Early Christmas Present!

Yesterday my husband and I received our Christmas gift early from my inlaws. I am normally one who likes surprises but this couldn't wait!! A new Dining Room Pedestal Table!! I AM IN LOVE!! It is perfect!! It makes the dining room so much more open! I can't wait to have Christmas dinner in the dining room this year!! Look at those beautiful lines!

BEFORE: We used a black table cloth to cover the wood table. Don't get me wrong. I loved this table (it was my great grandparents), but it just didn't fit the decor.

AFTER: I am thrilled and my hubby is too, because if the wife is happy, everyone is happy!!

Thank you Grammy and Pops!! I love it!!

Is it strange that on Christmas Eve I am thinking about paint colors and rugs???

I truly wish every one a wonderful and joyous Christmas!!

Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my Christmas home tour!! Thanks for stopping by! I will make this short and sweet!! I LOVE decorating for Christmas! I love all the lights and the memories and the fact that the with all the decorations seems to cover up all of the unfinished projects that nag me all year!!

Here is my foyer...This year it is my favorite! Every area is covered with decoration

Here is the other side! Santa is watching you!

All lite up!

Here is our Christmas Tree this year. Lots of great memories here with my 5yr tree skirt

One of our favorite ornaments this year! To remember the one we lost!

My dining room...I love the simplicity of the colors

On each chair is the project we did last year. I love including my kids artwork in my deco

Our den is not overly decorated. We have the kids stocking in here with a Nativity set they can play with and help them remember the Reason for the Season.

Up close picture of the kids stockings.

This year is extra special for my daughter. She got her own tree in her room!!

It is all about the lights! My kids LOVE this little house.

That is my tour! Merry Christmas to everyone!! Hope your Christmas is filled with Joy and Laughter! Thanks for stopping by. I am participating in the following tours...LATE AS NORMAL

Give Thanks- Fake Pumpkin

I have not been posting much because I have been working have been TOP SECRET. They have been presents to my #1 reader, my sister! She knows most of what I am making for her but I don't want her to see them until her Baby Shower this weekend! After the baby shower I will show you all the baby things I made her and peanut!
However, because I am slightly A.D.D, and get bored abnormally QUICKLY especially when cutting out and sewing 16 tiebacks for the crib bumper. I decided to make something for myself. I am selfish like that.

I decided to complete my "Pumpkin Project" that I saw on V-Spot Blog.

Here was my completed "Fake" Pumpkin. It already looks delicious.
I have seen where people have hand written on the pumpkins sweet notes "Be Grateful," "Give Thanks," or "Thankful." If I trusted my hand writing I would of done the same thing, but I don't. So I printed out some phrases and cut them out with fine little scissors. I was planning on doing "Be Grateful" but that was WAY to long and I wanted to continue to be "grateful" so I went with "Give Thanks."

Once cut out, I ended up going over the letters with a black marker just to cover any white that was showing. I used Mod Podge to glue it on the pumpkin.
Then I added a ceramic dish and fake leaves. Here is my finished pumpkin.

I love having this simple display as a reminder of all the things I am so thankful for!!

Do Something Nice for Yourself!

I am a mom of 2 wonderful children and I can totally see myself becoming my mother. Now that is a bad thing because my mom is wonderful and my mentor as a mother, but as her daughter I can see (or she has told me) what or how she wished she had done things differently. She was a young mother of 4 kids...all under the age of 5. She was really busy and the one thing has mentioned time and time again is

"ALWAYS DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOURSELF!"

Her reasoning... kids are not always going to be sweet and nice, sometimes husbands miss the mark, so that really only leaves you doing something for yourself. It is so easy as moms to do nice things for everyone else, but us!! Why is that????

I am a busy mom, working from home, making kids clothes, dog collars, and client accessories that I often forget about little ol' me and my wants!

Last week I remembered my mother's words... I was making a customer pillows and said to myself "I want some new pillows in my den", I looked through my box of material and sure enough I had all of the supplies ... (I am a pack-rat remember and this has been in this box for over 2 years).

So here are 4 pillows for my customer...

And my 2 new pillows... not much but they are new and make me happy!

Too coordinate with my bay window

Doing something nice for myself felt good, and then hearing these words form my mother's mouth "Ahhh, good for you!! I am so proud of you" felt even better!! Thanks mom!!

Have you done something nice for yourself???

Decorating for Fall/Halloween Procrastinator Style

This is call the Procrastinator Crafter Blog for a reason...Once again I have seemed to wait until the last day to decorate for the Holiday. Like every other mother our there I have been busy!! There just doesn't seem to be enough time to decorate!!

