Christmas through my son's eyes

Keep linking to the party here ladies! What fun this is! I am loving seeing what you all are loving right now! I've already found about ten things I HAVE TO HAVE and quite a few projects I'm going to try out too. (Sorry about the mess with Mr. Linky. He's on my crap list right now.)

So as I was thinking of more of my favorites right now, my son came to mind. This season has shown me example one million and one of how my son has changed my life for the better...he sees magic in everything right now. Snowmen are awesome. Snow is magical. And Santa is the BOMB. (Da bomb.)

And for that reason, some of my favorites right now are mine only because they are his...I mentioned the 12 foot Santa for the front yard? No I haven't purchased one (yet.) but I am just itchin' to, just because every time we walk into Lowe's, he is. in. heaven. But I have purchased plenty of other items I never would have before. And I LOVE them! This has translated to me spending WAY too much on cute, fun, magical little things that I know he will love for years.

Like a Santa cookie jar. I've never owned a cookie jar in my life. And now, I just had to have it!:

Cute snowmen towels from Target:

Silicone cupcake molds for a DOLLAR each from Target:

We already tried them out tonight for Hubby's birthday. They came out PERFECT! (Love you Lovey!!)

Stuffed Santa: (consignment shop find, brand new, $7 people.) He doesn't put him down:

My countdowns. (Which I will be finishing up tonight...GAH!)

Of course we needed a The Night Before Christmas book, it's beautiful. And I wanted to get him the Rudolph movie and of COURSE they had a set of the old Christmas movies for $40 and I just had to get it. Help me. My husband begs of you.

And the gingerbread house from Hallmark that lights up and plays music (click play button!):

HA! I just had to do it! Seriously though, our son must play this thing 15 times a day. He tries to carry it everywhere with him...while I follow him around freaking out because I'm thrifty and that thing was $20!!


I can't wait to see more of your favorites! I'll be back this week with more of mine!

Tell us a few of your favorite things!!

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**Edited to add that I've extended this for the giveaway till Saturday at noon. So keep linking till then! And you are still welcome to keep posting after that just for fun!

It's here! It's here! I don't know about you, but this time of year just makes everything more fun. I guess I find I'm more thankful for the little things right now too. I don't know what it is, but weeks ago, while shopping, I thought of this idea after I must have said "OH, how CUTE!" about fifty trillion times while eyeing all the Christmas stuff.

And that's how this fun post came about. So all you have to do is either create a post and link to it here, or link to a past post. It can be ANYTHING!! How about your favorite TV show right now? (Kath and Kim.) Or your favorite food? (Cinnamon Bagelfuls.) Your favorite song? (Darius Rucker, "It won't be like this for long." Dare you not to cry.) Favorite holiday decor? (Magnolias.) Toiletry? (Oil of Olay warming scrub. Ohhhh, love. it.) Home decor? (New flannel sheets from Target. Only $20 for a king size!) Anything! Have fun with it! If it's an item you buy, tell us where you get it. If you made it, tell us how. If you cook it, give us the recipe.

And if you don't have a blog or Web site, don't fret! Just leave a comment (everyone else please comment too!) and let me know by leaving your name or e-mail or something I can identify you with.

And for all this...you'll be entered for my fantabulous giveaway! Well, not fantabulous, just kind of fabulous, or a little fantastic, either way. I've just been grabbing fun stuff for weeks as I've been shopping around. Some is Christmasy, some isn't. All my favorites right now, all fun:

Hot chocolate

Bath salts

Christmas kitchen towels

Pine scented BBW home spray

Christmas scrapbook paper

Holiday scrapbook items

Popcorn (you knew that was coming!)

Dollar bin stuff from Target

Santa matches (Precious!)

Pine cones you can glitter to your heart's content

Santa sign

Fun and easy recipes for entertaining

Reindeer food for the kiddies to sprinkle on the lawn

I'll draw the winner this Friday. So until then, Linky, Linky ladies! (Taken down for the time being because of Explorer issues!)

P.S. The reindeer food and the pine spray aren't in the picture because my frazzled brain can't remember where I put them. I'm thinking of about 32 projects I want to work on right now. It will come to me tonight when I am just about to drift off to sleep...then I'll have to get up and run to get them so I don't forget again. Bear with me.

Got a front door?

Then you can do this:

And make the outside of your house as pretty as the inside.

