Joyful Joyful #16: It is Better to Give

If you are anything like me, you are starting your wrapping today. Or tomorrow. At least my shopping is done!

I thought I would share some fun gift tag ideas and templates I have come across in the past few weeks.

For my gifts, I decided to streamline all of my gifts with the same style of gift tags. Here is what I came up with:

I used my Cricut to cut tags out of kraft paper and then used various scraps of paper left from my christmas cards to cut out letters. Each tag has the recipient's first initial on it and I will write a little note on the back. I used bakers twine for the tie and cannot wait to see them on my gifts!

I love Trader Joe's holiday bags and was trying to think of a way to reuse them. Then I came across these on design*sponge (made by Ink & Post).

I love the idea of reusing old Christmas cards as tags, as seen on MarthaStewart.com.

Martha also featured an idea similar to my tags, using a big monogram. I am going to use this on a few of my gifts that would just look so cute with a big letter. 

There are also a ton of really cute free templates out there for tags you can download, print and either tie or stick on (using sticker paper or a xyron machine). Here are a few of my favorites:

Found here .

Found here.

Found here. Thanks to iDiY for the great tips!

Vintage Glam has a post of great ones here . I love the pink and brown- so cute!

And, last but not least, Martha never fails to disappoint. 

Download them here .

Happy Wrapping!

Joyful Joyful #15: Christmas on the Wall

My friend Cindy had her kids create some beautiful Christmas decor for their home. She bought a couple of blank canvases and had them paint away. Here is what they came up with:

I especially love that last one- what a fun way to display family photos! She got the ideas from Aaron Brothers . It would look great with some vintage Christmas cards or even current photos cards from friends and family. It could look more modern as well: picture a white wreath on a colorful painted canvas. I'll definitely have to try one of these out next year!

Joyful Joyful #14: Say Hello to Friends You Know

I love paper. I love crafting with paper. Not scrapbooking (maybe if I had more time), but just creating things with paper. At Christmastime, I get so much joy out of creating my own Christmas Cards. Now, it is almost always a bad idea. Making 100 Christmas cards in the midst of the crazy season usually leads to stress, lack of time and sleep and many "why am I doing this" comments. However, when I am in the moment crafting and when I look at the finished product, I love that I handcraft them.

I tried to simplify this year: no eyelets, stamps, brads or sewing. Just paper, tape, glue and a few embellishments. And, of course, a super cute picture of my little man taken by the lovely Jenetta Penner .

They all were a little bit different, so I took a picture of a few different options:

When I ran out of paper, I came up with another quick design, using my Cricut. 

We added in our CD, stuck in the envelope, and off it went.

The cute address labels were a free download from Chewing the Cud . They are actually gift tags, so you can use them for wrapping your presents!

I also participated in the Brooklyn Bride Holiday Card Swap, for which I made 5 fun cards. Here is what I came up with:

I had so much fun making these and also receiving a few cards from random people around the word. That being said, I am glad that I am done making cards. Now on to gift wrap!

I would love to hear which design you like the best!

Joyful Joyful #13: Traditioooooon, Tradition!

Thank you all for your comments- it was fun to hear about your traditions! 

The winner is:  Rachel who said: "My favorite Holiday tradition is looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve... In my pjs :)"

I feel so blessed that parents made a big deal about having Christmas traditions. From playing our Christmas records while getting out decorations, to baking cookies (chocolate covered ritz crackers filled with peanut butter! yum!), to Christmas movie nights with smores, to singing "Silent Night" with candles before bedtime on Christmas Eve, I have so many fond memories that I hope to recreate with my kids. 

My husband and I are blessed to have a few wonderful, unique holiday party traditions we get to enjoy every year and I thought I would share them with you.

*Every year for the past 6 years, we have hosted a Christmas movie marathon. Friends come over in their PJs (extra points for Christmas PJs) and we watch 3-4 of our favorite Christmas movies. Pre-kids, it was a slumber party as well. This year we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas", Elf, Fred Claus and A Christmas Story. Fun treats, a fire and lots of popcorn are must haves.

*My aunt has hosted a Santa Party every year since I was a little girl. The sunday before Christmas, we all get together, decorate cookies and eat, following by a Christmas book reading and caroling and then Santa comes to visit. All the kids get to sit on his lap, take pictures and he gives them a little gift. The kids love it! Isaiah, however, was not so sure about Santa.

 At least it was better than last year when he tried to nurse on Santa :) 

*Friends of ours rent a double decker bus and tour around San Diego looking at the best Christmas lights. Every year it has been a little different. This year, we had dinner at their home first, then headed to a couple of amazing neighborhoods and even made a stop at Peets Coffee mid-way through to get some hot chocolate and tea. It was a blast! So unique and we are definitely looking forward to it being a family tradition for years to come. If the price tag of renting a bus scares you away- have it be a group effort. With our group, everyone pitches in to cover the cost.

