Oh Why Can't It be Christmas All Year?

Flint Gypsies Jacksonville Storefront Windows

I want to run away with my family and open a Christmas store or year-round Christmas business.  I There, I said it. Now, back to reality, I know I can't do that, but that doesn't mean that's not what I want to do. For now, I am happily decorating storefront windows for my parents store Flint Gypsies and let me tell you, we are having a blast doing that!

The above photo is a spread of our new windows for Christmas, and we are doing all sorts of fun events coming up, and I included the flyers for both of those below in case you happen to be local and want to come join in on the fun! We will have events for kids, snacks and refreshments, photo opportunities shopping, and much more!

I'm also putting the photo booth that Ryan and I built in the store too for Christmas pictures, and hope all the kids will enjoy that too. Like I said, if only I could run a Christmas store year-round!

Enough with the chatter- Here's the beauty we put together and I hope you all enjoy it too! I welcome linking back to this page, but please don't take the photos and re-post on your own blog without permissions.

Elves Available for Adoption at Flint Gypsies!

One of the store windows, with a vintage fireman elf scene!

Christmas Photo Booth at Flint Gypsies

A Gypsy Christmas Debut and Photo Booth Building 101!

Flint Gypsies Gypsy Christmas Debut

It has been an absolutely crazy year since I last posted on my blog. I miss it so much, and wanted to share some new things with you all. Since last year, we have gone thru some major life changes. We went from a multi year career in oil and gas, to helping my parents run a furniture store, and then the addition of two clothing and gift boutiques. It has been a major change for us, but  we are coming upon what is my absolute favorite holiday and season, Christmas!

I have helped mom this last week decorate a lot for our Gypsy Christmas Debut, and can't wait for everyone to see it this weekend.

Below are a few pictures of the tree (sneak peaks!) and also a picture of the photo stand Ryan and I built for taking the kids Christmas pictures, as well as to use in the store for Christmas pictures! Want to know how we built it??? Scroll on down below for the quick and oh so easy instructions!

So, here's how we built this piece of adorable awesomeness! We took 4 large wooden crates from Michael's, screwed them together, used 2 1x2x4's and screwed them to the side of the crates halfway up on each end, then we took a half inchx4x4 and cut it to the correct width and screwed it to the 1x2's. I used my cutter and cut the vinyl letters and attached them, added decorations from last years Christmas decor, and ta-da, a simple but (in my opinion) adorable Christmas photo booth!

Hope you enjoy it!

Keeping Christmas in My Heart,
Heth

Christmas Picture Fun!

We had a very busy day today. I had bought a Christmas pedal car back in TN and have been wanting to take Christmas pictures in it. We're about to be busy with Thanksgiving, and on top of that we have a big trip to Disney the 2nd week of December so today when we were able to be home, I knew I had to seize the chance for pictures. Too, I had a 50mm fixed lense I had never really used and I was itching to take some pics of the kids myself. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I love the [rare] chance I get to take pictures of the kids in a "portrait" setting.

I intended to do individual pictures of each kid, then all of them together, and then family pictures. Things didn't work out that perfect... Rain hit as I was finishing with the last set of individuals so we didn't get to take pics of the kids together or family pics. We ended up going to JC Penney and they were super busy so we struck out on family pictures there too. 

Last year was a total failure for Santa pictures but by some miracle the kids warmed right up to him and told him what they wanted and took pics with him too! We were thrilled!

Finally when we got home tonight, I combined some ideas I had saved on Pinterest and took pics of the kids in front of the tree.

If you have ever taken pictures of a toddler, you know they have a short attention span. Taking pictures of 3 toddlers at one time is INSANE! We finally bribed them with little cupcake cups of mini M&M's and that kept them calm long enough for a couple of candid shots I was pretty happy with. :) 

The collage above is a screenshot of our Christmas card I designed tonight on Shutterfly. Below, is the back of the card. I saw the scripture on another card that I found on Pinterest and it struck me as so true to our life. Even on the craziest day, I never doubt how wonderfully blessed we are.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and maybe they will help inspire your own pictures!

I still hope to get family pictures before the season is over, but for now, enjoy our miracles! :)

This picture was one of the candids I got, but I thought it turned out so cute. Hats and PJ's were from target. 

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and while my shot didn't turn out just like hers, I was still really pleased with it. And hey, everyone was smiling! (Even if Nicholas was smiling behind a pacifier!)

