Some of my favorite ornaments...

Our tree looks beautiful this year.  I still haven't taken a picture of the whole tree but I did take pictures of some of my favorite ornaments.  I've been buying the Starbucks ornaments every year... still haven't seen any this year.  Are there new ones?  I haven't been to Starbucks in a LONG time!

(NOTE: I'm linking to Flamingo Toe's Favorite Ornament Party.  But I couldn't choose just one ornament!)

Bought this one after we moved to California.

 One of our choir members gave us this one.  Is reminds me of my sister!  lol...  Love it because 1.) it's Kermit, & 2.) he's singing.

 Bought this one at a thrift store!  I love the "space age" graphics on it.

 One of my after Christmas buys last year.  It's a little bigger than my usual ornaments but I love it.

 Bought this one when the girls were little.  It's a Hallmark.  I like how it clips onto the branch.

 Another Starbucks ornament... I really need to go to SB & get this year's.

 Another Christmas sale purchase.

Another Hallmark.  Bought when I was expecting Lauren!

Jewelry & Christmas Lights

I've had a few people asking about making jewelry for them for Christmas gifts  so I thought I'd share some photos of what I have made lately.  These will be for sale at Room With A Past on December 16-19.  If you're local & want me to meet me somewhere I can deliver it to you before then.  Or if you see something you like but want it made a little different I still have some time to do custom orders.  But I won't be listing anything else in my Etsy shop & probably will be closing it completely when the current listings expire.  The earrings above are $9 each.  This dog tag bracelet is already over at the shop.   

 These measuring tape bracelets have been very popular & I'll have several varieties at RWAP.  Most are $9.00.

Example of a key necklace.  I think I still have this one... for $10.00.

 The "Faith" necklace - 3 small circles joined to one larger one with symbols representing Christ.

 An example of a skeleton key necklace.

Before my dad left we went to visit Mr. Christmas.  I walk by him on my loop but hadn't been at night.  Beautiful!

 We even got a photo of the celebrity!

Nativity Scenes

I've been collecting nativity scenes for years now.  We pulled them out Saturday so I thought I'd share some with you.  Every year I add to my collection.  This first one is one that I just bought last week at my favorite thrift shop.  I love these figures... and the stable.  I think the figures are plastic.  But they feel a little waxy.  If anyone has more information about this set please leave a comment!

 Here's the next set.  It was in a bag of Christmas "stuff".  They are TINY!  To get an idea of the scale, they're sitting on the ledge above the fireplace, which is one brick wide.  The wise men are on one side of the mantle, and Baby Jesus is on the other side.

Glenn set the others on the window ledge.  I'm not sure if this is a good idea... the cat has already knocked them over twice.  Reminded me of Mr. Bean's Christmas!

There are more... I just didn't get them all photographed.  And I'm not sure where my other wise men are.  Jordy put them all in a box last year -- since they weren't at the stable she didn't want to set them up with the scenes.  :-)  I guess they're still up in the attic looking for the Baby.  We did more decorating Saturday so I'll have more photos later.

Taking a Break from Thanksgiving

I know, I know... no Christmas before Thanksgiving.  But I had to break my own rule today because this weekend Room With A Past is open and the theme is Christmas!  Jordy & I set up my shelves this weekend.  Here's a jewelry box full of bling for holiday parties. 

 And how do you like my new "necks" for displaying necklaces?  So much nicer than the big tangle of necklaces hanging next to it, right?  I may get more of these.

And there's Jordy, peeking through the beads.

 I almost forgot to take a picture of the side.  Here's what I used the chicken wire for.

 But I think they might be sticking out a little too far.  I went back today & moved all the glass balls up higher.  This may not be there next month.  Here's one of my muslin flowers on a combination pin/clip so you can wear it as a brooch, in your hair, or clipped anywhere you want -- even on the Christmas tree!

  And even though we packed it in I had leftover ornaments -- and lots more at home in the attic we never use anymore.  Jordy's been telling me for a while that I need a bigger space, but I didn't want to pay more rent or deal with the stress of having to fill a big area. But after we set up we started looking around to see what everyone else had done & we saw an empty shelf with a big sign that said, "Available for Nov & Dec."  So... for the next two months I have TWO shelves.  Here's the new one:

It's in the entry way to the tea room so you can see it as you start down the hall.  Everything in it is Christmas except the bottom shelf which is all cookbooks & vintage kitchen goodies.  I don't think I'll keep the second shelf past January.  My goal is to get rid of a lot of my extra decorations & things I've collected so my prices are really low!  I'll be working on Saturday from 11 to 3 so come visit me!

