Christmas Decor tour

Welcome to our Christmas Home Tour!

I've got lots of pictures, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Our Christmas tree, as you may know, didn't get it's usual decadent treatment this year due to the kittens and Asher. It's a pitiful little thing but it does have some ornaments that we've made together to liven it up that I'm sure I'll treasure down the line if they make it past this year! Ha ha...

Let the embarrassment begin.

Poor crushed tree

Our tree started out looking nice and fluffed up. For about a hour. He started to put the cats in it and just flattened it and then the lights started getting pulled every which way so I gave up. That's when I came up with the home made ornament idea and thought I'd dress up other areas of the house that I'm going to show you :)

Star cut out by me and glitter by Asher.

Ornament shape

Star topper

Here's what I've got scattered around the living room, dining room and entry.
So when you enter my home the first thing you see is our staircase and my old upright grand piano all decked out with shiny tinsel.

Stairs that lead to my studio to the right

An angel that my mom gave me. I'm afraid to add her to the top of tree so I added her here

I like the white from this magnolia. I wish I had bought more last year when they were marked down so cheap.  I may do more white in the coming years because my house is so dark.

As you turn left, you enter the living room and see the fireplace glowing with my poinsettia garland that I added twinkle lights to.

and the stockings all hung from the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicolas soon would be there

I like this the best I think, the fireplace with this garland.

So as you walk towards the dining room, the stairs to the basement gets gussied up with a wreath.

Here's my snowmen gourds! Yes, I kept them ;^) I normally have my grandmothers very old nativity set here, but thought it best not to get it out with the kittens jumping up and playing with everything.

Snowmen gourds

And here is a print out of all these pictures I took of Asher during his first Christmas. I keep meaning to find a cute frame for it to display better, but I just have it leaned up in this area for now. He was 9 months old. Oh, how cute!

Look at that toothless grin!

So here is the same hat, same kid... only here he is 4 and three quarters! My how time flies!

With the twins...

Asher, Lightning (L) and Thunder (R)

Finally with Zoey...

Buddies

So I tried to get cute and put the hat on the dog, but she just wanted to chew on it and now it stinks like dog. Thank goodness for Febreeze.

That's about it. Notice there are no presents under the tree because Santa hasn't come yet. At the rate Asher is going he may find out what a lump of coal is this year. Sorry this turned out to be longer than I intended but I felt you all needed the details of the tour... hee hee

Merry Christmas to you all my friends!

WEEEEE! My curtains are in and up!

actually pretty heavy, picked up from JCPenny catalog pickup

Not too much in the way of words today, but if you all could see the great big smile on my face you wouldn't need to hear anything (or read). My mom would be so proud, ha ha. She would love these curtains, too. So here are a few pics I took this morning. I picked up the curtains last Wednesday so I've had to wait all this time to have them up! But I am so thrilled with the final outcome. Just come and look :)

I had to get one out and look at it.

I am so happy with this fabric. It is so pretty. I don't think I could've recreated this, not even close.

so cute!

They pick up on all the black elements I have in the kitchen and just looks so much more cozier.

I love them with my mother's copper she gave me

Yay!

Ahhhh

In other news, Asher is doing just great. We have a follow up appointment on Wednesday and his eye almost looks as though nothing happened. He still has some minor bruising but it has not hurt him in the least and he has been very good about letting me put in the ointment to help it heal fast. Click here to see what I'm talking about, if you don't know.

Playing his Mobigo game

The kittens are growing so fast! I'll post some super cute pictures soon and I also have a Cherry Cheesecake recipe I want to share. It is soooo yummy. See ya soon!

I did it!

I did it! I bought my curtains for my kitchen! You guys are not gonna believe the deal I got on my curtains that I was telling you guys about and asked advice for. I have great advice from all you friends out there in blogland and thank you all so much for your kind and encouraging words. I thought about sewing my own curtains for about 2 seconds and ditched that idea simply because there are so many windows and I had to face reality, I just don't have that kind of free time. If I did, I would be creating more art than I am.

