Happy New Year!

From our family to yours, wishing you a very happy new year.

Last Minute New Year's Eve Celebrations

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With all the Christmas hoopla, the shopping, the baking, the parties you may have not had time to give any thought to your plans for New Year's Eve. While it might be a challenge to get a reservation at this late date you still have time to throw together a celebration to start 2011 off with a bang. Your house is already decorated for the holidays so vacuum and dust the areas that guests will see and your home will be party ready.

Holiday decorations with sparkle work just as well for New Year's Eve as they do for Christmas.

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Your guests have likely been to a number of swanky soirees this month giving you the perfect excuse to throw a more relaxed celebration. There is no reason why you have to spend hours on end whipping up dozens of fancy schmancy hor d'oeuvres or setting up a full bar. Keep your menu simple. My first choice would be to serve a gourmet pizza and a signature cocktail or punch. Try Emeril Lagasse's Sleigh Ride Punch or make a simple mulled cider to keep guests warm and toasty. (Place a bottle of spiced rum nearby for guests who want to add a shot.)

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My go-to recipe is Rachael Ray's "The Only Pizza You'll Ever Want Again" that calls for store bought crust, a real time saver. Tip: Call your favorite pizzeria and ask if they will sell you some pizza dough. Most will sell you crust for around $5, not a bad price for the convenience.


No doubt you received a box of chocolates for Christmas or have holiday cookies in your freezer. Take them out, arrange them on a tray and you've got dessert. Another option, buy frozen puff pastry shells at the grocery store and add your own filling. Cherry pie filling (from a can of course!) or a quickie chocolate mouse made from whipping cream and melted chocolate are two easy peasy options.

Extra points for piping melted chocolate on top of your dessert.

Image from Pepperidge Farms

No need to spend money on a centerpiece for your table. You can easily create a memorable table with things you have on hand.

Tiny gold ornaments mimic the look of champagne bubbles.

For a family or child-centered celebration make noise makers the base of your centerpiece. Place them in a basket or even create a wreath of noise makers that guests can grab to ring in the new year at the strike of midnight.

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Did you receive any new games for Christmas? Now's the time to pull them out. Our family's favorite is Catch Phrase.





Often the best celebrations are the ones that didn't take a lot of time or money to plan and execute (and didn't cause the hostess a load of stress!)

How will you be spending New Year's Eve?

Have Yourself a Vintage Little Christmas

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Images of vintage holiday decorations always make me go all warm and gooey inside. It may be too late to include a few vintage touches to my holiday decor for this Christmas, but I'll be on the prowl at all of my favorite vintage stores scoping out vintage Christmas decorations for 2011.

Country Living

Decor8

Southern Living

Deck the Holidays




via Retro Renovation

I will be taking a little time off to enjoy the holidays with my family and friends. I wish everyone a very merry and blessed holiday season.

A Jonathan Adler Christmas

The Dachshund Resin Bookends are just $39.95 and include free shipping.

Still searching for those last minute gifts ? Barnes & Noble has you covered. Make your friends' and family's Christmas a little merrier with one of these gifts from Jonathan Adler:

Even the gloomiest of days would be a little bit brighter if you were carrying the Love Dove Fuschia Umbrella, $19.95.

The Blue Love Dove Pencil and Pen Set for $19.95 would make a great stocking stuffer.

Love Dove Canvas Book Tote, $9.95

Jonathan Adler Cat Bookends, $39.95

Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors, (Get it online for $12.32!)

While you are at it, pick up some of these note cards for writing your Christmas thank you notes.

Kensington Blue Thank You Notes, $9.95/set of 8.

Set of 20 note cards, $12.95

Find more Jonathan Adler merchandise here. Bonus: Free Shipping is included on any purchase over $25!


Merry Christmas!

DIY Fabric Covered Tray

Via Room Remix

I flipped for this DIY fabric covered tray project I first saw on Room Remix. The tray, created by Martha Stewart Living decorating editor Rebecca Robertson, makes a real statement finished in a bold chevron pattern. Find a tutorial at Martha Stewart.

Fancy Christmas Trees vs. Kid Pleasing Trees

This is my idea of a kid pleaser
Via All Things Christmas

I always loved our Christmas tree when I was growing up. It was lit with the old-fashioned large colored ornaments and covered with a mishmash of ornaments, no two the same. Regardless of how tacky, our tree always included the ornaments that my five sisters and brothers crafted in our elementary school art classes. There was a real sense of pride when you saw your masterpiece hanging on the tree.

My husband's family used bubble lights on their Christmas trees.

In contrast, I detested my best friend's tree and felt sorry for her knowing that she would be opening presents beside it on Christmas morning. Her mom used all white lights, simple peach ornaments and silver bows. That's it. No big honking colored lights graced the boughs of that tree. Though we attended the same school I never saw the ornaments she created at Blessed Sacrament Elementary School. Even at the age of 7 or 8 I appreciated the fact that her tree was very posh, it just didn't say Christmas to me. (BTW, her mom also wouldn't let her play in the living room. I know, it was that kind of house!)

While I love the look of a "fancy" tree I am so glad that my Mom was the sort of parent who saw the value in allowing her kids to have the Christmas tree that made the holiday so magical for us.

My tree this year

While I may some day have a swanky Christmas tree that looks straight out of the pages of House Beautiful, right now I treasure our tree that is covered in ornaments of all kinds, but especially those made by the hands of my two children.

