What is going on here?

I don't think I want to know.  Katie singing her heart out, that girl is dancing away, Delaney is falling out of the picture (those are her gray jeans and her arms and hands).  Notice the boys in the doorway, they aren't paying any attention to whats going on!  I guess they've seen it all before. 

Tablescape Tuesday

I have run out of dishes and tables to scape for Christmas, so I thought I would show you my friend Marlene's.  Marlene has decorated in red, silver and white.  Her tree is also decorated in these colors.  It looks really beautiful with the white lights. Very sparkly!  She also has these cute chair covers.  I'm not sure where she got them, but I've seen them at Target.
Marlene found the red chargers at Target.  The white dishes have snowflakes on them, so pretty.  The napkin holders are very sparkly.
The center has snow and big red snowflakes, two very crystally trees and all the bulbs in the middle.  She has run some ribbon through it and has some crystal like red branches.  Marlene bought most of her decorations at a store called Mainly Seconds, it is like a Tuesday Morning or TJ Maxx. 

Her tree is wrapped with red sparkly material.  You can find it at Michaels if you shop early in the year.  
She has a lot of crystal ornaments and this very fine crystal garland. Even the the garland is super fine, it adds another dimension to the tree.  It gives it added sparkle.
She has put berries and red ice crystals around the top of the tree to form the tree topper.  

A lot of people make these little vignettes.  Pretty little scenes contained in a small space.  This one has a little church and a frosted tree.   Thanks Marlene for sharing.

No Designer Tree for me!

We only have one big Christmas tree.  Some people have one in the living room and one in the family room.  They can usually decorate their living room tree with a theme and put their keepsakes on the family room tree.  I try to do two in one.   We really enjoy getting the ornaments out and putting them on the tree.  I love how each person connects with the ornaments that are special to them.  Thankfully, they are all special to me!

Alyssa made this ornament in 1992 as advertised, she would have been in 1st grade. I love the ornaments with the pictures because it takes you back to first grade and you just have an AWE moment.
I'm not sure of the date, but judging from the picture, it has to be first or second grade.  The coloring is fantastic, so precise, so Katie.

In typical Delaney fashion, there is no picture.  I have many ornaments made by Delaney, but none of them have pictures on them.   To this day, Delaney does not like to have her picture taken. I love this Gingerbread man!

This is one of my favorite ornaments.  He is one of four English Soldiers. It reminds me of our time in London, which of course, I have romaniced after all these years.  Also, another Gingerbread Man made by Delaney!!!

Bob loves the shiny big ornaments.  For many years, Bob's mom Katie has given him beautiful ornaments (including the one above) for Christmas. She usually tries to find one with a date on it.  I have several of these mice on my tree.  Each girl has made some.
Here is a new ornament for this year representing all the traveling we've done.  I added these flowers to give the tree structure and weight.  Bob hates it when I do that!  And of course, NO WHITE LIGHTS, Bob hates those too.  Not me I love them, I used to have a deal with him, white one year colored the next.  I let that go, if it means so much to him we can make him happy every year instead of every other.  I'm a giver!

Tablescape Tuesday

I've always had a weakness for dishes and paper (invitations, notecards, scrapbook paper).  I struggled to pull together pretty tables that went beyond the "normal" placesetting.  I didn't know anyone else that did this.  Was this normal?  I have discovered that there are other people out there like me.  I got the idea for tablescape tuesday from this website. http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com I considered participating, but I figured I couldn't really go beyond seasonal tables and I certainly didn't have enough dishes and ideas to do one everyweek of the year. So, I'm participating on my own last week and this week.

The table above is my dining room table that I've set for the past 3 years.  The presents on the plates contain ornaments that have an interest to the recipient.  For example, Nick, a guy Bob works with, loves the NY Yankees.  I found a NY Yankee ornament for him. The dishes I got in an after Christmas sale at Crate and Barrel.  Yes, I waited in an extremely long line for them, fending off dirty looks and  threats from my children and husband! I also use the dishes for Thanksgiving.  The sparkly round chargers were purchased at Target.  But I saw them for half the price at Homegoods this year.  They had lots of different colors.  Gold Chargers from Costco.  I use Chargers for everything.  They are a really good investment.  They take the table to the next level.
For this tablescape, I ran a pine garland down the middle of the table and added the centerpiece (reindeer topiary, found at Steinmart) and then two sparkly trees to balance (given to me by my friend, Anastasia, that she found at HomeGoods). 

I then added one garland of shiny beads and one of frosted cranberry like beads.  I ran them the length of the garlands and blended them with the pine garland.  The garlands can be found at Michaels and Joannes.  They both have great sales and you can usually get them for 40 to 60% off before Christmas.  Target also has great garland, but rarely on sale.  

