Its Snowing Here!!! not sticking but snowing!

December 1st... the countdown to Christmas begins! As the days start to turn colder my calendar starts to fill quickly. My December, like many of your, becomes a guessing game of how do we fit one more thing into our schedule. We want to spend time with everyone and hate to say no to any party or celebration. (And we usually don’t say no) Christmas only comes once a year and we enjoy celebrating with our family and friends.

We have one event that has been scheduled for sometime now. And I’m anxiously looking forward to the celebration. It’s a progressive dinner with neighborhood friends. For those of you who don’t know what a progressive dinner is, it where a group of friends or families travel from home to home to admire the homeowners decorations and partake in a few delicious goodies. Our first stop will for appetizers and drinks. Then after about an hour or two we move on to the next home for soup and salad, then main dish and last but not least desserts. Spending a few hours at each home with friends will be a great treat this holiday season. My house will be the soup and salad stop. I’m looking for a spectacular soup that will WOW everyone. So if anyone has any recipes I would love to here about them. The salad will be a spring mix topped with sliced strawberry and toasted sesame seeds. All topped off by a sweet and tangy dressing with poppy seeds. We were introduced to this fantastic salad by my husbands Aunt Wendy from NC. Thanks Wendy, we loved it so much we have it all the time now!

I’m still taking orders for Christmas gifts on my Etsy shop. If there’s something you would like to order do so soon. And still get them in time for Christmas morning! Click the link on the top left sidebar to see my shop.

Decorations, I’ve been working on a few more decorations. My mantel and my chandelier in my dinning room. Here are a few of my favorite Santa ornament and other decorations that I love. Enjoy the pictures.

Showing my Christmas Spirit Entry Way Photos

As Promised, Pictures of my Christmas Decorations.These are new this year. I have Peace and Joy on the tree in the entry.

This is my entry way tree with the lights on and the overhead light off.

With Garland up the stair way.

Same Tree as above with the overhead light on and a

sweet little boy doing flips in front of it. (lower right hand corner)

This is my entryway again from a different angle. This one you can see the ledge above the doors. I have my two pencil trees on it. You can't see it but I also have a handpainted old screen with a snowman on it.

Let the decorating start!!!

Okay, I know its not even Thanksgiving yet. I normally don’t begin to decorate until Thanksgiving is over. However this year I seem to be in the Christmas Spirit earlier that normal. And my sweet husband has been encouraging me to "start decorating"! Well you don't have to tell me twice.



This past weekend while I was at the Christmas Open house, which by the way went very well, Craig went up to the attic and gathered ALL the totes that I store my Christmas decorations in. For those of you who don't know, I love and I mean LOVE to decorate Christmas trees. As a matter of fact it was my job before I had a husband and kids. I was a visual merchandiser for a department store. With that being said I DO know that I can go a bit overboard according to normal standards. It doesn't seem like a chore or work to me so I don't mind and Craig doesn't seem to care. As long as I'm not hammering nails in his wall! As a matter of fact he was very helpful this year.



Two years ago this December we moved in to our current home. It was December 8th and the second (clothes were first) thing I unpacked was our Christmas decorations. I had two trees up, decorated and ready to greet our neighbors as they stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood. Last year I had one fully decorated tree and two pencil trees with lights. This year I've added another tree. Because our family room is very open I've added a 9ft slimline tree. I am adding the wreaths to the outside windows and another to our garage door, decorating the mantle, hang the stocking and then I'm done!!!! That’s right, Done!!!



I have 2 decorated trees, 2 pencil trees, wreaths on the double doors, snowmen on the buffet and gifts wrapped and under the trees. And all this BEFORE Thanksgiving! I'll share photos of the decorations soon. Start decorating.

Post a comment with a link to your decorations so we can see your Christmas Spirit!

Decorating without nails in the wall.

BEFORE

I've had this nightstand for a few years. I think I paid about $10 for it at the goodwill. I say $10 because I'm pretty cheep and would not have paid much more than that. Maybe $12 but that's it.

When I purchased it I decided i need to paint it. So I painted it in a very whimsical look (back when I painted it it was whimsical now its just tacky). Last week I decided my girls needed an updated nightstand between their beds. Plus it had make up, lip gloss, crayon, pen marks and cup rings on the top. Yep all those were on there!

Step 1. Find a well made piece of furniture that has great shape.

Step 2. Sand all past paint drips, ruff edges or chips smooth.

Step 3. Prime with spray primer. Its goes faster if you use a spray and is much easier to clean up. I used white because I was going to paint a light color. If you plan on using a dark color as your finished color I would go with a gray primer.

Step 3. Paint with desired color I use a light green spray paint by Krylon (I think, I've thrown the cans away already). You may need more than one coat. I did two.

Step 4. Using an electric sander, sand edges so that some of the wood and bottom paint layer shows.

Step 5. Add stain with a foam brush. Let sit for just a minute and wipe off with an old towel. Repeat until you get the desired contrast from the stain. I use dark walnut stain and it only took one coat.

More Nails in the walls..

Well here they are, 4 more nails in the wall. All photos of the family so that makes it ok! I put this table together in no time. Fabric on the bottom was 60 cents per yard!!!! Can you believe that? I bought over 12 yards. What a big spender I am. Black and white fabric is left over from some project I'm sure I never finished. ( or maybe didn't even start for that matter) Hot glued some trim, put it on the table and there you have it! I put it beside my front doors so everyone that comes in can see it. I just love it.

More latter on another spray painting project I'm working on. Off to watch a movie! Have a great rest of the weekend.

Don't ya just love it when a plan works out?

I do!

Most of the time when I decide to Create something it NEVER turns out like I had imagined it would. But not this time! When I just happened to find this wooden compote (I sound fancy smancy, don't I?) at where else but the goodwill, I just couldn't leave it there. It asked me to take it home and fancy it up a bit. You know how objects in stores just talk to you? You know things call your name when your shopping, right? I'm not the only one who hears things asking me to buy them, right?

Well just look at this poor little compote (footed bowl, as my grandma would say. Where are it's toes if it has a foot?) . She was sad, beautiful shape and in fantastic condition. But stained wood? I guess I could have made it work someplace in my home just the way she was. You know me better than that. I have to alter it in some way!

I haven't shared with you my most recent fascination.... spray paint! So there you have it this little compote was going to get a nice coat of black paint. Spray paint that is, I wouldn't want brush strokes on my master piece would I? After a few coats of matte black paint a bit of sanding and two coats of dark walnut stain she has made her way to her new home. Lovingly placed on my recently added accent table in my living room.

I must add that my dear husband is opposed to any cluttering of our home. So he's not as impressed with my talents(not sure that spray painting is a talent? But I'm going to say it is) as I am. He would prefer that I leave ALL and I mean ALL the walls blank!! What? Is he crazy? He knew when he married me I was a Visual Merchandiser for a department store. And its in my blood. He has the garage... I get the rest of the house.

I'm off to hammer a nail in a wall someplace! Maybe even 4 nails... I have an idea. I'll share with you tomorrow how it turns out!