Christmas Buffet

You know - pictures are a funny thing.
For that matter, blogs are a funny thing.

We let you see the pretty parts, and try to hide the not so pretty parts.

For my final sneaky-peeky this week, I am sharing my Dining Room buffet.  
The Dining Room is about 80% complete. 

The other 20% consists of leftover pine and grapevine clippings, paper bits, faux snow scattered here and there - and just an abundance of stuff which doesn't belong there.

Yes, there are lots of cute touches all around...

Like my Staffordshire tureen filled to the brim with two grocery store trees and an ivy topiary.

My cute little Target birdies flew right in and took up residence for Christmas.

And within the mess, there are cute handmade tags I stamped with a simple message...

... and a hand cut star on script scrapbooking paper with our initial...

But, just beyond this buffet in my Dining Room is this...

(iphone pic)

What?  You thought life at The Everyday Home
was all sugar plum fairies and candy canes?  :-D

Some of you are probably gasping right now.
Well, welcome to my world.  The life of a creative mind is not a pretty site.  LOL

But, let's get back to the pretties.  I do NOT want that last image to be the one which is your last impression.  

In a few more days, I should have everything all decorated.  All the lights strung and the garlands hung - all the candy canes in glass jars and the stockings hanging on the fireplace. 

All the bits and pieces will be swept up and put away in their rightful places.   

- and we will all be able to sit back and eat cookies and read blogs and watch Christmas Lifetime movies and eat more cookies...

Cause every year it always looks like chaos before the calm.   My good friend, Kathysue at Good Life of Design, would say - "enjoy the process."

I am, my friend.  :)

Have a great weekend everyone!  xxoo

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Twelve Days of Christmas {Tree}

 

Don't you just love it when a non-plan suddenly becomes a plan and turns into a really good plan?

Say what?

Ok, let me try that again.

Don't you love it when you start out with a project, not sure where it will lead, but you love the end result?

Make more sense?  :)

I'm sharing another Sneaky-Peeky.  This little lookie-loo is of the tree in my foyer.

I had these cute glittered sticker numbers, and knew I wanted to use them on these clear glass ornaments.  But, other than that there wasn't really a "plan."

A few numbered glass ornaments filled with faux snow does not a tree make.  In fact, it looked pretty sad.

So out comes the burlap ribbon, and a trip out outside to cut more grapevine - and this tree was starting to take shape.

I took some leftover tags from Staples, and stamped them with a vintage postmark stamp.
Then, I slapped on more glittered numbers.

I had twelve clear glass ornaments, so I made twelve stamped tags.

That's when the bells and whistles went off.

Twelve.  Hello?  Twelve?  (No, not doughnuts.)
Although those Dunkin' Doughnuts with Sprinkles would look really cute on a tree, huh?  :)

Twelve Days of Christmas.

How could I represent the Twelve Days of Christmas without spending a fortune on five gold rings.  Heaven knows, I did NOT want any six geese 'a laying in this house.  Can you only imagine the mess?  Our three cats do just fine in that category, thank you very much.  

Plus, the last time I checked, Eight Maids 'a Milking had joined the union!  (ha)

So, I became "One Desperate Woman 'a Digging" and went looking through my craft bins, and came out with a few sheets of sheet music scrapbooking paper.  Some decorative edge scissors and TWELVE circles later, I had my Twelve Days of Christmas fully represented. 

I added some more of the faux mercury Glass Ornaments I showed you from the 
Sweather Snowball Wreath I made.  
(hence, I am now out of fingernail polish remover.)

I also made some glitter covered snowballs by smooshing cotton batting with modge-podge and rolling them into balls.  (that was a mess.  oh my!)

A pretty blue bow at the top...and I was done.

I am thinking about making a trip to Michael's to see if I can find a partridge.  If not, maybe they got in a new shipment of calling birds.  :)

This area will get some more decorating.  

Or, "deck-ee-atin'" as Roo says.  

