Open House

OK, so Nester and several others have been doing a holiday open house post. I thought I'd post a few pics of my Holiday decor... Because I'm lazy and I have strep (along with both of the girls) I'm not going to link up to their posts, but click on my link-y bar thingy and go poke around... You'll find loads of amazing pictures...

I wasn't "feelin" it this year... so my Christmas decor is WAY scaled back. I guess it's the whole "New House needs real decor not just Christmas decor" thing... I'm just pretty overwhelmed... But come the new year, when some of my new curtains get here, WATCH OUT... I've got a breakfast room make-over, stair decor, library/office, and dining room postings coming soon!

This year I did different shades of green/gold/ivory on the tree and front. It's really quite pretty... Everything from evergreen to lime.





This is my favorite Christmas decoration of all. It's a Mark Roberts Nativity set that I bought one year for 1/2 price (and still caused a small stroke in my husband...) I love it. From the silk fabrics to the beading. Love. It.









Hopefully the "Boring Beige" colored walls in the Dining room didn't make you gasp with disgust... Trust me, CHANGE is coming. What's the saying... Come Hell or High Water... yep, change is coming...

Workin Hard?

Or Hardly Workin?

As my scale has told me, sewing is NOT an acceptable form of exercise. But I sure am having fun! So much so that I dug one of my "For Sale" Janomes out of the closet and put her to work... Maybe now I'll finish these Christmas projects before Easter! :-)



I've been stitching out so many treat bag toppers that I'm beginning to question how over-crowded the girls schools are...



And that's just for one class... and they aren't finished yet!

Yep, I'm feeling like an Elf these days... but it's SEW fun!



Now if I can just figure out what the heck to do with this sewing/guest room!!!

It's gonna have to wait til AFTER the holidays though!

For some great gift tags for all of those packages you'll be wrapping, take a look at the Quilted Bag Tags from Digistitches. They go together quickly and the design is PERFECT! Jennilee also has several machine embroidery designs that make great gifts. Go check her out, you'll see!

Update...

Ok, so even though Sister will see this, I had to post a couple of pics of these gift tags... they are really turning out so cute!

Sneaky Mommy...

I love being sneaky... especially this time of year. This year, my poor babies have to SHARE a Christmas present... They'll have a few very small things to open (Fairy t-shirts, Disney "barbie style" dolls) but their main gift must be opened together and SHARED... Uh-huh... THAT's Right! SHARED!!!! Yep, ONE day they'll find this funny and sweet... one day.

We've booked a week at Disney World at the Contemporary. And YEP, Dear party-pooper Sister, we're going to DISNEY. AGAIN. And you KNOW they'll love it just as much as they do EVERY SINGLE TIME... ;-)

Creole Thrift

Recently, I was having an email chat with Linda from Restyled Home. Again... I LOVE her. Anyway, as I was typing my latest to her, I sort of had an epiphany. I even told her that I may just have to copy and paste what I realized... so here it is...

"...It's really a lot harder to get over living in an area like New Orleans than I expected. The fullness of life there is just unparalleled. I've been trying to force myself into this "Texas" state of mind, and it has been totally depressing me! Today I came to the realization that to have any peace, I'm just going to have to bring a little decadence to Houston. I just thought, To Heck with It... I'm doing this my way! I love how the pictures of your home really speaks to who you are. If we can't be ourselves in our own place, where can we be?..."

Now, for most people reading this blog, you don't know that I didn't grow up around New Orleans. My upbringing was far more rural and straight-laced than that. However, after my husband and I got married and his first job out of LSU was in New Orleans, we made the area our home for nearly 11 years. The division between "North and South" Louisiana is striking. One's not better than the other, but they could be different states, on opposite sides of the country for all of those differences. I never felt more at home than I did in Southeast Louisiana. We loved the time-worn beauty, people, and of course the food. It was us. It was home. (Sorry Mom)

So keeping with the square peg in a round hole theme... here's my latest project.



The piece was originally a terribly worn console table that I found at a thrift shop. I paid my $75 and took her home, cleaned her up, and gave her a nice little black dress. She stayed that way for a while... then she started to beg for some bling... I know, I KNOW... a girl's gotta have some jewelry.

I found a graphic that I liked online. (hence the paper taped to the front) Then I leveled the picture onto the front door panel.



I traced the parts that I wanted using a ballpoint pen. The impression from the roller ball inside of the pen makes guidelines for painting later.





I took a metallic glase (in gold)and went to work...
(sorry... I've tried to fix the rotation on this photo... but it's not changing...)


After I followed along the drawings, I highlighted the bamboo trim and distressed the top a bit. So now the girl's all dressed up and ready for a party. She's sitting in my dining room ready for that table and chairs to be delivered...





So, I guess this is a shot of her flashing you (New Orleans style), but I just had to let you know what's really inside... it's a bar with a glass rack on the top... Get it?... Nice Rack... ;-) Sorry, I couldn't help myself...