Christmas Card Album

I always hate to throw away our Christmas cards. I've seen lots of projects that reuse old cards to make new ornaments or things like that. But we've been getting more and more photo cards each year and I really wanted to keep them to be able to go back and see how families have changed over the years. So I made this last year.

Really all it is is two covers cut from an old Scrabble board that I bought at a garage sale. I picked out my largest card and made the cover just a bit bigger. Then I decorated the front and drilled holes in it. (This year's album will be much easier since I have a Crop-a-Dile now!) I believe the book rings are 7 Gypsies. Then I just punched holes & added cards.

This year it's laying out on an end table in our living room so we can see how the kids have grown during this year.

BTW, I bought some cards last year after Christmas & I think they got repacked back into the ornament box & are back in the attic. I'm not going back in the attic 'til we put up the Christmas decorations. Now I have to think of something new to do for our cards.....

Tutorial #8: Christmas Playing Card Banners

Here's another fun and easy banner to make.  You'll need:  old playing cards with red backs, 2" scalloped punches from old text, Stickles glitter glue, glittery letters, ink, hole punch, string, glue stick.
I layered the punch diagonally on the card and glued it down.  These letters were stickers I got at Wal-Mart so I just stuck them on and then outlined the square with Stickles.  I think this color is called Icicle.  

After the Stickles dries, punch a hole in each top corner and run the string through it.The one below I made last year.  I used eyelets in the corners and glued glitter on chipboard letters for this one.  It already sold in my Etsy shop.

Friday Night at Home

SE asked if y'all would get to see what the whole tree looks like.  Well, I just realized I haven't taken a picture of the whole tree yet!  Just close ups of the ornaments.  They stand out so well on a white tree I just couldn't help it.  I made these 2 ornaments last year.  They're just old ornaments that I bought at a yard sale and used Mod Podge to add vintage music, words from Christmas carols, scraps of new papers, and copies of old photos.  I love the image on the one below.  Roxanne gave it to me.  She thinks it's her great uncle --- some older relative in her family anyway.   
I also made a scrapbook for our Christmas cards from previous years.  They've been in a box.  I saw the project on Martha Stewart On Demand on Comcast.  Here's the project online.  Of course, mine looks much different than hers.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of it, too.

Tomorrow is Stay-at-home-clean-house-get-Lauren's-room-ready Day!

Sunday

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!  Isaiah 52:7

I took some pictures of some of our favorite ornaments to share with you between now & Christmas.  This year we're using our white tree with red & lime green decorations.  And guess who's lime green???We also started painting Lauren's room tonight.  A good thing, since she'll be home next week!  

And here's the first coat of the new color:

lol.... No, Lauren, you don't get to see what color it actually is until you get home!  

Christmas Decorating Has Begun!

The Thanksgiving guests just left and the TG/fall decorations have been put up.  There are still leftovers but they'll be taken care of tomorrow.  Either frozen or turned into soups or prepared for sandwiches for the coming week.

As soon as I get up from the computer I'm going up to the attic to start pulling out decorations!  Jordi can't wait!  

Today the guys went into SF to visit Chinatown and the girls went shopping.  We went to downtown WC, Trader Joe's, K-Mart, and thrift stores, stopping at Starbuck's for a drink in between.  I was really impressed with their decorations this year.  I LOVED this yarn ball wreath.  I'm sure I have enough extra yarn to make one like this!  We'll see if I can get it done before this Christmas.

I will be posting photos of some of our Christmas crafts and I am planning an Advent Calendar tutorial as requested by my sister.  Just let me recover from TG & get the tree up first.  :-)

Sunday

Here's Glenn's contribution to the cookie exchange. He came home from church last night and wanted cookies. Jo & I had just finished cooking dinner and cleaning up the kitchen and didn't offer to make any so he went into the kitchen and made some himself. I don't remember when was the last time he did that! Or if he's ever done that... with cookies anyway. He usually makes pies around the holidays. He just got the cookbook out and found a recipe that sounded good and made them. It was a recipe that I'd never heard of -- Wow Cookies. And they did make us say, "Wow!

I made this little guy yesterday, too. I found everything at thrift stores except the florist tape. Someone, I think it might have been Heidi, wanted to see my Scrabble collage so here it is along with some Christmas decorations. The collage was hanging downstairs until we painted. I moved it upstairs to the little corner table in the hall and it just never made it back downstairs. In fact, if you look closely at all the pictures taken in our house you'll see that we haven't hung ANYTHING back on the walls yet!

Notice the Santa on the upper left. Isn't that weird. I bought it because it was so unusual (and only 50c) -- I guess no one else wanted it. Now, what you've all been waiting for... sneak peeks at Christmas presents. he he he

I should take more of these. They remind me of those super close up photos we used to see in that game magazine.

Now I'm off to crochet some more.