BellaGrey Designs: Elf on the Shelf
Elf on the Shelf

Happy December! I can NOT believe it is already here, but I am super excited it is! December and Christmas are just so magical. I love watching my children with all their excitement, joy and anticipation for what is to come! 

As a mom I really try to instill important values in both my kiddos and make sure they truly understand the Reason for the Season! I love changing up our holiday home decor and this year is no different. I created this beautiful Advent Calendar, which is super easy to make! I will give you all the details and links for supplies needed in this post! 


This is our past Advent Calendar, although I love it, I found it was a little small to place some of the items I wanted to add to it. I will keep it because it has a special place in my heart, but I needed a bigger one or at least one that holds more items. 




Without further ado, here is the supply list you need to make the large white and red one {top photo}:

Using my Cricut Explore Air 2 machine I cut out the numbers 1-24 in silver glitter iron-on vinyl. I then ironed all the numbers onto the mini cotton bags. Once those were done, I simply took my red ribbon and ran 3 horizontal rows across the canvas board, making sure it was not too tight but tight enough so it would not droop. I used my desk stapler to staple the ribbon to the back of the board to secure it. I then hung all the bags {8 per row of ribbon}with the mini clothespins stuffing each bag with the coordinating bible verse. You can of course skip this step and add your own items of your choosing. 

The verses are in chronological order of the birth of Christ and are marked with the coordinating days of the month. Simply download and print on white card stock, cut and add to your calendar bags. 


The cards are sized to 3"x3" and fit perfectly into the bags with plenty of room to add other items. I may add a small ornament to a few of them or candy canes. 

Hope I have inspired you to create your own Advent Calendar. 

Although we do understand the Reason for the Season, my kids are still kids and love the Elf on the Shelf each year.  Our elves {Frosty and Sabrina} made their arrival today too! 


They came barring gifts and asked the kids to take an #elfie! I do understand these elves are not for everyone, but I sure have fun with them, so make sure you follow me on instagram and watch my stories as I will be sharing more ideas for the next few weeks! 

Remember to follow BellaGrey Designs on all your social media channels, you will find the links below this post! Exclusive coupon codes to our shop and free printables throughout the year are shared on our social media. If you like this post, sign up for weekly updates via email. It's FREE! See the sidebar for more information.



{DIY TUTORIAL} Christmas Advent Calendar + FREE Bible Verse Printable


Happy December! I can NOT believe it is already here, but I am super excited it is! December and Christmas are just so magical. I love watching my children with all their excitement, joy and anticipation for what is to come! 

As a mom I really try to instill important values in both my kiddos and make sure they truly understand the Reason for the Season! I love changing up our holiday home decor and this year is no different. I created this beautiful Advent Calendar, which is super easy to make! I will give you all the details and links for supplies needed in this post! 


This is our past Advent Calendar, although I love it, I found it was a little small to place some of the items I wanted to add to it. I will keep it because it has a special place in my heart, but I needed a bigger one or at least one that holds more items. 




Without further ado, here is the supply list you need to make the large white and red one {top photo}:

Using my Cricut Explore Air 2 machine I cut out the numbers 1-24 in silver glitter iron-on vinyl. I then ironed all the numbers onto the mini cotton bags. Once those were done, I simply took my red ribbon and ran 3 horizontal rows across the canvas board, making sure it was not too tight but tight enough so it would not droop. I used my desk stapler to staple the ribbon to the back of the board to secure it. I then hung all the bags {8 per row of ribbon}with the mini clothespins stuffing each bag with the coordinating bible verse. You can of course skip this step and add your own items of your choosing. 

The verses are in chronological order of the birth of Christ and are marked with the coordinating days of the month. Simply download and print on white card stock, cut and add to your calendar bags. 


The cards are sized to 3"x3" and fit perfectly into the bags with plenty of room to add other items. I may add a small ornament to a few of them or candy canes. 

Hope I have inspired you to create your own Advent Calendar. 

Although we do understand the Reason for the Season, my kids are still kids and love the Elf on the Shelf each year.  Our elves {Frosty and Sabrina} made their arrival today too! 


They came barring gifts and asked the kids to take an #elfie! I do understand these elves are not for everyone, but I sure have fun with them, so make sure you follow me on instagram and watch my stories as I will be sharing more ideas for the next few weeks! 

