Christmas Decor DIY

The last couple Christmas we had were pretty plain because I just wasn't in the spirit to fuss with the decoration. This year, my sister passed down her Christmas tree to us before moving so we put it up and all of a sudden I just had this urge to decorate. I got most of my stuff from Michaels, Wal-Mart, and the Dollar Tree store.

This coffee table center piece consist of a glass fish bowl filled with ornaments, glittery balls, and pine cones at the bottom. On top, I filled it up with poinsettia flowers, red and white, and added some winter berry branches. I also found some LED light strings that are battery operated at Wal-Mart and swirled the lights around the flowers and voila! Super pretty and glowy center piece!

Mason Jar lights was also pretty easy to do. I found these green colored mason jars at Wal-Mart. Purchased the colorful battery operated LED lights and just put it inside the jar and turned them on.

I did another centerpiece that I placed on the table behind the sofa. For this one, I purchased the tall glass vase from TJ Maxx and filled it up with ornaments. Adorned the top with a bow.

The branches are super pretty and sparkly. I got these from Michaels, along with some twirly glittery strands. I also put some LED lights around the branches, although they are hard to spot on the picture. Lasly, I hung some glittery snow flakes on the branches. 

If you have an empty bottle of wine, don't toss it out. They come in handy for decorations. I filled this one with fake snow and LED lights. Added a poinsettia, winter berries, and decorative branches. Finished the look with an ornament hanging at the bottle neck. 

This would make a nice gift. I got these smaller mason jars from Michaels. Hot glued white lace and red ribbons around the rim and added a flower and tea light candle. Super quick and easy! 

Mason Jar snow globe was one of my favorite projects! I bought a set of snowman salt and pepper shakers and they fit perfectly in these jars. They're so easy to do. You can find those mini pine trees at Wal-Mart and Michaels.

And lastly, these are also super easy. I found a few bunches of holiday bouquet like these and mini garden pots from Michaels. Just trim the stem and hot glue it to the pot and that's it!

Fall and Nature

It's nothing spectacular but these are some nature shots I took while I was out with my son and daughter at Whitnall Park and Wehr Nature Center.

This was my first glimpse at the golf course nearby the trail. There were some Canadian geese chilling under the trees. They moved away after my daughter and I got close to the trees to take pictures. If I wasn't so distracted with my daughter I would have snapped a couple pix of these little guys as well. 

I know nothing about trees and their species but I couldn't help myself but take pictures of their lovely colors.

Just had to get a shot of a Jack O Lantern for that Halloween vibe. Too bad my kids are too old for trick or treat. I would have loved to capture the spirit of Halloween on camera as well.

I just recently found out about this little waterfall nearby. I wished I had known about it sooner.

So the sunset was looking nice but I have yet to learn how set my camera to take the perfect shot. Will need to practice on that.

This is a lovely spot in the park. It's just a few steps from the waterfall so you can hear the relaxing sound of flowing water and this bench is faced toward the sunset so if you are feeling romantic or nostalgic, it's a good place to unwind and let your spirit flow with the beauty of nature.

Fall Pictures With My Son

I had to work last Saturday but Sunday was free so I made another effort to go out there again. This session was taken just a week after the ones I did with my daughter and you can already tell the leaves are looking a little dead and aren't as yellow as the week before. It's a little bummer but still got some pretty good shots. Ideally, I wanted all of my kids to come so I can have pictures of them together but they weren't very cooperative so I manage to only convince my oldest to tag along. Again we went to Whitnall Park and Wehr Nature Center.

My son was driving and we were looking for a good spot for pictures. After I asked him to turn into a parking lot and we were about to turn around the other way, I glanced behind the parking area and saw lots of pretty trees and leaves so I made him stop and told him we're going to just take some pictures right there.

There was a little hill with the sun slightly peeping through the top of the trees. Perfect lighting conditions. We had a lot of shade and light for some awesome pictures.

I saw a fairly big tree trunk a little more up the hill so we walked up some more and I asked him to sit on it. It couldn't ask for a more perfect location. I love this pic.

After we walked back down from the hill, there was an area close to the parking that had lots of picnic tables. So we stopped there for some more pictures.

Same spot I was with my daughter a week earlier...leaves are turning brown already :(

There was a couple benches there at the edge of the lake. The view is beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing.

At last the waterfall! My daughter and I missed out, we were too pooped out to go there after the long walk through the trail last week.

Here I was with my son and it was getting dark so I had some trouble getting good clear shot at him. The flash looked too unnatural, and with not enough natural light I had to bumped the exposure and ISO. It killed the image quality. After several tries, I managed to take some decent shots but they really lack the sharpness I'm looking for. Gonna have to try this again another day.