Slowing Getting Ready for Christmas!

I just love decorating our house for Christmas, but it seems to take me forever to do so!  After hauling a seemingly endless stash of decorations and ornaments out of the attic, I then take down almost all of our usual accessories, then dust, then try and figure out where I am going to put everything!  So right now, I have boxes and baubles all over the place!

I did manage to make a centerpiece the other day, using my galvanized carrier.  I first showed you the carrier a few weeks or so ago, that I had an autumnal display in.

And here it is all set for Christmas! I've added greenery (faux, so I wouldn't have to worry about drying out and shedding), pinecones, moss, and faux white berries.

I also added tea lights, and I placed clear ornaments inside of some silver pots that I already had.

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I love the contrast of the glavanized carrier, which has kind of an industrial vibe, with the shiny pots and ornaments.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but the ornaments are a bit iridescent.

 I really love this carrier, that I found for just a few bucks at a neighbors yard sale!  It's larger than it appears in the photos, and quite heavy, too!

I had intended on getting alot more decorating done yesterday, but I had a major blogging crisis! I had been trying unsuccessfully for months to change my blog's background.  I had been doing it correctly, but it never worked!  I am so envious of all you ladies who always change the look of your blogs for the seasons! Anyway, the other night I thought I would get brave and change my template.  Maybe then I would be able to get a new background, I reasoned! And that is where all of my trouble began!!

The new template totally messed up my blog!   My sweet friend Tete even did a couple of blog posts for challenged people (such as myself!) on how to change backgrounds and templates!  Well, to make a long story short, every time I made a change yesterday, things got worse, much worse!  My dear friend Cindy Adkins came to the rescue!  She spent so much time helping me get things straightened around, and even designed my gorgeous new header.  Isn't it beautiful?  I thought that was just so nice of her!!

So, last night I sat down to my blog, thinking all was well and good.  Wrong!  I discovered that none of the links on my blog were clickable!  None!  I couldn't click on anything on my sidebar, non of the links within my blog posts, nothing!  Needless to say, I was in tears, and wished that I'd left well enough alone!  I somehow managed to get things working.  Don't ask me how, my brain was a jumbled, stressed out mess by that time!  So, moral of the story is:  if you are going to do any major type of changes to your blog, do a test blog first!  I should have listened to you, Tete!

So a huge thanks so Cindy and Tete for helping me thru this "meltdown" of mine!  You guys are the best!!

I Love A Good Sale, and Other Fun Things!

Hello Ladies!

If you are anything like me, I avoid the crowded malls and stores this time of year in favor of catalog and on line shopping.  So much easier, and no stress!  Nothing like shopping from the comforts of home in your pjs, sipping a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee!  Starting right now and thru tomorrow, I am offering 25% off everything in my Etsy shop.  All you need to do is enter the following code when you check out: luv2save.  It's that easy!  You can click here to visit my shop if you would like.

I've been busy making tags lately (I like to include them as a little thank you with my Etsy orders).  I have become totally addicted to making these paper roses!  I've made these from vintage German sheet music.  It's really hard to tell in the photos, but the flowers are glittered (of course, I glitter just about everything!).

Making tags is such a great way to use of left over bits of paper and snippets of ribbon and miscellaneous trim that you might have.  I love the white pom pom trim on the tag on the right!

I wish that I had more of this vintage aqua velvet ribbon that you see here.  Love!

I had fun embellishing with buttons and rhinestones and Christmas stickers, too!

Yesterday, I received the nicest surprise in the mail!  My sweet friend Cindy Adkins sent me the most gorgeous blue crystal bracelet!

Gorgeous!  Wasn't that thoughtful of her?  Cindy knows that I love blue, and also that I love anything sparkly, so this is just perfect for me!!  Cindy has two terrific blogs, and a beautiful Etsy shop as well.  Stop in and tell her "hi", by clicking here or here!  Thanks, Cindy, you made my day!!

Eco Chic!

Upcycled, recycled, repurposed:  I just love all of these terms and the entire concept of seeing old things in a new light!  Of course, this is nothing new; our ancestors were doing this out of necessity!   If they needed a blanket, or a table or bed, they couldn't exactly run to the mall or grab the latest Pottery Barn catalog and place an order!  No, they took the things they already had (things that we most likely would throw away now days!), and created something new and useful out of them!

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Today I wanted to show you my latest upcycling project.  Actually, this was a collaboration between hubby and myself.  I had picked up a couple of old wooden spindles at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore back last winter.  I just knew they would be the basis of a fun project.  Well, they sat in the closet until the other day, when hubs helped me make these candlesticks!

                                                                This is the "before":

 

                                                               And this is the "during":

I just love it when I can tell my handy hubby what I would like, and he works his magic!  One spindle became two candlesticks.

