All That Glitters IS Gold!

I’ve received so many compliments on my holiday decor and crafts, I want to thank everyone for stopping by and commenting! If I haven’t made it to your blog yet, I’ll try to make my way by this week, as things will be slowing down for me and I’ll have more time to spend touring all the holiday posts.

If you thought my purple and gold color scheme was “untraditional,” “royal,” “unique,” and “elegant,” wait until you see what I’m featuring this week!

When my mother remodeled her home a few years ago, she transitioned from a very traditional decor and color scheme (remember this?)  to a more modern and minimalistic look.  Therefore, her traditional 12 foot red and green decorated Christmas tree didn’t match her new style.  What a pity, she had to go out and buy all new sparkly pretties to coordinate with her updated color scheme! 

This week I’ll be featuring her stunning holiday decor, beginning with the living room.

Let’s start with her sparkly gold tree, which I believe was purchased at Hobby Lobby.

 

Since it was only about 4 feet tall, she raised it by displaying it on a small round table….you know those kind with the screw-in legs that they sell for a few bucks at Wal-Mart.  You would never know it, covered by the beautiful taffeta and sequined tree skirt found at Lowe’s after Christmas last year.

Many of the turquoise and gold ornaments were purchased after Christmas at Pier One. She added some height by fashioning a tree topper out of feathers and glittered picks:

A gorgeous glittered eucalyptus wreath adorned with sparkly snowflakes and stars compliments the tree perfectly:

The mantel is the center of the show in this room, dripping with gold, copper, and turquoise sparkle:

A golden tree fills up an empty corner and provides a pop of color with the turquoise snowflakes: Isn’t this a nice break from the traditional Santas and Snowmen?  It just goes to show that even the unexpected can be beautiful and festive.

We’ll visit the dining room, den and foyer over the next couple of days! In the meantime, I’ll be linking up to the last few holiday parties. Can you believe Christmas is almost here?

                         

                       

This post brought to you by, J.J., the official holiday toy tester:

Cookies: The Smell of Christmas

I’ve been so busy with work (both my normal job and some Etsy orders) that I haven’t done any Christmas baking yet, but I plan to fire the oven up this weekend to make a few batches of my favorite Christmas cookies.

We’re still rolling in pecans, so I can’t wait to make some Lacey Cookies.  Here’s the recipe my mom and I use:

Lacey Cookies

2 cups oats

1 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 sticks melted butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix oats, flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.  Pour hot butter over mixture.  Add eggs, vanilla, and pecans. Drop 1/2 tsp. (use a demi-tass spoon) 2 inches apart onto a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-20 minutes.  Let cookies cool and peel from foil.

Yes, you really do spoon them out that small and that far apart!  The cookies will spread a lot while baking.  This recipe makes a ton since you spoon them out so small. I love these because they are so buttery and delicate.

Of course I’ve got to make some traditional sugar cookies.  I would love to get all ambitious and make some of these cookies I saw over on We Are That Family (from a guest post by Bake at 350):

How cute are they?!? But I’ll probably just be boring and go with some basic round cookies with red & green sprinkles!  Here is the recipe I use for soft sugar cookies:

Sandy’s Sugar Cookies

Blend: 1/2 cup shortening, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 egg

Add: 1 tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla or lemon

Mix: 1 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Roll into balls and flatten slightly.  Sprinkle with colored sugar or desired decorations.  Bake at 425 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Makes about 2.5 dozen.

Make sure you don’t over-bake these so they will stay soft and slightly crisp on the edges.

If you are making cookies to share, check out this cute packaging idea from Martha Stewart:

Get creative with your containers by using vintage glassware, compotes, or milk glass and keep it thrifty by seeing what you can find at Goodwill, estate sales, and your garage sale stash!

I’ll be linking up to some fun cookie/recipe parties, maybe I’ll find a new recipe to try this year!