Today I had both children home in the morning (by choice not because of illness) so I decided we were going to work on some Fall/Halloween projects!! If there is one thing my daughter loves is decorating or craft projects (I am so lucky.)

Our first project was to decorate some wood figures my mom sent the kids a month ago! Once they were colored I added them to a wreath. This isn't just any wreath! My Maternal grandmother (Mamma II) made this from grape vines my Paternal Grandfather grew at his home in SC. My Grandfather has been in heaven for 13yrs and my Grandmother has not lived in that home for 5 years so this wreath is extra special too me! I realize not much of it is showing but I know the history. Then I added a bow. Can you tell I have no bow making skills? Everything is upside down except for one side...gee wiz! Oh Well, I love it and so do the kids!


Then it was time to decorate with the gifts from mother nature. Lawson was a BIG help!


The finished product!!

I think my daughter has a better eye for decor then I do!! She really did this all herself. I just picked out the holder! I love the contrast in textures!

Then I filled in some picture frames that I had on display EMPTY for way too long...


Then I added little bit of whimsy to keep things fun...

Now I wish I had decorated for the Fall/Halloween sooner. I love Fall decor!! The house seems so festive now!!

A couple of other projects I completed earlier this month to finish out the tour...

Greeting my guests in the foyer is this sign...


And this is on my dining room table. I love this because it isn't moving until after Thanksgiving!!


Too be completely honest there is one project I just didn't have enough time to complete. I was hoping to make a topiary and use a painting technique I saw on V-spot. Oh well!! Maybe it will be done by Thanksgiving or maybe next Halloween!! Until then here it sits...

Procrastinator Party- FINISHED DESK CHAIR

Today is the deadline for Melissa's Procrastinator Party...and I am happy to report I finished 4 days early!! I was so excited about this chair that it took me no time to finish. Funny how that works...When I am excited about a project it gets done faster...go figure!

Here is the finished chair!! The material is canvas paint drop cloth and the black trim I made from a left over material I had hoarded for several years!


One thing that challenged me were the OLD cushions. I approximate the cushions to be 40+ years old and they were a little deflated. Instead of buying a new cushion I wrapped the cushion in 2 diaper cloths (the best I could up with) and it gave it the fullness it needed. It was the perfect length and everything!! I got lucky!!



I got my daughter involved in finishing out the inside of the chair.



The finished inside compartment!!


The desk area is FINISHED!! This desk area is a combination of history. The chair belonged to my husband's Grandmother and the desk belonged to my Grandmother!! This area was destined to be GRAND!!



One last time... Here is the chair before...




After: LOVE IT!!


Thanks to my friend Karen for her advise!! I love that we can ask each other for decorating advise through email.



Thanks Melissa for hosting another Procrastinator Party!! It is right up my ally!!

ALSO: Tomorrow is my 100th post and I am having a give-away! Come back tomorrow to see what I am giving-away and enter to win!!

Monthly Craft Challenge

Today I am participating in Heidi's Monthly Crafty Challenge. I really needed this challenge to get my creative juices flowing. Sometimes I am nothing more then a copycat and I can not think outside of the box....like exhibit A. However, as my mom said "Copying is the best for of flattery." I saw this and could not WAIT to make me 1000 of them!


Exhibit A:
I saw this NO SEW PUMPKINS on A Little Bit Vintage (consider this the best form of flattery.) She shows a wonderful tutorial on how to make these. I made these out of different textures fleece, muslin, and burlap. Fleece is the easiest to work with!! I did not have to buy a thing either. I am sure most crafters have all of these items in their home.



This is my new fall arrangement...Thank you A Little Bit Vintage!

It truly was so easy my 4 yr old daughter made some!! I am thinking GREAT teacher gifts. Plus you can add potpourri to make them extra nice!

Exhibit B:
My next project kind of evolved. My grandmother gave me some orange/red wreaths from her craft collection this summer. They were 2/$1.00 from Ben Franklin's (I am pretty sure that store is gone now, just to date these things) Then I printed "B-O-O" on scrapbook paper and since I didn't have ribbon I made my own.

I had some scrap material from a romper I made my son and made a ribbon strip.


This is what I came up with...

An added touch I hot glued different sized eyes on the black ribbon!! I think it is perfect and I can't believe I made Fall/Halloween Decor from stuff around my house!!

Go check out some other awesome projects at Heidi!! As an added bonus go and check out Xazmin and see her wonderful giveaway. She is participating in Heidi's challenge and then giving hers away!!

I LOVE THE FALL!!