Christmas Decor

Today our Home For The Holidays Linky Party is continuing.

Link up at the end of the post and show us what you've been doing!

Today I'm sharing my foyer decor.

Hopefully soon, I'll have enough pictures to give you a little tour of our Christmas home.

I have to wait until the oldest gets home from boot camp tomorrow 

and decorates the tree first!

Welcome to our home....

Let's go inside!

Looking through the arched doorway to the living room

I love lots of greenery at Christmas.

I get all of it free anywhere they cut Christmas trees. 

The leftover branches are always given away. 

Most of this greenery came from Home Depot.

I like to mix real and faux so I get the nice scent!

This arrangement started with a faux ball of greenery that was pretty faded. 

I added a faux garland wrapped around the original ball to make it really full. Then I added real greens and dried bittersweet branches!

More fresh greens stuffed on top of the secretary.

Even the little iron deer with the broken ear ($5 at Home Goods) 

gets some fresh greens!

I wrapped another garland around and around the banister to match the urn. 

I let garland hang down and added icicle lights. 

More faux garland goes up the railing.

I took a picture from upstairs....my favorite view of the foyer!

At the bottom of the stairs is a bench.

Tucking fresh greens over pictures and mirrors is something I love to do. 

It's simple, fresh and very pretty.

Looking from the living room into the foyer.

Thanks for visiting! 

Hope you enjoyed seeing how I decorate for Christmas!

Make sure to link up YOUR pretty decor!!

See you at the party!!!

Sharing with:

Lindauer Designs

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In Remembrance

Today many bloggers have decided to have a day of silence on their blogs to remember the victims at Sandy Hook School.

I have decided to join them.

You can click on the link below and be taken to a page where you can make a donation if you wish.

Take a moment, or two, or three, to remember these grieving families and remember to count your blessings.....no matter how small they may be.

Although I have lost many people in my life, I have never lost a child. 

I cannot even begin to imagine the physical, gut wrenching pain that would cause. 

They will need much prayer to emerge from this experience......

right now, it's very prominent and easy to remember. 

Make a note to yourself however, that next month 

when all the cameras are gone, 

the therapy dogs have gone home, 

the memorial flowers and candles have disappeared 

and the cards and phone calls have stopped, 

that you will say a prayer for them.

Donate Here

If you are looking for the linky party, 
Home For The Holidays 
just check back tomorrow for the Christmas Decor portion of our party. 

See you at the party!!!

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O Christmas Tree

I'm alerting you to this post because there is a Christmas tree party going on and I'm using an old post for my contribution.

Why?

because this post was a special one involving our oldest son decorating the Christmas tree for the first time.

This year, that son is coming home from boot camp and I decided to let him decorate the tree again.

So, my tree is sitting, undecorated until he comes home on the 20th.

So, take a peek at this post and see why I decided to do this.

Join our party too and show us your tree!

See you at the party!!!

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Glory To God Christmas Mantel

I recently purchased some oversized wood angel wings and , until now, they haven't been used.
But as I was looking for Christmas decorations in the attic, I came across this angel I had purchased a couple years ago.

As soon as I saw her, I knew what I wanted to do for my mantle this year.
It took me a few days of working things out and then squeezing the actual execution in between shopping, kids activities and social events....but here it is!
Finished at last.
I hope you like it!

Now there were in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields, 

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, 

and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, 

and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, 

"Do not be afraid for I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people."

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, 

who is Christ the Lord. "

"And this will be the sign to you: 

you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. "

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host 

praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, good will toward men." 

I pray you will find and experience peace and joy this Christmas season 

no matter your circumstance.

Hope you'll join some of the mantle parties going on! 

The amazing talent out there always impresses me!

Sharing with:
 Silver Pennies
Embracing Change

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Show Me Your Mantle And I'll Show You Mine!

Today is the first day of the Mantle portion of our Home For The Holidays Party!!!

So, get that mantel done!!!

This is a case of "do as I say, not as I do"....because mine isn't finished!!!

But, as I've said already...if these gals hadn't invited me to co-host this party....

we'd be still sitting in a house with pumpkins on the porch 

and bittersweet on the windowsill!

I've always needed a good snowball to the face to get myself in gear!

Join up by clicking the link below!!!

See you at the party!!!

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Crusty Paint Finish Tutorial

Every now and then, I'll stumble across a real prize at the thrift store.
A couple months ago, I came across this wall candelabra.

It had this icky, antique gold finish.

But lots of details that I knew would look great once I was finished.

I decided to use my crusty paint mixture.....

I use white latex primer to start. You can use a color too...but I like the vintage white look especially. If you use something else, you may want to thin it a bit with water first. The grout needs liquid to bind with and primer is more thin than colored latex paint.

Then I add unsanded tile grout until I have a nice, thick mixture. I mix it in a small paper cup, like the small bathroom cups. It will continue to thicken up over time so I always toss the whole cup and never save it. Just mix a bit more if you need to. If it thickens too quickly or you have to stop for a bit, just aadd some water to get it back to the consistency you like. It should look like thick pudding, or pancake batter.

Just glop it on all over.
It's best to work outside or over something you can bundle up and toss out...like brown paper.
I do 2 coats...the second coat will stick better.
Then, when it's completely dry....I recommend leaving it overnight, I use my dry hands and rub off wherever it is loose. This exposes some of the underneath color. If too much comes off, then paint it again and repeat the process until it's the way you want. If you absolutely don't want to see any of the original color, then give it a coat of paint first in whatever color you DO want to see.