Artbeads Winner Announcement

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway for a $25 email gift certificate from Artbeads.com.  The winner, chosen by Random.org, is……………………

Ginger!

Ginger, I’ve replied to your email and you should receive your gift certificate soon.  I can’t wait to see what you create.

There is still time to enter the Artbeads.com Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $100 Artbeads.com Gift Card! The contest ends Sunday, December 20, 2009 at midnight.

 http://www.facebook.com/artbeads?v=app_28134323652

Jazz Up Your Ornament Hooks

You may have noticed my beaded ornament hangers in yesterday’s Christmas tree post. 

I was inspired to make these when the folks over at Artbeads.com were kind enough to send me some of their beautiful glass beads free of charge*.  This is an easy and quick way to add extra sparkle to some of your special ornaments. So today I’ll share a little tutorial with you.

You’ll need:

~wire ornament hooks (or floral wire)

~glass beads

~needle-nose pliers (optional)

~ornaments

*Note, I tried using the fancy gold hooks, but the wire was too thick and the beads wouldn’t fit.  Plain old cheapie hooks work best. 

I found the longer hooks work best because obviously you can get more beads on there:

I had these crimping beads leftover from another project, so I used one as a stopper at the end of my hook.  If you don’t have these, just put your hook on the ornament first so the beads don’t fall off the bottom.

Straighten out your hook with the pliers or your fingers:

String on your beads of choice:

And re-shape the top of the hook:

Voila! All done!

I made another version using floral wire:

Twist one end around the top of your ornament with the pliers:

String on the glass beads.  I used a beautiful Christmas Mix. 

Make a loop and twist the wire back around the base:

Too cute!

Here’s another version with the Christmas mix:     

Artbeads has a wonderful selection of glass beads, as well as all other different types of beads so you can really get creative with this project.  It’s the perfect addition to my DIY Personalized Ornaments!

I’ll be linking up to these parties, click on the buttons to visit:

    

I’ll announce the winner of the Artbeads.com giveaway later today!

This post brought to you by Gidget, the holiday elf!

*Disclosure: The glass beads used in this project  were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. I have not received any compensation from Artbeads.com. The post above represents my honest personal opinion.

A Closer Look at My Christmas Tree

I’m linking up last week’s post to all the holiday home tours, and I also wanted to join Thrifty Decor Chick for her Christmas Tree Party and A Baby Changes Everything for the Holiday Bloggy Bash.

Our tree holds a variety of ornaments, from sparkly glass balls to unique treasures from our travels.  Here’s a reminder of the how the tree looks in the daytime:

And at night:

Now let’s take a closer look! I think my mom found the purple and gold tree skirt at Target after Christmas and I got my glass topper after Christmas at Wal-Mart several years ago:

     

You can’t really tell from the photos, but the gold part is glittered, so it sparkles in the light. 

Now for a peek at few of my favorite ornaments.

Our newest one, a glass blown pug given to us by my mother-in-law this year:

Another one she gave to us the year we bought our first home:

A Waterford crystal seahorse I bought the year we got married on the beach:

 A delicate egg diorama ornament I’ve had since I was little:

Some ornaments from our travels:

A couple representing former pets:

 

A couple of my favorite sparklies:

I bought this flat glass one last year, I love the colors:    

You can see how I made these last two in this post:     

I also have a little tabletop tree showcasing all my LSU ornaments.  Click here to see more photos!

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If you noticed my beaded hangers on some of the above ornaments, come back Tuesday to get more details!  Also, I’ll announce the winner of the Artbeads.com giveaway Tuesday as well.

This post brought to you by Santa’s Helpers:

A Homemade Christmas

I’ve been busy making more wooden ornaments/tags for my Etsy shop and for a Christmas festival that my mom and I are participating in this weekend.  She’s going to bring her fleur de lis soaps and I’m going to have several different fleur de lis items including the tags, tins and candle embellishments. 