I then mix in flowers and pinecones.  You can mix in whatever complements your tablescape. At Michaels and Joannes they have these things called "picks" that are great to add to a garland.  They are small clusters of somethings floral and something else like a bow or a present.  Theses are in bins and range from 50 cents to $3.00 depending on how extravagant they are.  Also, I have to mention that I ran the pine garland on a runner to keep it from scratching the table.  

Hi Mary!

On a different note, if you want to read a really funny story about a dog, click this link: http://nikkicrumpet.blogspot.com

Formal?

Pi Beta Phi had a "Formal" on Friday night.  Katie took her best friend Tommy Caulfield.  The theme was "Match Made in Heaven".  They went as Woody and Jesse from Toy Story.  Other couples were: a flower and a bee, a bottle of corona and lime, Harry Potter and Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, etc (you get the picture). 
I take a particular interest in this outfit because I made the vest for Tommy and the chaps for Katie.  I thought it would be no problem, just go to the fabric store, pick a cowboy costume pattern and viola!  But no, things can't go that easy.  No patterns at all.  I was talking to my neighbor across the street and she said she had a vest pattern for a pirate.  I might be able to shorten it.  I did.  I also had to cut the shoulders in more because left as it was, he looked more like Fred Flintstone.   So, now how do I make chaps?  Looking at the pattern of the pirate vest front it looked like a perfect chap.  I just made a waistband and sewed the vest front to it on each side (in reverse) and VIOLA! I had chaps.  I was so excited!!! They turned out perfect.  Katie loved them!

Quite the pozer!

The usual suspects

Wii are a family...

I've been wanting a Wii for over a year and we could never find one.  I've always heard how fun they are and how you could get a good workout playing games on them.  In August, I was in Costco and low and behold there were 3 Wii's on the table.  I snapped one of them up.  I gave it to myself for my birthday.  We broke it out over the weekend and we had soooo much fun!

This is Wii Willie (all nicknames were given by Katie and Delaney).  You make your mini mii from scratch.  It was really fun. First we played Tennis.  I think Tennis is my favorite. I went to hit the ball and "toing" my elbow was aching when I moved in a hitting motion.  I got Wii tennis elbow.  Bob and I played for over an hour on Friday night.  By the end of the night we had played Tennis, Bowling, Golf, and Baseball. We felt like we got a little exercise.  (at least I did) It can be addicting. You want to just keep playing.  
This is Razzle (Bob).  He beat me at everygame.  No fair.  I hit 4 singles in baseball for one run and of course, he hits two homeruns! 
Razzle bowling.  He got like 6 strikes in the row and I would get one to five pins at a time depending on how straight I could throw the ball. 

Katie

Delaney

Greg

Alyssa

We also made one for Tommy Caulfield, he is aptly nicknamed T-Time.

Tablescape Tuesday

We are having a Christmas party for all the people on Bob's team at work.  There will be 20 people including us.  My house is small, let alone my dining room.  I will put 6 people on the formal dining room (done in traditional red and gold), I will rent a small round table for six and put it in my living room (taking out my coffee table and a chair) and then I will put 8 people in the kitchen.  I don't want the people in the kitchen to think they are getting a bad deal so I've made it my favorite tablescape.  Since the kitchen and family room connect and I have decorated the family room in the new colors, I decided to make this a glamourous table in the new colors. The mercury candlesticks usually go on my coffee table in the family room, but have been stolen for this table.  Everything on this table, including the dishes, was purchased at home goods.

I got the silver trees as a gift last year. They did have some like them at Homegoods and some that were even better ranging from $9.99 to $24.99.  The little deers were $7.99.  Pinecone ornaments $4.99 for 6.
Plates were $4.99 a piece.  I didn't mind buying them because we need new plates.  These will become our everyday dishes.  They are dishwasher and microwave safe. Velvet runner also purchased for $14.99. They had a lot of beautiful colors: cream, light blue, burgandy and green.
I know I didn't take the wrapping of the pinecones, but by the night of the party, it will be removed.  Bought these 2 different sets of 3 ornaments and 3 pinecone candles for $4.99 a set.

Metallic snowflakes were purchased in a box of 16 for $4.99.   Little glittery silver balls are spinkled all over the runner.  Whole box of them with a ton left over were $5.99. Napkin rings with napkins $12.00 for 4.   I already had the silver chargers, but they had them at Homegoods for $10.00 for 4.  I bought mine at Costco a long time ago (but still see them) at 8 for $19.99.  Its probably tacky to include prices, but I just want to show you what a great deal homegoods is.  You cannot beat it.  Also, they start carrying all this stuff in Oct.  It is a good time to buy then.  The selection is huge.  I bought most of the stuff then, but when I went back with Alyssa on Sat. after Thanksgiving, people were cleaning the place out.  In Oct. they had a ton of Mercury candlesticks, but the other day they were down to just a couple.  This is my favorite tablescape so far.