Happy New Year!

Finally got out and took a night time pic of the front of the house. Hubby had to do it without his right hand man this year - thank goodness for Facetime! It's really hard to get a photo of the snowflake over the arch - it just looks like a big blob in pictures.

Hope you are having a safe evening!

Happy New Year!

 

A Little More Christmas

I still haven't walked out to the street to take a night time photo but I did take this on the side porch the other day.

This is the first time I've decorated the mantle outside. We haven't had a fire outside yet.

Finished this little Lizzie Kate Christmas piece this year. I mounted it on a door sign I found at Walmart back when they first started putting out Christmas stuff.

The little gnome is new this year - I found him at TJ Maxx and he just had to come home with me. Everything else was already in my stash.

This is a mix of new and old. Some of the Rae Dunn is new this year, a little of it is from last year. Everything else is previously owned. The stockings were made by my great-grandmother.

My tiny Target tiered tray. I've had fun decorating this little thing - debating if I want to go for a big one this year?

My favorite little white cabinet. 

Our Christmas was really quiet this year with just the two of us here.

Have you put away your Christmas decorations? I feel like I just got them out and I kind of dread packing them up. Wish I could twitch my nose and have everything back to normal. 

 

Just Trees

I'm really running behind this year! I've got all the trees in this post - hopefully I'll get some other pictures up soon - at least before I start taking decorations down!

I'm just going down the list in the order they showed up - I'll be here all day if I start moving them around. I'll get flustered (like when I can't make the text center at the top of the page. I'm so technically challenged and every time I figure something out, they up and change it before I come back!)

Anywho - I replaced a couple of my trees this year. Different tree, same ornaments. This is the tree with the kids ornaments on it.

Here is the big tree. I'm still really happy with this purchase from last year. 

This is another new tree, same ornaments. This is the fireman tree. I knew I had some more bead garland but by the time I found it I was done with the tree decorating so I might put another string or two on next year.

This was taken from the front door. I have three trees in the living room. The are all on one side - I'm thinking I might need one on the other side of the room for balance next year! 

This is the other new tree this year. Same ornaments. It's a little bigger than the last tree. That poor tree was tired! Found the bucket at Hobby Lobby and it fit perfect!

Same little tree in the master bedroom but I did give it a fresh bow. I need to take a nighttime picture when the little church is lit up.

This poor little feather tree is about worn out too! It's in my sewing room. I was planning on making some new ornaments for it but well, that didn't happen this year! Maybe next year!

Again this tree is the same one I've been using in the guest room for the last several years. I'm thinking it might be time for an upgrade in there too.

And last but not least, my vintage ceramic tree. I haven't had this thing out in over 20 years but I needed something in my little garden house on the front porch and this fit the bill. I did replace all the little red birds with multicolored bulbs. These things are everywhere this year and mine has just been hanging out in a plastic tote.

More pictures of the inside and outside to come. I should have taken outside pictures earlier - one of the outside decorations bit the dust this week. Too late to replace it this year so it's just out there unlit. I'm telling ya, if you wanted new decor this year you had to get it early! 

Hope you are all surviving this crazy year! It's definitely been a challenge!

Rudolf's New Nose

and ears and bow!

I made this sometime in the mid - late eighties. FIL cut it out and I think he stained it then I finished him out. He sat beside the Christmas tree for may years then ended up in storage, over looked year after year. This year I decided to give him a make-over. (I had already pulled one ear off before I took the above photo) The ears are made of felt and it was literally powder but I managed to trace it for a pattern. 

I gave him a new nose and a fresh bow. The eyes and eyelashes were still stuck on pretty good (surprising since it was stored in a hot attic for so many years) so I didn't replace those and I re-used the red bell. He's hanging out on the back fireplace this year.

I finished this little Lizzie Kate a few weeks ago. I found this door at Walmart and thought it would be perfect. The stitched piece was a little small so I added the top border and the background fabric. I also added the bow and 'lights' to the wreath.

Pattern name is Ho Ho Ho in a row (from 2011). I used the DMC threads with the exception of the white - I used WDW Whitewash.

Shout out to Priscilla for encouraging us to think outside of the box (frame!) for finishing these cute little pieces.

Tree tour coming soon. If you really want to see some decked out trees, check out that link above. Amazing!