It is officially time for the Christmas decorating to commence!

My first Christmas tree of the season...pink!  can you see the ribbon candy ornaments?  In an earlier post, I showed some ribbon candy ornaments made out of striped grograine ribbon...I made these out of  2 different colored ribbons, one spool of white and one spool of pink.  I cut their lengths and folded them at the same time so one side is pink and the other is white.  Then I ran the doubled thread through the center with a small crystal on the bottom, tied it off w/a small round crystal bead at the top and hung a filigreed ornament hanger from the thread...and viola, done.  I've tweaked the tree since this pic was taken, I put 3 pink ostrich feathers in the top and some tiny floral crystaline picks in the branches...adorable, I think...and of course, I just HAD to put my faux goodies with it.   Today I prepared about 17-20 floral picks from a bunch of cream roses and pink poinsettias that I got for super cheap at a thrift store...I plan to use them on the staircase bannister's garland.  I usually put shatterproof balls, but think I'm going a different route this year.  I post pics when I get it done.

Time to Decorate for Christmas! YAAAAAAAAYS!

Thankfully, it's that time of year again...time to decorate for Christmas.  It's true, Christmas is MY favorite holiday season...it's not just a day (that's the day we celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior and all that HE has done for US), but the entire season, where I get to enjoy anything and everything about the not-necessarily-religious-side of Christmas...santa, tree, shiny balls (get your mind out of the gutter, lol), garland w/lots of flowers on it.  And of course, with all this stuff coming out, lots of stuff has to go back in, which means, I have to pack non-Seasonal things away, to prepare for the Seasonal things to come out.  And that's where I'm at at the moment...looking around knowing I need to get off my bootie and pack stuff so that the hubs can start bringing in tubs this weekend.  Yesterday, I left for PT in the morning and noticed that the elderly gentleman that lives across the road (the NICE one) had put up his Christmas wreathe (his daughter did, that is) and his big red ribbon on the bannister...I jumped in glee.  When I got home in the evening, I could see twinkling lights in their front window and I jumped in glee again, w/giggles and clapping my hands...she'd put up the TREE!!!  YAYS!!!  this means that SOMEONE has beat me to it, ugh...and I really need to get off my bum and get to it...so that's what I'm doing this weekend, decorations galore.  Which means, I have a few crafts that I have to do like ASAP.  First, I have some non-vintage bottle brush trees that I've decided to spray paint pink and sprinkle a lil mica on them.  Second, I have some pinecones I've decided to spray paint pink and sprinkle a little clear glass glitter on them.  Third, what's third? crap, see? I've already forgotten yet aNOTHer thing I need to do...I'll remember later, no worries.  Ok, I was on frequency after having another spinal shot on Wednesday and was flipping through St. Louis Home mag. Christmas and got some pretty cool ideas...these are pics of how I usually decorate.  I have a tall tree...it's 10 1/2" tall, but my ceilings in this house are standard which means I have to remove the top part to lower it to 8", so I don't put an angel or star on top because every one I've found are too small and get lost in the scope of the tree.  So I put big bows and use berry sprigs and quail feathers out the top, like this photo:

yes, I took a pic of the pic in a mag, lol

anyhoo, this is what I do.  and then I saw the bannister pic, which yet antoehr thing that I do, even tho my stairway bannister is only like 3" of an area to decorate before it leads into a wall, blah, it's not quite as GRAND as these pics, lol, but aren't they lovely?  I do, however, have a bannistered wrap-around porch that runs the length of the front of my house and I always swag greenery around it (I'll post pics when I do this for all to see and enjoy) and put huge bows and shiny balls on it, along w/white twinkle lights.

 



aren't they pretty? and yes, again, these are pics of pics from sitting in my chair at pt, lol...but I didn't want to buy the mag just to show ya'll the ideas of what I do, sorry StL Home mag,

Isn't the big Snow Santa beautiful?  I don't think I'd sprinkle all that faux snow all over the floor just to get the effect, tho...especially since (you can't see it in this pic) the floor is shiny, white marble, ughh...can you imagin the cleanup and mess of that?  my cats would have that strewn all over the house to where I'd be vacuuming the entire month of January w/out taking a breath, blah.

And I LOVE this pic of the tree...I love all the shiny balls and baubles...and can you see the fairies hanging from it?  They've taken metal wire sticks and bent them a bit, attached them to the tree trunk and hung the fairy from the rounded end to make it look like they're flying around it, decorating it...too cute.  Wouldn't quite go over well in my house, not enough room, but if I had a grand large room like this, I would probably try that out.  The ribbon...I love putting large ribbon as garland on my tree, as well as fluffy maraboo in pink and white, to make it look like snow.

but this pic, is from me...it's the very first Christmas decoration in my home, my dining room to be exact...sitting w/faux hot cocoa, atop an antique rusty, chippy enamel plate w/pink baubles and drops.  The Merry Christmas ornament was only a buck at Walmart, they have them in like 6 different colors, but I liked the red.  Do you have pics of your ideas or home decorating that you'd like to share?  we'd love to see them, forward them or post them in a comment to share it with us.

Beautimus mini cupcakes on rosey platter

November is a time in our house where there's LOTS of birthdays, including mine, and both of my kids'.  So Saturday, we had a mini celebration w/some lovely friends and family.  My bestie and I may have had a nip of wine, or two, lol...and we all visited and such, it was a great time.  I baked two 9" layered round cakes that I dirty iced, then final iced and let both kids decorate their own.  They both insisted on black icing, ugh, what a bday cake, lol.  One was yellow w/French vanilla and fresh mango filling, and the 2nd was white cake with lime filling...both were actually pretty good, my own creations, of course, so that was sheer luck, lol.  But a took a quick pic of the mini cupcakes that I made with no filling so that those who didn't want the aforementioned fillings could still have cake.  With limited time, I made a few dowel rod roses, then made the rest with pansy and petal flowers.  The girls put a sprinkle dot in the center of each, then I sprinkled them all with edible 'snow' (sugar flakes, actually), but it made them sparkle like fairy dust...adorable.  I used the platter that I bought a week or so ago and blogged about down below to put them on...don't they just look scrumptious?!  there were, too! yummm

A beautiful large platter w/pink roses..only $3.69!

So, I found a new resale shop the other day..called Pams Consignments, so I went in, and I'm glad I did.  She had a stack of antique flow blue plates (a total of 12 plates in 5 different sizes) all for only $4.50! and they're BEAUTIFUL!  so, of course, I bought them, lol, I'll prolly stick'em in LC's Etsy store, eventually.  Then I went to the Salvation Army, on of my favorite stores, of course...and found literal OODLES of great stuff.  One good find was a set of nesting vintage Fire King bowls in 3 different colors for $3.99!  Another was this beautiful LARGE and deep vintage meat platter, that has NO cracks or chips AND no crazing!  I pd a whopping $3.69 for it...isn't it gorgeous?!  pink roses on pale green vines (decals) w/hand painted gold scrolls around the handle ends.  I think it is, anyway, and it's just my style too...the question is, do I really NEED it? lol  I have several of these gorgeous platters...me thinks I will go through the ones I have and see if there's one I should part with and put this one in it's place.