Creating a home + life you love
If you give a girl some glitter…
And a group of Dollar Tree Christmas houses…
And she happens to have some pink spray paint…
Then…
Well, this happens.
And a new pink, sparkly Christmas Cottage community is created.
I don’t know about you, but I could live there.
It’s almost a public service if you bring happiness to others with glitter don’t you think?
Hello friends!
It’s that time of year when life seems to go into lightning speed mode as the holidays approach, and all I want to do is turn on my Christmas lights and make cocoa!
As simple as I hoped to keep things this year, being the first year in our “new” to us home, a 1978 mid century modern home, I may have not stuck to those plans entirely.
Are you feeling the pull to fluff your nest and make your spaces in your home as warm and cozy as possible?
I am excited to be part of this Christmas Spaces Tour with some great blogging friends who are SO creative! Make sure you take a moment to stop by each of their beautiful blogs and see what they are up to 🙂
My Christmas space to share today is our Living Room in our new home. We bought our house this summer and boy has it been a whirlwind of projects and more than one night falling asleep with your painting clothes on! [Read more…]
I love wreaths.
And I didn’t realize how many I had (similar to the shock when you survey how many craft supplies you have amassed or what your hoard of furniture to paint looks like) until we moved this year.
Knowing that I could make more, and some of them had been stored haphazardly with skate boards leaned against them and a Barbie dream house crowding them out in our garage, I let some of them go.
It was really freeing, and yes I have a couple things looking back thru the exhaustion of the move and unpacking that I kick myself for getting rid of.
But, alas, armed with a glue gun, some paper and a few other supplies, I was able to replenish my wreath hoard this weekend.
I kept thinking about a magnolia wreath, and I knew I wanted to use this kraft paper cardstock I picked up when it was on sale.
So this is the version of a DIY Magnolia Wreath that I came up with.
Sometimes sprinkling a few new treasures along with our favorites sure does refresh what we already have for the holidays.
The excitement of unpacking the boxes of ornaments, some Bing Crosby playing in the background, and the anticipation of the events unfolding in the weeks to come.
And could I just say that I hope it snows? Can’t you see those beautiful trees topped with snow?
Yes, that means my little car will be sliding around and I will probably regret my request if we get too much!
But there is something so magical about waking up to a snow covered wonderland outside.
I love Christmas, and while I have tried in our new house to keep our decor a bit more minimal, I kind of went all out this year.
More on the full living room and entry soon, I can’t wait to show you how pretty this tree farm is!
And a few of my favorite things…. [Read more…]
Most years I find myself digging thru each and every box and bin for every last ornament and all the Christmas decor the house can hold.
You know you have more than enough ornaments when you can no longer see the tree.
This year seems to be different.
I finished the home office, and brought a few of our favorite things out, creating a few vignettes and called it good.
I kept thinking about how pretty everything looked and didn’t want to add any more.
Maybe I’m just getting older or deep down am craving more simplicity this year.
But I like it, it’s pretty, but simple and peaceful.
And just enough to make the kids eyes twinkle with excitement, so that is good enough for me.
I shared recently how much I am enjoying letting go of the little things that get too big when we focus on them.
To be honest it felt a bit strange to box up the remainder of the Christmas decor and put it back in the garage.
Do you ever feel like you don’t accomplish enough?
Like simplicity or relaxing and letting some stuff just go is something you’re just not good at?
I have not a confession or a secret to tell you, but a statement.
It’s a statement because anyone who knows me knows I forget things sometimes.
Or I glue my fingers together.
Right after I burned banana bread. [Read more…]
Well before Thanksgiving I had visions of creating a spot in our home to read, relax, and enjoy the season away from it all.
Enter my home office which is STILL going thru what seems to be a three year makeover, but we put that on hold to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
On the other side of this home office in the front of our house is my very messy desk, the computer I use for blogging, and an array of fabric swatches and crafting supplies.
But the other side of the office, right by the window, is where I created a cozy spot to enjoy one of our Christmas Trees, and some of my favorite things.
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful. [Read more…]
Inspiration sometimes seems to strike quickly with some projects I have found.
Other times, the idea hangs around and I just have not sat still long enough to pull it all together in my head.
This time, the wreath in all it’s 1990’s glory hung in my garage for too long, a product of two blended households.
Spring, Summer and Fall, there she hung for too many seasons in a row before I finally decided to give her a fabulous makeover.
One that included a lovely flocking and some updated accessories.
As I began to remove all of the ribbon I kept thinking that this would have looked lovely on the set of Designing Women, remember that show?
Me too, I loved it and it made me want to be a Southern business woman who had shoulder pads to die for. [Read more…]
The painting bug seems to strike at unexpected times.
I would think of spring and fall first, as one you are purging and refreshing your space for warmer weather and the other getting cozy and bringing in warmth all around you.
But right before Thanksgiving, not something I thought we would tackle.
Until I removed everything from our fireplace wall and hung a Barn Wood Christmas backdrops sign that I made. Then I realized to really make the sign pop, the wall needed to be darker. [Read more…]
We are going to make a day of it this year, with warm boots, mittens and lots of cocoa to find our tree.
I cannot wait.
Like, literally. Â So in the meantime Santa’s little dress workshop can still be full of Christmas cheer and working on lots of projects while I wait for late November and tree-finding day to arrive.
This is my favorite time of year (I know I say that about every season) so I guess I love celebrating and decorating and that is why Christmas brings back so many memories. Â And makes me want to get to creating every chance I have.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas projects for a little inspiration and hopefully a few thrifty ideas to begin the season with excitement and joy. [Read more…]
