New Year..New House..New Table

The last two days have been

so relaxing and fun...

we've been creating and building!

Sweet husband had the

best idea...

he thought it would

be really cool to build my

parents a glass house in

their backyard as a

Christmas gift.

And he was right...it was a

great idea.

First you have to imagine a

very magical place...

a land where little children play

and there is no limit to their

imaginations...

there are trees to climb

mud pies to make

fairies to visit

and talk to

A place where every idea you

have is greeted with a very

positive response and every

question you have is answered with the

sweetest...most honest...loving answer

you could hope for.

OHHH and did I mention

all the food...ice cream and desserts

you could want.

Now you understand the home I

grew up in...well minus all the

ice cream and desserts you could

want...  that seems to be only for the grandkids!

 

Now you know why we wanted

to give them all a playhouse

It fits perfectly on the side of the house....

 I'm pretty sure it's quickly becoming known

as the children's garden

can't you just see the front porch and flowers

Nana and Papa are going to add....

Today

Mom and I went to the antique show and found lots of

cool things for the new house...

she found the table that's in the left hand corner

the iron piece that's above the doors

and she also found a chandelier that's not

hung yet.

And sweet husband made her the bench out

of her neighbors old headboard.

I promise as soon as we are all done

I will take pictures.

AND

What till you see what I found at the antique show...

i'm so excited about it...

it was on my bucket list of must finds

I was going to wait and show you tomorrow

but I can't wait....

It's a cargo/luggage cart....

isn't it perfect!

Even husband...who REALLY didn't like this one when he went to

pick it up...now has changed his mind and likes it.

And the kids have had a blast using it as a row boat,

nerf gun reloading zone, operating table, dining table...

well you get the idea...

It is my goal to please all the kids in this house!

Happy New Year

 to you all!

A return to white and simplicity

I am on a

quest....

I need a return to an

all neutral...almost completely white

serene..quite

elegant

simplicity.

Is that even a phrase?

ELEGANT SIMPLICITY

a place where everything is in order

the silver is out...maybe slightly tarnished and

the flowers are in the vase...not perfect but pretty

soft music in the background and candles glowing

the dinner may be takeout

 but it's a dinner shared with my family

I need a space where I can

clear my mind...my heart...and my soul

with warm matelasse blankets are at the ready in old french baskets

 old gravy boats are lined up in a row....chips...cracks and all

throw in a few feminine touches

 some candles

 texture

and lots of organization

 a place where I can breathe

i'm even trying to take some of my own advice that I give to others...

see those empty shelves

I tell friends if something is bugging you in your house

take it away

live with the space for a bit...

until you find the right pieces

Or maybe....

sometimes you just might not need to

fill a space at all.

 I hope that with the start of this new year...

there will be peace and serenity

in your home and hearts as well as ours.

It may take a little bit of work

but I think we can get there!

P.S. 

Thank you to all our friends and family

for the kind words, cards, flowers, 

support and love.

Lily was our faithful puppy for 13 years

and she will truly be missed.

God Bless you all

and

Happy New Year

Angel Wings

I've always wanted to find a pair

of carved wooden angel wings

wait

 let me rephrase that...

i've found carved angel wings

what I haven't found is a pair

 I could actually afford

well one day while blogging 

Kerri came across where some
of you guys are making them out of cardboard

and like a best friend would she immediately
told me the good news...

SOOOOO

 here is my labour of love to replicate a pair

of wooden carved angel wings

And I do mean labour of love...

it's taken me quite a while

to cut all of the pieces....

and a few blisters

 (no cuts thank goodness)

The first thing I did was

instruct sweet husband to

dig the really big train table box

out of our neighbors trash one cold morning...

have I ever told you all what a good sport he is.

Second step I drew an angel wing

on one side of the box than flipped

 it over to the other side of the box

and traced a matching wing.

Cut them both out and then

started cutting out the "feathers"

from additional cardboard boxes.

Many.....Many.....Many

feathers later

(and days...maybe even a  week or two later)

I was finally able to start painting it.

I started with a linen acrylic color mixed with a little water

and used a dry brush technique

I followed that with the same technique

and a white acrylic

Then a little brown mixed with the white

And then back to the straight white

It didn't take very long at all....



The idea was to give it the look of

old distressed wood.

But if that's not your thing...

try gold and brown

or silver and a little black

maybe even a cool blue with silver and white

What ever your style I think

you could make it work.

The Savannah Bird Girl

with her wings on

I'm thinking these might have to

stay up all year long...

 they turned out really well for

a free project!

