Cubes. Again.

I can't get enough of these cube shelves in my house. They are a great way to organize and utilize a lot of wall space. A few years ago, we ditched our dresser and got the largest IKEA cube shelves and then modified them...you can see the results here.

I needed more storage and our living room had an empty space, so we tried out the cube shelves again. We made our own drawers again but this time we did a mix of paint on some and fabric on some. (Recognize the fabric from this project?)

It spices up the living room just a bit.

The before:


After:

Christmas at National Harbor

There are lots of Christmas activities at National Harbor this year:

Tree Lighting and Fireworks
November 27 at 5:00 p.m.

Holiday Market
(weekends November 28 to December 20)

Water-skiing Santa!
December 24

Click here to see a complete list of activities.

Terra Cotta Warriors are here!

The National Geographic Museum is the final stop on the U.S. tour of Terra Cotta Warriors.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi'an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. Terra Cotta Warriors is a self-guided exhibition and will take approximately an hour to view.

Dates: November 19, 2009 to March 31, 2010
Daily: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesdays: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Closed December 25, 2009

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

*200 free day-of tickets will be available for the 6:00 p.m. exhibition viewing every Wednesday. Tickets will be distributed at 5:30 p.m. with a limit of two tickets per person.

Christmas Advent Wreath

I LOVE decorating for Christmas and I LOVE advent calendars of any sort.



I saw a smaller version of this wreath (12 days of Christmas) advertised at Michaels...they were doing a free demonstration on how to make it. I saw the picture of their version, which just used scrapbooking paper to cover the wreath and the little tins, and came up with my own version. I really wanted the inside of the tins to be visible so when the candy was eaten, it was more of a visual reminder of the countdown. I was really happy with the results. I was set on having red and white mint M&Ms, but quickly discovered that there are far more red and green than white. I had to buy 7 bags just to get enough white! The tins are stuck on with velcro so you can remove each tin to get the candy out each day. I found some little wreaths that I liked and cut those up and glued them all around. After starting with the basic wreath and tins, you can customize this wreath any way you like. Click here to see the instructions for the Michaels version.



Materials (I found everything at Michaels):

• 18-inch Wood Wreath Ring
• Spray Paint (color of choice...this is for the wood wreath)
• Favor Tins (these are in the wedding section...a pack of 30 is $20...use a coupon)
• Velcro Squares (2 packages)
• Garland of your choice
  
• Number Stickers of choice (this was the most expensive thing because you will need 3 packages to have enough of the number 1 and 2...scrapbooking supplies are ridiculously expensive!)
• Wire (to hang the wreath)
  

Tools:

• Wire Cutters
• Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Instructions:

1. Spray wreath with paint and let dry.
2. Arrange the tins around the wreath and attach with the velcro squares.
3. Cut garland pieces to fit between each tin and glue with hot glue gun. Embellish how you like.
   
4. String wire through one of the pre-made holes in the wreath. This will be the top.
   
5. Apply the numbers to the tops of the tins and fill with candy.