Practicing my Gift Wrapping

I don't know about you but I have always considered myself to be a terrible gift wrapper. I almost always pass the duty on to my all suffering hubby. Well I've been practicing and I am actually getting pretty good at it, I think : ) I wanted to do something cute and color coordinated under the kitchen tree so I wrapped some random, empty boxes and added some super cute embellishments and voila! Now to keep Rhys from opening them and Princess from chewing the glittery doodads on top : )

I picked up some beautiful floral picks at Michael's the other day, all 50% off!! I think the ribbon was 50 or 60% off too which makes experimenting guilt free (relatively haha).

Just a few of the 'gifts" I wrapped under the tree. I've got more to do! I need elves ; )

Recent Decorating Pics

I love this tabletop display in my front entryway. Vintage-look houses, bottlebrush trees and Santa highlighted by greens and, ever cheerful, multicolored lights. No LED allowed in this house ;-)

I heart this! Big, glittery, vintage look ornament wall decoration. It is so cute and I've never seen anything like it which I love!! Not sure where I'll hang this guy yet...

As I said, I love snow covered, paper houses. I grew up with vintage ones from the 1950's and it was love at first sight. I found this red one, along with the large vintage decoration above, at "Abundance" in Portersville, Pa. Amazing store especially at Holiday time!

And finally, this cute centerpiece I made using mercury glass votives from Target (1.50 each), a silver charger from Target (1.99) and a bag of assorted glitter balls from Michael's that I got for 2.50. Note: whatever you do you must download the Michael's app to your phone!! Major coupons available I believe daily. And updates alerting you of upcoming sales. Love!!!

Til next time, Stay Festive ; )

Finally My Kitchen Christmas Tree Reveal

It's finally done, well sort of. It doesn't really "feel" done to me yet so I will more than likely be adding things throughout the season as I find them. I love trees that are jam packed, but not ridiculously overstuffed, with goodies. There's def a balance. For now, since I'm super tired and ready to move on to my living room tree and other projects, this is as good as it gets lol. I used many blown glass vintage ornaments from the 1930's that were made in the Ukraine. I was fortunate enough to win several boxes of them in an Ebay auction a few years ago. The rest of the ornaments are all from... you guessed it, Target. They have a gorgeous new line of vintage - look ornaments in beautiful pastels. balls, bells, candy canes and big , glittery snowflakes with tinsel accents. I used some beautiful, turquoise crystal bead picks to stick in the tree at various spots to fill it out and give it more depth. I especially love using the picks at the top of the tree around my vintage - look, silver glitter star topper.  I took a video because it captured the tree better than photos. I have zero idea why I didn't actually light the tree while I videotaped. Could be because it was 7am and I had a sleepless night. Unfortunately I have tried to upload the video, and that appeared successful, but I can't get it to play : -/  So for now I will post the video on my FB page and some pics here.  Enjoy : )

The finished product. It turned out the way I had hoped and sits very pretty in our kitchen.

Poinsettia are one of my favorite things about Christmas, I have always loved them. Pink and white are my favorite and look so sweet under a tree.

I used some of the original vintage blown glass on this tree but saved most for our living room tree. I was trying to keep the color palette limited. I purchased most of these ornaments at Target. I love a good vintage reproduction and these are so lovely.

Little touches of tinsel to make it sparkle

Huge glittery snowflake ornament with tinsel accents-so sweet!

Happy Tree Trimming!!

Ballard Designs

I have been receiving the Ballard Designs catalog for years and spent many hours drooling over the pages; but, for some reason, never ordered. Well all that changed a couple of weeks ago. I finally , well Tim finally, removed our ugly living room ceiling fan. I had been wanting an amazing chandelier to take it's place. I didn't want to get one at a regular home store because sometimes they are somewhat ordinary and I wanted something a little different. I was thrilled to find The Lourdes Chandelier. So pretty, available in several sizes and quite inexpensive. Doesn't hurt if you have a Ballard coupon either, which I did : )  Because I had the coupon, I went a lil overboard and purchased some gorgeous bedding as well. Thank you Ballard!! Let the decorating begin!!

Behold my new goodies : )

Not the best pic, I will try to post only daylight shots from now on. A tip from friend and fellow blogger Alison Tweed Agnew of "Stuff and Nonsense".

