Friday, December 11, 2009

Trimmin’ the Tree

I finally got my act together and got the tree up and loaded it with everything but the wonderful handmade felt ornaments John’s grandmother made about 40 years ago.  The boys hang those every year and Dad has to  hang his childhood favorite…Snoopy!

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Michael carefully pulls the ornaments out of the bags and lays them out.

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Things get a little crazy when we invite Patrick to join us…I have no explanations for below!

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The mantle is the same as last year but with the lanterns added for something a little different.

This week’s project…

I love black and white checkerboard, stripes, polka dots, etc., so I decided to paint some pots to make topiaries for the front door.  I sprayed the pots black, gold leafed irregular circles, then painted my stripes before gold leafing the pot rims.  I bought inexpensive fake carnations and hot glued for a few hours to create a huge ball.   Oops, what I thought would cover two balls didn’t quite finish one, so I will have to get more.

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Sunday, December 6, 2009

St. Nicholas didn’t come for me!!

I woke up this morning to the smell of hot pizza wafting across the house to tickle my nose rather than my usual coffee.  Huh?  My son was nukin’ his “pre-breakfast” at 8:00am.  Yuk.  He had his friend spend the night and I made my apologies to his friend and his mom about the state of my house before he got in our car to come over!  When I prayed my rosary yesterday, I asked God to please help me with patience during this Christmas season and to not feel terribly overwhelmed.  After all, He IS the one who blessed me with a talent and a curse…being artistic AND ADHD all in one body.  But He did that to all artists throughout history, so I guess this little pity party is over.  I asked Him to let St. Nicholas do his magic on me and forfeit the candy for the kids and just make this mess of a house Christmas pretty for me!

Here’s what I woke up to… 

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Yup…the boys had been taken care of and the house is still in creation shambles.  Aengus the pooch gives me his adorable good morning smile as my oldest ignores me and munches his pizza while playing X-Box…the blob on the sofa and floor are my youngest and our friend. 

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Starting one project in one room, leaving it to get supplies from another room and starting an entirely new project in that room while forgetting the one you just walked away from is what it’s all about!  I am the Queen of Chaos today…winning this self imposed title hands down!  Here’s the proof…

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Little messes everywhere…I am in the middle of 5 projects right now and they are all scattered about with the decorations I pulled out earlier in the week. 

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I DID manage to finish some projects this week…I make two more stockings for my boy’s bedroom doors and

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forced myself to finish the decorations our foyer.

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Today is going to be a busy day…first thing is the boys want me to make our traditional gingerbread muffins with amber sauce for St. Nicholas Feast day breakfast, so I had better get started! 

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A Candy Colored Christmas

Delicious is the only word I can come up with.  My friend Jennifer hired me to restyle her Christmas decorations and after hours spent shopping, crafting, painting, etc., it has all come together with an explosion of color. 

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Jennifer has collected Christopher Radko ornaments for years and I based most of the color scheme from the colors found in his collection…bright and shiny pops of color.  I wanted to make this personal for Jennifer and she adores leopard print and a hot fuscia pink.  So here we go. 

Remember the stockings I stitched up on my post, “An ADHD Morning?”  here are the results. 

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Predictable, huh?  Jennifer’s stocking is yummy with pink leopard, glitz and glam.  She went crazy over the tassel fringe we found at Hobby Lobby, so it had to be on hers and it also became the “bell” at the end of the girl’s elf shaped stockings.  The stocking on the right is for her oldest daughter, who also loves color and animal prints.  You can’t see it very well in these pics, but there are sprinkles on copper glitter on Jennifer’s stockings and light pink on her daughter’s.  The chocolate brown stocking below is for her youngest daughter.

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Jennifer’s husband, Sean, has to be considered into this sea of pinkness.  He is an avid fly fisherman and that  got me thinking…it kind of, sort of looks like speckled trout…maybe?  Maybe he will appreciate the manly fur!

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All lined up in a row…

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The finer details…

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Now, onto the rest of the house…

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At the top I placed tinsel and glitter ball stems, wove poly deco mesh ribbon in lime green down the tree and used her daughter’s poufy ballerina skirts under the tree as a tree skirt.  We found these wonderful velour covered hot pink wire poinsettias that really added the “zing” to the tree.  It’s definitely a Jennifer tree!

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And here are the leopard spot ornaments we painted and tied up with zebra ribbon…

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The Radko inspired tree was made with Mardi Gras beads…and the fuzzy picture below of the bottle brush trees that were bleached and dyed with jewel toned colors and beaded with more Mardi Gras beads.  I painted a base of white paint on a lime green glass paint, added pearlized tinsel as snow and glued the trees on top.

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The glass apothecary jars on the mantle are filled with jewel toned bows, miniature silver packages with a strand of hot pink ribbon woven in between, brightly colored candy canes and pink, green and silver shiny and glittered Christmas ornaments.  The small cloche in the center has a hot pink and green ornament. 

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A closer look at the tree skirt…

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Always attracted to pink, Jennifer loved these pink bottle brush trees and we hot glued them into clear glass candle sticks.  You could do the same with big, chunky ornaments.

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This Santa on the entertainment console once graced the top of their tree…now he guards the house to see who’s naughty or nice!

Now, if you will follow me into the dining room…

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I hung silver baby and mint julep cups and baby flatware from hot pink ribbons for a break from all of the ornaments in the room an then fluffed up poly deco mesh in the middle.  A silver bowl is loaded glittery ornaments below.

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The server features Jennifer’s collection of Radko and Neiman Marcus water globes with the Joy plates made with micro fine glass beads.

 

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Simple ornaments hang in front of the mirror

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The entry and banister offers more traditional colors to compliment the 6 foot nutcracker by the front door.

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Traditional red and green with a touch of whimsy in the zebra and cheetah print ribbon.

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The huge mirror in the pool room is adorned with the colorful wreath I made a few weeks ago…the picture below does not do it justice!  A few ornaments scattered on tables bring the wreath’s colors to other parts of the room.

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Jennifer’s kitchen bay window look cozy with the bottle brush wreaths.  Notice the purple tent and chairs outside from the window? 

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They hosted a tailgating party that night for the LSU-Arkansas game and the house was a glow in the bright colors from the Christmas decorations, purple and gold from the LSU fans and red, white and black from the Arkansas fans…all in all, a very colorful scene!

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