You'll need:

A door. (I'm funny.)
Numerous garlands ($3 or less each)
Numerous light strands
Large or small cup hooks
Step ladder
Measuring tape

Measure the height and width of your front door. Take your garland and figure how many feet you'll need. Most come in nine foot sections. (By the way, you can easily cut these to size with pliers or wire cutters.) Then, depending on how much you have and how full you want it -- twist numerous strands together. Then wrap the strands of lights around the whole thing.

Take your cup hooks, and start putting them around your door. I like to put them opposite ways, so the garland kind of weaves around them:

At the top, put one right in the middle. Then find the middle of your garland:

Keep a hold of that point in the garland, then hang that part on the middle cup hook. Then drape the rest down the sides of the doorway, tucking the garland in the cup hooks as you go. (Make sure the plug for the lights is closest to the outlet!)

If you don't have an outlet, just use a bunch of garland and make a full one to put around the door. Stick ornaments, ribbon, whatever in it! I have a very small porch, so I put up two sets -- one around the door and one around the overhang. I also do this around the garage in the same way.

The cup hooks will leave a very small hole in the trimwork. If you are worried about the hole, use the smaller cup hooks.

The great part is, you'll know exactly where they go every year -- the hole is already there! Greenery makes for a very traditional, sophisticated exterior and I LOVE IT. If you have the 12-foot, blow up Santa, I'm sure it will still work with that. (OH, do you know how close I am to getting one this year?? More about that later.)

To do this:

That's a lighted wreath, hanging in the window, in case you can't tell because you are blinded by the lights because my stupid bleeping expensive camera won't take pictures worth a crap in the dark no matter what setting I use... Breathe.

Anyhoo, take a small wreath (I got mine for about $3 each at Joann's years ago.) Wrap it with a strand of lights. Take fishing wire, floral wire, string, anything, and wrap it through the top. Open your window, pull out the screen, lay the wreath on the screen, figure out where you want it, then pulling the wire and end of the lights through the top, shove the screen back in, cuss a few times, call your husband to help, cuss again cause he's taking too long, slam the screen back in, then close the window.

You may have to push a little harder for the window to lock this time. :) I'm sure it's some kind of minor fire hazard to smash a strand of lights through a window, but I've done it for years and we're OK. (Knock on wood.) Here's a better pic:

Wow, that little guy needs to be fluffed. Garland is like a wet cat, you need to fluff it up to get it looking it's best.

Really, none of this is hard. It just takes time. The first time you do it will be the longest. After that, it takes me well under an hour, start to finish, to hang everything.

More crappy pictures to show you the beauty (I'm really selling this well, aren't I??):

Notice the coach light that's burnt out. Only the best for you folks, I tell ya.

P.S. The posts will probably come fast and furious this month! If I see something, I'm going to post it...like that puuuurdy Christmas tree. Kelly, NO THAT IS NOT IN MY HOUSE!! :)

P.P.S. We're getting our tree tomorrow -- EARLY this year. Yippee kie yay!!!

Purdiest Christmas tree EVER.

Would you BELIEVE this is made out of these?:

OH, I am ROLLING!!! Not because it's made of Mountain Dew cans, but because I actually think it's kind of pretty!! My favorite part is the "star" on top. Have I lost my mind? Just another testimonial to the magic of Christmas lights -- they can make anything pretty!

Anyone up for a soda can tree? And talk about thrifty -- just save up your pop cans and wire hangers for a year and a FREE TREE!

P.S. Click on the tree cookie and watch my pet reindeer. Ca-uuute!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We slept in till 9, are watching the parade, and are about to start the pancakes. Does it get any better? I don't think so!

Couldn't let the day go by without saying Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy, stuff yourself, enjoy your families, and try to relax at some point. I am very thankful for all of you. (Sniff.)

Oh, and give my "pet" turkey a pet. :)

Magic. Take Two.

You so know me by now and were probably expecting this...but I had to make a change. The tree candles on the mantel were so...oh I don't know, 2006. I adore them, but they just didn't do the GORG magnolia garland justice. Sooooo...

I took floral foam, stuck a ton of garland in there, wrapped 100 lights in it (Good LORD!) and more flowers. Ummmm...love it. But is it too much? Even if it is, I luuurve it and it's stayin'.

**Edited to add -- I kept the crystal candlesticks (honestly, just because I am totally lazy and didn't want to take a trip to the basement to get the others. Added some green sparkly candles and done! I also moved the NOEL stocking holders to another spot.