Tissue Paper Christmas Trees

Have you seen these tissue paper trees from Spunky Junk? Easy to make, inexpensive supplies, what's not to love! Click on the link above for a tutorial

Uses for Old Christmas Cards

Cut out your favorite images from cards, tie with ribbon and use as ornaments
via Mom of two Girly Girlz

I always feel a little twinge of guilt when I toss the Christmas cards I receive in with things to be recycled. This year I thought I'd relieve some of the guilt by hunting for some other options for those holiday greeting cards and maybe get a jump on next year's holiday decorating to boot. Here is what I came up with:


Save cards that are all related by a theme like snowflakes or fall within a particular color palette and use them to display next year. I love this modern, inexpensive approach to displaying holiday cards.

via Kidspot

Cut down cards to make gift tags for next year's gifts

Real Simple

via Clearlyistamp

Make a garland using shapes cut with a circle punch and some ribbon.

via Craftstylish

Fashion a one-of-a-kind wreath

Via Noteworthy Musings

Via Scrap Art

Cut images from cards, paste the on cardstock and use as placecards at a holiday meal.

Paperlicious

Do you have any suggestions for other ways to repurpose old greeting cards?

A Hostess Gift that Gives Back

Just a quick post today to share a great idea I heard about this week for a hostess gift that anyone would be honored to receive. While volunteering at a local non-profit agency that supports cancer patients I greeted a woman who came in to make a donation in the name of her friend who had previously used the agency's services. Her friend, now cancer free, is hosting a holiday party and asked friends to make a donation to the agency in lieu of a hostess gift.

Rather than giving another candle or loaf of homemade pumpkin bread, why not make a donation in the hostesses name to a charity that he or she supports. What better way to celebrate the season than giving back.

Have a great weekend!

Our $15 Holiday Home

A view from our kitchen into our great room.

Besides spending $7.99 for a fresh pine wreath from Lowe's, a $4 bouquet of carnations and a $3 poinsettia from the grocery store, I completely decorated my home for the holidays. That is a total of just $15! I used only items I had previously purchased for the holidays or dressed up everyday objects for the occasion.

Starting at the front door (remember, don't include the $7.99 wreath) I placed pine boughs and pinecones from my mom's yard in the existing pots on my porch. I pulled a pair of topiary forms from the garage to use in the center for added height. I may wrap some lights around the forms to give the illusion of small Christmas trees.

In the Great Room

Apothecary jars that normally hold pasta were filled with fauxsnow, a few ornaments and more of the pine leftover from filling my outdoor pots.





Silver leafed candlesticks that I created this summer along with pieces of my milk glass collection were tucked into a garland of pine. The reindeer, formerly brown, got an update with white craft paint.

A bag of white beads picked up earlier this year at Goodwill for $1 finishes the look of our mantle.

To save on the cost of holiday decorations, green and white plates were pulled from the kitchen cabinets to add a bit of holiday cheer to our bookcases.

Plates from Arhaus and Pottery Barn and a small grocery store bouquet add a touch of the traditional Christmas palette to our mostly black and white room.

My collection of pillow covers comes in handy for giving the house a holiday look. The red pillows were a DIY project that I made from leftover fabric from another project (fabric from Calico Corners.) The cream and red pillow covers were picked up on clearance at Pottery Barn last holiday season.

Nothing changes the look of a room quicker than new pillow covers.

The Dining Room

Several purchases made over the last year are responsible for the look of our dining room this holiday season. The runner was ordered from Horchow during a 40% off sale. The silver cache pots were from Pottery Barn's 2009 holiday collection. The mercury glass votives ($1.99 each) and candle sticks ($8.99 each) were found last November at Target. The silver tray was $14.99 from TJ Maxx.

DIY moss balls add a little green to the mostly red and silver palette.

The tiny clip-on attached to the pot holding the poinsetta reads "Merry Christmas." This was a steal at $1.99 from Pottery Barn after the holiday season in 2008.





An old doll I saved for my daughter (today is her 16th birthday!) and a few teddy bears were nestled among some of our holiday decorations from years past to fill a corner of the plant stand above our front door.



There you have it my friends, a peek at some of the areas of our home this holiday season.

Do you have any money saving tips for decorating your home this Christmas season?

I'm linking up to It's a Blog Party Home for the Holidays.

Low Cost Christmas Decorating with Children's Items

Attach small toys to decorate a Christmas wreath

Short on funds for Christmas decorating this year? Look no further than your child's play spaces. Toys and games are a symbol of Christmas, use them in creative ways instead of spending extra money on holiday decorations this year. Think department store Christmas displays when creating vignettes around your home. Add a ribbon around the neck of a stuffed toy or gather a collection of dolls to create a holiday scene.

A small wagon is the perfect spot to nestle a collection of stuffed toys or dolls.

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A Christmas scene constructed of Leggos

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Bust out those board games and get creative.

Via Catnap Cottage

Empty some game pieces or red and green blocks in a glass container and add a ribbon. I'd use the red and green houses from a Monopoly game.

via Just Vintage

I like to borrow a few of my kids old stuffed toys to tuck into corners like on this plant shelf.

Check out your child's bookshelves for Christmas and winter themed books. Not only are the covers decorative, they encourage your child to slow down and read a book!I pulled out a few of my son and daughter's old Christmas books and ornaments to decorate the bottom shelf of my sofa table.

Stockings made from paper could be dressed up with Christmas stickers or rubber stamps and affixed to gifts. For a fun alternative to garland, hang a variety of paper stockings on a mantle or handrail of a staircase.

Attach fishing line to ornaments constructed of paper and hang in window or on your tree.

via How About Orange

I added a little holiday cheer to my home office with Christmas pencils, $1/10 from Target.

It's been said that Christmas is for kids, get inspired by some of their favorite things when decorating for the holidays this year.