Remember to follow BellaGrey Designs on all your social media channels, you will find the links below this post! Exclusive coupon codes to our shop and free printables throughout the year are shared on our social media. If you like this post, sign up for weekly updates via email. It's FREE! See the sidebar for more information.




It's December, which means we are having our annual Elf Christmas Breakfast! For the last several years, the elves have made an arrival breakfast for my kiddos. This year was no exception! Instead of going with the traditional red and green, they styled the breakfast table using a splash of black. I love how it pulls everything together. 



My kiddos loved everything Sabrina and Frosty made them and were a little shocked it was in the formal dining room, as was I!



These snowmen were their favorite! Who can resist pancake snowmen with a bacon scarf, chocolate chip eyes and powdered sugar snow? I would be all over it!


Aren't these reindeer cinnamon rolls adorable? You simply take mini cinnamon rolls and add the candy eyes and red hots for the noses! So simply and what a great breakfast treat. 


 What a fun breakfast party! My kiddos love when their elves come each year.


This was the perfect idea. We dropped a mini cupcake into an egg cup! Brilliant! It is the perfect size and dressed up the cupcake too. 


Can't have an arrival breakfast if you don't have a note spelling out the rules about being good and Santa coming. 



Mini Jell-O cups were eaten first, I think! My kiddos love Jell-O. Find the tutorial on how to make these delicious dessert cups, here.

You can find this Special Delivery Note Card in our shop along with all our fun elf items from years past.


Remember to follow BellaGrey Designs on all your social media channels, you will find the links below this post! Exclusive coupon codes to our shop and free printables throughout the year are shared on our social media. If you like this post, sign up for weekly updates via email. It's FREE! See the sidebar for more information. 

Design/Styling | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Photographer | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Printables | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs Shop
Black Lantern | Oriental Trading
Egg Cups | Pier 1

Special Delivery from the North Pole


It's December, which means we are having our annual Elf Christmas Breakfast! For the last several years, the elves have made an arrival breakfast for my kiddos. This year was no exception! Instead of going with the traditional red and green, they styled the breakfast table using a splash of black. I love how it pulls everything together. 



My kiddos loved everything Sabrina and Frosty made them and were a little shocked it was in the formal dining room, as was I!



These snowmen were their favorite! Who can resist pancake snowmen with a bacon scarf, chocolate chip eyes and powdered sugar snow? I would be all over it!


Aren't these reindeer cinnamon rolls adorable? You simply take mini cinnamon rolls and add the candy eyes and red hots for the noses! So simply and what a great breakfast treat. 


 What a fun breakfast party! My kiddos love when their elves come each year.


This was the perfect idea. We dropped a mini cupcake into an egg cup! Brilliant! It is the perfect size and dressed up the cupcake too. 


Can't have an arrival breakfast if you don't have a note spelling out the rules about being good and Santa coming. 



Mini Jell-O cups were eaten first, I think! My kiddos love Jell-O. Find the tutorial on how to make these delicious dessert cups, here.

You can find this Special Delivery Note Card in our shop along with all our fun elf items from years past.


Remember to follow BellaGrey Designs on all your social media channels, you will find the links below this post! Exclusive coupon codes to our shop and free printables throughout the year are shared on our social media. If you like this post, sign up for weekly updates via email. It's FREE! See the sidebar for more information. 

Design/Styling | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Photographer | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Printables | Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs Shop
Black Lantern | Oriental Trading
Egg Cups | Pier 1

Do your kids have the Elf on the Shelf? We have TWO! One for each of the kiddos. Last year, Sabrina and Frosty came to visit us on December 1st for the first time that Christmas season. My kids were so excited when they woke up to a Hot Cocoa Bar hosted by their elves! 

As I was thinking about the design for the return of the elves, I remembered I had purchased this tablecloth a few years back and thought it would be fun for a Vintage Christmas party. I created all the designs with a very similar Tartan pattern. I'm so excited how it came out - it matches perfectly! 



As any fabulous Hot Cocoa Bar should have, we chose some seasonally delicious treats to add to our hot cocoa this morning. 


