Wreaths MY Daughter Made

Just have to share with you some of our daughters lovely wreaths - she graduated in Floral Design and has worked for numerous places (including The Grand in SLC) designing wreaths, centerpieces, etc.  If you saw my Fall candlescaping on our mantle - Shay is the one who did it.  Here are a couple of her wreaths she sells on Etsy.  She will be adding more in the next day or so.  Her shop is called "Goldieshine Design"

I am Finally Decorating! Santa Collection

LInking up Today With
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Between U and Me
Crafty Scrappy and Happy
Thrifty Decorating
Fireflies and Jelly Beans
No MInimalist Here


I am normally decorated by now but we have had so much going on - it just hasn't worked.  I decorated the Master Bedroom and one of the guest rooms last week and Saturday brought all the boxes up for the rest of the rooms in the house.  I decided I would try and do a couple of rooms a day so I can do the other things I need to get done this week.  I should be done by the end of the week....I love decorating, I love the lights and the ambience it all brings.  YIPPEE!  I will post pix as I decorate.

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This is part of the Santa Collection - I wish it looked as good in the pix as it does in person.  There are all kinds of Santa's here - homemade, store bought, some out of TP tubes, some crocheted, some are wood, some are fabric.  .  I used to have the spread out through the house but the collection had grown so much I decided to give it a place of it's own. 

There are over 50 Santa's in my little collection - each one near and dear to me.
The little Santa with a bobble on the top is from a round dowel my dad used to put in custom closets.  One of our daughters took it and made a Santa from it - isn't it adorable!

My Frugal Santa Gift
I made this Santa out of tin cans one year for Christmas from my friends - it was a very frugal year and I had to get creative!  All you do is cover the can with fabric,  Cut and curl muslim scraps for the beard.  I made a hat out of a square of fabric and painted on the face with flesh paint and used the end of the brush for the eyes and then dabbed on his cheeks...they really turned out cute!  Always when I see it a reminder of being helped by Heavenly Father when I really needed some help.

 This Santa is from Russia - one of our girls was on a mission there for our church brought it home.

It is a stacking Santa. 

 This Santa is one that my mom had.  It is from the 50's.  When I was a teen I thought it  was a little funny.  When My mom and dad died it was one of the first things I wanted to have.
 This Santa was made by a friend - it is a card holder - Love it!

 This is a box from another friend.  I am so blessed to have such sweet friends.

Like I said there are over 50 Santa's in our collection, these are just a few of them, I love pulling them out each year.  I think of the circumstances around each Santa and am filled with gratitude and love.

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The JOY on the shelf  is a project I did with my mom 25 years ago - it is the only thing I have ever oil painted.  It was the project that let me know I didn't have the patience to be an oil painter artist!  I love it however, when I pull it out.  Reminds me of the afternoon I spent with my mom so long ago

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 This is our main bathroom, or at least a little corner of it.  Out the window you can see the snow that fell today - it is lovely!  This room is full of all the bear decor we have that has come our way over the years.

Ok more pix to come as I decorate tonight!

A Few Christmas Hair Bows

Linking Up With

Sew Can Do!

Sew Much Ado!

Blue Cricket Design
Someday Crafts
Pink Saturday
Shabby Nest
Homemaker in Heels
Answer Is Chocolate

I have two little granddaughters and I have suddenly been thrust into the hair bow world!  There are so many fun ones.  I have been a little hesitant to do this but the cluster type hair bows pulled me in. 
Oue daughter Kalea and I made a bunch - we found fabric, ribbon, embelishments etc and started making yo-yo;s, rosettes, flairs, any thing we could do and then started putting them together.

(Thanks to my darling Model - Esti) 

 These are felt and so showy when they are on.

2011 Ornie Exchange!

The 2011 Ornie Exchange is underway.  I have received nearly all of them and can't wait to post pictures.  I will be taking pix later tonight and putting them on here.

Christmas is Coming Fast! What I am doing this week.

Yikes!  I am looking at my calendar and realizing that 11 weeks from today is Christmas!   I have been out in the garden harvesting, canning, and enjoying the lovely weather we have had. Once it snows here, it is cold until April so I love being out in the Fall. That being said it is time to get really serious here! 

I love Christmas - all the planning and prepping are Christmas aren't they! We get to do things for the people in our lives that we love.  I think that is why Christmas is so delightful - we get to serve others, think of the things they would love and present our love to them in presents.   I love that!

What I am doing this week:  Finding a couple gift for our kids.

Starting next week I will show some of the projects I am working on.  I still have a little canning to finish up this week.

Christmas 2011 - Time To Start Your Lists!

Hello Everyone!
Christmas 2011  is in  about 18 weeks.  I have started making my lists and already checking them twice!
 My challenge to you the reader is to  start your basic lists for gifts, activities, and decorations.
 I have  18 people  in our family that I  need to do gifts for.  If I do  one per week - I can get it taken care of easily by Christmas.   I also want to  to stockings and we have matching pajama's.  Planning like this makes it easy and fun to do Christmas economically and stress free.
Thanks for stopping by - I will post some ideas in September. 
Have a great August! 
Paula

See you in Fall 2011!

It is always a little sad to close down my Christmas Blog for the year - I love Christmas and love it when it is Christmas Time.  I still have up our decorations - probably will leave them up during January.  We have long dark nights and the lights are so cheery and help to sooth the winter darkness. I wanted to share two things with you as I wish you a wonderful 2011.

I had a bunch of stockings left over from when the kids were little, from service projects, from gifts, and the stocking from when I was little.  I had exactly 24 of of them.  I made numbers and made a clothesline on our stairs to the basement and turned them into an countdown putting up one each day from Dec. 1-14.  I love them!

We have a little forgotten corner in our basement landing.  It is the end of a little hall that leads to a bathroom and the storage area's.  But it is a cute little corner.  I had a couple of Christmas things left and my goal this year was to use everything and what didn't get used was given to someone who could use it.   I had our five year old grandson with me when I went downstairs to get something.  He looked at the corner and said, "Oh Grandma Mimmi Sugar Ball Miss ( I don't know why he callse me all these names but I love it!) Everyplace is so Christmasy Cute!" All of the work and hassel of decorating our house for Christmas is  worth it.  He knows I love Christmas - he knows I love the reason for Christmas is the birth of a precious baby in a manger in Bethlehem that changed my life when I accepted Him as my Savior, he knows and he is five and it is all worth it.   Here is the corner.

Thanks for keeping me company this Christmas Season! 

Please stop by my Valentine's blog and other holiday blogs through the year. 

See you in about 10 months!

Paula