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.

It's almost Christmas!!!

I realized today that Monday is November 1, which means  many things, one of which is that one of my favorite radio stations, 102.5 KEZK, will be going to all Christmas music all of the time starting on Monday.  YAYS!  It's their signature move and I LOVE it!  I know, I know...it's not Christmas, but to me, Christmas is celebrated all year.  Besides the fact that my religious beliefs are that 'JESUS is the reason for the season,' I feel that since it is, why does it have to be celebrated only one day?  I love everything about it...the REASON, where I have several creches (nativities and scenes) displayed throughout the house, right alongside Santas (he may not be the reason, but he's a symbol...St. Nicholas, the symbol that it's better to give than to receive, because that's how the gift giving began...this, we can do all year long, as well).  anyhoo, I've been listening the Christmas cds on and off for the past month or so.  All who knows me, knows that I enjoy decorating my home for the season.  Where I tend to put up many decorated trees, some just small, simplie tabletop trees, others, like the living room and master bedroom, more elaborate.  I tend to go overboard...last year, one of my oldest daughter's friends came by and said that it looked like Santa had thrown up on my tree, lol.  Well, some of you may not know this, but the tree in my master bedroom stays up 365 days a year.  It's white, usually with purple lights (they can be difficult to find with white caps and wire, though), and has a few Victorian pink balls on it, along with berry vines.  The other ornaments on it are those that my husband and I collect from places that we travel to.  They're the 24 kt gold laser cut and etched shiny golden ornaments that depict scenes of the places we've travelled to, such as Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, the Camp Lakewood Trout Lodge that we go to every summer, Hannibal Missouri from when we went w/my ex-sister-in-law & her new husband, and various states we've visited, along w/many more.  Our newest acquisition is one from Hermann, Missouri's Oktoberfest, where we went his past weekend.  And I stick a few berry picks in the top along w/some butterflies.  I just redid the ornaments today with the help of my oldest (I had to listen to her, 'are you serious, mother?' throughout it, but she did it, none-the-less, lol), and the lights are white now, as you can see in the pic.  I might tweek it a bit here and there still, haven't decided.  So right now, I'm propped up on my bed, with my golden retriever laying across  my feet, my rat terrier curled up under the blanket next to me, the window open w/a cool breeze blowing through, my pretty tree lit, and 'It's a Wonderful Life' on the boob-tube, lol...ya think there's meds for this condition? lol  My husband snickers at me for my craziness and my kids roll their eyes, lol but I don't care...they'd miss it if I didn't do it this way.

Oh, oh, forgot to tell everyone, I picked up a new tree for my kitchen the other day...I'm trying to remember where I bought it, I think it was Garden Ridge, anyhoo, it's PINK, I have gold, silver, green, even teal blue, but I hadn't picked up a pink one yet, so I did.  Didn't pay much for it, something like 8 bucks, it's about 2 feet tall.  I plan to decorate it with mini-cupcakes that I make, along w/ribbon candy ornaments (made from ribbon, I'll take pics of those and show-and-tell in a later post, but they're similar to the ones in this pic)...I just can't wait!!!  My kitchen boasts a large lithograph of Santa working in his kitchen making cookies and soup with the elves, he's wearing an apron, lol.  I keep this picture up all year, as well, it's just too cute not to.  I also picked up a tall 'skinny' tree at another thrift store that I frequent, Value Village, it's HUGE...it took over the old Big Lots store and it uses the entire floor space for it's goodies, that's how big it is.  They had the tree and it was only priced at $6.06 (yeah, they're one of those that puts a weird ending price on their tags, dunno why they do that, they're not tax-exempt or anything).  I think I'll be putting this outside on my front porch, next to my front door with white lights and red plastic balls...will show-and-tell when it all comes together.

