be yourself: live with passion

more Christmas...

One of the things I love about decorating is how certain Santas or decorations remind me of certain friends and family.  This Santa on a white horse definitely brought to mind Vern and Ashley and their horses.  Of course, Ashley tells me that the Santa could certainly use some equitation lessons with the position of his heels. :))

The little garden elf with the topiaries reminded me of Jeanette and the tasteful collection of topiaries in her home.

The egg basket brought to mind sweet Amy since I purchased it from her shop.  The red crackled glass ornaments made me think of Pam because she really LOVES the color red.

This funky Santa brought to mind my brother who has an appreciation for the ridiculous.  One year, as a joke, we gave him a turnip vase as one of his Christmas gifts.  He held it up to his face and we took lots of pix of "ole turnip head"...he still has that vase in his collection of stuff and still laughs about us giving it to him!

The guy on the left reminded me of my grandpa with his rotund belly, twinkling blue eyes and pointing finger.  Grandpa did some preaching in his day and the pointing finger just made me laugh and totally reminded me of a few of the "sermons" personally delivered to me! :)

Then there's Marvin the Elf, the troublemaker you may remember from last year.  He reminds me of a certain instructor at Scrap Gala who smeared carrot cake frosting on the toilet seat in Scrap Mama's "penthouse" suite...your choices are Tena, Kah-Mei, Christy or Debbie.  Since I alluded to it on a previous post, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out who created the mischief!

Marvin has been put on the pot shelf where he'll have a harder time getting into trouble...hopefully!

Anyway, just a few of the random thoughts I had while decorating. 

We've had a lot of cloudy days around here and the lighting is really poor in my family room.  As soon as we get some sunshine, I'll snap some pix of the armoire tops and the pot shelf.

Happy Friday...happy weekend...happy shopping...happy decorating!

right in front of my very own nose...

It takes a lot of stuff to fill a themed tree and unless you have a lot of time to find and collect things or you want to spend a lot of money by buying everything at one time, it takes some creative vision to find some good fillers.  I thought I'd share a few things on my trees that were right in front of my very own nose.

I love little white leather baby shoes and how perfect are they for a white tree?  Simply stuff the insides with some white tissue to give them form, tie the laces in a little bow and hang.

For the silver part of the tree, I went to my vintage silverware collection.  I attached white silk leaves and a vintage white velvet flower to this antique silver soup spoon with a bit of wire.  If you have any silver demitasse spoons that you don't know what to do with and want to use as ornaments, consider drilling a small hole in the handle (a Dremel tool works great for this), insert some wire and hang.

Another vintage find that makes a great ornament is a chandelier crystal.  Over the past couple of years, I've gathered quite a collection and they are now carefully placed so that they can catch some light and throw off their fabulous prisms.

Large dollar store jingle bells are great fillers...just add a bit of string, ribbon or wire and hang...how easy can it get?

Several years ago, I purchased a small box of unfinished wooden ornaments-bird houses, stars, little buckets, birds and hearts.  I gessoed them (of course), then added some glitter or flaked mica (faux snow)...simple and very inexpensive.

Lastly, I searched through Michaels' bridal department for garland...silver and white is easy to find there!  I found some with little crystal drops, another with little pearl flowers and beads and others with crystal beads...a fun and inexpensive way to finish the look.

Do you have a theme going this year?  Has it caused you to start looking around your house for those creative elements that will totally make your tree?  I'd love to hear about what you put on your trees, whether it's a themed tree or not!  It's all about the creativity, right?

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...so here's a quick pic just to set the mood.  Forgive the quality of the photo...I just snapped one quickly last night after I finished the decorating.  My head has been stuck in the storage closet or boxes of decorations most of the weekend and I've definitely had my stair stepper workout on the ladder, thank you very much!

This year, the tree-o is white, silver and crystal...very vintagey, sparkly and bright.  It's nice to have a change in theme.

