Merry Christmas

The recent ice storm may have taken away electricity but it sure provided great art!  Here are some discovered textures from trees and plants in my neighborhood.

Happy Holidays!

FASHION FINDS

If you haven't picked out something to wear for Christmas or New Year's Eve, here are some of my picks from White House Black Market.  One thing I love about all of these clothes is that they are classic.  If you do purchase one, 10 years from now you can still wear it.   All of these dresses range from $90.00 - $250.00.  Not a bad investment!

If you want something a bit more casual, I would suggest this ruffled wool sweater for $138.00. You can wear it with jeans, dress pants, a skirt or a dress.

I absolutely love this grey velvet jacket.    It's very tailored with piping and flares out slightly at the bottom.  It looks great from the back and the front.  I would suggest wearing it with a black top and a chocker or a short necklace.

More Christmas

Here are some more Christmas pics from around my house.  Love this simple dollar store wreath with ribbon.

I don't usually use red, but since I fell in love with this red wreath (below) and used it in the front room, I decided to use this red beaded garland (above) just on the back of my counter in the kitchen.

Love this paper star (above) and beaded garland (below) from Homesense.

Think outside the box when you're decorating.  Above I used a green scarf as garland - it works!

These Christmas tree beaded ornaments are also from HomeSense.

Christmas Decorating

Last week I was busy decorating an old theatre/church for Christmas.   I decided to write "joy, love, peace" in the shape of a Christmas tree on every other mirror (6 mirrors total) and one narrow red wall.  I did this with the help of a friend who has a fancy-vinyl-cutting machine.  She got the font from Silhouette and then had her machine cut the words out. (You could also cut them out by hand).  We then applied adhesive and rubbed each word onto the surface using a credit card.  (Thanks Julie!) 

They look amazing!!  Here's a look at the final product. 

I found this wrapping paper from The Sullivan Holiday Gift Wrap Collection at HomeSense for $3.99 a roll. It feels more like wallpaper than wrapping paper - love it!

Now I'm decorating my house.  I bought this wreath for outside but love it inside.  I might have to buy another one.

Kitchen Before and After

It's hard to believe that my kitchen used to look like this-with white appliances.  Your basic builder-box light-oak cupboards.  What a transformation!!! After having the doors professionally spray painted and the cupboards done by hand, it now looks like this.  (The dark brown paint color we used was Obsidian by Pratt and Lambert #33-17). 

The previous owners had put in quartz countertops which I love, love, love, so the dark cupboards now make the counters stand out.  It's amazing what a can of paint can do.

Here are some great dark kitchen pics from Elle Decor to inspire you.

Enjoy your weekend!  I'm starting to decorate for Christmas.:)  How about you?

Po's Birthday and Halloween

Since my last post my Valley Bulldog, Po, turned two. She really was the cutest puppy in the world.  (FYI a Valley Bulldog is a cross between a Boxer and an English Bulldog - amazing mix).

Here's a pic of Po when we brought her home,

and here's the handsome girl now.

Here's a pic of my daughter's Halloween outfit.  She decided to make her own this year and be a present. We bought a bow at the dollar store and found matching wrapping paper at Home Sense.  This was the cheapest outfit ever - $6.

She also spent many hours carving out a pumpkin that was eating a much smaller pumpkin - very scarey stuff.