My aHa! moment...

Do you have an area/place/spot in your house that you were/are constantly fidgeting with until....FINALLY you got "the look you wanted"? It may have taken minutes/hours/days, or like for me weeks, until it was just right. And then along game a glorious holiday and that area/place/spot had to be decorated for the holiday.


Anyone with me?


Well my mantle is that place. After we painted the walls I took quite a bit of time arranging and re-arranging it trying to get the look I wanted but not knowing what that look, looked like. phew! So before I started decorating for Christmas I took a picture (not because I had this grand scheme idea) but because I was going to post a before and after Christmas picture.


Well Christmas is disintegrating (into the attic) here in sunny 78 degrees+ Florida and as I'm trying to put my mantle back together I think, aHa!, I have a picture of my very own mantle.


Earth shattering, I know!


So ladies and gentlemen (do men read blogs?), here is my before...


and after...


Did you notice any changes? There are a few..


Previously, ordinary candles that were attacked by Mod Podge and Martha Stewart red glitter to be transformed into fancy schmancy Christmas candles.


Now, white Christmas candles on sale from Target plus a little scrapbook paper and tie thingy.




New, holder thingy. I know you bloglanders know what it's called.




I almost forgot my whole purpose for this post: Take a picture of something before you go messing it all up and Viola! you can refer back to it for your own inspiration (or, like me, for copying it exactly if you aren't always so creative).

Christmas ideas...

So, I have seen several variations of this idea on different blogs. Some people used vinyl lettering but I used scrapbook paper and mod podge.


Your basic glass block (courtesy of Home Depot $4 and change):



add initials (I printed out letters, traced them onto the paper, and cut out. Viola!):


or silhouettes (Ditto):


or multiple layers:

These are a few of my favorite things...

BooMama, Tip Junkie, AND Kimba are all having Christmas tour of homes.

Welcome friends!

I don't have much horizontal space for decorating so my TV hutch gets most of the attention. I love putting up previous Christmas pictures (I'm always searching for red frames).

Love these blocks that I got from Lillian Vernon. (Six sides: six different holiday messages)

My Willow Tree nativity. It's taken me several years to collect all the pieces.



How cute is Mr. fuzzy reindeer (and cautious 3 year old with Santa)?

My mom made this wall hanging for me. I no sew :-).

And what would a party be without some yummy cookies? Enjoy!

• Peanut butter cookie dough (in the cold section of Publix)
• Chocolate chips for eyes
• Red m&m's for nose
• Chocolate covered pretzels (Snyder's brand, in the chip aisle) for antlers. A little bit of white icing to help them stick.

Christmas. Christmas. Time is here.

Time for toys and time for cheer.

Can you hear the chipmunks singing? Yesterday while I was out shopping, a guy (driving a minivan with no kids) was blasting the chipmunks song throughout the parking lot. I guess it's just that time of year!

Thanks for coming by. Sorry, no cookies this time. here's your link back to BooMama, or Kimba, or Tip Junkie...

NOT a holiday post...sort of...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Just remember this little ditty when the "Holiday time" gets a little hectic! :-)