Adding a Little Retro Vintage Feminine This Christmas

 

The trendy style for Christmas this year (if you pay attention to anything that Tiktok is telling us) is the Ralph Lauren Christmas. Lots of tartan plaids in traditional colors of red and green. Like an old English manor.

As a Mom of three sons, I've been doing plaid Christmas for a lot of years now. But this year, I decided to take a different approach. After all, we're empty nesters now. I don't have to decorate my house for sons that don't live here. This Christmas may be different, too, as I think my Indiana sons may not be visiting on December 25. No worries! We will see them all at some point this December.

I wanted to add a little holiday spirit to my bathroom. This is also the guest bathroom, so it needs to be accessible. The garden-inspired yellow flowered shower curtain just didn't say Christmas for me.

I thought about purchasing a new holiday shower curtain and bath mat and Christmas towels. But really, all of that to keep it up for a month or so and then store it for eleven months of the year? That's silly.

I remembered this Shabby Chic Rachel Ashwell curtain that I've had for 20 years (yes, seriously! 20 years!). Pretty shades of pink and green. Hmm. Can I make this look like Christmas? Yes, I can.

A wreath pulled out of storage.

A few pink and silver trees from the Target dollar spot. Perfect!

This silver-framed angel drawing was a gift from my niece/goddaughter, Sarah, one Christmas. She was such a talented artist. She sings with the angels now. I love to pull this one out for the holidays in her memory.

With my fluffy pink bathrobe hanging on the back of the door, this retro bathroom makes me smile. And I'm even happier that I did it with just a few dollars.

I have some more Christmas updates to show you soon. 

December is here, and so is the snow. We had about six inches over the weekend! It's putting me in full holiday mode this week.

Blessings on your Monday, cafe friends!

Paint Party

 

Mom and I had a paint party yesterday!

I found these adorable, brand new, never used paint kits at a local Goodwill bookstore for only $1 and $2 each. I bought them all! They all have winter and Christmas themes, so I thought it'd be fun to pull out this weekend.

I was worried that the acrylic paints would be dried out when we opened them, but they were surprisingly fresh!

Each kit came with its own paint palette, a variety of brushes, the paint by number instructions, and little hangers for displaying.

Mom and I both picked snowmen. 

Mom has always been gifted with painting. She's very good at shading and choosing and mixing colors. She was so careful and deliberate.

Me? I was slapping it on haphazardly, concentrating on filling each space in.

We had a Hallmark movie on in the background, and that was all you could hear because we were so quiet and concentrating so hard!

It still needs a little finessing, but I think it came out pretty well, all things considered!

It was a fun project to keep us busy on a lazy afternoon.

Today, I'm taking my oldest and his wife to our little downtown for some Small Business Saturday shopping and lunch.

So Much to be Thankful For

 

Happy Post-Thanksgiving! 

We woke up to snow covering all of November's brown in a blanket of white. So pretty!

Our oldest and his wife picked up my Mom on the way, and she's spending the weekend here with us. Such a blessing!

We had these visitors in the afternoon. Turkeys! Like my brother, Tim said: They didn't understand what it meant to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner! ha ha!

We had seven of us huddled around our small table. Nice and cozy! The meal was good, and there were plenty of leftovers, too.

Jemma loved having Grandma with us. She was always by her side! (It could be because Mom was always sneaking her treats!)

We had a nice, lazy evening watching Hallmark Christmas shows and nodding off occasionally.

I think today will be more of the same.

Blessings on your holiday weekend!

The Colors of November

 

The colors of November are muted, full of neutral tones. Gone are the vibrant colors of October, and in their place are the many shades of brown. 

Today's cards are celebrating those warm neutrals.

I used Concord and 9th's Sweater Weather turnabout stamps and dies. It's definitely sweater weather now!

Just a few more weeks of autumn before winter's arrival. 

Is it too late to mail my Thanksgiving cards? I'm a little behind this week! I had too much to do to prepare for the big meal on Thursday. After 217 trips to 53 grocery stores (okay, I exaggerate, but it feels like that!), I think I'm ready to get some cooking and baking done. Trying to keep it simple (more easy casseroles, crock pot turkey, and store bought mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and cranberry relish). I've assigned a few things to the boys, and I'm hoping to recruit my husband as my sous chef and chief dish washer on Thursday.

One good thing about the big meal...I'll have leftovers for days!

Blessings on your holiday weekend, cafe friends!

Front Porch Refresh

Time for a front porch refresh!

We spent our Sunday getting the last of the yard work completed for fall. While Ed raked and mulched, I cleaned off the front porch and swapped out all the autumn things with winter things.

A new doormat...

...and a new garden flag.

The pots got filled with some faux winter greenery.

I found these LED winter birch branches at Aldi last week. Birch trees say "Michigan winter" for me.

And this little reading rabbit got a new scarf. I wonder what he's reading? Maybe 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'?

It's not fancy. It's just a little bit of winter whimsy.

I'm starting to transition from autumn to winter inside, but the turkey plates are still here, and the tree won't go up until after Thanksgiving.

Just a little house fluffing for a Monday.

 

Hot Cocoa Cards (and a mailable giftie!)

 

It all started with these magnets.

I saw these cute hot cocoa magnets in a Current Catalog, and thought they'd make a fun gift to mail to the ladies in my Facebook Coffee Card Swap group. 

They also had these sheets of stickers. And both were buy one get one free!

I had planned on using the stickers for just the envelopes, but then I had another idea. Could I use these as the focal points on a card, too? Is it cheating to use stickers and not stamps?

When you're making thirty cards, it's fine to press the Easy button!

I came up with a simple design using background papers, dies and some glittery snowflakes.

Ta da! Just the right mix of holiday cheer!

I wanted to be extra careful on the weight of these cards...no heavy layers, no foam tape dimensionals. The reason? I knew the magnets would add a little extra weight in the envelope, and I wanted to keep it all at 1 ounce, which is the acceptable weight for USPS Forever stamps.

Sending Holiday Cheer!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 

...Christmas!

I spent some time in our little downtown yesterday, talking to shop owners and enjoying the sights and sounds while sipping on my latte.

Santa's mailbox is ready for children's lists.

The community mitten project is underway.

Soon, the windows will be covered in frosty artwork as we prepare for the annual Cocoa Crawl and Holiday Parade.

It's a busy time of year!

I'm practicing for a holiday performance at our church's Advent by Candlelight next month. I also have a full slate of stories to write in the weeks ahead, and a lot of cards that still need to be made.

I also have a college graduation to look forward to (yay, Sam!), a few birthdays to celebrate, and an out-of-town trip to Christkindl market.

Busy! But a good kind of busy.

Let the fun begin!