Years ago, when I worked at an interior design firm, the owner's mother asked me what theme I was going to have for my tree.  Theme?  You mean people actually had enough ornaments to create themes?  Virginia, being an avid collector, had enough ornaments for dozens of themed trees.  Imagine that!

I was intrigued enough to start planning for themes.  I had a real "designer tree" one year...a mauve and silver theme.  That heavily designed tree idea didn't last at our house...it was a bit too pretentious and planned for our taste.  But, the idea of themes was born and continues.

I've had toy trees, Southwestern trees, rustic trees and, for the past few years, Santa trees.  This year, it's a brand new theme.  It's definitely bright and happy looking.

The "boys" have made their appearance again.  I'll have to pull out the ladder to shoot the pot shelf and the tops of the armoires.  Somehow, every year is different than previous years...I have a hard time doing the same things over and over again, I guess.

Hope you've had a great weekend like I did...hope you enjoy the moments and the memories that come with planning and decorating for Christmas.

Happy Monday.

P.S.  Last night, after I snapped the pic, I created three glittered star toppers for the trees.  I used papier mache stars as the base and covered them with vintage silver shards from Art Institute Glitter and filled in the cracks with the fine antique silver.  Now the trees are complete (and glitzy, too!).

Can you smell it?

I'm sending smoke signals your way...infused with the great smell of smoking turkey.

There's a pumpkin pie baking in the oven...I'll send you those spicey scents too!

Josh Groban is singing fantastic Christmas carols.

Life is exceptionally good...so much to be thankful for.

Today is our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Care to join us?

ETA:  IT WAS YUMMY!!!!!

Wish you could have been here.

THE FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING...

...or Black Friday, as it's known to retailers, brings back grand childhood memories.

For as long as I can remember, that day represented the beginning of the Christmas season, the day for shopping, the day for all of the magic of the holiday.

On his way to work that morning, Dad would drop off Mom, my brother and me at Grandma's house and we, together with Grandma, would walk to the Fox Chase train station and take the Reading to downtown Philadelphia.

As was customary back then, we were all dressed up in our Sunday best...after all, it was a special day that warranted special dress up clothes.

Our first stop was Wanamaker's...a 12 story department store that was so elegant and opulent...and not only to a small child...I worked there when I was in college and it still appeared that way to me.

There were several special things about Wanamaker's.  First, there were the the huge display windows just filled with color, lights and animated Christmas figures.  To a child, that was pure magic...pure bliss.  I can remember going from window to window, being totally in awe of the fabulous displays and fun animations.

The next best thing about Wanamaker's was the tree lighting ceremony.  The first floor of Wanamaker's was just filled with marble...marble columns, marble flooring and marble counters on the displays.  The ceiling was high and there was a balcony on the second floor that could be seen from the grand courtyard area.  Every hour on the hour, starting at 11:00 a.m., the organist would begin playing the enormous pipe organ and the immense tree in the balcony would be lit up.  There was a great light display...the first of its kind.    I'm guessing that if I saw the display now, I would be less than impressed, especially after seeing numerous light parades at Disneyland and Disneyworld, but then...it was a huge WOW.

We usually ate at the Wanamaker's cafe...also a treat because we just didn't eat out much.

After lunch, we headed down toward Strawbridges and Gimbels but on the way, we detoured down one of the side streets off Market Street.  That street housed all of the notions stores...imagine store after store of ribbons, laces, buttons, trims of all sorts, zippers...total eye candy.   I hung out with Grandma in those stores and we would excitedly open the little drawers of the massive oak pieces that housed all of these treasures.  Grandma would stock up on her trims and lace and we would both leave the stores with huge grins on our faces.

A couple more stores, many sales and purchases later, we would be heading back to the train station and grandma's house. 

It's amazing how vividly I remember the day after Thanksgiving.

I don't shop on Black Friday anymore...I think that current day experiences just can't compete with my memories of the day.  Maybe it's silly but I guess I don't want to cloud those memories.

