Christmas 2009

Here's a little of what we've been up too this holiday season!

The $10 Snow Village



I started with 5 messily painted little village houses I found at WM for $1. I've seen these garish knock off Christmas houses at everywhere this year. Even thrift stores, garage sales and drug stores. I decided to do an all white snow village but the possibilities are endless. How about a pastel pink or blue glittered village for a little girls room? So cute!

To do this project you will need:

Village houses and trees
1 can of grey primer
1 can of flat white or off white paint
small bottle of acrylic white pearl paint (found in the craft paint section)
glitter fine clear or white
Glass glitter such as diamond dust
Faux snow flake
glue to adhere glitter (I used marthas brand)


Prime all pieces let dry, spray each house white and let dry over night. As soon as the paint is nice and cured you can glitter each piece. I dry brushed my houses with some pearl paint before I used the glitter for a little extra depth. Apply the glue in sections and sprinkle with glitter. I did the fine stuff first and then went back with the diamond dust in some sections. Spritz with a watered down aging solution if you want a vintage look. (aging solution can be as simple as burnt umber acrylic paint and water in a spritz bottle, Tattered Angles has a line of glitter mist that have pigments and sparkle. Very cool stuff.) Seal with clear sealant if desired.



The Church was a experiment with aging solution. Now that it is finished I kind of like the vintage looked of it. I will probably go back in and try to duplicate the look with the other pieces. First I need to buy back ups in case the aging project goes awry.

I arranged my snow village in cloches but of course villages look wonderful anywhere and they don't need to cost a fortune to be a lovely addition to your holiday decor.

Kimba is Having a Holiday Home Tour Party

Click above or on the link on my sidebar to join in the festivities!

Here is a little unfinished holiday cheer from my foyer. I still have an advent calendar garland sitting in my workroom waiting to be strung on the banister. It's a little late for that, don't you think? Oh well, maybe I'll throw it up there today and pretend we've been playing along since Dec. 1.

For the foyer table I re-purposed my wire Halloween tree and wrapped a piece of plywood and a town house cracker box for the faux presents. That was my "green living" move of the week. Sweet eh?

These are actual real gifts I stacked here because I'm sick of my bedroom looking like an elf yakked up.

Tomorrow I'll show you my finished thrifty snow village. Don't forget to join the Holiday fun over at Kimbas.

Hey...It's been awhile. I felt so bad abandoning this silly little blog for more than two months I almost gave it up, the whole blogging thing that is. I'm flighty lately and I've kind of retreated into myself a bit after everything that has happened the last few months. It just feels safer I guess.

Well, all it took to put me back in the mood was visiting a few of my favorite blogs, yours. I am so inspired by all of you and your beautiful projects and homes. So here is a little peek at what I have been up to the last few weeks.

I promise to be better about posting here and visiting you all. I also promise to share a fun snow village I am working on made from some serious ugly ceramic houses I found for a dollar, spray paint, glitter and my cloche.

Check back soon!!!

Finding My Peace

Our trip was wonderful. I laughed and cried, found time to be a kid, and time to be totally with my kids. It was truly healing. While we did spend the majority of our trip at Disneyland, we also found a few days to venture out and see some of my favorite Southern California sites. My favorite, and a place that I wish I could spend days and days taking in, is the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.

The only way I can explain the Mission it is that it is amazingly alive. You can feel and connect to an incredible array of energy, past and present, happiness and sorrow, struggle and calm. It's all there and it envelopes you as soon as you step foot through its 4 foot wide adobe walls.


The fountains and gardens were so inspiring. These gold, green and red, lily pads were my favorite. The huge brightly colored Koi fish were icing on the cake. Everywhere we walked there were artists painting on small canvases and easels. They painted pictures of of small sections of the old adobe walls with their amazing patinas, doors, arches, fountains and gardens.


The tiny Church was gorgeous. The oldest part dating from 1777. The richly decorated Spanish architecture was awe inspiring, the colors took my breath away. You can tell with no uncertainty it has been well loved over the years.


I took over 100 pictures that day with my silly little 100 dollar point and shoot. I was burning it up! It was easy to do.



The 300 year old Baroque Alter is from Spain. Brought from Barcelona about 1806 its 196 parts are hand carved and gold leafed.



As much fun as we all had I'm glad to be back to my haven, my home, and am really looking forward to the Holidays. We didn't do holidays when I was growing up due to my parents religious beliefs. Let's just say I feel like I'm making up for lost time now. :) I have mental lists a mile long of all the projects and baking and fun I want to do. See you soon!

We are off for a week at the Happiest Place on Earth for some fun, laughter and maybe a few moments of being a kid again. I love all the holiday decorations at Disneyland, I always come home inspired. Look for some fun projects to come next week. See you soon!!!

Wire Halloween Tree

Hi everyone! First I want to thank you all for your prayers and support, it truly kept me sane during these last few days. I loved opening my email every day to so many loving thoughts and stories. Blog land is so wonderful that way!

Things are slowly getting back to normal, and I have been trying to keep busy. My version of the Glitter Lady's wire tree is done and is sporting some scary ghouls, ghosts, ribbons and spiders. I am working on few more spooky items to add to this display. I'll share them another day.





Here is the finished TV nook. We found a buffet that fit perfect and I really like how it turned out. These nooks can be tricky and expensive to find furniture for. Once I finally stopped looking for an "entertainment center" there were all kinds of furniture pieces to choose from.