store. I added it to a cute wood frame with some burlap as the background. The peace is a self-sticking label from a package I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

And while I haven't started officially decorating for Christmas yet (well maybe I have...a little), I have started playing around with some ideas. This is a sweet little vignette in our family room/basement. I also added a small tree to the room.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm thinking of going with a red and white color scheme, and tags, tags and more tags!

How are your holiday decorations and projects coming along?

Jeanine

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I'm enjoying the last few days of our Halloween decorations. Hard to believe I'll be packing it all away in a few days.

I didn't do a lot in the new she-shed/tea room this year. Most of our Halloween decor is in the house or on the porch.

Sometimes less really is more.

I'm already itching to decorate for Christmas, but I'm going to pace myself.

And enjoy Halloween on Wednesday!

Jeanine

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Thanks to my friends at Realtor.com for including me in several home decor/DIY posts over the past few weeks. The first was on utility fabrics and how to incorporate them into your home.

The second was on decorating with pumpkins! - one of my favorites!

Go to Realtor.com to read the full articles.

Jeanine

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Raise your hand if you've started some Christmas projects. I know I have. First one of the season is this Santa paddle fan. Easy peasy when you have one of these...

We got a few of these at a local fall festival and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. All I did was print out my image on sticker paper, cut to size and then peel and stick. I finished up by adding the little noel and snowflake embellishments. I also made one for Halloween:

This is one side and here is the other.

I have one fan left and that will also get a Christmas makeover.

I love that this project only cost me a little time and effort! And I'm super excited to be starting some Christmas projects.

Jeanine

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Halloween is just a couple of weeks away and I've put the finishing touches on a few last minute projects. This one is my favorite! I found this little velvet-y address book at our local thrift store. Once I picked it up, I knew it would make for a great mini book of spells. I found the image on Pinterest and added it to the front of the book using sticker paper.

Here's how I have our staircase for Halloween. I found some creepy books (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.) on eBay for pennies and I used them to line the steps. I'm secretly hoping my boys will crack open one of them and read some of these classics.

I'm pretty much done decorating for Halloween and have even started a few, gasp!, Christmas projects. I hear there is something like only 10 more Fridays until Christmas...

Jeanine