Is it sacrilegious to not hang your stockings on the mantel when you have a mantel?? :)

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends and just relax and have fun with it all. We will do very little other than cook, eat, lounge, watch TV, lounge, eat, cook, eat, eat. Sleep. Sounds like perfection to me. We are ready:





Also stocked up on Christmas cookies, cinnamon rolls and wine. We've got all we need. :)

Finally, I told you my house pukes up garland...(this is about a tenth of it):

This weekend I'll show you how easy it is to hang this and transform the outside of your home.

P.S. Don't forget to be thinking of some of your favorite things for December 1st!! Mr. Linky is coming and I want to see your favorite things you love right now -- it can be ANYTHING -- craft stuff, decorating stuff, holiday decor, jewelry, cleaning supplies, food, blogs, whatever! I find the greatest things when people share their favorites. I have the giveaway almost completed. :)

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

Gobble.

Gobble.

Magic.

First off, you need to know I can't get enough of certain things. All year round, you know by now, it's molding of any kind. In the spring and summer, it's landscaping bricks outside. At Christmas-time, it's greenery. My house looks like a pine tree threw up all over it (but in a pretty way) by the time I'm done every season. And every year, I add more. My style is very traditional, and there's nothing that screams traditional more this time of year, then greenery wrapped around EVERYTHING.

So this year, I was quite obsessed with adding white magnolias to our mantel greenery. I don't know why -- I saw it somewhere months ago and fell. in. love. I looked at Joann's, nothing. Hobby Lobby, nada. The Web, zilch. Starting to hyper ventilate that my dream would not come true...I realized I hadn't stopped by Micheal's. The clouds opened up and I found EXACTLY what I wanted there last week, half off. Whooty WHO!

So this is what I created. First of all, you need a few strands of basic greenery. (The more the better!) I usually get mine from Joann's for less than $3 each. For this project, I found greenery at Micheal's for $2 each. Got three, wrapped them together. Then piled on the goodies...

I wrapped the whole thing with two strands of lights, then stuck a lot of this in (also half off):

A little of this (I already had):

And a TON of these...glorious!!:

It turned out exactly the way I wanted. You know when you see something in your mind and it turns out JUST how you imagined? Yep, this was one of those.

Now I need your help -- I usually use my basic candlesticks on the mantel, but found a couple glass candle holders in the basement I thought might work too. What do you think? This? (I'll add green or white sparkly candles):

Or this?:

What do you think? I need advice!

In my humble opinion, there is nothing quite so magical and beautiful then Christmas lights in the dark. The glow transforms the room and my state of mind. I just have to sit back, smile, and relax.

P.S. I don't where to put the stockings now...but we'll deal. Santa will find them anywhere, right? :) Nah, I'll put them up in a couple weeks...for now I enjoy.

P.P.S. I've been teaching my almost two-year-old son for weeks now to say "Ho Ho Ho" when we ask about Santa. Well, it took. All weekend...every time he sees a Santa, he says it. So basically, because I bought him the cauuutest stuffed Santa to tote around...it's all we've heard. For days. The best part is, this boy, the cutest boy in the WORLD, doesn't just say it...he purses his lips and says a very deep and meaningful "Ho Ho Ho!" out of the corner of his mouth. I. could. just. die.

Weathered Wood

Here are some pictures of some items with that beautiful weathered-wood finish we're seeing so much of. Check out the chandelier & the armoire next to the fireplace.

Interiors designed by Nancy Price & featured in House Beautiful. The aged finishes on the room's furnishings layer so well with one another.

The look is light & airy but still warm because of the time-worn feeling of the finishes.

I love this buffet from Wisteria. I wish I had a reason to buy it. It's got that perfect grayed driftwood look.

Here's the 'weathered oak" finish on a table & chairs by Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic:

I love this amazing compote from Potluck Studios. Whatver you did with this, it would be beautiful. It just looks so handmade & has this great rustic-elegance.

Here's the more refined acorn lamp from Aidan Gray Home.

Aidan Gray carries a lot of their pieces in this weathered wood/ limwash finish. How perfect is this chair?

The weathered finish mixes really well with other finishes- painted, ebonized, metal- just have fun with it! Got any pretty pics to share? I'd love to see them!

Countdowns for the kiddies!

Woooeeee, I am modge-podged OUT! I started one project tonight I just couldn't wait to show you and finished one I couldn't wait to show you. :) First, the finished...

I got this vinyl design at Uppercase Living (you saw it here) -- and I got it FREE! I hosted a party, sold quite a bit and got three items for only $14. I was eyeing this one for weeks beforehand, so I had plenty of time to figure out what I was going to do. In the catalog, they put it on a pizza pan. Umm, OK. Cute, but not for me. Instead I got a table top from Lowe's, painted it with my leftover magnetic paint, then spray painted it white.