I left you all last with them costing $29.99 on sale thru Saturday and I had a 15% off coupon, and I needed 10 of them. Well, I went in to the JCPenny Home Store tonight and thought I'll just look at them in person and make sure this is what I want and that they are worth the money. A lot of you mentioned that they were a fair price and I whole heartedly agree, but I love to get a bargain. So I walked in and the nice ladies there were all friendly and willing to help me so I felt comfortable to tell them I was looking for a better deal on the curtains. One mentioned the scratch off tickets they had behind the counter. She helped me by looking them up in the computer and I went off with her to look at the curtains but they didn't have my color, which I was surprised. I just figured they wouldn't have the ten that I needed. I asked her if she had any intuition about which scratch offs were "winners" as in 30% off which is the maximum you can get off and she told me she'd been pretty good the last few times she picked them out. We went back to the register and she offered me a scratch off ticket and BAM! It was 30% OFF! So she helped me order them and I don't even have to pay shipping because I can pick them up at the store! Ok, I know you are dying to know what they ended up costing... so (drum roll, please... dat dat dat dat dat...) $17.89 each! Can you believe that??? I am so delighted! These are normally $55.00 each! I am just so thrilled, it must be meant to be that I have curtains instead of pokey corners pointing out at me all the time :)

They are supposed to be in next Wednesday evening so next week I hope to be posting pictures of my new window treatments soon! I know they are going to just transform the look of my kitchen and I can't wait!! I don't think I could've even made them much cheaper than this. I'm so happy!!

Oh and one thing I'd like to ask of all of you. Please say a little prayer for my son, Asher. He has had a what I thought to be a stye in his eye for about 2 weeks now and it has gotten so bad and not healing I took him in to the doctor on Monday and she put him on antibiotics, oral and drops and wanted to know Thursday morning if it had not improved and then to get him into an eye doctor. It now looks kinda fleshy and has a hard knot under his eye, like where we get bags. Well, it's not better and I am so worried that it's a tumor or something terrible like that. It looks pretty bad and the thing that scares me is it doesn't hurt him. I've always had a lot of soreness with a stye. So we have an eye doctors appointment Friday at 11:15 am. I'm worried he may have to have it lanced, be put under, that it is a tumor or worse that he could lose his vision! I know... my mama worrying habit is getting the better of me and I shouldn't worry until he tells us what it is. But I can't help it. So please, just a quick prayer or special thought at that time that he is healed and it turns out to be no big deal.

Thank you all my friends! Here's some super sweet pictures of the twins.

Lightning - doesn't she look like a nautilus shell all curled up?

Thunder - he's more of a straight out sleeper, look at that cute fat little belly

Calling all craftiest creative ideas please!

So I've lived in my home for 7 and a half years and we have a great view of our lake and woods so I've never wanted to cover it up with drapes, blinds or curtains. Until now. I am tired of it looking like I'm getting ready to move. The edges look hard to me and pokey. ha ha I guess that is a word. These pictures are of my kitchen where I'm lucky enough to have 10 windows! Not so lucky when you figure up the cost of window treatments.

Pokey

For all these years we've suffered through the sun coming in and blinding us during this time of year when the sun is low all the way through spring. Our kitchen table is along the long wall of windows that are south facing and it gets hot, too. Since we have our big meal at noon, the sun has always been a problem during this time. I've finally had enough. Maybe it's the added aggravation of the twin kittens! (Which one by the way peed twice on the floor last night and once in the box that has trash bags in them!!! arrgh!!!) So this photo is what I've come up with to be a makeshift sun block for the 30 minutes we sit there and eat. Pretty sad.

Make shift tacky

less tacky but isn't working

Ok, so here it is a little prettier, but when the sun is coming in, it only shades the chair on the right. I absolutely love paprika color and I think it looks fabulous especially with the sun coming in gently right now, but my walls are very close to this color so I want more contrast. I have touches of black everywhere and a dark sage-y green and black countertops.

So I've been looking online and found a valance from JC Penny and I think I really like it and want to commit to it. I can hide a shade under it and pull it down as needed. Here it is.

Love this!!

I think I'm in love with the black and white, it's just a tad French-y looking and I kinda like that. I really love this fabric and I want it!!! Unfortunately, it is not big enough for my windows plus they are $29.99 each, and that is on sale! Normally they are $55. Oh boy. I cannot afford that. That would be $160.45 which really isn't that bad for the whole room, but it doesn't matter, because they are too short by 10".

