Billboard-lovesparklepretty

The other night while going through the organizing stages of my craft room, I got a bit side-tracked (not the first time) & instead of cleaning up, I ended up creating new Christmas ornaments! I found 2 clear ornaments and decided that I needed to use them within our tree decor since I have yet to finished holiday decorating.

Here's what I did:

I used gold beaded ribbon. For the large ornament, I used about 40" and the small about 25".
Cut strips of old book pages (you can also use old music sheets).
Cut 2 small strips of burlap and lace for each ornament (about 5" each).

I placed the gold bead strand inside of the ornaments first.
Then, one by one, I placed the strips of book pages inside and tried to place them around the ornaments in different angles.
Once I filled them up, I put the top on and tied a burlap and lace fabric strip to each.

VOILA! Super easy, unique and they go perfectly with our neutral/rustic living room decor.

Have a beautiful Christmas my friends!

These past couple weeks have been fun-filled and quite busy! With Christmas orders getting done as well as a bit of holiday shopping and Christmas parties to attend, these past few days have really flown by and to think that Christmas is in just 4 days?!? Where did this entire year go?
Here are some photos from this past week with a few from the week prior.

{enjoy}
That time I went to VS and got free perfume and panties. Thank you VS coupons that still come in my mail! :) A HILARIOUS game of "Things" at a fun Christmas party.
First time in a long time I was able to curl my hair.Working on more orders late at night with coffee=best way to do it!
That night we went to see Christmas lights and ate at The Hat.Video coffee date with my besties that I've known since 1st grade! Lots of pretty fabric necklaces were made.Scarves were made and packaged.A small box was decorated with washi tape to package up some rings.Treated myself to a midnight mani.
Let myself laugh...at myself! I believe we should do this more often. :)It's been a great couple weeks!Here's to the holidays ahead!I am greatly looking forward to the upcoming year as well. A new blog post coming soon about what's in store for Love Sparkle Pretty. It's going to be quite EXCITING! :)Have a beautiful night.

For a few weeks now, I have been planning a small Christmas party for some friends of mine that I haven't seen in a long time. I was really excited to have all of us girls together in one room again! We even set up a "Secret Santa" which was really fun because I haven't done that since like grade school! A potluck was in order as well. I chose to bring some desserts (Cranberry Bliss Bars from Starbucks, Rasberry Strudles, & German Chocolate Cookies) and an appetizer (A Tangy Lemon and White Bean Dip on French Bread with Havarti Dill Cheese on top!). We also had some homemade mac n' cheese, some homemade spinach dip, hot wings, potato salad, and a glass of Stella Pink ! Yummies! I wish I had taken a photo of the rest of the delicious food when it arrived but I forgot. :-/ After we ate and mingled, we played the game, "Things" which gave us some SERIOUS laughs! One of the best games EVER! :) After, a couple hours, we all opened our gifts. So many sweet gifts were given and you know what I got? I received some goodies from Starbucks which is like my favorite-favorite place! :D Thanks again Steph!As you can probably tell, it turned out to be such a great night! So much fun!  As for the party planning, (this is what I LOVE to do!) I made some invites for starters and chose the color palette of gold, silver, pink, and blue hues and went with that! Afterwards, it was a matter of getting items together-old and new to create the decor. If I didn't already have something, I made it-and most things were made from items I found in a dollar bin somewhere (I'm a sucker for those)!  Here are some of the photos I took before the girls arrived (as you can tell because there isn't much food on the "food table" below-lol).You might remember this stand from this post? It has been transformed! :) Add some glitter to mini clothespins and instant "prettiness!"Remember the movie "Elf?" Well, then you may remember the quote that's in the frame! :)"I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands."See these cute little silver acorns pine cones with glitter on them? Dollar bin at Michaels! This hanging ornament chandelier is made with an embroidery hoop, ribbon and various ornaments! In the clear ornaments, I added some silver and gold glitter inside to give them a bit of sparkle. Lovely, I must say!I created a DIY tutorial of this little tree centerpiece right here.For the runner, I just took some lace that I had and laid strips of it across the table.
Thanks to the girls for coming to our first Christmas get-together! It was great to see you all again and to share stories! Some great laughs were had and I can't wait to see you all again!Love you girls! :)Eat, Drink and Be Merry

I can't believe another Christmas came and went. It seems like the years pass quicker and quicker! In fact, it came so fast, my husband and I hardly had time to finish decorating our Christmas tree this year! Here are just a few photos of some ornaments we added just in time...

This ornament was gifted to us from the man in Israel that created our cake topper for our wedding :)
                                                           08/06/10 = our wedding date

I finished this ornament for our son's first Christmas on Christmas eve! I sewed his name "Levi" and the year into it as best I can and I'm proud I had it hanging on the tree before Christmas morning! lol

A banner & ornament garland I created a few weeks ago to add some holiday spirit to the Leppelman household :)
This Christmas was extra special because it was our son's very first Christmas! His grandma Tiffany bought him his first Christmas stocking and Christmas hat to commemorate this special first holiday for him :)

After a very long day filled with tons of food, giving thanks, and LOTS of love, we finally took our first Chrstmas picture together as a family :) Levi was passed out! lol (p.s. we bought him a special Christmas outfit to wear but just as I predicted earlier that day, he had an "accident" in it and had to change his wardrobe! :D )

                                          I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas day! :D