The magnet is a little itty bitty tree from Hob Lob that I got for about 30 cents. Painted it, put a magnet on the back, there you go.

Added fun ribbon from Micheals and it finished it off perfectly! I even spray painted an easel I already had to make it work better. So really, this whole project cost me less than $13 -- for the table top, ribbon and the tree.

I really, really LOVE this thing. I think it is just plain PRECIOUS. I swear, I should get commission from Uppercase Living for this stuff.

So the modge podge overload (now I have modge podge hand instead of spray paint finger - argh!) came from this project. I cannot remember where I saw it -- tell me if it was YOU or if you've seen it somewhere. Where ever I saw it, she did it for Halloween. I thought I would have to start on Halloween to get this started by December 1, but it is going much faster than I thought it would. **Edited to add that I saw this at Just a Girl -- thanks for reminding me ladies!

I started with a trillion 24 cardboard boxes, painted the sides of the lids, then glued the tops to my scrapbook paper. I was trying to be all thrifty and used wrapping paper at first, which did NOT go well. It is way too thin.

I cut around the lids with an x-acto knife, then on some, added more paper around the container, some I painted. (I heart the painted ones. EASY.) I modge-podged like mad, then added some cute foam stickers and numbers to the top. (You should be able to enlarge this one.)

The other 12 of these will be in green. I'll show you the finished product soon! By the way, your craft kitchen table will look like this:

Pepsi? Check. Remote? Check. Phone? Check. Happy Chick.

Sorry, gotta say it...caauuuuuute!!! But the numbers are a thorn in my side. Has anyone ever tried to find nine chipboard 1's? Impossible. (Well, without buying nine packages...not happening.) So I'm just cutting the letters out with the x-acto knife and that is about to put. me. over. the. edge. Help.

Anyway, I think they are both adorable. When I saw the little containers in blogland, she put magnets on them, but I'm not sure if I will do that yet. I thought it might be fun just to hide them somewhere for every morning for the Bub to find. Ideas? Maybe the elves leave them? Is that a recipe for him freaking out about elves sneaking into the house at night?? Tell me these things, I'm only two years into the Christmas tradition thing. :)

I'm whooped. Off to dream about modge podge scrapbook paper Christmas traditions!

Do you follow?

OK, I've been going back and forth on this for months...the new followers thing on Blogger has created love/hate feelings for me. Love it because when I get a new "follower" (HATE that term), I practically squeal with glee I'm so excited!! Hate it because when I used to see them on blogs, I was so turned off by it, like I was in high school again and it was a weird popularity contest.

I know, I know, I read WAY too far into stuff. I'm deep you know. Anyhoo...I've kinda changed my mind lately. Just today I added my first few blogs to my own followers list and WHOA, this is SO MUCH EASIER than bookmarking every page and clicking through all the sites every time I get online...AND we have two computers in our house (sucky one and kinda sucky one) and I bookmark different blogs on different computers.

Soooo, my question is, do you mind when people show their followers on the blogs? I'm thinking I'm going to do it, because now it seems kind of fun. I know this is really not a big deal...but if you have any thoughts about it, let me know.

And stay tuned because I have some fuuuuun stuff to show you later tonight! YAY.

**Edited to say I went ahead and added them to the side...more for YOU than anything. I'm finding this is a very easy way to find new fun sites, so go check them out! Please keep commenting about this if you want!!

A Black & White Table Design for Fun

Here's a quick dining room design I did. I saw these gorgeous plates from House Beautiful's 101 plates & just had to do a room around them. Start with Knoll's Saarinen Dining table in black granite. (Yes, we're pretending we don't have a budget!) Its contemporary silhouette will look awesome with this white glass vintage style chandelier from Heal's above it.



Have some fun with the chairs & go with a clean-lined wingback chair in an oversized damask. The chairs will warm up the look & add some needed pattern into the mix. They'll also create a cozy feeling that'll have everyone lingering way past dinnertime.
Choose between this plate or the one above: (Both from House Beautiful's 101 Plates) This one's neoclassical print is such a fun take on a classic element.

Stagger these white glass candlesticks & black flower candleholders from Z Gallerie. They'll look randomly elegant. You could even add a simple white linen runner accross the table so the black flowers will stand out more.

This table setting ends up looking fresh & modern but has some more transitional roots- i.e plates, damask, chandelier. It just feels fun to me. Add some good eats & you're ready to go! enjoy!