After painting and distressing them, I gave them a hand rubbed wax finish.  I know what you must be thinking: "What, she's not going to use Ralph Lauren's antiquing glaze?"  I know, I use it on just about everything!  But, I loved the way these candlesticks looked as is, so I decided against it.
I put them in my Etsy shop, so that only means one thing:  The next spindle will become candlesticks for us!!
Here's one last look:

Hope you have a great weekend!  Oh, did any of you participate in "Black Friday"?  If so, you are very brave!  The only shopping you will catch me doing this weekend is either in the catalog or on line.  Now, that's my kind of shopping!
I am linking up with the following great parties:
Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday
504 Main Tickled Pink Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors SNS 
Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday 
Cottage Instincts Make it For Monday 
Dittle Dattle Linky Party 
Faded Charm White Wednesday 
Beyond the Picket Fence Under $100 Party

Thankful!

There are so many things to be thankful for, both great and small. I try my best to remember all that I am blessed with each and every day!  I am so thankful for all of the wonderful ladies that I have met here in blogland!  When  I started my blog this past spring (I am always slow to catch on to things, it seems!), I had no idea that there were so many thoughtful, creative, inspiring kindred spirits that I would come to know!  So thank you for taking the time to visit, and to leave me a comment (yes, I love my comments!).  You are truly a highlight of my day!

I am thankful for many things, too many to list here (and I don't want to bore you!).  Here are just a few:

                                                    A loving and supportive hubby!

                                                                  Our little fur girl!
Family and friends, good health, a pretty sunset.   I like sunrises, too, but I hate getting up early, so I don't see many of them!  Oh, add a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning to my list!:)

                     All creatures great and small, nature, and of course pretty flowers!
From our chateau to yours, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful!

From our chateau to yours, wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that you all have a wonderful day!
There are so many things that we have to be thankful for, both great and small.  I try my best to remember all of my blessings each and every day.
I am so very thankful for a loving and supportive hubby!

Une Table Pour Deux, S'il Vous Plait

a table for two, please..........
Bon Jour, and welcome to our petit bistro!
I've never tried my hand at tablescapes, but I thought I would get brave today and give it a whirl!  I am amazed at all of the incredibly talented ladies out there who create such stunning table settings!  So I was always too nervous to create my own.  Well, I thought it might be fun to try my hand at it, so I created a simply set table in my favorite room in our house, the sun room.

As you can see, our little dog wanted to be part of the action as well!  Sorry for all of the glare on the windows.  It was a nice an sunny day today, and this is a sunroom, after all!  I really love our green bistro set of ours.  We enjoy eating breakfast and lunch here, and since our back yard is surrounded by woods, there is always alot of wildlife and birds to entertain us!

I love blue and white, so that was my theme for today.

Our water and wine glasses have the most beautiful etched designs.  I found the wine glasses a few years ago at a garage sale for just $1 for 4! We have since broken two (phooey!), but I would love to find some additional ones that match!  They have a pretty butterfly and floral design.  A friend of mine gave us the water glasses a couple of years ago.  Notice the pretty hummingbird and hibiscus etched design?

A cute little vintage jam pot, and a pretty cobalt blue dish and ladle (I love colbalt blue glass!), sitting on a vintage blue glass plate, along with a vintage napkin with the most beautiful crocheted lace edging.

I love milk glass, and I found this pretty vase at a moving sale this summer.

The pictures just do not do these beautiful vintage napkins justice!  They belonged to a world traveling aunt of mine, and I think she brought these back from a trip to the Philippines.  Don't you just love the pretty white dove napkin rings?

I wanted to show you our place mats.  They are made in England, though we picked them up in Paris a few years ago.  I just love bringing things back from trips that we can use on a daily basis, as a little reminder of far away places!  I think you can find this brand, Portmeirion, quite readily here in the States.

You may have seen my candle lantern chandelier before.  She didn't always look so pretty!  She began life as a circa 1970 beyond ugly Mediterranean style hanging lamp.  She was wrought iron, and had a very ugly gold glass lamp insert.  Needless to say, she was quite dated!  Thank goodness for Heirloom White!  I added an old strand of rosary beads.  (I'm not Catholic, so I hope that's not a faux pax to do so!).

A cute bistro signs completes the look!

And here was my helper!
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and letting me share my very first tablescape with you!  Have a terrific night!

Vintage Sheet Music Christmas Ornaments

I just love the look of vintage sheet music!  How about you?  The other day I showed you a tray that I decoupaged with at.  Well, I've been at it again, this time using the sheet music for Christmas ornaments!  Ok, I know that we still have Thanksgiving to get thru, and this may be rushing things, but hey, I need to get a head start on the upcoming busy holiday season!

Glittered snowflakes, glittered tiny millinery flowers, and wonderful crinkly seam binding.  Love!

The ornament above has a really neat slightly flattened shape.  I embellished it with a really pretty dimensional gold glittered star, and glittered millinery flowers.  Because you can never have too much glitter!  Especially around the holidays!

I've put these in my Etsy shop, now I've got to get busy and make some more!  Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
I am linking up with the following wonderful parties:
Bobbypin's Boardwalk Bragfest 
KraftyKat Holiday Hookup 
Faded Charm White Wednesday