My Halls are mostly DECKED! :)

 

Welcome to my "Decked Halls"!  Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting a tree trimming party blogland style. :)  I thought I'd share what my husband, his family, and I did on Black Friday to get ready for the holidays.

Help yourself to a cuppa, it's gonna be a heavy pic post. :)

 Wash up if you like while I make your cuppa and we'll start in the dining room.  DH just finished the wainscoting and chair rail in there.  I was supposed to paint the walls above, but I really want to get the rest of those cardinal wall clings up DSIL gave me!  Painting will have to wait to after the holidays.  ;)

These are the "Little People my mom made when I was a kid.  Remember when ceramics was big and everyone was creating something in a ceramics class?  I have almost all the Christmas creations of my mom.  See if you can spot more as we wander around.  When it get's dark we'll stop back here to see everything all lit up. :)

DH cleaned up his office so he could put up his tree.  This is the one he had when we were first dating. :)  He's a white lights and simple decor kinda guy.  Good thing I've convinced him "more is better" when it comes to Christmas decor or one of us would be very sad right now. LOL!

Rest a bit before we head upstairs.  This tree is our "First Christmas" tree.  We held a voting contest with all of our friends and family for our first married Christmas.  Folks had to vote for colored or white lights.  Lucky for this "color gal" and her "white lights guy" it was a tie!  So there's a strand of each on this tree along with some old school bubble lights.  Those were my moms favorite.  You can sit here by the tree...

or over here by the fire.

 

Oh dear!  I haven't a fire going yet!  We did manage to get my stocking, DH's stocking, and the fur crew socks up though.  Since there's no fire maybe we should head upstairs. :) 

 If you need a rest stop you could use our guest bath, or

the master bath.  We've wandering for a bit and you've had a lot of coffee. :)  You're all set?  Okay then...

Here's our master bedroom tree.  Gram was getting rid of this tree, so I took it off her hands.  My mom's collection of blow glass ornaments, along with some of my own, reside here away from the dangers of little hands and bodies. :)

Here's the very first glass ornament I got mom for Christmas when I was a kid (okay really Gram bought it for me to give her. ;) )  It's starting to get dark.  Why don't you help me turn on the trees in the other bedrooms.

Love those colorful lights. :)

Pretty little bird lights to brighten the night. :)  Let's head back to the dining room to see the tree all lit up. That on is on a timer so it's already casting it's soft glow!

Oh DH must have come home and lit the candles for us!  I ADORE candlelit dinners.

I also adore snow!  This whole tree is dedicated to my snowflake, snowman, snowwoman, snow-whatever ornaments.  Gram gave us this when we got married.  Cute couple aren't they?  DH and I are looking more and more like them everyday! LOL!

Well thanks for stopping by!  It was wonderful to have you!  I'll be sure to pass along all your compliments to DH and the rest of the family.  They worked hard to help me put this all together.  Stop by again later this week and I'll share my pictures from the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Fair in NYC this weekend and the Macy*s windows. :)

Hop over here to see even more decked abodes! :)

Teapot Reveal!

Hi Folks!  So I've been MIA since Wednesday, well there's a good reason.  I was busy getting that teapot basket ready, making a second basket, AND I went to the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale!!!!!  But more on that in a bit.  First I want to show you the baskets! :)

 the before shot :)

First, I want to say a HUGE thanks to all of you for your ideas!  I especially want to thank Pink Sandra for her wicked awesome suggestions.  Email me hun!  I'd love to send you some crafty goodies to say thanks for giving me those great ideas. :)

So I went with the fig and apple spread...

I added some tea, a creamer pitcher, a sugar bowl, napkins, cinnamon sticks, and of course the teapot. :)

Here it is all bundled up and ready for a good home. :) I got so jazzed making this basket, I went to town and made a mini basket too!

Alas, in my excitement to finish this basket I only took this mediocre photo.  Sorry about that folks. :(  I hope these baskets were fun and inspiring for you in spite of the sketchy pics. LOL!

So back to my Martha experience!  I'm in the process of going through all the shots and I'll post them later this week. :)  I also got some (I hope) great shots of the windows at Macy*s.  Stop by later on Monday (around 9pm) when I "Deck the Halls" and don't forget we'll be hosting a new tutorial & challenge at Top Tip Tuesday.  (Challenge Hint- think about what every package needs to make it pop!)

Thanks again folks for stopping by and I promise to catch up on returning all that blog love! :)

White (Wednesday) Christmas

Happy Wednesday everyone!  A couple weeks ago my DH and I went to the Methuen Tree Festival.  There are hundreds of decked out trees and all of them are up for grabs!!!  All the trees are raffled off to raise money for the historical society.  I thought I'd share a few of the stunning white trees for inspiration...

I swoon over tree festivals.  Looking at all the themed trees, the crazy trees, the beautiful trees and the simply trees all in one place is inspiring.

 

My mom and I used to go to a tree festival held at one of the art museums in the town I grew up in, but you couldn't get any of those trees.  These trees are all up for grabs!!!  That little white pole with the coin slot on top is for raffle tickets. :)  How fun is that?!?

Fun frosty tree topper on this one!  I especially adore the feather headdress.  Very early Cher don'cha think? :)

This little table topper tree uses a punch bowl for the base!  Cool idea and seriously when was the last time you had your bowl out anywho?

Close up shot of the punch bowl tree stand.  Love those glittered fruit on the punch bowl plate and the ornaments in the cups.  Dust off those punch bowls folks.  I see a centerpiece in the works. :)

Aaahhh isn't this one so luscious!  The feathers and the lights make this one glow beautifully. 

