Decking the halls

Here's a quickie with some pix of just a few of my trees. While I did put up all 10 of my trees, my heart just wasn't in it, so I didn't put much else out. I'm just not feeling it this year. :( Which makes me sad, because I'm all about Christmas decorating. Maybe next year I'll really go all out. Because I took these pictures at night, they aren't coming out very well. Hey, I never claimed to be a photographer. :)

I just did the bare minimum for the mantel. Mine and my hub's stockings fell down, so it's just the dogs' stockings left.



This is my tree that I decorate only with vintage glass ornaments. I love it. I usually put this on the fireplace hearth, but this year decided to stick it in an old sap bucket that I found at a flea market years ago.





My cardinal tree, which is my very favorite. I use all cardinal ornaments, vintage chandelier crystals, clear glass icicles and red berry garland. It looks so much prettier in person than it does in pix.





The "drum tree" for the hubs. He thinks it looks too "blingy" with the crystal garland I added to it this year. :)



Of course I have a dog tree...doesn't everybody? :) It was looking skimpy this year, so I dug through my ribbon drawer and found this blue glittery mesh stuff that seemed fun, so I wound it around and was done. It actually does make it look better in person.





Our main tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments: those from our childhood, some that were given to us, others that we have collected while on vacations, etc. Earlier this year, I was at a fleatique store and saw this rusty metal "believe" sign. I had nowhere to put it, so I stuck it up at the top of the tree. And I kind of like it there. I also wound some red berry garland around it, and I like that too. I have a ton of that stuff.





This is the white bird tree I have in our bedroom. It's one of those skinny alpine trees that has pine cones on it. I use white birds, white poinsettias, white berries and clear glass icicles.





My dining room looks like a forest.



I found this at a garage sale a month or so ago for $2. It's a heavy ceramic serving plate, with an even heavier metal stand. I figured it was worth the $2 just for the stand, but I do love the plate.



When I was in Austin for Thanksgiving, I found this little wicker sleigh at a thrift store and thought it would be cute to use as a holder for our Christmas cards.



I have a few more trees and a little bit more holiday decor out, but it's not really blog worthy.

Thanks for stopping by!

New addition to my collection

I'm not much of a collector, but one thing I have always loved is vintage glass Christmas ornaments. I have one Christmas tree entirely dedicated to them.



This last week, I found a box of vintage Shiny Brite ornaments like I've never seen before. They are children's ornaments and have sweet little characters on them, such as lions, giraffes, bears, etc.



Though they aren't in the best of shape (a lot of the mica is flaking off), I love them nonetheless. And they were a good price at $8/box of 12. That's less than $1 each. Can't beat that.







Do you have a favorite ornament collection?

It was a dark and stormy night...

You Have Been BOO'd!

The air is cool, the season is fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...

Tricky witches at your door.



The spooks are after things to do,

In fact, a spook brought this "BOO" to you.


The excitement comes when friends like you,

Copy this note and make it two.


We'll all have smiles on our faces,

When we see who Boo'd who's places.

I was Boo'd by Candy, the Junk Sophisticate


The following 4 ladies have been officially BOO'd...

Sunny at All Things Sunny Love Sunny's positive attitude even during difficult times..you are an inspiration!

Kendra at Domestic Princess in Training Another frugal girl like myself, Kendra is a thrifter like myself, always on the lookout for a good deal.

Carrie at Carrie's Little World Such a sweet girl with lots of cute ideas

Leah at Just Me, Leah My dear friend who I love very much!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This BOO party was started by Toni@The Tattered Cottage. Please keep the fun going by following these instructions.


1. You have 24 hours to work your spell

2. Copy and post the Halloween Boo Poem with the instructions for playing.

3. Pick 4 blogs you enjoying visiting and tell why you enjoy visiting them, with a link to
their blog and remember to link back to me.

4. Go to the original BOO Party post at the Tattered Cottage and add your MckLinky.

5. Let's see how fast and far this spreads between now and Halloween.


Happy Halloween!

Time to dig that box of fall stuff from your attic

My housework is done for the week, and since we've had a lot of rain the last two weeks (as in I'm-going-to-trade-my-xterra-in-for-a-boat kind of rain), I'm in the mood to pull out my fall stash. Something about dreary weather screams fall to me.