Several different types of marshmallows are a must have for a successful Hot Cocoa Bar. We decided on the mini {aka snowball}, Peppermint and Vanilla Snowmen marshmallows. As an added treat, I made some hot cocoa marshmallow mugs. 


The kids had their choice of cold white or chocolate milk or hot milk to dip the chocolate sticks into. They chose a little bit of everything, of course. Add a mini candy cane to the hot cocoa and you instantly have hot chocolate mint! 


Both of my kids thought is was so great to have hot peppermint cocoa and reindeer donuts before school! The added bonus was the "candy" factor! 


These little cuties were so easy to make and made a great impression on the kids too! Four ingredients are all you need - mini chocolate donuts, mini pretzel twists, red hots and candy eyes - that's it! 


Frosty and Sabrina left behind some Dear Santa cards for the kids to fill out so Santa knows what to bring them. This past weekend my kids made their lists and each have about four pages! I'm hoping they will pick their top three and write them here for Santa to see. 



Each one of the kiddos received a personalized Elf Report telling them, their elves would be reporting back to the North Pole each night with a report and to be good! My son had an issue with temper tantrums last year and this really helped!


We hope you enjoyed our Hot Cocoa Bar as much as the kiddos did this morning! 
You can find all this Party Suite in our shop today! 
The Elf Hot Cocoa Bar Party Suite includes: 

Welcome Sign
Elf Report Card
Dear Santa Card
Straw Flags
Food Labels

How do you celebrate the arrival of your elf? 

Vendors: 

Styling + Design + Photography| Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Marshmallows | Kraft Jet Puffed
Mini White Mugs + Saucers | IKEA
Square Milk Bottles | Hoopla Events
Chocolate Sticks | Home Goods

Elf Hot Cocoa Bar + Breakfast

Do your kids have the Elf on the Shelf? We have TWO! One for each of the kiddos. Last year, Sabrina and Frosty came to visit us on December 1st for the first time that Christmas season. My kids were so excited when they woke up to a Hot Cocoa Bar hosted by their elves! 

As I was thinking about the design for the return of the elves, I remembered I had purchased this tablecloth a few years back and thought it would be fun for a Vintage Christmas party. I created all the designs with a very similar Tartan pattern. I'm so excited how it came out - it matches perfectly! 



As any fabulous Hot Cocoa Bar should have, we chose some seasonally delicious treats to add to our hot cocoa this morning. 


Several different types of marshmallows are a must have for a successful Hot Cocoa Bar. We decided on the mini {aka snowball}, Peppermint and Vanilla Snowmen marshmallows. As an added treat, I made some hot cocoa marshmallow mugs. 


The kids had their choice of cold white or chocolate milk or hot milk to dip the chocolate sticks into. They chose a little bit of everything, of course. Add a mini candy cane to the hot cocoa and you instantly have hot chocolate mint! 


Both of my kids thought is was so great to have hot peppermint cocoa and reindeer donuts before school! The added bonus was the "candy" factor! 


These little cuties were so easy to make and made a great impression on the kids too! Four ingredients are all you need - mini chocolate donuts, mini pretzel twists, red hots and candy eyes - that's it! 


Frosty and Sabrina left behind some Dear Santa cards for the kids to fill out so Santa knows what to bring them. This past weekend my kids made their lists and each have about four pages! I'm hoping they will pick their top three and write them here for Santa to see. 



Each one of the kiddos received a personalized Elf Report telling them, their elves would be reporting back to the North Pole each night with a report and to be good! My son had an issue with temper tantrums last year and this really helped!


We hope you enjoyed our Hot Cocoa Bar as much as the kiddos did this morning! 
You can find all this Party Suite in our shop today! 
The Elf Hot Cocoa Bar Party Suite includes: 

Welcome Sign
Elf Report Card
Dear Santa Card
Straw Flags
Food Labels

How do you celebrate the arrival of your elf? 

Vendors: 

Styling + Design + Photography| Jennifer Kirlin, BellaGrey Designs
Marshmallows | Kraft Jet Puffed
Mini White Mugs + Saucers | IKEA
Square Milk Bottles | Hoopla Events
Chocolate Sticks | Home Goods
Last week we shared our North Pole Breakfast with you ~ if you missed it you can see it here
Our North Pole Breakfast Collection Suite is now available in our shop




This suite consists of:

Note Cards with your child's name on it and a personalized message from their elf {elves}.
Straw Flags with 6 different sayings
Mini table cards or Cupcake toppers to be personalized
Mini Elf "BELIEVE" bunting banner
Cupcake Wrappers

Please share our post with your friends and Pin It to help us spread the word. 



