Wrap it up!

Since you've read my drama about wrapping packages, let me show you my plan for wrapping paper. 

I use the same color palette for Christmas. 

Period. 

Red and white. 

Let me show you why. 

I would always wind up with tons of wrapping papers for Christmas, and every year I would drag them out and find little pieces, just-short sections and leftover crazy-colored bows. Then I would go buy a few new ones, updated bows, and my storage space became quite cramped. 

 

It wasn't working for me. 

So I had an idea: Stick to one color palette to make it easier to blend last year's papers and bows with this year's. Also, choose paper that is multifunctional throughout the year.

 

Here is my collection this year. The two print rolls are from last year, and I purchased the solid red this year. I could also use the red all year, yeah!

I purchased two ribbons this year instead of a bag of bows. Those pre-made bows never last year to year; they are expensive; and they seem to always fall off if you transport the package at all. 

The white ribbon is of course very versatile, and I like the sparkly red print.

Porter likes the sparkle too. 

I also had a box of candy canes in the pantry, and discovered they made perfect package toppers!

I enjoy having the same color palette under the tree, and I think the candy canes really worked!

Now, I do have sacks that don't match. I usually grab these throughout the year when they are on sale...or on the $1 aisle at Target!

I keep all my sacks, tissue paper and accessories in a Rubbermaid box. I add to it all year, as I mentioned, and it has saved me a dozen times when I needed to wrap a quick package. 

So that's how I handle the beast of wrapping paper and materials. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Wha Tcha Bin Up Ta

Hey there reader!

Are you looking for my Shutterfly post? 

Run on over to my new blog: www.TheMuddyTruthReviews.blogspot.com

It's got all the great information you're looking for, a slide show and more!

Go on now. 

Get!

After Five Long Years...

After five years of marriage, I deserve a treat. I deserve a treat that I had been talking about for a while, but it was quite a splurge. I deserve a brand new, fancy camera!!

Christopher and my five-year anniversary is actually June 11th. However, two weeks ago we were traveling to my folks' farm for a long weekend, and Chris really wanted me to have the camera to play with there. (See the results here!). Chris had been secretly stashing away money for my present, and Wednesday before we left on the plane, he told me to set aside two hours of the day. He told me we had to run an errand, and when we got in the car, he said we were going to get my anniversary present. 

Usually, I'm very traditional about presents. I like presents on the day of the event; I don't like any hints; I LIKED to be surprised. But when we pulled up to Wolf Camera, I knew I'd be okay with getting my present early. 

I was really happy with the guy we worked with, and he listened to what I wanted. I know there is plenty of discussion between Cannons and Nikons, so we'll leave that alone. I decided on the NikonD5000 because it had high-definition video (really wanted this feature because my little point-and-shoot has video, and I use it all the time), vibration-reduction interchangeable lenses, lots of automatic scene-specific settings, and the swivel screen is nice if you're taking photos of very low items and very high items--the latter is especially good for short folks like me. 

So far, I am really loving it. I'm pretty much sticking to the different automatic modes on it, but along with our purchase, we got several free camera classes. I'll definitely be taking part in those.

 

The 55mm lens came with it, and we also got the 200mm lens.

Here are a few more of my favorite shots so far.  

Thanks, Chris!