Pink Roses

50th anniversary...

My parents were married on December 29, 1957.  This Saturday they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  They met 51 years ago, when my grandmother (dads mom) introduced them.  My mom was finishing Nursing school and working at a hospital here in Atlanta.  My grandmother was in the hospital to have her gall bladder removed, and my mom was her nurse.  My grandmother fell in love with my mom, and said "I want you to meet my son".  My dad was a junior at Georgia Tech, and when he came to visit my grandmother after school, she called for her nurse...my mom.  Now obviously, I wasn't there...but according to my grandmother, she wasn't the only one who fell in love with my mom at first sight.  My dad had been dating someone for 5 years, and he broke it off.  A year later they both graduated, and a few months before my dad had to leave for the war in Korea (he was in the Army), my parents got married.  My parents were apart for over a year...a hard way to start a marriage.  50 years later, they are still in love, and nothing is more important than family.  They inspire me everyday.

          (last summer in Italy...eating gelato) 

 My brother and sister and I (and our families) are hosting a party in their honor, this Saturday, in Pennsylvania.  It will finally feel like Christmas to me when my entire family is together. We are traveling to Pennsylvania in the morning, and will return on the 1st.  I hope you enjoy the rest of 2007.  Be safe.  Be happy. 

See you next year! xo suzanne

it is time...

My children are in the next room playing a video game.  They are laughing, and screaming.  They are loud.  Their voices, their laughter, is filling my heart, reminding me that the greatest gifts in life are those that money can not buy...

 May you be surrounded with love and peace this Christmas...

From my family to yours...

 Wishing you a very Merry Christmas...

wrapping...

When I was 18, I worked at J.C.Penney's for the summer. I was assigned to the gift wrap department for 2 weeks in June, "pre-wrapping" father's day gifts.  You know when you go into a store and there is a pile of gifts already wrapped (wallets, cologne) and there is one opened on display so you can see what you are buying? I was in charge of wrapping all those gifts.  The Martha-wannabe woman in charge of gift wrap taught me how to wrap a gift perfectly.  Then I spent 2 weeks wrapping.  I am a speed wrapper.  For most of the year this is a useless skill.  At Christmas I rock the wrap world.  

I like finding "stuff" all year long that would look good on a package, and finding the right paper to go with the stuff.  I have way too much paper.  I don't waste my time going all out on wrapping for the men in my family...they don't get it.  The girls in my life, family and friends, they are so worth it...they love a pretty package as much as they love what's in it.

So last night I wrapped...

 Now I've got to do gifts for the boys...that shouldn't take long! Happy wrapping!

ornament swap...

I realized that I have never shown you the ornaments I got in my swap at Silver Bella.  I have taken some close ups of details so that you might be inspired, and linked you to everyone's website or blog...just click on the names in pink...enjoy!

this is from Wendy Updegraff...a little shadow box...

(she has some for sale over at Inspire Co.)

 from kerry lynn yeary...

fabric and glitter and buttons, oh my!

 vintage wallpaper & glitter from Cindy Gilstrap...

 a fabulous collage piece from Jill Assman...

 from Danielle Muller...a gorgeous glittery creation...

 a darling ballerina shadowbox from Heather Rowley...

from Jennifer Ellefson...a decoupage wooden bell...

Dede Warren customized vintage ornaments...can you see my camera & my pink bathrobe?

 a wish from Vicki Grobels...

 a glittered bird from Beth Leintz...

 and last but not least...

this gorgeous little girl from Iva Wilcox...

Thanks to everyone that was in my swap, and to Heather Rowley for hosting!

getting my girl...

I am on my way to Nashville, to pick up my girl

from college...can't wait to see her, and have her

home for 2 weeks!  Be back tomorrow...

blaming Pam...

I should be shopping and wrapping, and I'm cutting and pasting...I blame Pam Garrison and the awesome banner class she taught at Silver Bella...

