I won’t have many words in this post (my husband – Chef Kev – will challenge that statement as he does not think it’s possible) but these pictures speak for themselves!

I have a great little Christmas Village (Caddington Village by Lemax for those interested) and love setting it up each year. The warm glow from the buildings and snowy ground just seem to peaceful and serene. I grabbed my camera to capture some of the warmth so please take a virtual little stroll through my village 😉 … but beware of Yeti’s.

That’s me in the green hat.

Did anyone notice what that little dog did to my newspaper box? Don’t eat the yellow snow. tsk tsk little doggy.

Busted. That’s Santa in the background and he’s heading to the department store. I knew it!

So calm and serene right? Peaceful. And then the storm came in (as it does EVERY day)…

Look familiar?

Don’t let his cuteness fool you. This little Yeti has a mission…

And as the storm blows out…

Sigh. It WAS peaceful and serene (but I wouldn’t change it for a second). Well, actually I do change it. Twice a day. If setting it back up means ‘change’. 😉

There’s a new reindeer in town and his nose ain’t red. It’s white. And ceramic. But he has just as much character as Ol’ Red and now (like R.dogdolf) a story that he can pass down to his grandkids too.

Sparkle is a relatively new Christmas decoration – I got him a few years back – but quickly became one of my faves. Allow me to introduce you…

Although I think this shot is funnier. Cue toddler hand stage right (or left?) I don’t know, I’m a designer, not an actress.

Anyway, what you may have noticed aside from the cute little hand and awesome reindeer is lack of antlers… or part lack. Sparkle is ‘placking’ (part-lacking – and yes, I just made that word up) antlers.

He actually placked antlers last year and got them fixed but this year when I pulled him out, he pulled another plack on me. Oh Sparkle…

You can see his previous scars and new breaks. Poor little Sparkle.

It didn’t even cross my mind to get rid of him because how can you turn your back on a ceramic reindeer in his time of need!? So, I put my thinking antlers cap on and decided that I’d glue him back together and add some… well, sparkle to hide his wounds.

Here is my arsenal of medical supplies.

I used the crazy glue (right) to piece Sparkle back together and lucky for me I had further plans because at this stage his gaps were more like crevices.

Yikes! So, I added some glitter to hide Sparkle’s scars. If you find yourself doing a similar surgery in the future I’d suggest making sure your glitter is ‘fine’ (see glitter pic above) versus the courser larger (old school) glitter. It creates more a shimmery effect and the pieces will stick better since they are more ‘powder like’ in consistency. Great for hiding boo boos.

I won’t bore you with the surgery details as I’m sure you have all applied glitter before. But it basically went like this – brush glue on, sprinkle on glitter, tap off, repeat. Don’t forget to do this over a paper plate so you can easily fold the plate in half creating a trough to pour your excess back into the glitter container.

After he rested in recovery Sparkle looked like this!

Dare I say I’m even more in love with him now?

And here he is taking his rightful place on my Christmas mantel (which I blogged about here).

What a cutie. I guess I should really call him Glitter now but we all know that that’s just a bad Mariah Carey movie so it wouldn’t be fair. Plus he looks like a ‘Sparkle”. Yes, my ceramic reindeer is a male. And I call him Sparkle. Could be worse?

{Non-hate clause: I actually like Mariah Carey}

This weekend I finally got to decorate our mantel for the holidays!

Introducing our ‘merry mantel’.

** read this post to the tune of “White Christmas” ** Why? ’cause it’s fun that’s why 😉

Merry Chrismtas Everyone 🙂

Update: The mantel got a new addition since this post – Head on over and meet Sparkle the Reindeer and read about how he came to join the mantle here 🙂

Check out my other merry Christmas posts!

Oh Christmas Tree

Reindeer Noses party favours

Quaint little village… and a 2 1/2 year old Yeti

Rudolph’s long lost cousin… “Sparkle”

Have a holly jolly… front door stoop?

Christmas in July

link party

… okay, “Christmas”, It’s the best time of the year!

HAPPY DECEMBER 1st! Our little guy is awaking to an advent calendar today. His first (he’s two and a half). Unfortunately I’ll be at work so my husband will get to enjoy all the fun with him!

But, back to the task at hand….
We may not have snow but this girl’s got balls (and I don’t feel awkward typing that – no, not at all).

As you may have noticed, I’ve been busy creating our winter planter. And the best part? Aside from the fact that I get to say something that makes me kind of squirmy (fun right?) is the cost! Or lack thereof! This whole look only cost about $10. Not too shaaabby (did anyone else just hear the Adam Sandler song in their head?).

I already had the large balls from a previous year and I used to hang them as giant decoration with our Chrismas lights on the house. However, after years of dropping them and one especially rowdy New Years Eve party where they became soccer balls (ahem, cough, Kev’s-friend-who-shall-remain-nameless) they had seen better days. In other words, I had cracked balls. Or my balls were on crack? No, sorry, the first one. Although they do sort of look like they are on steroids no? I wouldn’t really know, I’m not that kind of gal. I just thought it sounded funny. And I ramble. With me yet?