I then used some dark wax to age it more.

I love how it turned out! It looks great in the new dining room!

I added some fresh greenery to the candle sconce today. I love it against the wallpaper I finished earlier this year. I'm loving my new dining room makeover this Christmas.

I also added some magnolia garland around the leaded window.

I'm nowhere near done decorating but the Mantel party week is coming up so you'll see more later!!

I hope you join up in our Linky Party with something you've painted for the holidays!

This week is Hand Painted Christmas hosted by Shelly! Just click the link and you're there!!

See you at the party!!!

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Shabby Pink Tree Tutorial

The 
Home For The Holidays Linky Party 
is STILL going on!
Today it's Christmas Crafts/DIY and we've had LOTS of entries! 
Click on 'Linky Party' above or scroll to the bottom and click on the hostess' name and you'll be magically whisked off to Christmas CraftLand!!I

I'm cheating a bit here because I made this Shabby Pink Tree tree last year. 
But, it's SO cute and I've sold them all so I had to use this old post. Enjoy!
(excuse the pictures...didn't have a nice camera at the time)

Super easy, cheap and took about 45 minutes! 

Here's what it looks like

Isn't it sweet?

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Holiday Tablescape

I'm late to the party....AND I'm a hostess too!
sheesh....
Life get's in the way of stuff doesn't it sometimes?

But, even though we're sometimes a bit late......showing up means something...doesn't it?

When I'm waiting anxiously for my out of state daughter and her family to arrive.....as long as they show up eventually, I don't care if they don't make it right when they said they might......

When my second daughter was two weeks overdue (I did mind actually) but she finally showed up and then it didn't matter did it?

So, I guess, better late than never!

Here's how I finally came to the party.....
At 8am, before leaving to decorate for our church's annual children's Christmas party I KNEW I had to get a tablescape together.......what to do?

I decided to use four of the round silver trays I find at the thrift store as chargers. They tend to be pretty common because they aren't good silver but they work great for this duty. I also use silver to decorate with all over the house so I never pass up a well priced (cheap) piece of silver!

Then I grabbed some silver mint julep cups, a silver three tiered serving piece, candleholders and a green tablecloth.
Some white dishes and the good silverware.
Now what......Christmas stuff is still in the attic......out to the garden....
Green and white variegated clippings....OK....now....something red......CRANBERRIES in the fridge!

Next, red cording from my jar of sewing trims for the napkins and the top of the tiered server!

Simple green and white. Fresh looking and Christmasy.

Lest you think I'm totally a non-tablescape kind of person, I did do another tablescape on St.Patrick's Day......uh, I guess that would be last year.....hmmmm......I guess I AM a non-tablescape kind of person....unless I'm under pressure?

......sigh......

Don't forget to join up with YOUR tablescape.....unless you're a non-tablescape kind of person....then you'll have to wait for another week I suppose.....

See you at the party!!!

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Recipe Favorites

Oh for goodness sake!
Is it just me or do these things happen to you too?
Friday was supposed to be the day I posted about my favorite choices from the Holiday Recipe section of our little party. In case you haven't noticed....it's Saturday...AND halfway through Saturday to boot!
I worked on Tues Wed and Friday...ALL DAY...on transforming a warehouse into a retro wonderland for our church's annual children's Christmas party. I loved doing it but it made me anxious on Friday to get home and post these recipes.
Plus, I had been faithful to my party friends and even created a tablescape at 8am before I went to the warehouse.
Took pictures but didn't have time to edit....not a problem, I could do it Friday evening....right?

WRONG

Oddly, I could not get my computer to fire up....at all....not even a glimmer of activity....
Couldn't download the pictures or get on the blog.....

Modem working.....check
WiFi OK....check
Changed the batteries in the mouse....check
Changed the batteries in the keyboard....check

Nothing

Nada

Nyet

Non

I gave up at 10pm and drank wine instead.....sorry girls.....
This morning, I tried again....still nothing....
Dragged out the old laptop which has been sitting unused for months and.....you guessed it.....couldn't do anything until the four thousand updates could be installed along with several restarts......
Finally, I could load and edit pictures and go back to the blog and get all my links......

Oy Vey

First up is this island chicken recipe.



It's from Shelly at  A Little Bit O' Shizzle

It sounded SO good to me! Here in the Southeast, we don't have a LOT of island style food and this one is authentic. I hope you'll try it!

Now, since I get to pick...I'm going to indulge my love of mushrooms...specifically....this mushroom soup...



It's from Sarah (and Andy) at Our Next Great Adventure
It's easy and looks SO wonderful. My hubby and I are big soup lovers, especially in the winter and I want to try it! It would also go very nicely with the pork loin I made for the party too!

Finally, I had to choose this bread recipe. I made my very first loaf of homemade bread when I was about 19. Thirty plus years ago! I just used a recipe from Betty Crocker and it came out wonderfully! bread is NOT hard to make and for several years, I baked bread very regularly for my family.
Not enough younger folks bake bread anymore and I think if they would try it, they would find it to be a VERY satisfying experience!



This is from Tricia at The Domestic Fringe
Be adventurous! Bake some bread! Your family will think you are AMAZING!!

OK.....on to the tablescape.....but not here....it's too long......check it out here instead!!

Don't forget to link up YOUR whiz bang stuff all month long at this party!

See you at the party!!!

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