Merry Christmas!

It's getting down to CRUNCH time.
Are you ready for Christmas?

I finally finished wrapping the presents.

This year I thought that I would add big bows to the presents.

I had the presents wrapped and all I had to do was make the bows to

add to them.
I can only make about 2 bows at a time, otherwise

my hands start cramping really bad.
It's a good thing we don't go hog wild buying presents,
because you know that that is not what Christmas is all about.
 

But atlas, the presents are ready to be ripped open!

 

I added a stocking to a couple of the presents.

 

Here's wishing you and yours a

Very Merry Christmas!

 

 Until Next Time,

Veronica



Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Our DIL noticed that their neighbors had

a mistletoe ball hanging outside their home.

It was just a green ball with a simple red ribbon on it.

She commented that she liked it.

 

While we were out shopping I came across

this faux boxwood ball at HomeGoods and knew that I could

turn it into a mistletoe ball for her and our Son.
This is a nice big 8 inch ball.

But I had to make it look Christmas-y in order for our

Son to like it.

O.K., I think I can do that.

 

Here is their new Christmas-y mistletoe ball.

I wanted to add just enough to make it look Christmas-y.

I added a few red ball ornaments, little snowballs, and

a few glittery snowflakes.

Of course, the bow had to made with peppermint stripe ribbon

and one with peppermints on it.

Our Son gave their new mistletoe ball a thumbs up!

 

Here are a few pictures that I snapped of our Christmas home.

I love this replica vintage truck that I found at Hobby Lobby.

It is made from metal and the wheels actually turn.

I placed a bottle brush tree in the back of the truck and

added some greenery and Christmas balls in my tabletop greenhouse.

I also have tea lights in the greenhouse that turn on at night.

I found this sleigh at Kohl's during the summer in their

clearance section marked down to $2.00.

I added some greenery, pinecones, a few berries and

various sizes of Christmas ball ornaments.

 

This chair sits in the corner of our dining room.

I placed a wreath on it and added a glass cylinder

in the center with a candle on a timer.

This display sits on our pie safe in the dining room.

And this is how I dressed up our mantel this year.

A couple quick pictures at night.

 

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica



On Dasher, Dancer and a Sled.

Oh the hustle and bustle of the holiday season!

 

But you know what?



I LOVE this time of year!

 

Last week I posted a wreath that I had made for our Son and DIL.

I originally made a different one but then I realized that

it would be exposed to the elements.

 

I started out with the same type of wreath form.
This wreath I left in one piece.

Here is the finished wreath.

Here are a couple of close ups.

For this wreath I made a burlap bow.

Since I decided not to give it to our Son,

I hung it on our front door.
Isn't it the perfect fit!
I'm glad I decided to keep it.

Since I was in the designing mood,

I thought that I would dig out an old

sled that I've had for a few years

and dress it up for the holidays too.
It's a Flexible Flyer that I found at a garage sale
for $10.00!  It was in great shape. The only thing missing
was the rope to pull it with, which wasn't a big deal to me.

I remember having one of these when I was a child.

My siblings and I would spend hours outside

in the winter playing in the snow with this.

Do you remember these sleds?

Once I had it decorated,

I placed it between our garage doors.

And a close up of the sled.

Every time I see this it brings back happy childhood memories.

 

Hubby decided he wanted something

sweet to eat today.  I try to make sweets that don't

contain caffeine so that Hubby can enjoy them.

Today I made some White Chocolate Candy Cane Chex Mix,

and also a batch of White Peppermint Bark.

 

I think this will take care of his sweet tooth for a while!

 That's it for this week.

Check back in next week for more Christmas around our house.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

1 Wreath, 2 Doors

I was talking to our DIL the other day about

Decking the Halls for Christmas.

She mentioned that because they have

double doors on their entrance that she

would have to buy 2 wreaths.

Being the crafter that I am, I volunteered to make their wreaths for them,

but instead of making 2 wreaths, I decided to make one BIG wreath with a twist.

I started with a 36 inch wreath form.

Here is the wreath all DECKED out.

Here are a couple of close ups.

I made a big bow and attached it to the top.

Our Son likes a lot of sparkle at Christmas time,

so I made sure that I added a lot of sparkle-y to the wreath.

And because it is an outdoor wreath I added a little bird.

Once I had the wreath complete it was time to take it to

our Son's house and hang it up.

 

Here is our DIL preparing the doors.

Here is the wreath hung on the doors.

But how do you open the door with the wreath in the way?

 

Here is the twist.

 

Before I decorated the wreath,

I had Hubby cut the wreath in half!

 

Then I decorated each half separately.

 

Isn't that a BRILLIANT idea?

 

This way when you open either door the wreath will stay in place.

When the doors are closed

you would never know that it was 2 separate pieces!

(I can see that the DIL needs to fluff the bottom a little more)

 

 Can you tell it is in 2 pieces?

 

Here is our DIL fluffing the wreath.

This wreath can easily be soldered back together

if they decide they want it in one piece.

 

Our Son and DIL LOVE their new unique wreath.

 

That's all I have for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

Fall Mantel

I hope that everyone had a wonderful

Thanksgiving.

We had our Son and DIL over

for dinner.  It was a quiet day with

LOTS of food and relaxation.

 

I spent 3 days before heading off to work to

start preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

I was able to snap a quick picture of our

13 pound turkey before it was carved.



I made a brine and soaked our turkey

for 24 hours.

 

It turned out DELISH,

and the gravy from the drippings

was in Hubby's words, "the BEST gravy you have EVER made.

I'm not a gravy eater, I know, I'm weird that way, so I have to

take Hubby's word that it was the BEST EVER.

He should know, he has eaten his share of gravy!

 

Have your ever brined a turkey before?

If not, you should seriously give it a try.

There are lots of recipes on the internet

for How to Brine a Turkey.

 

Enough about our turkey.

Let's move on to other things, shall we?

 

Since it is still considered Fall I thought that I

would finally post our Fall mantel that I had

put together awhile ago.

It is really hard to get a good picture of this room

because of all the natural light that floods this room.

I didn't go all out this year with my fall decorating.

I tried to make it as simple as is possible for me.

 

Anyhoo, here is our Fall mantel.

I propped a large mirror on the mantel and added a wreath to the center,

placed a few candlesticks with pumpkins and candles on them,

and added a few more pumpkins to fill up the mantel.

 

I found these cute little pumpkins made out of birch bark at Target

and thought that they would look nice on our mantel.

Here is a close up of some of the other pumpkins that I added.

As you can see, I like to add lots of different textures to my displays.

I kept my pumpkin crate and added a little stool

display on the other side.

 

Here is a side angle.

 This is the best I could do to try and get the whole mantel display in a picture.

 I left the off white candles on the candelabra

because they are faux candles and are on a self timers.

They give a nice ambiance at night.

 

Now it's time to BUST out the Christmas decorations

and crank up the Christmas music and get decorating!

 

Make sure you stay tuned I have a few Christmas

projects DONE already!

 

Well, that's all I have for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica