BIRTHDAY & CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN

I've been busy whipping up some goodie bags for my daughters school friends because she turns 4 on Monday and this will be her 1st birthday she can celebrate at school. (she only started last year after her 3rd bday)

She is a huge Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan so we are going with a Mickey & Minnie theme.  Here is a sneak peek the party is on Saturday afternoon so I will be sharing the photos probably Sunday/Monday.

Have to tell you what fun is what doing Mickey Mouse...my husband and I were saying how he's such a classic and gets forgotten with all the new characters and tv channels.  So glad my little girl likes the classics.

Kids usually hate to wear party hats so I came up with this lightweight headgear.  Mickey & Minnie ears! So easy to make but I will still post a little party craft tutorial. And of course photos of my little mousekateers!

These are the party bags...since she is born on the 20th we usually include Christmas theme in her bday as well.  So we used Santa bags filled with 1 pkg of candy, kazoo, magic reindeer food, mini candy canes Mickey crayons and a Christmas ornament personalized.  I also included Mickey coloring book with a beanie baby.

HOLIDAY CRAFT.....MAGICAL REINDEER FOOD

Okay this is easy & and quick so its a no brainer.     I love the idea of children believing in a magical Christmas and Santa and his reindeer landing on your roof, lawn, condo whatever. lol    So this is cute for anyone to give to the little ones in their lives.

 You will need the following:

plastic snack/sandwich bags
oatmeal
glitter
printed out version of the poem (see below)

Magical Reindeer Food

Inside this special package is a treat
but not for you!
It contains magical reindeer food
and here is what you do.
Sprinkle this magical reindeer food
carefully on the ground.
And tonight if you are lucky
Santa's reindeer will come around.
But here's a secret I have to tell,
one you must try to keep.
That Santa's reindeer only come
when you are fast asleep.
So quickly put your jammies on
and get a story read,
Then sprinkle this magic treat outside
and the reindeer you will feed!

Throw them all in a bag and shake, shake ,shake....shake, shake, skake!  That's it, the kids get so excited to go outside and do this.   It's just a cute little tradition, like leaving cookies for Santa.  Reindeer need to eat to!

Sandwich bag filled w/ oatmeal and glitter

Printed Reindeer poem

Finished project ( you can dress it up but this was going into a goodie bag)

So much going on so this was a short, sweet and simple submission.

HOLIDAY RECIPE....YUMMIES, SWEETS, TREATS IS ALL GOOD

Herei is one of the recipes I made for the kids tree trimming party and didnt take photos of at the time, so I grabbed this one from my daughters Facebook page. lol

EDDIE ROSS.......HOLIDAY INSPIRATION

Okay so Ive taken down the mantle to start over again, and saw this video on Wendy of http://relativelyunique.blogspot.com/ blog and thought I would share it as well.

Eddie Ross is not only stylish and so freakin adorable.  But he has genius ideas for everyones taste.   Even his budget conscious ideas look upscale.  If you havent seen his Holiday videos for Kmart and Sears then here is my gift to you!



Also if you have never been to his site then click on over http://www.eddieross.com/ and check out his work.


Happy Holidays!!!

VINTAGE BEAUTIES IN THE ETSY SHOPPE

Christmas is my favorite holiday and as I previously posted I have over 22 tubs of Christmas/Holiday items.  These items have a few collections within ....one of which I decided I need to maybe let go of finally.

I have vintage glass ornaments....most of which I believe are American made.    I have sets of ornaments still in their original boxes in great condition.   I also have a collection of loose ornaments that I have paired up some into trios.

I am taking photographs and pricing for my Etsy shop now, but here is a sneak peek for those of you who love Christmas candies.

Beautiful pink ones sold in half dozen boxes

Again pink beauties sold in one dozen boxes

Assorted selection of ornaments

Glass horns w/ handpainted detailing

Loose ornaments

Loose ornaments

More loose ornaments (i have them sitting in rice so they wont break)lol

These are vintage ornaments not reproductions...they are in the original old boxes with original hanging hardware.

Here is some information on the maker of these ornaments....who's name is marked on all of the packaging.  If you are a collector or are interested contact me via email at lucky7design@yahoo.com.  Or via FB or Twitter....  

