Winter Mantel 2012

Our weather has been absolutely all over the place lately.

Last Monday, we had a few inches of snow.
By Tuesday night, we had temps in the negative numbers.
Wednesday, showed us a high of 5 degrees.
Saturday, we had a high of 47 degrees. 47 degrees. In January. In Central New York.

This Winter is becoming one of the craziest ever!

All that weather talk aside, it is indeed Winter and time for me to share my Winter mantel with you.

I tried to keep it fairly simple, although simple is not always best for this large mantel.

I was so excited to have recently learned how to make paper snowflakes that weren't rectangular in shape, I had to play around and make that banner.

No matter what the weather, I hope you have a warm (& cozy) day!

Linking to:
A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Homemaker on a Dime for Creative Bloggers Party & Hop
DIY by Design for Winter Blues Wednesday
Potentially Beautiful for Winter Mantel Party
52 Mantels for Thursdays are YOUR Days

Lightening Up

As a child, my Mom always left our Christmas decorations up until Little Christmas.  Little Christmas is what we called it, but I have seen many of you refer to it as Three Kings Day.  It is also known as The Epiphany.  It takes place on January 6 and celebrates the visit of the Three Kings to Baby Jesus.

As an adult, I hesitate to say, I have never left my decorations up until Little Christmas.   I just prefer to have everything packed safely away while I've got the extra time off between Christmas and New Year's.  

As much as I love having my home decorated for the holidays, something about lightening things up afterwards is really appealing to me.   

 

Lightening up makes me happy!  

I hope this first week of the New Year is a wonderful one for each of you.   Thanks for stopping by. 

Linking to:

Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Let's start the New Year right

One of my favorite holiday movies is Holiday Inn.  Bing Crosby sings this song to Marjorie Reynolds and I wanted to share it with you.  

The lyrics are:

One minute to midnight
One minute to go
One minute to say good-bye
Before we say hello

Let's start the new year right
Twelve o'clock tonight
When they dim the light
Let's begin

Kissing the old year out
Kissing the new year in

Let's watch the old year die
With a fond good-bye
And our hopes as high
As a kite

How can our love go wrong if
We start the new year right

I could not get the video from You Tube to embed, but if you have 50 seconds to spare, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUqFYPkZg2g&feature=related

Wishing you good health and much happiness

in the New Year! 

Happy 2012!

The BIG Post of 2011

On Tuesday, I recapped some of my posts/projects from the past year. 

I spoke of my BIG post of 2011.

Can I just say that I am surprised,
                                             shocked,
                                                amazed,
                                                      flabbergasted,
                                                               perplexed?....well, I think you get the idea.

Back in August, I got the idea to cover a lamp shade.  An ordinary, old lamp shade that I had sitting in the basement.

With a few yards of trim from Joann Fabric and a glue gun, I created a pretty lamp shade that I was very happy with.  I accented it with some little fabric flowers that I had made and that was that. 

When I posted about it, I didn't go into great detail about how I made this lamp shade.  There was no fancy tutorial.  Afterall, I'm no crafting goddess and honestly, it was ruffled trim and hot glue, nothing more.

 

This post  received, to date, 22 comments.  The reason it is called my BIG post of 2011 is because according to my stats, at present time, this post has received some 15,701 page views!  

Can you believe it?  I can't.  I nearly fell off my chair they day I discovered it had 3,000 views.  I could never have imagined over 15,000 views!

Now this may be the norm for some of you girls, but for me and my little blog, it's a huge surprise.  As the post continues to grow, I can't help but giggle and think..seriously?  What exactly has made this so popular? 

I haven't the faintest idea!  That being said, I am thrilled and flattered beyond belief.

So that, my friends, is my BIG post of 2011.

I would like to take the time to say that I am grateful for each & every one of you who follow/read my blog.  Thank you for sticking with me.  You have no idea how much I treasure each of you!

Here's to a spectacular 2012!

Looking back at 2011

So here we are, at the end of 2011.  Was it me or did this year just fly by?

I'd like to take a look back at some of my posts/projects from this past year.  I should name 2011 as "The Year of the Project" as I did more than ever before.  Ready for picture overload? 

(Clicking on the links will take you to the original post.) 

In January, I made this wreath for Valentine's Day.

In March, I was pretty proud of my Spring mantel because I made my own Pottery Barn copycat sign.

In June, we had a complete remodel to our bathroom.  I love our new cottage bathroom.

In July, the projects were plentiful, but I'll just mention a few.  I made a subway sign for my daughter's room.  I painted an ugly, old desk with chalk paint and I added shelf edging to my kitchen cabinets for some cottage charm. 

In October, my Aunt Gen recovered my dining bench and I threw a Yankee baseball birthday party for my son.

Recipes and tablescapes were scattered throughout the year...Snap, Crackle & Pop,  Monkeying Around, and Homespun Christmas were a few of my favorite tablescapes this year. 

Looking back, I have to say, it was a great year and a productive year!  There is one post however, just one,  that I haven't mentioned.  I'm going to give it a separate post because I'm just silly like that.  It's my biggest one of the 2011, so stay tuned. 

I hope you are enjoying this last week of 2011 and as always, I thank you for your visit. 

Merry Christmas

With my to-do list ever growing (tons of cooking on the horizon),  this will most likely be my last post before Christmas, so with that....

I would like to wish each and every one of you,
my sweet blogging friends,

a very Merry Christmas!

I hope your holidays are filled with lots of laughter

and lots of love. 

May the magic and joy of Christmas fill your hearts

every day of the year! 

Much love to you,

My Favorite Christmas Room Decor

This little room that sits next to my dining room is a favorite of mine. I never know what to call it though...sitting room, dining room, living room...what is it exactly?

I always love to decorate for Christmas in this room. I think it's the soft colors that I enjoy. It's restful after having so many traditional reds and greens in the rest of the house.

Let's take a look, shall we?

To the left, on my vintage blue dresser, is my mercury glass collection. I know I've already shared this with you, but I wanted to include it again since it's part of this room.

To the right, are my white wire shelves. I added some bottle brush trees, ornaments, a glittery bird and of course, more mercury glass.

I fell in love with these ornaments, from Hobby Lobby.

On my end table, I have this sweet Christmas cottage. I paired it with a bottle brush tree.

And finally, we have my coffee table vignette.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my favorite little room decked out for Christmas.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you are stress-free this week as we wait for the big day to arrive.

Linking this to:

Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
DIY by Design for Fall into Fall
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style