Last tree for today.  Seemed like a good one to end this post.  Peace is something we could all use this season.  Take time to remember what it was like to be a kid at this time of the year.  The wonder, the joy, and the excitement are what we all need to let ourselves feel.

Stop by again.  I'll be posting more shots to inspire over the next few days. :)  In the meantime, hop over to Faded Charm to check out more White Wednesday inspiration.

Open for Snow?

At Top Tip Tuesday, we're hosting an open challenge this week!  You may share any new crafty creation for a chance to win fun prizes. :)

I went a little funky with my colors this time around.  This is another 10 minute card using stuff from my stash.  The snowman image was one of a bunch that I stamped and colored over the summer and the rest of the stuff was in my pile of scraps.  Love it when a mess pays off! :)

No snow here yet, but I'm off to do a snow dance!  Have a great Tuesday everyone. :)

Sentimental Sunday gift idea

EDIT- This post originally went live on October 18th.  I wanted to share it with the folks at Sunday Favorites since these vinegars are just SO YUMMY and would make great hostess gifts this holiday season.  The kitchen boutique ships these goodies all over, so it's worth the call (I don't know anyone at the shop and I'm not getting and kinda benefits from this plug.  I promise!).

I'm going to come clean, *deep breath*, I don't always remember everyone's birthday. Phew! That was a weight off my chest. Honestly, the first week of October I managed to miss my beloved nephew Jack's (of snowman fame) special day, my friend Lynn's (of earring fame), my aunt's birthday, my husband's aunt and uncle's anniversary and I still haven't made it up to all of them yet!!! I can at least say that I got something for Lynn and Jack. Lynn even got her goodies too (yours are coming Jack, I promise).

I was up in Portland, Maine last weekend (totally beautiful weather BTW) and stopped at this fabulous little kitchen supply boutique. They sell all kinds of flavored vinegars, olive oils, and bbq sauce. YUM! I got Lynn some vanilla and chocolate flavored balsamic vinegar. She and her husband are great cooks, so I know these little babies are going to a good home. Picked up some black cherry flavored BV, and some California Manzanillo EVOO for me. :) Got a couple of goodies for Jack too (everyone else is in the queue and who knows how long 'til they get their stuff...)


Deets on this little paper love- Card base- Memory Box, Sentiment- Amuse, Image- *blush*I gotta get back to you on that one, Paper/Rub-on/Sticker- Fancy Pants-Lilac House. I paper pieced the apron and colored it with Copics.


My advice for the day- If you are like me then you really need to check your calendar and see what you've missed. LOL! :)

In case you don't know the reason I titled this The Shoemakers Kids click here.

EDIT- I still haven't caught up with all the missed celebrations!!!!

Holiday Tweetings

I totally flaked out and forgot to remind all of you about the Top Tip Tuesday challenge this week. Good news though, you've still got time to enter your paper pieced project and/or tip! Here's a peek at my offering.

So for the last 4 years I've taken Christmas card classes once a month at my LSS. We took off December and sometimes January, but every month 10-12 folks got together to make cards of 2 designs and we'd get one of the stamps. This month was the last one. :( The classes are going to change to be all occasion cards starting in Jan/Feb. That's okay. I was starting to acquire an overwhelming amount of Christmas stamps!

This is the stamp that came with the class. It's a really fun one from Outlines. I adore their stamps, but the intricate designs can be overwhelming. I'm not sure I would have gotten this stamp, but after making this card I'm uber excited to add this to the repertoire! Lately I've been concentrating on developing my coloring skills and I've forgotten how great other applications like paper piecing can be. A stamp like this is awesome for paper piecing because it adds so much umph to the details and speeds up the finished process. :)

These are the markers I used during the class to color the songbird. I actually finished the card this morning. All I did at the class was color this bird and play around with the other set of cards we made (mitten fella kinda cards). I didn't finish a thing 'cause I was so busy socializing with everyone! There are about 6 of us that have been fairly regular in taking this set of classes and we were all chatting about our plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Those of us that have been taking the classes all year long got an awesome present! A free stamp from Memory Box!!! It was even signed by Dave himself. :) I really *heart* Memory Box designs and Dave is an awesome instructor. He tells the funniest stories and makes all of us in his classes feel like genius artists. I can't wait to make something with this cool stamp.

So as you could see by my first photo, yes my house is all decorated for Christmas(I know, I know a little early, but I LOVE it).  My husband's family comes over every year on Black Friday afternoon to decorate and gorge on more food.  We don't often see each other all together after Thanksgiving weekend (we're spread out over 3 states), so this is our opportunity to celebrate. :)  I literally have a tree in every room of my house.  There are 3 full size trees, 2 table top trees, 2 ceramic trees that light, and some assorted small tree tchotchkes.  Then there's the outside lights in front and back of the house.  So long story short, I'm VERY THANKFUL for my extended family for helping get the house ready for the season!!!  Stop by on Dec 6th for the complete tour and see other folks decor at Between Naps on the Porch.  It's sure to be amazing. :)

I've flown here with this card:
Be Different- Act Normal- Show and Tell Saturday
The Tablescaper- Seasonal Sunday

Happy Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Hope you have most all you need for tomorrows feast (let's face it, all of us forgot something and have at least one more trip to the market in the very near future).  We have a 1/2 day for students and staff today and I have pie baking on the docket this afternoon.  I hope to be elbow deep in pecans by 1pm.  We'll see how close I get. :)     

I was going for a layered look here.  This got mailed off to some family this past weekend along with this, this, and one like this. It's a Thanksgiving miracle!  My family got cards BEFORE the holiday. LOL!

This image & sentiment is from PTI, the brown paper is BB, and the other "stuff" is from my assorted stash piles.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!