I can't stop...

 this is a little work in progress...me, age 5, ballet recital, pink costume with silver sequins, rhinestone tiara...this explains a lot...

a minor setback...

On Saturday the unthinkable happened...a strand of lights in the MIDDLE of the DECORATED tree blew out, leaving the top half of the tree in the dark.  I almost cried. After removing the broken strand (and the ornaments) and rearranging a bit, I reconnected the rest of the lights and it worked.  Now the bottom right portion of the tree is without lights (or ornaments).  I went to 3 stores yesterday looking for a box of lights with no luck...found a box today...so I will finally get to finish this tree!

So we have this obsessive way we decorate the tree...I wind on a million lights, working from the trunk out, to give it depth...then we put on ornaments, from the trunk out...again, that depth thing...we start with all the solid balls, every color, and we "go deep"...we have 22 gallon tubs filled with vintage shiny brites...not a good way to store them I know...

they are the "background"...

 then we layer on the stripes, shapes, and flocked...

 then we put our favorites on the outside...no one wants their favorite buried in the tree...

 last we put on the tiny ones, on the branch tips...

 big rhinestone snowflakes fill in holes...

the tree is not complete without Elizabeth's tiny black patent leather shoes that she wore on her first Christmas 20 years ago...I tie them on with a big satin bow...(Christopher had black and white leather saddle shoes and I have those out year round)...

vintage barkcloth drapes are used for a tree skirt...

 I really love decorating the tree...just not the SAME tree TWICE!  Fa la la la la... 

angel & Santa...

 Can I tell you how much I love these two ornaments?  Homemade felt and sequin Angel and Santa.  Maybe they were a kit.  Maybe someone was clever.  Someone definitely took a little time to hand stitch these two, sew on every sequin, and rick rack trim, sew the faces.  I bought these along with the little stocking I showed you yesterday, at a flea market in Pennsylvania...25 cents each for all three... 

 ...so little money, so much happiness... 

they have the sweetest faces. I'm hopeless when it comes to little homemade things like this...I hope that whoever made these with love, knows that they have found their way back to someone who loves them...

 and on a COMPLETELY different topic...am I the last person on the planet to know that Hershey's was making a candy cane Hershey's kiss?...

 ...white chocolate with red swirls and candy cane pieces...can you say peppermint bark?...

 so little money...so much happiness!

living room...

My living room is the first room you see when you walk in my front door, so I try to keep it simple, keep it clean, first impressions you know...although anyone who knows me always comes in the side door, through the garage, past the laundry room and the cat box...nothing says "welcome" like a cat box...sorry, where was I...

oh yes, the living room...It is very neutral with accents of pink and green, so I usually stick with that theme when decorating for Christmas...I did VERY little in here this year, just a few accents..mercury ornaments in a crystal bowl...a tiny satin stocking and a jeweled ornament hung over a picture of my mother, my daughter and I from last Christmas...

  I love this tiny stocking from the flea market, when we found it my daughter said "it is the essence of shabby chic"...I agree...

a Merry Christmas banner, bought several years ago at Anthropologie, hung in the doorway...

pretty simple, but serene...this is where the cat and I like to read in the afternoon...

 our quiet little happy spot...I hope you have a place like that it your home too!

crafty...

I took a break from decorating and made something!

For years I have been wanting to make one of those trees, or ornaments, that you stick pins into with sequins or beads...but I never have the time, or patience to do it. 

 

Last night I had this idea for a Christmas tree, so I went to Michael's and bought a Styrofoam cone shape, and wrapped it with a piece of pink tissue paper. 

 

Then I just stuck these pins into the foam, starting at the bottom, and working up. It only took about 15 minutes!

I've been collecting these vintage enamel flower pins for years, and usually just display them on a creamware platter in the family room.

  For the top I stuck a little bird on with a toothpick, and painted it pink and added glitter.

 That's it! And pretty darn cute I think! Now I want to make one with all my vintage rhinestone pins! Imagine the possibilities!