just because.....

just because i love this picture...

and this one....

christmas home decor

we have been busy getting our house ready for christmas this year.  we will be hosting christmas eve and wanted to make everything really special.
here are a few vignettes around the house...

 bling on the buffet....

 dickens village.....

which is a far cry from a few years ago when austen had a hand in decorating the dickens village.
i snagged these pictures off of my old blog.  we had set up the village and were relaxing when i noticed that austen was hovering around the village pieces.  we were tired and we weren't paying too much attention to what he was doing.  when he was done he proudly showed us what he had done.
the poor villagers never saw it coming....
there they were, going about their business when out of the blue, they were under seige...
i love how in the last picture, the soldier was heaving a grenade at the dedlock arms inn..lol!!!

what an imagination he has!!!!!
anyway, here are some more displays around our house.

 santa peeping out from in the corner...

 snowmen....

 the tree...a view from the kitchen..lit...

and unlit...

 see the beaded christmas tree on the right?  i'll show you how i made that in a future post.....

 that may or may not be me reflected in that white bulb with my big baggy robe on....  :)

 the red, green and white mantle.....

turquoise mason jars....sigh!!!

remember those pretty goodwill ornaments?

we are getting our decorator on over here!!!!!

linking up at these blogs.....
http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/
http://lbratina.blogspot.com/2010/12/thrifty-thursday-93-plus-tablescape.html
hooked on houses christmas home tours

the reveal...

remember this?

 the salvation army store end table? 

 good bones, but uuuugly!!!  the finish had a glassy lacquer type shine...

 here is the after, painted a soft gray with a gray glaze and a whitewash overlay.

 what! you're surprised that i didn't paint something turquoise or heirloom white?  me too!!

champ is standing guard.  

actually, he is just doing that to annoy me.....he is a publicity hog!!

 the part i like the best?

this drawer pull.  how devine!!

 the even better part?

 fifteen dollars.....

take that ethan allen furniture!!!  :)

because i have had some requests for information regarding color....
the paint i used for this table is sherwin williams big chill
sw big chill

i used a gray glaze made by mixing ralph lauren glaze mixed with dark gray craft paint and then i used a very light cream/ivory mixed with water for the whitewash overlay.



linking up here:    http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-100-linky-party.html
miss mustard seed furniture feature friday
passion for paint party at the mural maker's blog

more thrift store coolness.....

i hit the salvation army store yesterday in another part of town, one that i have never been to before.  it was a really nice store and very nicely organized.  

this, however, was sitting haphazardly on a table in the furniture section.

 it is kind of hard to see, but there are three layers to this picture.  the part of the drawing with the white paint on the tree is on the paper backing.  there are then two layers of glass, each with separate parts of the picture drawn on them.  it is really very unique.  in fact, when i brought it up to the counter to pay for it the clerk fell in love with it.  so did i, so i wasn't giving it back because i could tell that she really wanted it.  

the gold frame is not really my style so a couple of strokes with a paint brush, and..... 

here it is.  the frame size is 12 x 14 and the print size is 5 x 7.  the artist hand signed the piece (#245/350).  not bad for $6.99.  it is more than i usually pay for anything at a thrift store but it is so unique that i had to have it.  

more thrift store finds to come.......

linking up in blogland here: http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-100-linky-party.html

it was a good day at the goodwill

i don't always have good luck at the goodwill.  there are two or three in the area and i usually hit them up a couple of times a month.

i hit the proverbial jackpot this weekend.

while walking around, i heard my name being called from two aisles over.

these ornaments were sitting on the shelf all by themselves.  i saw them when i turned the corner and nearly choked on my own saliva when i sucked my breath in as i saw them. i snatched them up so fast, i almost broke one. how's that for a dollar??

....could those colors be any more luscious?  they have a great patina on them too.

see the bowl that they are in?

this is what it looked like when i bought it

it had pretty cut crystal but a nasty case of the grim!!!  (tarnish) 

five minutes with the silver polish and i got this...

two dollars!!!

the candle holder seen here was a pervious purchase from goodwill 

 but a little elbow grease and we have 

this

not the greatest picture but they were taken at night.  you can see it better in this picture

i found this sleigh for 2.49 and planned on painting it heirloom white (my favorite spray paint)

but when i put santa and his little angel inside i knew that the heirloom white will have to wait for another project.  the santa with the angel on his shoulder was a christmas gift from my mom when we had our stillborn baby girl 16 years ago.  i treasure it.

the driftwood santa was bought at a craft fair years and years ago.  he's pretty cool isn't he?

but my favorite bargain piece....

this

sexy little french number.  

i was so excited to get it transformed that i started sanding it before i took a picture of it.

that is sandpaper on top of it... 

i know, our basement floor is gross..but it has seen a lot of projects over the years.

i love the handle, and the curved feet and her pretty lines.  once it's done, it will look great next to 

the goodwill sofa...

and yes, that is a drop cloth on the armchair on the right.  don decided that i knew how to reupholster furniture and he ripped most of the fabric off of the chair.

well, i don't know how to reupholster furniture 

so it has a home depot drop cloth covering it.  one of these days, we will take it to someone who knows what they are doing and have it redone.  

even the christmas tree got a makeover.  i hacked off most of the branches because it was too full.  i didn't finish at the bottom because someone (and i won't mention any names, don) started freaking out and thought there wouldn't be any branches left to hang ornaments on.  but i like it!!

more christmas decor to come.

linking up here...
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2010/12/frugal-friday-and-giveaway-winner.html

has it been almost a month already???

i have been busier than i realized lately.  the holidays have begun to overwhelm me a little with my work schedule which has been ungodly lately.  we hosted thanksgiving this year (well, i have it every year) and we did get a lot of our christmas shopping done on black friday weekend (whew)

however, it seems like i've been slacking but really, i've been busy

with this sweet pumpkin who recently turned 

and is now a big sister to this beauty

one week old 

who just didn't want to sleep for me

so i'm going back this week to try and get some sleepy baby shots.

the following weekend, we were lucky enough to snag the last really nice sort of warm weekend of autumn and i got to get pictures of this beautiful family

i took pictures of baby stella when she was just two weeks old (scroll down to the end of the post) and weighed just over 5 lbs. 

she is just over 9 lbs now and such a beautiful baby girl...

as is her big sister

lovely lily

who looks just like her mama, doesn't she?

she loves her baby sister.

 i guess stella's outfit is popular because a couple of weeks later

this little beauty

 had the same outfit on....

 i took one year pictures of baby remi in may.  if it is possible, she is even more beautiful.

 her mama and daddy wanted some christmas card pictures 

and even though it was cold out, it was sunny and nice enough to get some pictures outdoors too..

 

 when i read krista's blog i found out that they had infertility issues and that getting pregnant for remi was a very hard fought battle. but i think they won the war... 

and got the grand prize!!!

i'll post soon about our christmas decor.