I heart the Beatles. I bought a digital page of Beatles picture thumbnails off of etsy for $1.99 . . . 

. . . and some clear glass stones at the Dollar Tree (LOVE the Dollar Tree!). . .

. . . and decided to make some magnets out of them. With a pencil, I traced around the stones (they're all usually a little different in size), cut the image out, then used a thin layer of Mod Podge (gloss) as the adhesive between the back of the stone and the image. I bought a pack of 3/4" round magnets at Hobby Lobby and used a hot glue gun to attach the magnet to the back of each stone. Another simple project that you can really make your own. You could even just use scrapbook paper that has a pretty pattern, and make it color coordinate with your kitchen if that's your thing. Or you can use pictures of your kids and/or family as the images. The options are endless!

I love Christmas. Brannon & I start listening to Christmas music WAY before anyone else we know (I mean, we're even talking about occasionally in the summer...or the spring...). So it would make sense that I love Christmas projects. It's a highly anticipated holiday around the Powers' household. 

Of course, Christmas is a highly anticipated holiday in itself because of what it means - why we celebrate Christmas in the first place - the coming of Christ. And in addition to that reason for the season, if you will, the wintery Christmas season has come to hold other meanings as well. Spending real quality time with the people you love, refocusing your life on what is truly important. And then of course other fun holiday traditions such as listening to Christmas music, baking (or in my case, eating) Christmas cookies, drinking hot cocoa or wassail, sitting by the fire with loved ones in your sweatpants because it's freezing outside, decorating the Christmas tree, hanging stockings, drinking egg nog, caroling, etc... all the things that have become synonymous with the Christmas season. And this is something most everyone looks forward to. 

I would even say that to Brannon and me, Christmas has become sort of a constant in our lives - something that represents "home". We've moved almost every year we've been married (we've been married for 4.5 years, so it's not an exaggerated amount of times, but I would say more than the average couple) so listening to Christmas music and celebrating other holiday traditions have come to represent a constant in our seemingly ever-changing lives. Perhaps one of the reasons that there never seems to be a wrong season in our house to listen to Christmas music. 

The place that we currently live doesn't have a fireplace, which obviously means that it doesn't have a mantle - the traditional place to hang a stocking or two. So for this project, I cut an 18" piece of wood that I had in my garage, thanks to some friends cleaning out their shed. By the way, if you ever have a chance to get some free wood scraps, just say YES. You'll find something to do with them. I sanded the edges till they were smooth and then spray painted it red (you can't go wrong with red at Christmas). I used some foam stamps and white acrylic paint (both purchased at Hobby Lobby) to form the text and the snowflakes. And then measured and marked where I wanted to drill my holes for the knobs.

I found the four knobs at Hobby Lobby (for 50% off - always check their website for their current discounts) and drilled holes in the places I wanted that were just smaller than the screws in the knobs themselves. After doing this, I was able to screw the knobs in by hand and secure the back with the nut that came with the knob. I used a sawtooth picture hanger for the back and hung it next to the Christmas tree in our living room (which I will write about next - like I said, anytime you have a chance for free wood scraps, just say YES). 

All in all, took one evening to throw together. It was hanging on my wall by the end of our weekly girls' craft night. Simple, quick, and easy. And a perfect project to help set the mood for the highly anticipated Christmas season.