Pink Roses

resolutions (part 1)…

This time each year I make the same resolutions.

1. get organized

2. lose 10 pounds

3. start a journal

etc…

Well, the journal thing just might happen this year, and here’s why…

Teesha Moore has ALL of her journal instructions on YouTube videos! This is the first one.

I have wanted to make a journal forever, and have READ Teeshas instructions on her blog (because Pam Garrison recommended it on her blog), but never quite got the inspiration I needed.  She has over a dozen videos on YouTube…

~ How to Make a Journal (2 videos)

~Layer 1: Paint

~Layer 2: Collage (4 videos)

~Lettering (2 videos)

~Penwork (4 videos)

She makes it all look so easy!  Actually, for me, SEEING her demonstrate the process is so much more helpful that just reading instructions.

The kids and I have been sick with the flu since Christmas Eve, and I have spent HOURS in my jammies, sipping tea and watching these videos.  Just thought I would pass along the info, in case someone out there has “start a journal” on their list of resolutions!  I am inspired!

ps. you can view Teesha's journal pages and written instructions HERE.

all time favorites…

Two of my all time favorite things are this tiny Santa that belonged to my grandmother, and Christopher’s black and white leather baby shoes from his first Christmas.  I keep the Santa out year round in my china cabinet, and his shoes sit on a table in the family room.  Every Christmas I put them together and it makes me super happy…

(Christmas 1990-Elizabeth age 3-Christopher 9 months)

And speaking of happy…my parents will be happy tonight , as the kids and I are flying to the great white north this evening to spend a few days at their home in Pennsylvania.  Yesterdays storm has them blanketed in snow…it always feels like Christmas with snow!  My brother and sister along with their families will be there too…nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents…my family is my greatest gift EVERY day, but to be with everyone at Christmas time is such a joy! 

Wishing each and every one of you the most Merry Christmas of all!

little gifts…

I mentioned the other day that Elizabeth wanted to give a little gift to everyone she works with at Anthropologie…

with 40 people to give to, it needed to be inexpensive, and being Anthropologie, it needed to be cute!

We decided to do pretzels in chocolate and chose a color theme of pink, white, gold and silver.  We used the dipping sized pretzels, they were a little smaller than the pretzel rods.

We used pink and white chocolate, and decorated them with white/gold/silver crystalized sugar, white sprinkles, and drizzled chocolate.  We came up with 10 different combinations. We packaged them in cellophane bags and put a piece of cardstock behind them to make them a little sturdier, and she used that as her card and wrote “Merry Christmas” and signed it with a silver pen on the back.

We bought all our supplies at Michaels, including the cellophane bags, little doilies, and the berries we added to the top-they were actually one of those large grape cluster holiday decorations, and we just took them apart. Not super original, but easy and fun and pretty, if you need to mass produce a gift!  She took them in to work today…hope her friends like them!

soft and shabby…

“JOY” banner I made a few years ago in a class taught by Pam Garrison…

a beautiful embroidered piece by Rebecca Sower…

 

a tussie mussie made in a class taught by Jennifer Paganelli…

the perfect pale pink satin Christmas stocking trimmed with sequins and netting…a flea market find…

strands of wired pearls draped across the mirror in the dining room…

I love all the colors of Christmas!

 

merry and bright…

 

in the kitchen…

A cut glass compote filled with Clementine's for snacking…

candy canes are at the ready for peppermint bark, and the apothecary jar is filled with chocolate to make (more) cookies…

We’ll be in the kitchen today (attempting) to make something really cute for 35 of Elizabeth’s co-workers.  She works at Anthropologie, so the pressure is ON!  I’ll let you know what we come up with!

making and baking…

I spent the day Sunday making gifts for the all the “nice” girls on my list…

and baking for all the “naughty” little boys :)…

I baked dozens of cookies, and they’re already gone…yes, Christopher is home (for 1 month!), and with him comes a house full of boys…noisy, giant, hungry boys…the best gift I could ever hope for!

entry table…

white and blue and silver…this tiny chair ornament with a wee flower frog and little vintage ball…

mercury glass votives and a plastic angel…

flea market felt angel {love her}…

a bottle brush forest…

this is what’s on the table in the entry…

dining details…

 

The house is clean today, so I snapped a few pictures of everything decorated.  Minimal decorating this year, but because we pulled out our very favorite things, I am quite content.  First stop, the dining room…

pretty much the same as last year…a little more pink…

 

extra jewels on the mannequin…a new (vintage) flower…

and a new (vintage) pink crinoline layered over the white one…I bought the pink crinoline at Second Chance Antiques last month in Omaha ($15.00)

 

The cupcake stand and cloche are new, from Anthropologie…

 

and the silver metal tree is from Walgreens Drug Store (99 cents!)… it also comes in gold

 

more to come…

P-Dub…

THIS GIRL was in town Monday night.  “This girl”, being Ree Drummond/Pioneer Woman/P-Dub, and “town” being Atlanta.  She is currently on a book tour for her new cookbook and she brought Betsy and Hyacinth (her sister and best friend) with her.  I was hoping she would bring Marlboro Man.

 

I brought my daughter with me, and we both got cookbooks.  If you love her blog, you’ll love her cookbook.  It’s filled with stories and photos, and even recipes!  Oh, and CHAPS.  That’s worth the price alone!