Christmas is over!?!?! Oh well, 2011, here we come!!!!

Santa has done his job, and done it well. It's time to say goodbye to Christmas. Where did the time go? I'm still listening to Christmas music as I write this post. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to put it all away yet. I guess it is time to take down the holiday bling.

Everything will be looking so bare for while. But don't you just love how BIG your room seem when the tree is gone? Simplicity will rule the first few weeks of January in our home. What to put back up? What will I get back out of the cupboards? Is it way too soon for just a hint of flowers? I am SO ready for spring.

What will you be doing differently around your house in the new year? Now is the time to make some changes. Start the new year off with a fresh coat of paint. Maybe new towels and a rug for the bathroom. Before you put all the non-holiday stuff back. Take advantage of the open space. Be brave, do something around the house, you have always wanted to try. Come on......you know you want to.

A Christmas makeover

Want to do something fast with the kids that they will love?? Change your boring, white refrigerator into a happy snowman.

Most are magnets I already had. You can buy round magnets at any craft store. The 2 big eyes are just black construction paper with a flat, business card magnet glued behind them. No I did not paint on the scarf. It's dry erase maker!! My daughter thinks it's the "coolest" Christmas decoration in the house. Go ahead, after school, do it with the kids. Merry Christmas all.

The New Year....What will it bring??

Are you already thinking of what you want to do around the house after all the holiday decorations come down? A new coat of paint on the kitchen walls? Or maybe a new finish on the cabinets? What about the forgotten guest bathroom? When you were getting it ready for company this Christmas season, did you notice it could sure use a makeover?

Something as simply as a new shower curtain and new knobs on the vanity, can make all the difference in the world. A new coat of paint can brighten, or changing the color, can change the entire feel of the room. It doesn't have to be huge remodel or anything scary all at once. Changing out the counter can be a small project. How about a frame around that old mirror?

Change one thing in the room every week. One little thing. And before you know it....you will have a whole different room.

Images of this year's Christmas Tree

A copper wire and Spanish moss nest I made with a real, tiny egg our chickens dropped last year.

Lots of sparkle. As you will see, I have a thing for icicles.

I've been collecting them for years and now Michelle is really getting into the collection.

Vintage ornaments are my favorite.

And of course had to do a pink chenille throw for a tree skirt.

The tree itself, is a new addition this year. An awesome Salvation Army find!! Yep, prelit 7' tree for........get this, are you sitting down............

.........$20.00!!!!!!!
My favorite Christmas tree to date.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Updated Christmas mantel

Well after looking at so many other mantels, I felt that mine needed a little tweeking. So here is the finished product.

the tree will be coming here real soon. I'll have pics tonight, So happy Christmas decorating for now :)

Time to say goodbye to fall and Welcome Christmas

I never did get around to doing too much to my mantel for the fall. Put some feathers in a glass jar and of course put "Rockey" up there. Nonetheless, it's time to say goodbye and welcome Christmas.

Bye Rockey, see ya next year.

Oh, do I see a little shabby seaside theme coming into view??

Yes I do think so. Vintage ornaments, glass pieces and shells. Oh I think it's coming together.

A few of my favorite things tucked in to the vintage silver and white tinsel garland. A little glitter here and there.

Oh would that be a glitter cottage under glass. Why yes it is. This is a new tradition we have adopted, making glitter houses. Together, as a family, we make a new one every year. This was our first attempt 2 years ago. A little pink cottage.

This was last Christmas' addition. A little white chapel. Who knows what we will do this year. Any suggestions?

I think the branches on the right side are missing something. What do you think?

I have had this angel for years. She is made of tin and hold a candle inside. I made these feather trees years ago.

That's what the right side needed. A little more pink.

Well it took me a few hours to clean off the old fall and welcome Christmas, but it's done and I am happy.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all !!!!!!

Just in case you don't know who this is. This is "Big Tom", the world's largest turkey.

OK, so tomorrow is the big day, right? If at all possible, most of us will be with loved ones. Weather they be blood family or chosen family. Some of us are far from our blood family, but have been lucky enough to have been adopted by another family. At least for the holidays days.

So what does Thanksgiving mean to you. I mean really?? What are you thankful for?? And why is it that we only think about these things now?? I wish we wouldn't wait for just Thanksgiving day to get with family we haven't seen all year. Or to tell friends how important they really are to us. We need to remember this feeling, this time of year and carry it throughout the year. Now I don't expect you to eat like you will tomorrow more then a couple of times a year. We don't want that, and I'm sure our Doctors don't want that. But let's try to keep our "Thanksgiving" lasting longer then just tomorrow. Come on, let's try to think of these feeling more often. Let's keep this turkey rollin y'all!!

May you and yours be blessed tomorrow and all the days to come.

Paris plaque

This is a little plaque I made tonight. I'm not always sure where the ideas came from, but here is this one.

I started with a piece of board my hubby cut for me out of some scrap. Sanded it and painted a color I came up with after mixing some colors. I didn't want pure white, so I added a little dark brown to it till I came up with what you see.

I started playing with some new fleur de lis clear stamps I got, of course on sale, at Hobby Lobby last week. Used a few dark brown inks. I sanded down the edges and inked then also.

I have lots of chip board letters, so started glueing, glittering and playing with the layout. I found this great old picture of the eiffel tower online, printed it out, distressed it, inked it and put it in the corner.

And here it is. The final product. It will be in my Etsy store tomorrow.
I'll be posting new Christmas decor ideas next.

A few more details coming together in the studio. This was some old toile fabric I've had for years, knowing I had something for it someday. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the edge. I knew I wanted some type of fringe, so I made my own. It took some time making the raveling come out nice, but there it is. I really didn't have a plan for this, it just came together. I love the way it turned out.

It wasn't going to be long enough so I tied it off with white ribbon from a twig. That dropped it by 4 or 5 inches. Which is just what I needed.

The tieback is just more white grosgrain ribbon. Now if I could just find another place for the printer. Well at least it's white.

The sweetest little cabinet.

I found this little cabinet in the back of a neighbors storage shed. I fell in love with it. My husband did a little gluing and clamping on the bottom. Other then that, it is just like I found it. He asked me if I wanted him to paint it, I told him if he paint touches it I would be forced to hurt him!! He knows better then to paint anything I find. I just love the chippy original paint. I think this will be the fabric cabinet. I love being able to see the colors of all my fabrics and scraps.

What a perfect fit for this wall. The shabby shelf frame on top was a trash rescue. I love road side treasures. The rest of the things on the top are all yard sale or thrift store finds. Not sure what I will put in the big red jar, but don't you just love it.

Notice the PARIS pic on the wall behind!! Found it yesterday at one of my favorite Goodwill stores. A whole 99cents! It's a metal sign. The one next to it is LONDON.

I just love the details on this cabinet. Everything original to it. It is missing one of the small glass knobs. So I'll be keeping a look out for one of those. I don't want to buy a new one, I want to keep it to the vintage feel. I'm so happy with this little cabinet!!! Can you tell??
Thanks for stopping by.