North Pole Breakfast Party Collection Suite :: New Collection

Last week we shared our North Pole Breakfast with you ~ if you missed it you can see it here
Our North Pole Breakfast Collection Suite is now available in our shop




This suite consists of:

Note Cards with your child's name on it and a personalized message from their elf {elves}.
Straw Flags with 6 different sayings
Mini table cards or Cupcake toppers to be personalized
Mini Elf "BELIEVE" bunting banner
Cupcake Wrappers

Please share our post with your friends and Pin It to help us spread the word. 



We have some very exciting news, we just added this super cute Mini Christmas Elf Bunting to our shop! We shared it on Instagram last week for the first time. If you don't follow us on Instagram, click here so you don't miss what's going on at BellaGrey Designs! 


Our elves ~ Sabrina and Frosty hiked up the tree and situated themselves so they could hold our new mini bunting for the photoshoot and surprise the kids! We love when we can knock out two things at once! The bunting spells out "Believe". You can have it customized too if you'd like for an additional fee. We just listed the printable version too! 


These are selling fast, so don't wait, get your's today
Happy Elfing! 

Mini Christmas Elf Bunting // New to Shop

We have some very exciting news, we just added this super cute Mini Christmas Elf Bunting to our shop! We shared it on Instagram last week for the first time. If you don't follow us on Instagram, click here so you don't miss what's going on at BellaGrey Designs! 


Our elves ~ Sabrina and Frosty hiked up the tree and situated themselves so they could hold our new mini bunting for the photoshoot and surprise the kids! We love when we can knock out two things at once! The bunting spells out "Believe". You can have it customized too if you'd like for an additional fee. We just listed the printable version too! 


These are selling fast, so don't wait, get your's today
Happy Elfing! 

Happy Thursday! Look what the kids woke up to this morning! 

A North Pole Breakfast "cooked" up by our elves!  


This year, Sabrina has a partner in mischief ~ Frosty! He made his debut last year and we are so excited to see what our elves have in store this year! 





Do your children have Elf on the Shelf? This has become a tradition for our family! Our kiddos just love their elves. They can't wait until December 1st! 
We'd love to see some of your photos of your Elf on the Shelf. This new party collection will be available in our shop by the end of the day! 

Hope you enjoyed our North Pole Breakfast! 





North Pole Breakfast with our elves ~ Sabrina and Frosty

Happy Thursday! Look what the kids woke up to this morning! 

A North Pole Breakfast "cooked" up by our elves!  


This year, Sabrina has a partner in mischief ~ Frosty! He made his debut last year and we are so excited to see what our elves have in store this year! 





Do your children have Elf on the Shelf? This has become a tradition for our family! Our kiddos just love their elves. They can't wait until December 1st! 
We'd love to see some of your photos of your Elf on the Shelf. This new party collection will be available in our shop by the end of the day! 

Hope you enjoyed our North Pole Breakfast! 





It's almost that time of year, to bring your Elf on the Shelf out! Do you have one? You may remember our post about our Elf on the Shelf  last year{here}. If you have one of these little guys or gals ~ when do you bring yours back out to play for the season? 




We usually bring ours back out December 1st, but to tell you the truth, it's really hard to come up with 24 different hiding places for him/her. So we may wait a little longer this year before "Sabrina" comes back to our house! 

If you need some fun ideas for your Elf on the Shelf, check out these:

Very Clever!! Dry Erase maker will come off glass!!


Taking a marshmallow bath!! 


Climbing up the candle sticks!! 

This little elf was on a zip line!! 

We would love to see your creative ways to hide your Elf on the Shelf!! Please email us your photos to Jennifer@BellaGreyDesigns.com

Can't wait to see them!! 

Have a Super Fabulous Day!!

xoxo,
                                                         Photobucket


Elf on the Shelf

It's almost that time of year, to bring your Elf on the Shelf out! Do you have one? You may remember our post about our Elf on the Shelf  last year{here}. If you have one of these little guys or gals ~ when do you bring yours back out to play for the season? 