We tried for a See, Hear, Speak no evil shot, and this was the best we got but I still thought it was really cute.

All smiles for Santa! This was a huge success for us.

Sarah in the pedal car, she is an easy smile girl, so hers were pretty easy, except she kept smiling and looking past me. Lol

This is the scene I setup for the pics. I raided moms extra decorations in her barn and got out the pedal car, along with a cute sign we had painted for our porch last year, and ta-da, my first outdoor scene I have setup for the kids pics. I was really pleased!

I thought this was a cute sign for the kids to hold, Sarah was getting cold, the rain was starting and this was right before we ran back in the house.

Emily loved every second of her pictures. The car kept trying to roll away with her.

Emily with the Ho-Ho-Ho sign.

This was a candid shot that turned out really cute. She grabbed an elf to show it to me, and I snapped the picture right as she smiled excitedly. I love the sign too- mom found it for me on a TJ Maxx run recently.

My sweet Nicholas. He was so excited I hardly got a shot of him looking at me, because he wanted everything around him and paid me no attention, but I caught him smiling here!

I love the shots of him just playing because it shows how happy he is when he's doing something he loves. Can't you tell he's crazy over the pedal car like me?

Mr. Serious in this shot, but he was so darn cute I had to include it even if he was solemn in it. :)

A Special Party Straight from the North Pole and Santa's Elves

A panoramic view of the party area in the kitchen!

I'll start by telling you now, this post gets long!!! When you have as much fun as we did this past weekend, you have to share lots and lots of pictures. If you know me, you know I take many pictures because I want to be able to always look back at these special moments in our life! :)

Last weekend we celebrated the babies 3rd Birthday Elf Style! The elves arrived early this year at Santa's Workshop in the South, AKA Nana and Pop's house, and we had more fun than you can imagine!

When sharing the pictures and ideas I will try to share where we found certain things because that helped me so much when we were planning the party. I scoured Pinterest for months planning and because of detailed people, I knew better where to find what I was looking for. If you see anything you want to know about or see better pics of please let me know, I'd be happy to help. Christmas decorating and elves are one of my favorite hobbies and collections!

Too, you will see many kinds of elves in our decorating. My mom and I both shre a love for elves. My mom got one when she was just a girl, and in re-telling a story of how she loved it several years ago, I found her some vintage ones online for a Christmas present. She, myself, and my sister have collected elves since then. We have a sprawling collection of Annalee Elves, Elf on the Shelf, Elf Magic, and more. I like to think of them like you would different departments... Each elf brings their own special flare from the North Pole, and brings joy and magic in their own way. :) 

I'll start off by sharing one of the invitations. I found the designer on etsy and she did a great job making the wording we chose fit with triplets and an elf theme.

The Birthday babies themselves. This is about as good as pictures of them together get lately, because everyone's attention is so divided.

The girls giving their "bubbie" a kiss on the cheek.

We set the table with felt snowflake placemats from Dollar Tree, and found the adorable elf plates, napkins and cups from Oriental Trading.

Because the cake was so big to move, the kids blew out candles on cupcakes! They thought it was the greatest.

Speaking of the cake..... WOW! Becky @ Cakes For Fun out of Hawkins, Tx did the cake and man is she talented! We got rave reviews over the cake, and I am still impressed with it. If your local, I would highly recommend her!

The overall view of the cake. It was so whimsical and fun! Did I mention it was also delicious?

One of my favorite parts of the cake.... Santa pulling a reindeer in the sleigh. So so cute!

I also loved the adorable penguins who just made this cake so darn cute.

And of course it wouldn't be an elf party cake without elves! One for each child.

We also had part of mine and moms Annalee collection gracing the cake table and other areas in the kitchen.

Mom found this adorable mini pedal car from Year around Santa (see previous post) when we were in TN earlier this year and it was the perfect size for an elf.

One of the elves with his KFC cup. These elves are so mischievous!

The final table setup.

Elf leg cupcakes made by NiNi (my sister and the kids aunt.) they were so yummy! We found the elf legs on etsy and the liners at Bed Bath & Beyond.

No North Pole and Elf party would be complete without Reindeer Games... One we played was antler ring toss! We also got this game from Oriental Trading.

One of our Birthday girls, Emmy with her daddy AKA "Elf In Charge". :)

NiNi helping out and having a blast!

Our Birthday boy with cousin Conner!

Nicholas opening a Christmas cracker on the party table.

My sweet Emmy taking it all in. She loved the elves so much.

Our oldest Birthday girl loving some icing from her birthday cupcake.

The kids Elf On The Shelf elves joined the party too. This year, things were a little different. Usually the elves can't be touched, but Santa sent special elves for each of the kids to be able to touch and play with, that wouldn't get them in trouble. :)

For the Birthday babies, they also got a special treat of Elf Magic elves. These little elves are so cute and cuddly and have a closet full of clothes they can wear and change into!

Emily's Elf Magic Elf, Sparkle (chalk tags from Michael's, attached with ribbon and mini clothespins.)

Nicholas' Elf Magic Elf, Snowball

Sarah's Elf Magic Elf, Sprinkle

If you have read the Elf Magic book you know that the elves eat crackers every night to stay strong for another day of fun and mischief, so we took jars of mini saltines from Dollar Tree and used the stickers compliments of Elf Magic to decorate them as party favors for each kid to carry home to feed their elf!

Elf Magic elves hanging out watching over their crackers and waiting for party guests to arrive.

Another view of the cake table.

Decorators Warehouse out of Arlington made the table centerpiece and it is one of my favorite pieces we had. They do such wonderful work and really took our theme idea and ran with it.

No Birhday bash would be complete without Balloons! I searched all over and couldn't find Christmas theme balloons then called Brookshires just down the road and the wonderful lady there had me fixed up in just A few minutes. The kids absolutely loved them, especially Emily. :)

Emmy with her "boons"

In the busy hustle of the party I managed to grab a picture with my sweet Birthday boy :)

An elf who got mixed up in the mixer working on party baking!

Stocking favors that were on the back of each chair.

The stockings worked perfect as chair decorations and to hold favors too. Most of the favors I found on Oriental Trading at at Michael's. So many elf themed items they had!

Birthday girls opening their presents.

Nicholas opening his Birthday presents!

Sarah and her cousin Kylie having party fun!

Sarah loving on Nana's large elf.

The kids each got to decorate mini stockings with felt stickers. We had kids there from 2-12 and all of them loved decorating the stockings. It was a great activity to keep everyone happy and entertained.

The bar display, with another creation from Decorators Warehouse. 

Elf Magic birthday surprises for the triplets!

A shot of the 5' elf tree by the cake table 

I found this mini elf food dish on zulily a few months ago and loved it!

One of my favorite Annalee's that mom has. He is so mischievous.

Mini cupcakes that Nini made. They were so yummy! 

The party would not have been near what it was without moms fantastic decorating. I would love to take you on a virtual Christmas tour and share part of her trees and decorations with you.

Below are pictures of some of her trees this year. The photos do not do them justice!

Mom's western tree in the entry way.

The main elf tree in the family room, featuring my pedal car I got in TN.

traditional tree over the balcony. One of my favorites mom did this year. 

The music room tree mom and Tiff did.

Adorable elf scene over the breakfast table window.

Santa at the game room overlook with a soldier and many elves looking on.

Mom has a great set of cabinets in her kitchen perfect for decorating and we went all out with them this year. Each set of cabinets we tried to do a theme or vignette with.

Snowman cabinet scene 

Santa's workshop cabinets 

My personal favorite. Tifd decorated with her elves, mini piano, and mini VW bus with elves driving it.

An elf at an ornament stand.

Another elf tree on the balcony overlook.

A panoramic shot of the guest bedroom.

The nativity in the entry way.

Mom's China hutch in the kitchen.

The Candy and Elf tree in the kitchen.

The Farm tree in the hall. I bought a champagne colored tree a few year ago after Christmas and never could figure out where to use it, then mom saw a farm theme tree at The Incredible Christmas Place and we decided the champagne tree would be perfect for it. Mom always does a great job on this tree.

In Mom's formal dining room she always does a red or sunflower theme tree. This year she used her Redbirds on it with red sunflowers. As always, beautiful!

Last but not least, mom and dads bedroom and the animal print tree in there. I always have the hardest time taking good pictures of this tree yet it's one of the prettiest.

If you have read all the way to the bottom of this huge post, thank you! I hope you have enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed the party and decorating for it.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Heth