I also found a new ornament I want to make...add it to my list, of course, lol.  Took this pic at Kohl's.  It's suppose to be a vintage postcard, it's been sprinkled with clear 'snow' glitter.  I have quite a few old Christmas cards that people have given me through the years and they would be perfect to turn into this.  I already have a large postcard stamp to look like the vintage back, w/a place for a stamp, etc.  Then the stamper w/writing and postmarks, all of which I have...trim them with decorative scissors, spray with spray glue and sprinkle...add an embellishment at the bottom, maybe a little plastic crystal, or a couple of beads, etc. and BOOM! DONE!!  wouldn't these be adorable and very economical gifts?  I think that's what I'm-a gonna do! and of course, it's been added to my very long list of 'to-dos' lol

A couple of my recent junkin' finds

The hubs and I went to the Pevely Fleamarket on Sunday...we didn't get out and about until lunchtime, so we knew there wouldn't be many sellers left, and we were right, lol, there were only a handful of sellers other than the 'regulars'...ya'll know the type, they rent a spot at the flea market and set up canapies and such and just tarp it closed when the flea maret's over and it's all ready to go for the next weekend...you NEVER find anything worth having at those sellers, (in our experience) so we skipped over them.  They 2 large buildings that we strolled through, and the last one had this little iron ice cream chair stuck in a dusty old corner...I squealed and the hubs thought I'd fallen or something, lol.  He dug it out for me and the tag said $5.00!  I squealed again...he just said, 'I take it that that means you want it,' lol and took it to the front to pay for it.  (btw, those aren't holes in the back, it's just the limbs from that loathesome barberry bush sticking thru them, ughhh, I HATE that bush!)  It's a very sturdy and solid chair...can't decide if I want to put it down in garden or what...hmmmmm.  got any ideas for me???

Then today I was out running errands all over town and stopped in at the local Goodwill.  I picked up a few things, a couple of brand new Target donated Kindle covers for when I get mine, one for 99 cents and the other for $2.99.  Then I found these beauts...and for a SONG too.  They're the vintage enamelware refrigerator boxes...2 reg. sized white boxes, w/lil handles on top w/blue edges, aren't they adorable?  they were only $2 EACH!!!  WOWzers for realz!  If you notice in the pic, they're sitting in a larger box...and THAT, my dear folks, is a vintage enamelware refrigerator drawer box!  It's large, white w/black edge and black handle, very hard to find...and I only paid 6 BUCKS for it!!!

My next find I didn't take a pic of, but I stopped at one of my favorite junk shops, Pops, where they know me by name.  He knows some of the things that I like and puts them back for me until I come in next, and he and his helpers especially know my affinity toward old photo slides.  I went in to find a glass stopper for a vintage wine decanter (he has a bin full of glass stoppers and I just KNEW he'd have what I needed...he did, lol, and for only a buck and a half).  And of course, as always, I ask as I come in, 'hey there...how's everyone? great...great...oh yeah, I'm fine, tired of this wind.  Say, did ya'll get any new photo slides in?'  and, the answer was, 'hmmm, I think there's a box in the back, I don't know why they're back there...let me call him and ask' and as she dialed, I said, 'hopefully they're there for ME!' smiling...she got off the phone and said, 'yep, he stashed'em back there for you, let me get'em.'  When she came out she had 2 boxes of vintage aluminum slide cases (not trays) full of slides.  It was like Christmas for me, lol...there were about 200ish vintage slides and she only charged me $16 for them ALL!  YAYS!  A couple of months ago I stopped in and he'd put back close to 600 or so slides for me and only charged me $30 for them all, and they were of China in the 50's and 60's...WONderful, with a few vintage Christmas slides thrown in.  We just have the best time going through them all and looking at them in slide viewers and occassionally set up the projector, put a white sheet across the big screen tv, and look at them that way...have you ever done that?  just take someone else's vacation with them from years past with vintage photo slides?  I love doing that.
CORRECTION:  I USUALLY DON'T COUNT THE SLIDES I BUY, I GUESSTIMATE, LOL YEAH, I KNOW, BAD BAD...ANYHOO, I FINALLY COUNTED THE ONES I PICKED UP THE OTHER DAY AND THERE WERE 1,080!!!  THAT'S WAAAAAAAAAAAAY OFF FROM 200ish, EH? LOL  SO THE ONES I PICKED UP A FEW MONTHS AGO OF CHINA WERE PROBABLY CLOSER TO 3000! 

Win a copy of 'Holiday' with Matthew Mead over at Thrifty Decor Chick!

One of the Thrifty Decor Chick's projects has been chosen to be in Matthew Mead's new Christmas decorating, crafting books, 'Holiday with Matthew Mead!' HOW exciting!!! and she has an extra copy up for grabs in a giveaway...just head over to her post and let her know that you'd like to win it, for your entry...you can get extra entries, too, if you want to get more chances to win it. It looks like it's going to be a fanTABulous new Holiday decorating book! GOTTA have it, one way or another!