May your days be merry and bright!

thanksgiving

Today I'm thankful for a day in my pj's and time spent doing whatever I please.

Ghosties, Ghoulies and Long-Legged Beasties

I finally finished getting some Halloween decorating done!

Normally, I'd have had lots done for weeks, but although I knew I was leaning toward a glitzy holiday instead of our usual creepy one, I just couldn't find the motivation. I was very strict and stuck with only shades of Black, White, Silver & Orange as my colors.

I was trying to be frugal this year, but sometimes something calls to me and I can't leave it behind. Case in point: our university Homecoming was the first week in October & I found this super cool candle stick at TJ Maxx:

It holds a pillar candle and was a bit of a splurge for me at $16, but it was way too cool to leave all alone in the store. I really didn't know how I was going to use it until last night, but I knew it was way too good to pass up. To compare: the glittered skull above came from Dollar Tree for a buck, the boa I had on hand and the candles always stand in that silver tray, I just change out the items around them to make a new seasonal arrangement. So that whole arrangement was $15 less expensive than my one candle stick!

I also fell in love with a silhouette of witches dancing at Gordman's, but so far I haven't figure out where to use it. I don't feel so obligated to use it however, since it was only $6 & because they had only two and both were flawed, she gave me a discount.

I tried my hand at glittering my own tiny skulls this year:

What a mess! But the results are cool. I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out on a Dollar Tree skull or two. We had glitter in our food for days, but as they say "this too shall pass".

I really liked the glittered ball fill from Hobby Lobby, but overall, was not impressed with their Halloween selections for 2010. I did feel inspired by a few things, but nothing enough to bring home with me. I used more of the fill on our coffee table:

I was inspired by Jessica of Craftily Ever After's beautiful lace wreath to make my own version from things I had around the house:

I made it from an old wreath, some orange fabric that I ripped into strips and an old pair of stockings. Some hot-glue, some Halloween ribbon and a vintage button held in place with pearl buttons and voila! It's not nearly as classy as Jessica's, but I can make a lace one another year.

I also put out my usual collection of ceramic jack-o-lanterns, but there's nothing very interesting about that.

a little like the past

The last few days have felt like vacation. I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to do and I was able to sleep in as late as I wanted. I've really felt blessed to have time with family and alone time too. I've finished up some projects that I had hanging over my head and I've taken care of some tasks that needed completing. Over all, it has seemed a lot more like the holidays I remember as a kid than any of those in recent years. That could be the enormous snow storm or the time spend sledding with my brother, but mostly I think it's just that like I did when I was a kid, I feel content. I have the things I need and many of the things I want and that's a pretty good place to be.

O Tannenbaum

I finally managed some nice shots of the tree. It was tricky to photograph! I didn't use any of my silver or crystal ornaments, just colorful glass ones. It makes me smile!I borrowed a pre-lit tree from mom, and I never want to go back to putting lights on again! All I did was plug it in and I was done, that made getting to the fun part a whole lot more fun!


I did end up spending a few dollars this year, $10 to be exact. I made an ornament wreath, like those others have made. I wasn't going to do it. I knew that Mr. PN was going to hate it, but somehow after seeing Thrifty Decor Chick's wreath I couldn't resist.

I got $5 worth of ornaments at Dollar Tree and $5 worth at Target. The hanger and hot glue I already had. Although I'm not sure I'd do it the same way again, I think it looks pretty good for 10 bucks. ( and Mr. PN didn't call it hideous, so that's saying something)


This is hanging on our stairs, where I also added some garland with teal lights and old tinsel starbursts that we had on the tree when I was a kid. I honestly don't know how old they are, but they are starting to show that unknown age so I've made a few copies w/ silver pipe cleaners. I should make a tutorial on how that's done, since they are super easy and cheap, cheap cheap. On the stairs, I also added silver bells that hang from a big snowflake at the end, which is somewhat amusing when one of us comes down the stairs and around the corner quickly, since it jingles!

I haven't decorated much more, but it's a busy time of year at work and the most public rooms are at least be decked and that's pretty darn good. (now if I could just find the time and motivation to clean my disaster of an office!)

candles, candles and more candles!