An American businessman named Max Eckardt introduced Christmas tree decorations imported from Germany to the US around 1907. The ornaments consisted mostly of small hand-blown glass balls that were colorfully decorated. Late in the 1930s though, it was plain to Eckardt that the oncoming war was going to disrupt his supplies. So he made a business arrangement with the Corning Glass Company that got them started on Christmas ornament production in their light bulb plants. Corning started making the glass ornaments after adapting their own light bulb manufacturing process and proceeded to ship ornaments to both Woolworth's stores and to Eckardt's factories where the plain ornaments could be further adorned by hand after being machine-lacquered.

As the wartime shortages increased, making both lacquer and silver difficult to come by, Eckardt started having the ornaments decorated in pastels and bright colors. As a result, Shiny Brite ornaments became very popular because of their uniqueness and soon become a staple of every family's Christmas trees. By the end of the war, Shiny Brite was the largest manufacturer of Christmas ornaments in the world and the popularity of the ornaments raged on into the 1950s.

Shiny Brite stopped making and selling the glass balls in 1962 because of production disruption and because of the changing business landscape and moved into the production of plastic ornaments, which never proved to be as popular. But now that we are in the 21st century, demand for the original vintage glass ornaments has shot up and you'll find many "Shiny Brite" ornaments all over Ebay.

One thing to keep in mind though when shopping on Ebay for these ornaments is that many sellers and buyers seem to think that "Shiny Brite" refers to a type of ornament rather than a specific brand name. So if you are looking specifically for ornaments made by Max Eckardt's company, you might want to do a little digging into the auctions.

NOTHING LIKE A CLEAN SLATE.....MANTEL RE-DO

Well I haven't been thrilled with the way the mantel came out and have been tweaking it every minute since I did it.   So that basically tells me that it's not working and I need to start over.

Here is the bare mantel...except for the flat screen play "Handy Manny" (my daughter works with my decorating disability. lol

Here is everything that was on the mantel (top and bottom) on the dining room table.

Here are the faux presents that were under the tree next to the mantel

Stay tuned tonight.....I should be done by then!

ELIZABETH EDWARDS

I'm so deeply sad to just learn that Elizabeth Edwards lost her battle with cancer.   I watched her on Oprah and Nate and I was so taken with her.   When I attended the Nate Show they he actually spoke of her (she had filmed the day before and we viewed a clip)  She was truly a unique woman, after all that she went through in her life I thought she would have beaten this too.

I was planning on visiting her Red Window shop in Chapel Hill on our way down to SC next summer.  So sad that I wont even have the possibility of getting to meet her.  I dont know how many people are aware of what amazing style she had.



I will remember her by these words....

"The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human" But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know."

Her shop in Chapel Hill

I love it all

When she gave Nate a tour...

Elizabeth Edwards

I hope she is truly at peace now.

HOLIDAY DECOR...THE BATHROOM

Yes, my bathroom also gets decorated for the seasons and that includes Christmas too.    Its fairly blah in color so I usually use my shower curtain, towels and accessories to brighten it up.

This is what it looked like during its dismantling in the fall.

There are normally rust colored rugs in front of sink and toilet

I had already removed the towels. lol

Shower curtain is from The Great Indoors (now closed)

This is Christmas 2010

Actually my summer shower curtain, but wanted to try blue for Christmas (just not in my main areas)

Shopped the bedroom and grabbed out monogram print I made myself and a candle holder (Home Goods)

Teal towel (Great Indoors), glass jar filled with white sand and mini ornaments in silver, light blue, teal blue

Glass jars (dollar tree) filled with sea glass (dollar tree) and my empty hand napkin holder (looking for coordinating refill)

Do any of you decorate your bathrooms for holidays such as Halloween or Christmas?   Or am I just the obsessive decorator.lol

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.

HOLIDAY DECOR....THE ENTRYWAY ***UPDATED..AGAIN**

Well it gets extremely cold in New Jersey in the winter, and we live near the water so its also very windy as well.    I try not to keep too much on my porch, I keep the wicker furniture and some pots usually.   Last year fence panels and solar lights were destroyed so Im being more cautious this year.

This year I decided I want a simple exterior and was again inspired by:

Ballard Design Catalogs

This entry is so classic & clean to me...I love it!