Christmas 2011

Things at work are still insanely crazy. I went from being "just the Receptionist", where I had about four hours of free time a day, to working eight to ten hours of overtime a week. All because my boss, who was the HR Manager and Event Coordinator, got fired (through no fault of her own). We had our annual Holiday Party last Friday, which I ended up coordinating from start to finish. Doesn't it just burn your biscuit when everybody wants their opinions heard and their finger in the pie and to be "kept in the loop", but no one actually wants to raise one of those fingers to help out? Pisses me the hell off. Grr.

Now we've got our annual Holiday Potluck, which (again) has all fallen on me. Where's my raise, people?!

I did manage to get the house all dolled up for Christmas, but feeling motivated enough to to post the pictures is another story. I basically just used all the decorations from last year, with the exception of my new wreath and a few ornaments to match the new color scheme.

LIVING ROOM 

 

DINING ROOM

I didn't do much in the rest of the house... But maybe next year I'll decorate the shelves J is building for me in the kitchen! I also wanted to make Christmas/Winter themed curtains for the kitchen, but didn't get around to it.

I'm just glad the Holidays are over this year. Between work and attempting to reach a Holiday event family balance with a new beau, I am worn out. Here's to a more productive 2012.

Dare to... Deck the Halls

I'm joining up at Kim's Dare to... Deck the Halls over at Newly Woodwards!

I've always wanted a lovely white feather wreath, but I never wanted to shell out the cash to buy one... Last year I decided I'd make one, then Michael's and Hobby Lobby were both out of white feather boas when I went to buy them! Tragedy.

This year I decided to beat the crowds and bought my boas back in October.

I love it! I still HATE the color of the front door, but I love the white feathers! So pretty... One of these days I'll get around to painting the door. Some day. I'd LOVE to buy a new, beautiful, heavy wooden door with a pretty little window in it that actually matches the style of the house and lets me see who's on the porch... But I just shelled out three grand on tuckpointing and seeing as it's actually MY house and not OUR house, that made quite a painful dent in my savings account. Boo. Sometimes being a grown-up blows.

Okay, enough bitching, time for gratuitous close-ups and an unnecessary, and fairly useless, tutorial! Yay!

Oooohh... Feathers...

I added a glittery, little clip-on bird I found in the holiday section at Hobby Lobby. His beak is funny, but he's cute.

I used the largest Styrofoam wreath Hobby Lobby had (50% off, of course).

4 feather boas, also from Hobby Lobby (Not 50% off unfortunately. Those bastards are expeeensive!)

Then I found an end, and used three straight pins to keep it in place.

Wrap, Rinse, Repeat 4 times. And you have a fluffy, fun wreath! Hooray!

This is what the dogs were up to while I was busy wrapping boas.

Must be nice.

What have you made this year? This is it for me... Have you joined in at NewlyWoodwards? If not, go now!

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #4

It's Week #4 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Give Homemade Gifts!

Now, I'm cheating a little week. I didn't get any Christmas presents made this weekend due to my work holiday party on Friday night and the Mister's aunt's wedding yesterday. However, I did get started on making our Christmas stockings. The Christmas stockings we had were just not working for me anymore, plus we only had three and we're four this year. We were four last year, too, but I didn't bother decorating because I was working on the living room at the time. Anyway, the stockings we had were red and green and traditional and red does not work in this house, not even for Christmas. So, I decided to make some with, what else, the same curtain material I used for the dining room tie-ups, the chair, the master bedroom drapes, and the living room drapes.

I still have to add trim to this one and sew up the other three, but I'm pretty excited about how well the first one turned out! I got the leopard fabric at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and I got some pretty trim to coordinate:

Hopefully I can whip through the other three tomorrow evening.

And, after seeing the Three Sisterz Rosette Stockings, via Kim's party, I may just have to add a little flower or two to the project!

I want to make a coordinating tree skirt too, but I can't decide if I want to make it leopard with white trim or vice-versa. Our Christmas tree is white with silver and white ornaments.

What do you think? What would you do?

Christmas in (almost) July!

Check out what the Mister got me for Christmas!

He didn't know exactly which color I wanted, so he told me to get it and he would pay me back (romantic, I know, but there are about 20 choices!). I was pretty sure I wanted the Green Apple color, but I had never seen one in person so I wasn't 100%. Plus, I figured we could save a few dollars by using a 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, which I then had to wait for. So, of course, I sat on it for about 5 months... I finally ordered it and it is superduperawesome, but I have no idea what to use it for! lol

But I love how it ties together my curtains and my stainless counter tops!

Festive IKEA

Check out a few of the Holidays displays at IKEA. Adorable:

These little guys came in Natural or Black, but unfortunately the ribbon is holding them together and red does not go with my Holiday decor. And check out the gnomies on the gift bags. So cute.

These plates aren't necessarily "Holiday" but they easily could be. They were beautiful.