Do you have memories you want to remain vivid and bright?

this and that...

I thought I'd use today's post as kind of a catch up one as to what's been happening in the past week.  On Monday, I taught my last Life Stories class at Scrapbooks, Etc.  It has really been a great class to teach and I wanted to say thanks to so many of you who took the class.  This last one was called "Down Memory Lane" and it was about creating vintage style layouts that are bright and happy and don't look like last week's leftovers.  I'm definitely over the "brown and only brown" stage in creating legacy layouts.  It was a good starting point but there are so many great colors that work well with brown and keep the layouts bright, fresh and interesting.  Here's one with turquoise...the colors are very stunning in person.  We had a chance to play with the new Tim Holtz crackle paints from Ranger...great stuff, especially when paired with the Distress inks.  We also used some of the clear vintage glass glitter (shards) from Art Institute Glitter...another great product line with glitter that's definitely a cut above the standard stuff. 

In case you're wondering what monthly class I'll be teaching at Etc. next year, it's called Totally Timeless: Classic Style.   The emphasis in this class will be the various elements of classic style-color, design, embellishments, etc.  Think of the classic little black dress and pearls...always in style and definitely not frumpy.  I'm having fun coming up with ideas right now.

Speaking of ideas, yesterday, I had a chance to scope out one of our client's brand new model home complexes.  It was good for me to get out and see these new homes...good client promotion for our service business and good personal inspiration for me in creative arts.

Here are some of the trends that I spotted:

*Paintings on the wall...like the one in this photo.  Not only were there collage paintings such as this one, but there were quite a few rooms that had hand painted words and quotes on the walls. 

*Asian, especially Southeast Asian, decor with darker colors, darker furniture, bamboo and rattan and painted furniture, as well as a Tommy Bahama island style in some of the homes.

*Lots of rag style area rugs in funky colors like aqua, pink and orange as well as ones in leather.

*Interesting wall treatments such as this rubber stamped butterfly on a bathroom wall.  The room was painted a creamy white, dry brushed with brown antiquing medium and then randomly stamped with the butterfly image...very cool indeed.  I think I may even have that same rubber stamp!

*The use of scrapbooking as a design element.  One of the girl's bedrooms was accented with all sorts of scrapbooking stuff...albums, a jar of fibers and ribbon, stickers, etc.  Another one of the little girl's rooms featured all sorts of paper dolls...like this darling enlarged one on a hanger...too cute.  You definitely know that paper arts is quite mainstream when it's incorporated into interior design.

Definitely fun for me to take this little inspirational field trip!

I've got a fun weekend coming up.  We're having Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's house.  Her plan for this year is to do a Cuban style meal...I'm looking forward to seeing what constitutes a Cuban style Thanksgiving meal.  Our contribution is dessert and Ashley volunteered to do that.  She tells me that if it has bananas, coconut or rum, it qualifies as a Cuban dessert.  I think she's planning to make a coconut cheese cake...never had that before so am looking forward to tasting it.

I love traditional Thanksgiving food...a smoked turkey, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and cranberry relish...so we're having a traditional meal on Friday.  Want to know the real truth?  I LOVE all of the turkey/side dish leftovers! My favorite!

I also start decorating the house for Christmas this weekend...I'm so looking forward to pulling out the old Santa friends and trying some new ideas for decorating with them.

What's on your agenda for this weekend?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for reading, for commenting and for your emails...you are really the best and it's so cool to have you as friends. 

Just wanted to sign off with a little quote:

"Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality." - Alfred Painter

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandmother's Buttons

They fascinated me when I was a child.

They still fascinate me.

Grandmother's Buttons.

My grandmother had her buttons in a large candy tin and I would patiently sift through all of the plain buttons to find the fancies.  I would lay them all out and think about what I would do with them if they were mine.  I would do this often.  I loved buttons.

Not much has changed.