We’re kind of going out on a limb by having a booth at this festival, it’s in a small town and this is their first year doing it.  This will be our first craft fair/booth, so we just wanted to get our feet wet and see how it goes.  Hopefully we will have a good turnout!

******If you want to win one of these tags for yourself, head on over to Finding Fabulous, Jane is giving one away for her Frugalicious Friday post.******

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Home Tour

I’m finally ready to show off our holiday decor! I met my deadline and had the house decorated by Sunday night, which I know is a little later than most people in blog-land this year.  It just took me a while to get in the holiday spirit I guess!

Welcome! Here’s the wreath I re-fashioned last year with some large purple vintage mercury glass ornaments from an estate sale, some gold ones I had on hand, a new bow, and a sparkly greeting:

It sets the tone for the decor you’ll see inside….more purple and gold (surprise)!

The entertainment center gets jazzed up with a lighted garland, ornaments, and bow/fleur de lis centerpiece.

Kind of a “tree” theme going on here.

I love the warm glow the light creates at night.  See my little LSU tree glowing in the background?!

The stockings hung with care. No fireplace here, but this little pass-through ledge between the living room and dining room is the perfect spot.

I bought a bunch of picks a few years ago on super-clearance after Christmas to dress it up a bit and continue the purple and gold theme.  Can you tell they’re plastic?

Extreme close up!

I switched out my normal candles for these pretty tree shaped ones and grouped them with a gold sparkly tree and my grandmother’s glass trees.

Adding some inexpensive ornaments fill up the extra space and gives an extra festive touch.

More sparkly trees behind the couch:

 

Another simple arrangement on the side table continuing the theme.

Other table arrangements.  What’s Christmas without a tacky leg lamp?!

A simple basket filled with ornaments makes a great low-profile centerpiece for the dining room table.

A coordinating look on the table in the kitchen.  We don’t use this table everyday, so the taller arrangement works here. Mr. Nutcracker supervises all the holiday baking in the kitchen:   

Moving on to one of my favorite and most special Christmas decorations, the Lenox Jewels Nativity.  I started this collection in college with the Holy Family and gradually added more over the years.  I received many pieces as Christmas gifts and bought a few at the Lenox outlet.  This year I found the little manger on the left at Goodwill for 99 cents and thought it would be the perfect addition for one of the animals.

The Innkeeper is one of the most colorful and detailed:

 

And, last but not least, our tree!  In the daytime:      

and at night:

I’ll share more details of the tree in a later post, including some of my favorite ornaments.

I’ll be linking up with all the holiday parties going on, click on the buttons to visit everyone.

 

This post brought to you by Gidget, the Christmas pug!

What’s Your Christmas Decor Obsession?

I’m joining Kendra over at Domestic Princess in Training for her fun party sharing our Christmas decor obsessions!

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you probably know I’m a big huge LSU fan! So, naturally, I’ve collected quite a few LSU-themed ornaments over the years.  They were starting to take over my Christmas tree! So a couple years ago I decided to start the tradition of having a tree dedicated to just my LSU ornaments.  I’ve used both a real tree and a cute purple tinsel one, and this year I picked up a cute little real tree again.  

Here it is nestled in the perfect spot in front of the window in the dining room:

Geaux Tigers!!

  

All lit up in purple and gold!  I added the plastic round LSU lights this year.

So let’s take a peek at a few of my favorite ornaments. This blown glass Mike the Tiger was one of my first ornaments.  He’s special enough to display year round in our office:

My best friend gave me this musical LSU santa a few years ago, he plays the fight song:

Love this cute sparkly round tiger: Another blown glass favorite:So there you have it, hopefully my little tree will bring the Tigers good luck this year in the Capital One Bowl against Penn State!   I’m off to visit all the other participants to make sure I’m not the only obsessive one out there!

Be sure and check out my giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Artbeads.com! 

This post brought to you by Gidget, #1 LSU fan!