Nothing says holidays like candle light. I adore candles all year long, but once the days start getting shorter, I feel even more strongly about not only having them in my decor, but lighting them. I don't buy expensive candles, in fact, I think all those I'm using right now came from either the dollar store or Ikea. (yes, you are picking up on a theme, I rather heart Ikea)

So, in continuing my "traditional" holiday decor, I've paired candles with more pops of color.
Here's a cluster of candles in the living room:
My husband's grandmother gave me the tray and the itty-bitty ornaments are ones I picked up over many years and I reuse year after year in different ways.

I also added some candles to the table:
Normally, the table is a clear glass w/ a rattan base, but to dress it up, I added a white tablecloth; the place settings of our white everyday dishes almost disappear against it. For a splash of color, the fun Indian glass votive cups and my silver ornaments make a nice center piece. I was wishing I had some brighter colors for napkins when I set the table, but that's nothing a little sewing can't cure. I also carefully picked from our collection of mismatched stemware to allow the votive cup colors to be the focal point of the table.

So far, I've only used things I already owned in my holiday decorating. I'm rather pleased with myself that I'm going to be able to create a fun new holiday look without having to spend much or any money.

it's beginning to...

(I think you know how the rest goes)
I started the slow process of decorating tonight. I'm normally very into glitz for the holidays; I have lots of crystal and silver ornaments, but this year I decided to go a little old school.

I was already feeling really into using my vintage & vintage-styled ornaments, when over Thanksgiving I read an article in the Milwaukee Journal that noted that in economic times like these people tend to decorate for the holidays with "traditional" themes. Now, I'm not limiting myself to red and green and I'm sure many people wouldn't consider my theme very "traditional", but it does reflect a certain mid-20th-century take on the holidays. Here's a sneak peek at the holidays 2009 done my way:
I started with my collection of silver compotes with candles. Some of the compotes were gifts, and the others I picked up at thrift stores and estate sales. The candle cups are from Ikea and a friend gave me the wonderful disco ball ornaments last year. I like them so much I hardly every put them away. I used a piece of white faux fur since it sorta looked like snow. It's shimmery and just makes me smile. I'm really enjoying mixing old with new to get something fresh yet familiar.

Are you going "traditional" in your decorating?

even Cinderella had to wait for her pumpkin

I finally got around to faux mercury glassing the pumpkin. I have to say that, not only does it look beautiful, it's stupidly easy! I found another great blog that had even better directions for using the leaf: Get Your Martha On The instructions have great photos that are simple to follow.

I used copper leaf instead of silver, so it's a little different, but here's how mine turned out: (it's really tough to photograph, but in person it's beautiful)
A word to the wise: if you've never used leaf before, it's hard to explain just how thin it is and how important a room without air movement is. It floats even without a breeze. It's also super important to keep your hands clean of the size or the leaf will stick to you and not the project.

Would I do it again?
Yep. I think it really resembles the real thing and if I had something else in the house to leaf, I'd already be working on it.

In honor of October 31st

I give you a handful of headstone photos I took recently.
Over the years, I've made a few faux grave stones for our yard and I always find that the real thing is the best inspiration in terms of shape, font and weathering. I'm particularly fond of 19th Century stones, I always feel that somehow by taking a picture and a moment to read the headstone that the person it belongs to is not forgotten even if they no longer have family to tend the plot. I have more photos from this and another cemetery on my flickr

I'm in love with...

mercury glass.

I love the mercury glass pumpkins I keep seeing as I look for glam halloween decor. Like these:



Thing is, they are spendy & even if I did have the money to buy one, most places that had them are sold out. I've noticed that there are a bunch of blogs where people have used chrome paint to diy their own mercury glass, but frankly, it looks like glass sprayed with chrome paint. I also found Chez Fifi blog showing the steps of using silver leaf for a mercury glass-like look. This I love. I'm thinking of taking my clear glass pumpkin that came from target many years ago and using some copper leaf, making my own take on the mercury glass pumpkin. More like these:



My only concern is that I just painted one of my terracotta pumpkins a really deep rich copper and I don't want the two to look too similar.

hmmmm....