ONE, TWO, TREE....

I love Christmas trees, I need to have more than one because of my love for different styles and themes.  From a young age I remember my mother pulling out tons of boxes (it was the 70's not plastic tubs back then...lol)   and she would decide what the year's theme would be for the Christmas tree.

I thought I would just share some of the trees in my home this year

Our BIG outdoor tree year round

This year's Peacock tree in the living room

Simple red/green trees on the table for Christmas morning breakfast

Prayer card tree in the dining room

Dove tribute tree in the dining room

Trees in the studio w/ Shiny Brites

My 1st white tree in the studio

Trees in the kitchen for a party

My Nonna's eucalyptus tree with cookie press ornaments

And the latest....simple woodland tree to accent Santa (on loan from my mother's home)

I didn't count many we have this year, but I know we didn't do our tree downstairs in the football room like last year.   Just too much going on right now, but we will back in action next year!

How many trees do you display in your home for the holidays??

Happy Holidays...from my home to yours!

- MJ

HOLIDAY COPYCAT

Thrifty Decor ChickMy Holiday copycat story goes like this.....


I had an idea while working on my jewelry line that I wanted to do a Peacock themed Christmas tree.  Let me explain....I was making peacock earrings. lol  

So I wanted to look around and see what had been done before and so I did a Google image search.   I saw some trees, some tacky, some nice and one in particular that drew me in.

The tree was gorgeous and when I clicked it brought me to the page of a fellow blogger who I adore...Artie of Color Outside The Lines.   It then didn't surprise me why the tree was so beautiful, he has such and eye for detail and such eclectic taste.

I of course reached out to him and told him the story and how now Im even more inspired by his 2009 tree to create a wonderful peacock tree of my own this year.

This tree is beyond gorgeous with all of the details

Those are lanterns wired into the tree

Love the gold w/ the blue

Well the story gets better, I received a box in the mail from Artie with tons of treasures.  He said in his card that he hoped it could be a small step in the Peacock Tree of my dreams...

SERIOUSLY.....it was a Christmas tree kit!   LOL   It brought tears to my eyes (yes, I literally cried while unwrapping every ornament and bauble.  I took every jewel and gem in that box and sprinkled it all over my living room and pulled out what I had in my Christmas Collection Stash to compliment it.

This has been a tough time for my family, but Artie made my week so this post is a tribute to him and my Copycat tree of his masterpiece.

Here is the Peacock Tree of my dreams...with all of the precious gifts on it.

Top half...

I didn't have any lanterns so here is what I did...I set a Violet Velvet box inside one of the branches and perched an Emerald green bird filled with gold balls.    

Bottom half

Even the card he sent me was beautiful..the words on the inside too!

THANK YOU ARTIE...

You all can check out his fabulous blog HERE

AND

he was featured in the newspaper which is just the same as magazine to me, you can see it HERE

-MJ

Let the parties begin.....

  

Thrifty Decor Chick

CHANGE IS GONNA COME!

Last year during the holidays I decided to paint the whole main floor (consisting of 2 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room) I didnt touch the living room.  But....................................

A year later and I think change is needed...I love the style of my living room, it has a tropical island exotic vibe and I dont want to change that because I love it and designed it that way for my husband and his roots to his island.

However this year I think we are going to infuse some bold color just in time for the holidays and then it will remain there until Im inspired again (it happens quite often...lol)

So yesterday I re arranged the furniture and took out any signs of Halloween (there weren't many in the living room) I left the fall/harvest things up for Thanksgiving.   Im hosting it again this year and my parents will be coming up to visit.

So I wanted to share my corner shot of my Christmas tree placement.    I'm going all out with change and moving the placement of the tree to the other side of the living room close to the window.

This is where the tree was last year...

 I didn't have this vintage chair though and I feel like the tree takes over the space and away from the fireplace and the whole wall itself. 

This is where the tree is going this year....

It's directly diagonal from last years placement...but I think it will work.  I will lose the one black chair and there will be big changes in color and decor.

I'm think of making this into a linky party......WHERE DOES YOUR TREE STAND? 

Im not a linky expert so if anyone can give me some advice on how to set one up I would greatly appreciate it!

- MJ

HOLIDAY DECOR...THE REAL TREE

So for 6 years now my husband has been taunting me about my "Macy's trees".   His version of a Christmas is to pull everything out of boxes and throw it on the tree!   I know this because I let him and the kids decorate the tree one year....yes ONE YEAR!   It was killing me not to rip everything off, but I promised not to touch it.

So since the kids and the husband are getting the artificial tree downstairs......that leaves me with the fabulous 9ft Douglas Fir that hubby picked up last night.   I wished for a slim tall tree to fit in the corner by the fireplace...kinda like an Italian Cypress tree.   Well I think its obvious that I didnt go with my husband nor did he hear me voice my wishes for the tree this year.

This is the monster he walked in with at 9p.m.

This is the beast it became after we cut the netting off, still enormous.

I cant see my santas of anything on that wall and its imposing on the fireplace too. OMG

Out came the clippers and I started at the bottom....leaving room for my decorative present boxes (ha this year I get to do whatever I want up here)

As you can see not much of a difference...but I did get some great clippings for the mantel and the kitchen hutch. lol

Ive gotten alot of inspiration from Ballard Designs

 This year Im going to try a more muted color scheme. This is my inspiration tree from Ballard Designs. White, Cream, Silver, Gold and natural textures like birds, pine cones, rice and nuts are my ingredients for the living room holiday design.

Lights are on...type to spruce them both up.

Here it starts off with lights and a special tree skirt.

This is my Nonna (grandmother) Anna's bedspread...its light and beautiful and I love having it under my tree.

It has beautiful detail work and in the center the phrase " Amor Mio"...I love it.