I'm linking up to

At Between Naps on the Porch

Our Holiday Home

Okay....

prepare yourself for a

llooonnnggg post!

Que the

eggnog,

Christmas music,

and

good cheer....

Here from

front door

to

back yard

is our

Holiday

Home

Our front door

The very tiny entry way

My favorite Christmas guys..I forget how big they actually are...

we had a little boy walk through the front door this weekend and

he almost didn't come in...the big nutcracker is a little scary I guess.

Maybe he needs to not be right in the front door next year! Poor Harold

The living room and part of the breakfast/dining area

The Mantle

Top left is our family tree..i've been collecting those ornaments for 13 years now..

bottom left is the two trees you see when you first walk in the house.

I decided long ago that the meaning of decadence wasn't diamonds

and chocolate to me...

but two matching trees....how positively decadent.

Four trees in one view...

well sorta...one just got cropped out of the picture

The new addition this year is the Department 56 Dickens's Village..

my Uncle and Aunt passed it down to me. 

I'm pretty sure it's going to be our new obsession..i'm already looking for new houses.

The kids and I had so much fun putting it up.  It already feels like a yearly tradition.

Love you so very much

Uncle Donnie and Aunt Janie..

thank you for letting us carry on the tradition

Dining room/breakfast area tree and Candy Garland in Kitchen

Clockwise...our daughter's tree..

didn't she do a good job putting all the ornaments on herself

Our son's room..

another view of her tree

The bathroom/tiki bar tree....

it resides in the bathroom for now because

 our puppy/moose doesn't know how to not destroy it yet

Views from the master bedroom...believe it or not

there are actually a LOT of ornaments on that tree..

it just doesn't look like it in this picture.

Perhaps I need more ornaments...

Target here I come

And finally

Night and Day pictures

from the glass house.

Thank you all for taking a tour of our house this Christmas....

now I must be off for there are

cookies to be baked

babies to be kissed

presents to be wrapped

birthdays to be celebrated

and

friends and family to be

held dear and close to our hearts

From my family

to yours

Merry Christmas

I'm linking up to

Nesting Place

Christmas Tour

Of Homes

2010

and

Thrifty Decor Chick

Christmas Tree Party

Stop on over

A Christmas Tea and how the glass house came to be...

I'm sure that all this time you guys

were under the impression that the
glass house was all my idea
and sweet husband built it for me
and me only out of the kindness of his heart.

Now while he did do it out of kindness and
I am the one who asked him to build it
that's not exactly how all that went down...

My daughter who was six at the time
really wanted to have a tea party and
invite all her friends.

We told her that was fine...what did she have in mind.

Talk about opening a can of worms...

If you think I have lots of projects and crazy ideas,

nothing compares to the littlest lady in our house.

She can out

Paint

Sew

Craft

&

Draw

me any day

For the tea party she tells me

she would like (as she brings out the cookbooks)

cake

cookies

tea sandwiches

punch

scones

lemonade

&

a chocolate fountain

all her friends to bring a toy to give to a child who's family can't afford one

(toys for tots)

I swear i'm not making this up

and

most importantly a candy bar

where her friends can choose there own candy

Now back to the glass house

She likes to look at blogs as much as I do..

so her and I are browsing one day before the party

and we come across the blog

Notes from A Cottage Industry

and she is talking about a glass house

she saw in a store.

Well my daughter's eyes light up

and she looks at me and says...

now that is what I need to put

my tea party desserts in.

Great Idea...

now we just need to tell Daddy

He might be able to say no to one of us...

but he never can say no

to both of us begging.

And that is how we came to build the glass house...

all because of a 6 year old and a tea party

The Candy Bar

This week i'm in the midst of getting ready for this

years Christmas Party.

We decided to do a family party and

still collect toys for charity

but the theme is

"Christmas Movies On The Lawn"

everyone keep your fingers crossed for no rain!

Christmas Vignettes

Looking around the house I thought

to myself...guess i'll be missing this party

I have no vignettes around here.

But then I took a second look

WAIT A MINUTE

I think I might have one or two......

so here it goes

The nutcrackers in the mirror reflection is another vignette

but i've already shown you them.

Found this music stand yesterday at Goodwill

It is the inspiration for this vignette.

Barely made it out of the parking lot with it...

I had 5 people stop me to comment on it.

Glad I made it to Goodwill when I did...right place right time I guess

Does this count as a vignette???

Either way

I love this Christmas quote...



I'm heading over to the party

I can't wait to see everyones

Christmas Vignettes!

Make sure you stop by and check it out!