I really love how this "unplanned" tree turned out.  That's pretty much how all of my deck-ee-atin' is going right now.  Normally I have a "plan."  This year - not so much.  This should be fun!  :0

How's your decorating going?  Do you have some "unplans" too?

 

As always, thanks for pinning this post.  xxoo

Sharing with:
Heather/Vanessa @ at the picket fence for Inspiration Friday
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage for The Power of Pinning Party

When Life Throws You Sweater Balls!

 

There have been times in my life when

I had to face certain truths.

Hard truths.  Life truths.

Such as....

I look better as a brunette than a blond.

I will never like licorice.

I am not a very good housekeeper.

Those kinds of truths.  

(what did you think I meant?)  :-D

Another truth?  I am not very fast when it comes to decorating my home for holidays.

I always seem to be way behind everyone else.

When everyone else is posting pics of their completed trees and mantels...

- and have most likely already started their Christmas baking and writing their Christmas cards....

I am still crafting.  

Cutting up $2 Goodwill cable-knit sweaters

(aka "perfectly good sweaters," declared my Mama.)  :)   But they made these really pretty sweater balls.

Yes. Sweater Balls.  They are ALL the rage, or so I told my Mama.  She looked at me in disbelief.  

"Where can you buy them?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe LLBean?  But, today, I am making my own sweater balls."  

"Do they have a purpose?" asked my very practical Southern Mama.

"Well, not really.  Although I guess you could use them to stuff your bras in the Winter time."

I laughed.  Not my "perfectly good" Southern Mama.  :-D

Mama didn't buy it for one minute, but she grabbed a cut-up circle of $2 Goodwill sweater and an extra needle - and on a quiet Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving, Mother and Daughter crafted a basket load of Sweater Balls.

Cause nothing says Christmas more than a wreath made from $2 Goodwill Sweater Balls.  :)

I filled the wreath with 3 different sizes of balls made from 3 different sweaters.  Two creamy white sweaters and a pretty, soft blue one.  

I added Dollar Store bells and glittered foam balls.

Mama didn't stay around to see me make my 
Faux Mercury Glass Balls.

She would have surely thought I had lost my 
ever-loving mind when I took "perfectly good" glass balls and dabbed fingernail polish remover on them with a saturated cotton ball.  

Cause its hard to explain to your Mama why you have gone mud-pie crazy over these 
Faux Mercury Glass Ornaments.  And making her understand that any ornament which exists in my home - that doesn't walk - will get a good coating of Dollar Store fingernail polish remover.
Cause I am crazy mad for this look right now.

I can't wait to show her how our craft project turned out.  I am going to hang it in my foyer over a mirror.  I even cut off the sleeve of one of those "perfectly good sweaters" to create a "perfectly good wreath hanger."  Here in the South, we don't let nothing go to waste.  :)

But, I thought I would give you this little sneaky-peeky to let you see what I am up to.  I hung it on my chippy blue door The Hubbs bought me. 

Unlike my Blogging Brethren, I am nowhere close to being finished.  In fact, by the pitiful looking piles of tissue paper and half-spilled bins and pine bough clippings scattered around the house - it looks like there is Holy War (or should I say HOLLY War) going on at The Everyday Home.

But, I LOVE it!  So I hope you enjoy this week full of Sneaky-Peeky's.  Next week - if I can finish up some more "perfectly good" craft projects - I will be ready for a few big reveals.

xxoo

Sharing with:
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday
Mary at Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday
Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
The Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips Tuesdays
Heather at Setting for Four for It's a Party!
DIY Showoff for Holiday Highlights Party
Kristen's at Kristen's Creations for Show Us Your Creations
Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday
Stone Gable for Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits Thursday
Heather/Vanessa @ at the picket fence for Inspiration Friday
Debra at Uncommon Ground for Vintage Inspiration
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage for The Power of Pinning Party

I would be ever so happy - make that "Perfectly Happy" if you pinned any or all of these pics.  Thanks for sharing.  :)