We usually bring ours back out December 1st, but to tell you the truth, it's really hard to come up with 24 different hiding places for him/her. So we may wait a little longer this year before "Sabrina" comes back to our house! 

If you need some fun ideas for your Elf on the Shelf, check out these:

Very Clever!! Dry Erase maker will come off glass!!


Taking a marshmallow bath!! 


Climbing up the candle sticks!! 

This little elf was on a zip line!! 

We would love to see your creative ways to hide your Elf on the Shelf!! Please email us your photos to Jennifer@BellaGreyDesigns.com

Can't wait to see them!! 

Have a Super Fabulous Day!!

xoxo,
                                                         Photobucket


Happy December 1st!!! WOW!! Can you believe it ~ only 24 more days until Christmas. Are you done shopping yet, I'm almost there, only have a few more to get. I wanted to share with you a fun tradition we started in our home a few years back. Elf on the Shelf!! If you haven't heard of this wonderful Christmas Tradition ~ you must learn about it.  Some of you may remember the post I wrote last year ~ click here to view it as it tells you a little bit about this fun tradition. 

{This is what the box looks like}


{This is the cute little Elf inside the box}


There's a book that comes as part of the whole tradition that explains everything to you and the kids ~ at the back of the book you write when your family started the tradition and come up with a name for your Elf!
My daughter named ours Sabrina! Not sure my son really likes the name, but since he was too small when we named her, my daughter got naming rights!!  My kids have really enjoyed this tradition. Sometimes they find her in a bowl of dry cereal, hanging out on the Christmas tree, on the TV, coloring in their coloring books, on top of the cookie jar, in a bowl of candy, sitting on their lunch boxes in the fridge, waiting for them on the vanity in the bathroom next to the toothpaste...........the places are endless and each year my husband and I have a friendly game of "who can find the best hiding place" for Sabrina. The kids have fun trying to find her & my hubby & I have fun too!! 

If you haven't checked it out yet, I hope you will. I hope you enjoyed some of the ideas where to hid "your" Sabrina this year!
I'd love to hear all of your wonderful family stories this year with the Elf on the Shelf tradition. 

Hope you have a Super Great Day!!!



xoxo,
                                                            Photobucket

Our Elf on the Shelf is here

Happy December 1st!!! WOW!! Can you believe it ~ only 24 more days until Christmas. Are you done shopping yet, I'm almost there, only have a few more to get. I wanted to share with you a fun tradition we started in our home a few years back. Elf on the Shelf!! If you haven't heard of this wonderful Christmas Tradition ~ you must learn about it.  Some of you may remember the post I wrote last year ~ click here to view it as it tells you a little bit about this fun tradition. 

{This is what the box looks like}


{This is the cute little Elf inside the box}


There's a book that comes as part of the whole tradition that explains everything to you and the kids ~ at the back of the book you write when your family started the tradition and come up with a name for your Elf!
My daughter named ours Sabrina! Not sure my son really likes the name, but since he was too small when we named her, my daughter got naming rights!!  My kids have really enjoyed this tradition. Sometimes they find her in a bowl of dry cereal, hanging out on the Christmas tree, on the TV, coloring in their coloring books, on top of the cookie jar, in a bowl of candy, sitting on their lunch boxes in the fridge, waiting for them on the vanity in the bathroom next to the toothpaste...........the places are endless and each year my husband and I have a friendly game of "who can find the best hiding place" for Sabrina. The kids have fun trying to find her & my hubby & I have fun too!! 

If you haven't checked it out yet, I hope you will. I hope you enjoyed some of the ideas where to hid "your" Sabrina this year!
I'd love to hear all of your wonderful family stories this year with the Elf on the Shelf tradition. 

Hope you have a Super Great Day!!!



xoxo,
                                                            Photobucket

Christmas Gift Wrap Ideas

I'm super excited to team up with a few of my blogger friends to bring you some great Christmas gift wrap ideas. Welcome to everyone vis...

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Meet Jennifer
God made and Jesus saved! This Colorado girl is living in a Texas world. I'm a home decor enthusiast, sharing our home, fashion and entertaining tips.

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