This is Waverly fabric called Bluebell I think from what I read on the valance description So I thought to myself I could just buy the fabric and make some myself. I've made several sets of simple curtains for myself in the past. So I've been on a mad search for this fabric and cannot find it! Could it be Waverly made this fabric just for Penny's? Surely not! I hope not! Has anyone got any ideas on what to do next??

Long wall of windows

still pokey but cute with kitten on couch ;)

speaking of kittens, here's my attempt to keep them out of plants (below)

foiled!

If anyone has ideas on how to get ahold of this fabric, I'm all ears! I may have to settle for something similar, but I really want to try my best to get it. I may even try to make my own fabric with some fabric paint and a brush or maybe stamps? I'll take all the ideas I can get... HELP!

Yard Sale Finds

I had to share my treasures I found at yard sales last weekend. Now I've got the bug for yard sales again, to my husbands dismay... I came home with my van loaded. I went out with a mission to find things to help organize my art studio and I found quite a few things that will do nicely. I think the most I paid for anything was 5 bucks. Yeee ha!

Enjoy :)

A vignette of some of my pretties

A close up of a pretty roses dish. I love dishes with these romantic roses on them

I loved the lines of this tin candle holder (I think it's tin b/c its very light weight, not sure)

Pretty glass candy dish... it sparkles!

A sweet child's book of poems

Close up of wall hanging drawers that have a place to write contents on the pull, and a pretty frame

Little white organizer with a place to show off some photos

Now peek into my soon to be used new studio room for the big stuff like this great chair I got for $2

I'm thinking of painting this chair antique white to lighten it up in that room. Ample room for my tush.

Now for the big storage solution for $5! Will look tons better with that antiquey looking white paint.

The bookcase pulls out like a secretary. I think this is a home made job. It's a little rough but will look good painted.

One last picture of happiness...

Make it a terrific day!

Christmas Tree is up!

Asher and I put up the tree today and decorated it. Well, sort of. Asher thinks all the ornaments that he puts on should be on the same branch. But it tickled him to death when he found out that's what we were going to do this evening. I drug it all down from the attic and put together the tree and we broke for super. Watched a little Charlie Brown Christmas and the new Disney cartoon and went at it. I had to put all my good ornaments at the top and I'm praying he doesn't knock them off. Last year I had a few casualties. I'm also praying he doesn't electrocute himself since he thinks it's the greatest thing ever to be able to reach the electric strip to turn it all on and off, repeatedly. At least I don't have to bend down. A true test in my patience my friends. A true test in my patience. I'm exhausted, the tree is kinda lop-sided and drooping where the branches probably weigh 10 times more than they should and I'll be shocked if he doesn't knock the whole thing down before tomorrow evening. Ah.. Christmas. Is it January yet?

Pictures

Well I don't have a lot to say today, so I thought I'd share some pictures of my yard. My flowers are really nice right now (most of them). My zinnias are gorgeous and who doesn't like zinnias? As soon as that Goldenrod in back blooms... Ah!

We've lived here now for five years and it is getting closer to what I want it to look like. I still have a lot of work to do, but it is shaping up nicely. Everything takes money. I must say my ferns are doing fabulous this year hanging on my porch. Some years they are straggley by now, but I started to dunk them in water this year instead of watering through a hose and that has made a world of difference. We have a ton of humidity here in the summers so they like that as well. In fact, I'm sporting my Brillo pad hairdo again today :)

I am going for a look that I made up in my head. In my mind, it's a bit of a Bavarian Black Forest cottagey look, almost fairy tale like. But really I have no clue what their cottages look like there or if they even have cottages. Isn't that in Germany? Or is there a Bavaria? Maybe Romania? They all sound really romantic though... I could use a lesson. My geography is not that great and I'm too busy right now to google it. Wish I had paid more attention in school. Anyway, each year I get a little bit more to add to my made up look. This year it was the planters that put on the cedar siding next to the windows. That really made me feel like my Bavarian Black Forest Fairy Tale was coming to life. I wish they were a little bit bigger, but hey. We also added some more flag stones in front. It is fun to see where this is going.