FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

 

WELCOME

As you enter my home, this couple greets you with smiles of happiness!

The wreath is hung on a pillar in the entry way.

The dining room light is decorated for Christmas!

An empty Victorian terrarium awaits festive Christmas decor!

Some dolls have been placed in the terrarium~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A photo of the completed terrarium with dolls, Santas and a gift.

Apple Cheeks dolls

The dining room hutch

A luncheon place setting with a spatula favor and "Welcome" card that reads, "Old friends are treasured gifts."

A Christmas glass on a gold snowflake

The manger that I remember as a child.  It is old and the lambs have seen better days.

A kitchen table place setting with a luncheon favor

A peppermint centerpiece for the kitchen

Our family room Christmas tree in red and gold

Trees, angels, Santas, and a clothesline with St. Nick's laundry

Stockings hanging over the fireplace

A very untidy couch with pillows and Christmas decor...my mom made Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the small snowman

Floor decor

Jim Shore angels and snowman

A gingerbread tree that my friend, CeeKay, really liked.

The entrance to the master bedroom

The pink and white tree in the bedroom

A tree for the bathroom

Another bathroom...another tree

A small tree with my mom and dad's vintage ornaments

Another tree in the spare room

Vintage decor and a tree on a 1930's dresser

Mom and dad's 1943 wedding picture with Christmas pieces that my mom made many years ago

Iced tea, Sangria, and apple juice wassail for a recent luncheon at my house

Some high school friends at a recent gathering at my house

Oh, what fun and memories!

I forgot to take pictures BEFORE the luncheon so the full impact of the place settings is missing.  

Christmas decor 101

I had my wonderful husband bring in all of the Christmas boxes the second week in November so I could start decorating early.  Since we went to Tucson and had Thanksgiving with my daughter, I knew no one would be at the house to witness my insanity first-hand!  I puttered around with the smaller decorations...the trees just recently went up...because I'm having a high school alum luncheon this Sat. and I didn't want to wait until the last minute to complete the decorating. 

The light in the dining room needed something but I didn't know what!  I found an anemic-looking piece of greenery (entwined Christmas tree branches) and twisted it around the light.  It looked sad and awful so I started to embellish with things that I packed away from yard sales and after-Christmas sales at Michael's, etc.  First came the big colorful ornaments that captured my eye at a yard sale.  Next came the white and gold-looking ornies from another yard sale.  Next came the picks and beaded garland from Michael's and a yard sale respectively.  Finally I found the crystal-like hanging ornaments mixed with other stuff in a box that I forgot I even had!  All of this was done with mostly yard sale finds!

Last year I went to a workshop at Meri Wiley's house, and I liked the the name tags that she made for each participant.  Therefore, I decided to duplicate them (with Meri's help) for my luncheon.  Actually the only thing that I copied was the white part of the name tag.  Meri programmed some sort of machine to produce the cute edges on the name tags, and I used stuff that I had on hand to embellish each tag.  Meri also sewed the little red netting things from material left over from my daughter's wedding 7 years ago. 

Like I said, I only started with the smaller decor like my dolls and miscellaneous things.  The trees were just finished this past weekend. 

One of my Jim Shore angels with a Jim Shore sleigh in the background used as a centerpiece.

More standing ballerinas in something (I wish I knew what to call it) that I recently bought at an estate sale.  I think it is some sort of display case.

I'll post more photos from before, during and after the luncheon.  I'm still busy with last minute preparations!

Putzin' Around

Today I again had the privilege of working with Meri Wiley at her "Putzin' Around" workshop.  As usual, Meri was the hostess with the mostest and provided humor and guidance to our cozy gathering.  

As soon as I entered Meri's house, I felt like I was at the North Pole with Santa and his elves! Meri had an abundance of Christmas things available to us to make our Putz houses.  She even had some Easter things in case we wanted to make an Easter house.

This cart holds a very small sample of some stuff that Meri has collected over the years for Christmas crafting.

                The bottom of the cart held many treasures as well.

This photo shows a small portion of crafting supplies that we could use for our houses.

More and more goodies...it was hard to make a decision because of all that was available.

                                              Here are Joanne's completed houses.

My houses included a Mr. and Mrs. Santa house/cottage and another house that Santa has decided to visit.

CeeKay always does such amazing work!  Her colors are cream and black and she, again, outdid herself with this beauty.  Love this woman!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laura did a wonderful job with this church.  When I took this photo, she still hadn't finished with the final touches.

This is also the unfinished house that Laura was still working on.  This is such a cute scene.

This is one of Gail's houses.  I always enjoy visiting with Gail and seeing her pretty creations.

Here is Sharon's beautiful house.  I always admire anything that Sharon works on...she is precise and very creative.  I've been to several of Meri's gatherings and I can't believe some of the wonderful things Sharon has produced.

 This is Alyssa's beauty...Alyssa is Laura's daughter.  Alyssa recently graduated from ASU and she was so enjoyable to talk to.

Meri also had a room set aside in her house where we could shop.  She was selling some of her crafts and miscellaneous items.  Meri also had some "free" stuff.  How enjoyable!  I still have my eye on her 1948 fully furnished dollhouse.

I really enjoyed my time at Meri's house and it was so much fun visiting with the other ladies.  We had a delicious lunch and then picked out gifts from under the Christmas tree.  I was lucky enough to get a church front (designed, painted and crafted by Meri) that lights up!  I forgot to take a picture of it and I don't know how to add it to this post.  I'll add the photo to another Christmas post. 

Thanks again, Meri.  You are the BEST!