I brought an old friend home this past week.  That friend is Victoria magazine, now back in publication after resting for several years.   There's something about that magazine that makes me want to try harder, to excel, to challenge and stretch myself.  The details are amazing.  Guess what I found in this issue?  Grandmother's Buttons.  A funky store set in a historic bank in Louisiana that sells antique buttons and things made from antique buttons, it is right up my alley.  I'm looking forward to seeing and touching this little vintage beauty.

Even though my grandmother has been gone for 20 years this month, her influence on me in so many areas of life remains strong.  And, I've never gotten over my fascination with buttons.  Not at all.

Did you have someone who influenced you that way?  A fascination with something from childhood days?

you know your weekend's special...

• when Debbie (aka Scrap Mama) herself, along with GitRDun, Tina, come to the airport at night to pick up the teachers
• when you get fed as soon as you hit the hotel :)
• when you get help from GitRDun (GRD) Nicole in stuffing the instructions into the kits
• when numerous people are willing to do a coffee run to bring back Timmy's coffee
• when it snows and you don't have to drive in it
• when GRD Rachel gets you and Friend Tena oatmeal instead of a cold breakfast cuz you were feeling a little off
• when you have the same set of instructors as last year and you love them all
• when crazy Christy Tomlinson and Dayquiled/Nightquiled Debbie "Smith" Hill ask you to teach a class for them
• when talented and creative Kah Mei Smith comes to teach at the event even though it's her wedding anniversary...actually, all of the instructors were talented and creative!
• when GRD Tina brings you a Home Companion magazine after you mention that you've had a hard time finding one
• when GRD Tash is your TA/student for three classes in one day...she's so quick in cleaning up it's done before you know it!
• when class attendees have looks of concentration during class and huge grins of accomplishment afterwards
• when you have so many of the same faces in your class as you had last year
• when all of your extra class kits are sold
• when Shirley makes homemade brownies AND homemade carrot cake...just don't let Christy around the icing :))
• when everyone is emotional (in a good way) at the end of the weekend
• when Scrap Mama is willing to pick you up at 4:45 a.m. to take you to the Moncton airport
• when Friend Tena doesn't desert you in the Toronto airport while you're waiting (impatiently, I might add) for that last piece of luggage that arrives LONG after everyone else's...even if it means possibly missing the flight home (it was REALLY close...thank God they whisked us through customs)
• when your daughter comes to the airport to pick you up and cooks dinner that night

...it was a very special weekend!

definitely my type...

                                                                                                                         

Ahhh, bliss. Look what came in the mail yesterday.

Enabled by Jessica of Funky Finds, I ordered one of these typewriter key bracelets from Junxtaposition.  What a fabulous find.  The bracelets are definitely as advertised-vintage, well made and most certainly well priced.  I love mine!

While I love noisy and bangly charm bracelets, I find myself using a more flat type of bracelet for every day use...they tend to not get in the way as much...so this was a great style for me...definitely my type.

In checking the site today, it appears that the bracelets are all sold out...wow, that was quick as there was a good selection when I ordered mine.  However, there are more on the way...it'd be worth your while checking back if you're at all into typewriter key bracelets.

With Christmas around the corner, how about this... order one for a gift and one for yourself!  What a deal!  That's what I call a win-win shopping spree...definitely my type!

back from snow country!

This was outdoor life in Phoenix when I left home on Thursday.  Blue skies, blooming flowers and 90 degree temps.

The other photo is Moncton, New Brunswick when I woke up on Sunday morning.  Quite a contrast!

While it was cold and blustery outside, inside, it was completely the opposite.  The Scrap Galaettes, from Debbie to the GitRDuns to the class attendees, were all so warm, welcoming and kind hearted.  I had a wonderful time with them and seeing some of the same faces from last year and meeting new ones this year just warmed my heart.  Thanks so much to all of you for your graciousness and kindness!

I'm in catch up mode today but I will post more pix as I'm able.  Just wanted to share some of the snow with all of you!