{instagram friday}

Friday! Ahhhh sweet Friday. I am SO glad it is here this week.

It has been an odd week for me. I've felt very out of sorts and just not right...if you know what I mean. And last night we discovered Ben has pink eye. Yuck. :( Praying that we can keep it contained and it won't wander over to Landon or us.

I could also use your prayers for my Mom today. She had to go in for emergency eye surgery this morning. Last year she had surgery on the same eye and yesterday she found out that she has a detached retina. No fun. :( I'm just praying that it will all go smoothly today and she will be recovered in time to enjoy the holidays.

Gah sorry for this dismal start friends...how about some fun Instagram photos from my past week to end on a good note?

I started my December Daily album last week! Love creative messes!

 The first page in the book...of course it has an owl...

Started our Christmas decorating!

 

 The boys have their very own tree in their room. SO stinking cute...

I did some crafty shopping at Hobby Lobby which resulted in this face...

Enjoyed some girl time with my Mom and Grandmother...

Celebrated my nephew's 3rd birthday with a super fun monster party...

Decorated our newly white fireplace for Christmas...

Tried my hand at some new chalk art...

And watched the boys give private baths to all of their toys...

Whew! It was a fun week. I'm so glad I did this post today...reminds me of all we have to be thankful for. :) 

I hope you have a wonderful start to the weekend! 

Linking up with...

{decked out Christmas trees}

You all, I am in a crafting ZONE this year.

I mean, I always like crafting. But for some reason, I'm in the middle of some super crafting force field right now. And I'm LOVING it. :)

One project I finished up over the weekend was for our Christmas mantel. I knew I wanted to do something new this year, and our mantel is a challenge because it is only a few inches deep. When I spotted these MDF Christmas trees at Hobby Lobby {aka craft heaven}, I knew I had found what I was looking for...



So I got out some paint and glitter and decked them out for Christmas!


This was a super easy and affordable project. The trees were 5.99 each and were 50% off when I bought them so they were only $3 each. I bought one small bottle of acryclic craft paint and the other supplies I already owned. So this project totaled about $7.

I used paint and glitter on both trees, but used to different techniques on them. For the green tree I started by painting it...

Then I used some mod podge and the lid of a chapstick as a stamp to make polka dots, immediately sprinkling glitter over the dots...

For the silver tree, I used a metallic acrylic paint...

And a glue pen...

I drew scallops on the tree with the glue pen and used the sprinkled a generous amount of the glitter over the glue...

Once both of the trees were dry I had this!

I can't wait to show you how they look on the completed Christmas mantel, but you'll have to wait a bit for that.  I know...I'm such a tease. ;)

Have you been working on any holiday crafts? I'd love to see them!

Linking up with...

{Thanksgiving decor}

I'm a few days late on this, but I wanted to share a few photos of our Thanksgiving decor. We hosted my parents and my Grandmother this year which was really wonderful and cozy. 

The first thing you might notice about these photos is that our dining room looks a lot brighter, because we painted the fireplace!! 

I'm SO, SO excited about this change. Thanks to my wonderfully helpful mother-in-law, it was a quick project and makes a huge difference in the room. And now I want to paint the rest of the trim white and get some color up on the walls ASAP! :)

Here is a little side-by-side before and after so you can see how far our fireplace has come...

SO much better, right?!

And I love how it helped to show off our Thanksgiving table...

Oh how I wish I had this plate of food in front of me again...

I really enjoyed hosting our family this year and making it special. And I can't wait to share our Christmas decorations with you...I finished most of them over the weekend with a few fun DIY projects!

Did you decorate for Thanksgiving or get to relax while someone else hosted this year?

Linking up with...

{thankful}

For all of this...

And for all of you!

Our Thanksgiving was a really wonderful day. Hope yours was as well!

{30 Days of Friends Giveaway}

If you are a child of the 90's like me, you grew up with Friends. And I don't mean your IRL friends, I mean these people...

And if you loved the show like I did, you surely have a favorite {or a dozen} scenes that come to mind when you think of this quirky group. This is one of mine...

That scene never gets old for me. :)

Warner Bros. is celebrating the upcoming release of Friends: The Complete Series Blu-ray Box Set, and they are offering one lucky This Girl's Life reader a Limited Edition Friends prize pack with two oversized cappuccino mugs and a picture frame just like the one on Monica’s door. How fun is that?!

To win, visit one of the fun trivia or video posts below and leave a comment about your favorite Friends memory! 

Extra entries: {leave a separate comment for each}

1. Follow This Girl's Life via GFC
2. Like This Girl's Life on FB
3. Follow me on Twitter
4. Follow me on Pinterest
5. Follow me on Instagram
6. Pin this post

*Giveaway is open until Wednesday, December 28th at midnight EST and winner will be chosen via random.org. You must have a valid US postal address to win {No P.O. Boxes}*

Good luck friends! :)

This giveaway is sponsored by Warner Bros. and PartnersHub but all opinions are 100% my own.

UPDATED - Giveaway winner is Jessica Warfield! Congrats Jessica!

{Christmas with World Market & a Giveaway!}

Not to disrespect the turkey, but I'm already itching to get out all of my Christmas decorations. There is just something so super cozy about a house all decked out for the holidays, isn't there? I also have fun adding new items each year and trying out new locations for all of my decor.

World Market has so many great items for the holidays this year...no matter what your style you will find something you love. I put together a little wish list of items from their holiday shop for you that will be sure to put a lot of jolly in your holiday...

Here are eight wonderfully cozy and perfectly Christmas items that I would love to have in our home this holiday season...

1. Die Cut Alpine Clock
2. Bottle Brush Trees
3. White Natural Fiber Deer
4. Aqua Boiled Wool Throw
5. Natural Fiber Standing Baby Deer
6. Jolly Santa Throw Pillow
7. Ivory Felt Snowflake Placemat
8. Cinnamon Sticks Pillar Candles

I just can't get over how darn cute that clock is. Let's take a closer look just for fun...

SO CUTE!

In addition to all of their lovely Christmas decor, World Market also has an exciting new contest for your to enter!

Life of Pi is the story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper’s son, who survives a disaster at sea and is thrown into an epic journey. While adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another a fearsome Bengal tiger. The movie opens in theaters November 21, 2012. You can watch the trailer for Life of Pi here: http://www.lifeofpimovie.com/#!/watch-trailer

The Life of Pi Sweepstakes

• Grand Prize package includes: a dream trip for 2 to India and a $1,000 World Market Gift card.
• There will also be 3 runner up prize winners that will each receive a $500 World Market gift card!
• The Life of Pi Sweepstakes runs from 11/17 - 12/28.
• If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering. Users can also enter daily for more chances to win.
• Enter online at http://worldmarketsweepstakes.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/worldmarket?fref=ts

And the first 100 customers to shop in-store this Friday will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi ornament and a FREE Life of Pi movie ticket. The first 100 customers to shop in-store on Saturday, 11/24 & Sunday, 11/25 will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi Tote Bag and a movie ticket. How fun is that?! 

Want a chance to win your very own Life of Pi totebag and Limited Edition Christmas ornament? Enter below and two lucky winners will get just that!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit World Market online:

WEBSITE - http://www.worldmarket.com/home/index.jsp

TWITTER - https://twitter.com/#!/worldmarket

FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/worldmarket

GOOGLE+: https://plus.google.com/116195269616123281160/posts

PINTEREST - http://www.pinterest.com/WorldMarket

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own. http://cmp.ly/3/KqtZiE.