This year, it happened that all three of these landed on this past weekend. It was so much fun, but I am definitely tired! 

Do you have any unique holiday party traditions? I would love to hear them!

Joyful Joyful #12: Sing We Now of Christmas

**Reminder: You have until 11:00 (pst) this  morning to enter our Target gift card giveaway.**

Every year of our marriage, my husband and I have recorded a 4-song Christmas album (we are now on our 4th). We include it with our Christmas card as a gift for family and friends. Since my husband is a songwriter and one of our greatest joys is singing together, it is a fun way to include use our passions at Christmas time. 

We would love to share this years music with you! You can hear it at: www.davidtoneymusic.com. You will also find last year's songs on there. 

This year's album features:

*"Go Tell it on the Mountain"

*An original interlude

*"Rock of Ages" a Jewish song- A nod to David's Jewish heritage & the words are great!

*An awesome original song called "bright bright bright"

I hope you like it! 

If you would like an actual CD, leave a comment and let me know! You can also email me with your address: courtney at joyfulweddingsandevents dot com. They won't get in the mail until monday, but you should get them by wednesday then. 

Joyful Joyful #11: A GIVEAWAY A GIVEAWAY!!

In honor of last minute shopping, a last minute giveaway!

We are giving away a $10 Target gift card because:

a) it is such a pretty giftcard

b) I know you all have some last minute shopping you could do at Target

c) I have received so many wonderful compliments on my Joyful Joyful series, but no one ever comments. So, I thought I would make you comment so I know who is reading :) 

Alright, here is what you have to do: Leave a comment describing your favorite Holiday tradition. You have until 11:00 am (pst) tomorrow (Saturday, the 20th) to comment. I will randomly pick a winner and send out the card tomorrow so that you can get it before Christmas. Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment (unless you know that I already have it). 

Yay! Happy last minute shopping!

Joyful Joyful #10: A simple holiday party

Last night, we had a small group of friends from our church home group over for a Christmas party. It was simple and laid back, but I thought I would show a few photos of the set up. I did not take many and my camera flash stinks, so there will only be a few for now. I will be posting more photos of my general home decor in the next couple of days.

Since it was more laid back, we used paper & plastic. I love these square paper plates from Target - they definitely take it up a notch. The cute napkins are from Crate & Barrel . Sweet little tins from the Target $1 section!

The drink station (minus sangria, cider & eggnog):

I could not resist these gorgeous Evian bottles, designed by Christian Lacroix (you can find them at Target or, I believe, at most grocery stores).

As always, I utilized my mason jars as glasses. The christmas ribbon ties (mix of vintage and new ribbon) have been reused for the past 3 years! When they are done, I slip them off and bag them away in the Christmas boxes.

The cider spices I ordered from Chewing the Cud :

The cider was delicious!

As you can see in the above pictures, I used pieces of fun, scalloped scrapbook paper under many of the elements of the set up: the glasses, drinks, centerpiece and platters. Cheap and super cute! I had to punch the wholes out of the scallops, so I used those little circles as confetti around my ornament tree on the buffet (you'll see it in just a bit).

My carnations from the Christmas Tea had died, so I replaced them with whatever white flowers my husband could find at the grocery story.  Daisies and mums, works for me!

We had a good ol' potluck, but decided to have a theme this year: All of the food was supposed to be white. Here is what we ended up with:

*Caprese salad

*Clam Chowder

*Quesedillas

*White mac and cheese

*Chicken Fettucini Alfredo with brocoli 

*Patato salad
*White sangria
*Egg nog
*White wine
*Sugar cookies, cream puffs, & meringues for dessert. (& of course I had to ruin the theme by throwing in some peppermint ice cream & dark chocolate covered joe-joes)

We decided to get all dressed up, which was fun. Here I am with my little man and his 3 piece suit:

Nevermind that I look about 12. Isn't he so cute?

It was a wonderful party! We had a white elephant gift exchange (We are now proud owners of a wind-up toy man that does push-ups and a mini golf bag that holds BBQ tools!), ate, ate, and ate and then had our annual "sing Christmas songs as loud as you can while shaking all sorts of percussion instruments" caroling time. *Sorry neighbors!*

Stay tuned, because I have a lot of great things to share:
*Gift wrap ideas
*Christmas cards
*Some fun new Christmas music
*Favorite family traditions


For now, I am off to my husband's work Christmas party. Happy friday!