Here's some inspiration for you from Better Homes and Gardens as well as Pottery Barn. Everything here can be copied/made easily yourself for very little money.

How cute are these pillow cases? All you'd need is a stencil and some $.59 craft paint from Michael's. You could also do this on napkins, table runners, etc. If you wanted to decorate your bathroom with a touch of fall, how about taking an inexpensive white shower curtain and stenciling brown, orange or green leaves on it (or a brown shower curtain and white leaves)? Seriously, that would be so cute and super easy. I came up with that idea myself. :b



Little leaf buttons simply attached to plain white napkins.



I love this wreath. It's neither fancy nor colorful, but it's natural, and that's what I like about it. Wrap a styro foam form with ribbon, glue nuts and you're done.



Same idea as the acorn wreath, but with leaves. I think you can never have too many wreaths. I hang them all over...on the front door, from the pantry door, the back door, my windows....so get cracking and make a few to spruce up your space!



This little cutie could be easily made using one of those dollar store tin pails and a little paint. How cute!



I adore Halloween...it's my absolute favorite. This tray is awesome, however it's $25. Instead, buy a thrift store tray, spray paint it black and silver, then decoupage a skull (or other "character") to the top. Seal it up and it's ready to go!



Candy corn topiary...we all need one of these. Use paper, rick-rack and a dollar store pail.



A ribbon and leaf can really add just enough oomph to a simple napkin. Love this.



If you have any ideas, please share! Happy crafting and decorating!

Unnecessary necessities

Last Sunday afternoon, hubs and went for a drive since it was such a pretty afternoon. We ended up in a neighboring 'burb that is the county seat for that area, therefore they had a courthouse square. My favorite!

We went into an antique store and I found 4 snack sets on sale for a grand total of $5. So I bought them. Why? Because I need them? No, of course not. Because they were on sale for $5.



I also saw a set of Christmas china on sale. This particular dealer had four 4-pc. place settings for $20. Another dealer had the same thing for nearly the same price.

So I bought them. Why? Because I need them? No, of course not. Because they were on sale.





But, I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. And because, after 12 years of marriage, and never hosting a Christmas dinner at our house, Christmas china will come in handy, don't you think?

The story of 10 Christmas trees (trees 4-10)

Now, after the pics of my larger trees, you may be disappointed in these. They aren't as big and full and pretty. But I love the nonetheless. And I still don't have my tree skirts out in these pics, so you'll have to overlook that faux pas.

Drum tree (for hubs, obviously). It's only about 4 feet tall.











White bird tree. I love this one. My mother gave me the tree several years ago, and it is one of those skinny trees with pine cones already on it...the perfect setting for bird ornaments.















Antique ornament tree. I love this one. Those vintage Shiny Bright ornaments are so cool! This tree is tiny. It's one of those small, skinny "alpine" trees. I have it sitting on the hearth this year. Last year, it housed the drum ornaments and was in the foyer.



This is the ornament that says "West Germany" on it. I got it at the antique store a week ago for $1.50!









Kitchen tree. Tiny tree, sits on the wine rack. I just realized there are only two bottles in the wine rack. Makes me look like a wino, and truly, I'm not. ;) Maybe it would look worse if the rack was full. ha



Guest room tree. Tiny tree, sits on the side table. Multi-colored lights make the walls look like they have a weird paint color!



Guest bath tree. Tiny tree with deer ornaments (didn't get close-ups of those). Deer ornaments are funny. Some are ice skating, some have presents in their hooves...all deer are doing something wintery or Christmas related.



Master bedroom tree. Tiny tree. I stuck it in
this thrift store urn that I painted white.





Oh, and just for fun....the "staging area." ha!! And that's not everything! I had more stuff packed away in the closet!







For those who were wondering, I keep all of my trees up in the attic. All of the ornaments are in plastic tubs inside of larger plastic tubs, and they are organized by kind (glass, handmade, wood, drum, dog, cardinal, etc.). I keep these tubs in the guest room closet. Most are so fragile, I don't want them up in the attic with the Texas heat, etc. Plus, I could easily see hubs drop a tub while getting it down. And then I'd have to kill him.

So now you can see why, after doing all of these, I don't have it in me to do more decorating around the house. I have a lot of stuff to use, but I'm tired. I did put a wreath on the front door and on my pantry door. So with the exception of one or two things out here and there, all we have this year is trees.