Lllllaaaazzzyyyy Sunday

I basically got nothing done today : -/.  I did go to a clothing party for my sister which turned out to be pretty fun and eventful as I got a super cute jacket and a much needed formal winter coat. It is cut amazingly and feels like cashmere. Jockey-who knew? The best part was spending the afternoon with my sister because she is always there for everyone it was nice to be there for something that was important to her.

So after a nap I took a quick run to Target and picked up a couple sets of pretty pastel ornaments. I'm hoping they will complete my tree. Tim built me a really nice platform to give it more height and drama it had nothing to do with keeping it out of Rhys' reach lol. He is busily covering it with a snow blanket as I type; such a sweetie! I have a suspicion thought that these last few sets will not complete my tree as it seems my design aesthetic, for Christmas trees that is, is "less is definitely not more!"

The super pretty pastel balls I got tonight at Target. I think they were five dollars a box. They are plastic, which normally I would balk at, but they are so pretty and made well enough that you would never know. It helps that they are shatterproof and inexpensive. Makes me feel good that Rhys can't get hurt if he grabs one either. I always buy varying sizes and textures but keep the palette limited to four colors. Three seems not enough, five too many lol. I hope to have the tree completed by tomorrow with pics to follow. I hope you all are bustin out your decs and havin a blast!

Trimmin Trees N' Such

 Busy day! I have my kitchen tree almost done and some tabletop displays finished. My fingers are covered in white spray paint which is always a good sign! One of the best things about decorating is all the cleaning and furniture rearranging that gets done simultaneously. Tim is upstairs cleaning the family room and rearranging furniture to make room for the LEGO table that is soon to be deposited up there. I'm super happy to get the table out of the living room as it drives me bonkers.I will be in a better mood daily when it is upstairs out of sight : )
I have successfully tossed out any damaged ornaments and decorations or things we simply have no use for anymore and it feel soooo good. It is my plan to consolidate the eleven massive Rubbermaid containers we have storing the decs down to at least eight. I always feel like I can breathe when I toss old stuff. My sister and niece know, all too well, my "out with the old" philosophy. And they love me for it lol!! So here are some pics of my day so far. Let me know what you all think if ya have a moment. Hope your day was as productive and fun as mine : )

This is a cute, little centerpiece I made with goodies from Target. I get creative at 3 am : )

This is a closeup of the tree in my kitchen. It is almost complete. I wanted you all to see these amazing turquoise crystal spikes I bought. They look so cool poking out of the tree. It gives it a really fun, different look.

Haha this is my hall filled with the Rubbermaid explosion! Eleven containers that I promise myself I will narrow down to 8.

The kitchen tree almost complete.

My super adorable nutcrackers from one of my fav stores: Abundance in Portersville, Pa. The have the most gorgeous and unique Christmas goodies. I will not miss their after Xmas sale!! I am planning on adding to my nut folk this year!!

If you are around my age or older you will probably remember the old paper hoses we use to have under our Christmas trees. They were covered in faux snow and glitter and I loved my parents' so much! Well Target (big surprise I got them at Target), brought out a line two years ago and I bought a bunch. These are much bigger than the ones I had as a kid. I am soooo in love with them. This is a pic of two of them surrounded by vintage looking bottle trees (one of my favorite things) and a vintage looking glittery santa : )

Let The Holidays Begin!!

I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as I did but now I'm ready to commence with my Christmas decorating!! Why yes this IS the most wonderful time of the year!!! We probably won't be able to put up the trees til Saturday, so for now I am adding little goodies here and there as I find and or buy them...more buy than find as of now ;-/ hehe.
I got this tiny, sparkly snow fellow and shiny decorative assorted balls at Target and plopped them in one of my fave pottery bowls on a table in the entryway. I'm thinking I need a new camera as this does not look as shiny as it should hmmm...a possible Christmas gift from the hubs? I will probably end up spraying some of the balls myself with some white and silver spray paint. I'm pretty sure all of life's problems can be solved with a can of spray paint : )

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Definition of "Shiny"

"Shiny", according to the dictionary, means : "full of or reflecting light".  I love shiny things and one of my favorites is tinsel.  Its glittery and pretty but kinda silly and cheesy at the same time. Tinsel reminds me of this blog, it doesn't take itself too seriously.  I hope it makes you laugh and brings you joy.     So when I speak of celebrating the shiny things,  it may be a child's smile, the companionship of  ever-faithful pets, a beautiful garden, delicious food, or a loving word. All of these things are "full of light"and "shiny", hence the name : )

 I hope you enjoy "Tinsel" as much as I enjoy sharing it with you.  xoxo ~ Melissa