Anyway, the planter has the curly willow and pussy willow all year round so that was zero dollars… The red berries were about $5, purchased at a local garden centre. The red branches were also about the same. So if you’re good with math (I’m not, so I married an accountant) you will see we’ve already reached our grand total.

The pinecones I already had from a past Christmas arrangement. I used three large ones here.

I kept them from diving out of the planter to meet (yet another) untimely death by using some fishing wire as you can see below. I loosely hooked the balls around some of the branches to stop them from tipping over the edge. Since they are plastic they are very lightweight so the branches easily hold them. Oh, and it’s probably apparent but I just stuck the branches and leaves into the dirt. They are all just ‘cut’ so there is no real planting involved. Due to what they are they don’t seem to dry out before the season is over. How is that for easy maintenance!?

The greenery I ‘borrowed’ from the woods behind our house. And lucky for me, they weren’t charging that day.

The wreath on the front door is one I made a few years back by simply winding two large ‘berry garlands’ (found at Michaels craft store) together to create a simple wreath form.

It’s actually my Autumn wreath but I think it works better with the planter than my winter one does so it looks like it’s staying out for another season!

And that’s it! A simple porch makeover that when combined with taking the photos, writing this blog post and saying ‘red balls’ a bunch of times makes for a very effective way to procrastinate doing laundry. Oh. Laundry. Right. Drats.

But it’s SOOOO much prettier than laundry. Maybe I should just wear the balls and give the wreath to Kev? Umm. Scrath that. Laundry. Stat.

Autumn is in the air! … and now it’s also in my living room.

Having recently painted (and fallen in love) with our (now) black mantel I could not wait to decorate it for Fall. And yes, I’ve fallen for it (ha ha, get it). No? Oh. Please just pretend you did (and sorry for the bad joke).

Anyway, here she is all decorated up niiiice (well, I think so anyway but I’m no professional…).

Since it’s a bit of far shot and the mirror is somewhat distracting let me zoom in to show the fun Autumnal elements!

The best part (well, in my opinion anyway) is that aside from the wreath which I just made (small supplies cost) everything else was FREE as I already had it on hand. I literally just brought it all out, dumped ‘er on the couch and began assembling until I was satisfied!

I got this glass pumpkin a few years back and have always loved it. I designed the mantel with it in mind and chose most of my colours playing off the ‘vibe’ that Mr. Pumpk was putting out. In the back is an opening for a tea light holder which adds a nice warm glow when lit.

I took some of the moss that I bought for the wreath (tutorial to follow in an upcoming post) and used it throughout the arrangement to tie my little vignettes into the wreath focal point.

I love the cozy relaxed nature that my ‘old’ and used candles offer. Having been lit in the past, they are all slouchy and organic. I love how they add to the warmth of this whole display.

Here is a close up of the right hand side. Those two frames were given to me by a coworker who was cleaning out her basement and thought I might like them. YES please! I have something in mind for the large one but before I paint it, it was the perfect hue for this display. The smaller bamboo one had no picture in it but I loved the wood that was simply the inside of the back. I left it this way as it added yet another texture. I personally think layering and texture are the keys to an interesting mantel (or any display really).

Here is the focal point wreath I made and as mentioned, I will have a follow up tutorial post. Not satisfied with the standard ‘Autumn wreath” (bright orange fake leaves and overly rustic) I decided to make my own! I wanted something simple and graphic and am really happy with how this turned out. And it was SO easy to make. Yay for easy.

Here is close up of the wreath. You can see the moss used here which I mimicked through the candles and other elements.

And here are a few nighttime shots with everything lit and aglow. YAY FOR AUTUMN!

Oh, and it SMELLS like Autumn in here too as these candles have the perfect Fall spicy scent. Love it.

My name is Elaine and I’m addicted to Christmas. No seriously.

Okay, so I’m not crazy-put-your-stuff-out-in-October-crazy but I do LOVE the holiday season. I love the warmth, the tradition, the coziness, the shimmering lights, the hustle, the quietness, the FEELING. I love Christmas.

I also love crafting and making things and that is how my little annual tradition of Christmas Craft Night was born. The concept was to get some girls together, drink some wine, chat, enjoy each others company and make a Christmas craft! And it took off. Big time. So now it has become an annual tradition that my friends say they love. And I love hosting it. Love it. The best compliment I received was from a friend who told me that the craft night was, for her, the sign that the Christmas season had begun. She looks forward to it every year to kick off the season and get her in the Christmas spirit. Wow.

So how I start is, I pick a craft that seems doable in a few hours. The point of Christmas Craft Night is that every girl leaves with a completed craft. I always host it right at the beginning of December so that the ladies can enjoy that years craft for the whole month.

After I choose the craft I do a trial run to make sure that it’s doable in an evening and work out any glitches. Then I design an invitation to send out that features what the craft will look like. In earlier years I’d include a list of supplies for the ladies to bring but now I just pick up the supplies myself (to save them running around and take advantage of bulk deals) and then just charge a fee that covers their potion of the supplies. I aim to always keep it under $20.

Here is what last years invitation looked like: