Feline Friday

 We are having our dining room, adjacent hallway, and half bath painted to match our kitchen. This week, they are doing prep to get ready for painting. Lily, being a creature of habit, insisted on taking her morning nap in the same spot, even though everything was out of place!

After Day 1, she still found the one remaining island of carpet. Poor thing looked so disoriented!

She walks ever so cautiously on the kraft paper and will barely step on the plastic. It feels so WEEEERD, Meowmy!

So Lily is spending her days shut in the upstairs guest room, away from the noise and disruption. Things are so out of kilter on the main floor that I positioned her in her Safe Space during the evening and overnight so she'd have easier access to her litter and water.

When I went in to check on her, she seemed to need a little reassurance. Is everything going to be OK, Meowmy? She repeatedly reached out to my hand with her little paw. It was the most precious gesture!

Yes, Lily, it's only paint! Soon -- well, maybe in a week -- everything will be back to normal...just another color!

Change is hard for everyone, kitties included!

A Wee Bit Irish

Awhile back, I learned through Ancestry DNA testing that I'm a little bit Irish. Given my red hair, I don't know why this was such a surprise to me. But when I first received my results indicating 21% Irish/Scottish/Welsh, I was pretty excited!

Then on the next Ancestry DNA update, my results were revised -- resulting in a decrease in my Irish roots. Now I'm only 8% Irish/Scottish. RATS! 😉 And I still haven't figured out which ancestor(s) to thank for my sprinkling of Irish heritage.

 But even though I'm not very Irish, 8% still seems like enough to justify putting out a few St. Patrick's Day decorations!

 So back in March, I went through my stash of way-too-much stuff and pulled out my green items. To my surprise, I had enough to make a little vignette on the shelf in our entryway. This little shelf/bookcase belonged to my parents, and I'm really glad I brought it home from their house as it has been a nice addition to our entryway.
 

 The great thing is that almost everything I arranged on the shelf for St. Patrick's Day has significance to me! I love decorating with meaningful items. Let's have a quick tour!

 

The little girl at the left is a Lefton music box given to me by my grandma when I was a child. I'm always afraid to display it out of fear she'll get broken, but this year I decided to take a chance...and I'm glad I did as it was fun to see her again. Now that I think about it, it's quite possible that my Irish roots come via that particular Grandma, as her maiden name was McClelland which has origins in both Scotland and Ireland. I just haven't traced her line back that far yet!

 The tea cup and saucer also belonged to Grandma and are part of a set of dishes she often used for Sunday lunch. I have since learned that this pattern is called "Sandwich Glass". The dishes have an embossed leaf/flower design and are among my favorites. The pattern is a little more visible here:

The green vase belonged to my mom who had several pieces of emerald-colored glass. I suspect that she started collecting it in part because it matched Grandma's Sandwich Glass. I kept quite a lot of Mom's green glass and enjoy using it.

The Irish blessing hung in my bedroom throughout my adolescence and was a gift from my cousin.This sentiment has always been one of my favorites:

The only object which doesn't have family significance is the little domed pedestal which I found at a thrift shop. I suspect that the dome was added later to the base, making it a "marriage" (two pieces that didn't originally go together). Still, I just love this piece and use it often. For this holiday, I added a few gold Mercury glass balls from my Christmas stash just for color.

On the middle shelf, the nest of tiny eggs is something my mom picked up for Bailey when she was a little girl. It used to be tucked into a ficus tree along with a mama and baby bird. I remember that Bailey enjoyed taking the bird and the tiny plastic eggs down from the tree to inspect them from time to time. Such a sweet and happy memory.

On the bottom shelf is an awesome mid-century Haeger planter I picked up for next to nothing at an antique store because it has a hairline crack (barely visible, if you ask me). I love the shape and matte finish and keep it out almost year round. Next to it is a little bronze fairy which was a gift from my mom.

 Just for fun, I decided to make a little tag featuring a sweet vintage image of an Irish girl. I put the tag on a small easel next to the bird nest. Now I have something handmade for St. Patrick's Day to go with all of my sentimental pieces.

So even though I'm only a WEE bit Irish, it was kind of fun to have a little Irish display during the month of March. I think I'll do it again next year...regardless of what Ancestry DNA says!
jp

From Christmas to Easter Decor

TRUE CONFESSION:  I'm STILL in the process of packing up some of my Christmas decorations. (I KNOW....it's terrible!) I'm trying to re-organize as I put stuff away so it's taking FOREVER. Still, I really should be done by now!

Anyway, as I was sorting through Christmas decor,  I ran across this small tree and decided NOT to put it away quite yet!

 

You might remember that a few years ago, I found this little tree -- still with the tag! -- on the curb in a "natural" shade of hot pink. It only took 100 cans of spray paint to cover the pink!

 

This curbside tree turned out to be a great little find! I've used it every year since then, decorating it in a variety of different ways at Christmas. 

So since I still hadn't put it away for the season, I thought I might try using it for Easter. And I like how it turned out!

 Tree in hand, I dug around in my holiday boxes for suitable decor. I found a set of eggs I purchased a few years ago. At the time, I added ribbon to each egg by attaching it with a pin. The eggs had been tucked away unused, so I decided to hang them on the tree.

Then I discovered a set of ceramic birds I'd totally forgotten! I bought them to match the eggs, but they had also been stored away for many moons.

So with the eggs and birds in place, I'm happy with how my little Easter tree looks! It's just the right amount of Easter decor for me.

And as a bonus, I've now justified my extreme tardiness in putting away my Christmas decorations! 😉

jp

Christmas Decorating

 

Boy, I had planned to get back to this little series of posts about Christmas decor but somehow life got in the way! We are expected our daughter and her boyfriend in just a few days, so I'm scurrying like a little beaver (actually more like a SQUIRREL!) as I try to finish up a number of class projects before they arrive. And of course I need to finish shopping, cleaning, and hopefully do a little baking!

 So back to the Christmas trees! In my recent Feline Friday post, I shared some photos of our old dining room tree. Lily knocked that tree over so many times that it was getting pretty bedraggled, so this year we decided to replace it. Spouse found a very nice pre-lit small tree at Hobby Lobby at a good price. Although it's the same height, it's a little bit narrower than the old tree. I love the tree but am going to keep a close eye on the lights, after our recent "fire" scare with our big pre-lit tree!

I put this new tree in the dining room in front of the bay window. I really like having it there because the lights look really pretty from the street. Since Lily is much better behaved these days, I can safely put my grandma's old mercury glass ornaments on this tree.

This year, I kept with the gold/silver/copper color scheme which works well since I have a lot of ornaments in those colors! To fill in around Grandma's ornaments, I added a few mercury glass ornaments that I picked up on the cheap at a garage sale last year. The gal hosting the sale was GOING TO THROW THEM AWAY and offered them to me, so how could I refuse? LOL

 Speaking of the old dining room tree, I decided that it could be deconstructed and still used. In fact, the top of the tree was in perfect condition -- undamaged by little white paws -- so I poked it down into a metal bucket. This worked great and now I have a small tree for the hearth! (Not that I needed more trees...) The only "ornaments" are pine cones from a recent visit to Texas.

 

In addition to the top of the tree, many of the branches from the old dining room tree are still in pretty good shape so I've used them as "greenery" around the house. I see no reason to throw out the tree when it clearly has more life in it...transformed!

Moving on to another tree! I have a 4 foot pencil tree on the landing. Over the years, this tree has had various themes. This year it holds a set of old world Santa Clauses given to us by Spouse's parents many years ago.

I filled in with some inexpensive red balls and silver "bell" balls, as well as some snowflakes punched from white cardstock.

I have a second pencil tree in the living room next to my grandma's old desk. The decorations also vary but this year I used more mercury glass ornaments in reds and blues to match the decor in that room.

My grandma's desk is one of my most treasured possessions. When I was growing up, we went to her house for Sunday lunch almost every week and after the meal was over, I was allowed to color and draw pictures at her desk. After she passed away, my parents had the desk refinished for me to keep. The typewriter is also very special and belonged to Spouse and his family.

On the desk you'll find my old camping lantern and a small shadow box I made this year. I really don't need any more Christmas decor but sometimes I just can't help myself! I had a lot of fun putting this little box together using some Christmas goodies from Tim Holtz.

The old calendar and snowman came from my grandma's house. I actually found them in a tub out in my parents' garden shed as I was preparing for their auction. Mom had brought home a lot of treasures from Grandma's house but didn't have a chance to sort through them all before she passed away. Finding treasures such as these brought me great joy and now I enjoy getting them out each year.

In the next few days I hope to share a few more Christmas decor and crafting posts! Thank you all for stopping by and I wish you the merriest of holidays!

jp

Christmas Decorating

Back in the olden days, I had a vision of having a Christmas tree in every room of the house. My idea was that I'd have one large/main tree then several smaller ones with different themes each year. Since I have a December birthday, I have accumulated a lot of Christmas ornaments so I have enough to mix and match easily. 

I have never succeeded in having a tree in every single room but I have five trees in various sizes, most of which I've had for years. It takes a fair amount of room to store them but I think we all enjoy them when they're up! In this post, I will share pictures of a couple of trees, with more to come in another post.

We replaced our main tree seven years ago with a pre-lit 9-foot tree. I love the "mixed" branches and the fact that we didn't have to mess with lights! Unfortunately this year as we plugged it in to check the lights, we smelled a hot/burning plastic scent. NOT GOOD! Upon close inspection, this is what we found! The plastic housing was melted completely through and even smoking in two different areas. YIKES!

I'm so thankful that this happened right away...and not when we were away from home with the tree lit! The lesson is this: If you have a pre-lit tree, unplug it when you leave home!

Now when the lights on a pre-lit tree fail, I think the assumption is that you'll throw it out and buy another tree. The pre-lit lights are so tightly and intricately wound that they're somewhat intimidating to remove, but that's what I decided to do. I love the tree too much to just toss it, and that seems really wasteful. After a few hours, I had all the lights off so we could re-string it with regular lights. Now it's as good (almost) as new. 

I will say that it took a LOT of fluffing to make the branches look full again, as the old lights were so tightly wound!

 

 Speaking of fluffing, did you know there is a proper way to fluff the branches of an artificial tree? I actually ran across a blog post or video somewhere which gave some helpful tips. I used those tips when fluffing our big tree above.

Here's a quick "tutorial" using branches from our very old kitchen tree. If you have the kind of tree that has branches like this, it's easiest to fluff them before putting the tree together. If the branches of your tree are not removable, you can still fluff them in the same manner. Just start at the bottom of the tree and work your way around and up, branch by branch.

Start at the back of the branch, closest to the hook. Pull those back pieces straight up and fan them out like a peacock tail. This will help conceal the trunk of the tree. Once that's done, pull the remaining pieces out to the side and up, staggering them.

 You can see how nice and full the branches are once this is done!

 Now you can go ahead and assemble your tree. Of course, you'll have to do a bit more fluffing once the branches are all in place. This tree is very old but I really love the blue-green color so I hope to keep it for a long time. Proper fluffing makes a big difference!😃

 This year, I got out a set of decorations by Cosmo Cricket I made in a class I taught years ago at Memory Bound. The papers have a blue-green base which makes the ornaments prefect for this particular tree. I used my grandma's old picnic tablecloth for the skirt.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back soon with more holiday photos. Meanwhile, it's back to Santa's workshop for this elf! 

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

jp

New/Old Ottoman

During our recent bathroom remodeling project, I collected quite a lot of items to donate to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. From switch plates to drawer pulls, from old light fixtures to doorknobs, I had amassed a bit of everything.

On one of Spouse's recent days off, I asked if he wanted to ride along to the ReStore to make the donation. If you've never been to a ReStore, it's a fun place to wander around. For someone who loves to re-purpose, it's a treasure trove! Still, I didn't expect to find anything that day since I'd been there not that long ago when I was looking for glass sconces.

Imagine my surprise when, in the lighting section, we looked down and saw this chocolate brown ottoman on casters, beautifully upholstered, in nearly perfect condition! 

 You may remember that I have been on the lookout for an ottoman for the corner of the bathroom which once housed the large tub. I have not been pleased with what's currently on the market -- way too expensive, poor quality, and limited fabric choices.
 

Here was this amazing ottoman, the perfect size, and on casters, just like we wanted! And only $19? This was a deal we could not pass up!

Since bringing it home, it has proven to be perfect for the space. Spouse replaced the old casters with new ones which are smoother on the tile. I think I can sell the old casters for around $20, which would make the ottoman FREE! :)

 

  And of course, Tinsel has claimed it as one of her private napping spaces.

 

This ottoman was a great find, once again proving that most anything old can be made new again! :)

jp

More Holiday Decorating

 I have WAY too many Christmas decorations. I know that fact year-round but especially when it comes time to put them all away! The way I'm currently storing things actually makes it kind of hard to find pieces I want to display together, so I may want to re-visit my organization methods next fall. But not this year! I'm just happy to have it all packed up for the season. Whew!

 

When I was putting out my Christmas decorations this year, I found myself looking back on my blog for the past holiday season as a reference. I should probably print out those "decorating" photos and put them in a little scrapbook, but that's not happening anytime soon! :) So here's another holiday decorating post that I can look back on next year! I always enjoy seeing how friends decorate for Christmas, and I hope you find something in this post that you enjoy or that brings back a happy memory!

 This barn board box was a gift from a sweet gal I work with. When a barn on her family's property was being torn down, she salvaged the lumber, then her husband and uncle built boxes for all of our Memory Bound staff plus a few extra for family. She filled them with greenery and holiday goodies for our Favorite Things party. I love the box so much that I put it on our kitchen table where it would be seen every day, adding the glittered wood snowflakes (which I made for a different project but didn't use!) and a couple of my favorite ephemera cards. The box made a lovely centerpiece throughout the holiday season.

  

The vintage wreath belonged to my maternal grandma. At Christmas, she hung wreaths (including some made from cellophane) in her windows. I was thrilled to find a box of the wreaths when cleaning out my parents' garden shed. The little lantern hung in my mom's kitchen year-round. It now hangs in ours.

 

Speaking of lanterns, this one belonged to me as a child and was used for camping and outdoor activities. It's not specifically for Christmas but since it's red, it works nicely as a holiday decoration. The little elves belonged to my grandma.

The cup also belonged to me and was (of course) used for Santa's cookies and millk.

The Santa with the donkey is one that Spouse and I picked up many moons ago as part of a very small "old world Santa" collection. The "NOEL" canvas is from a floral canvas series I am teaching at Memory Bound. The milk bottle is one I painted last fall, filled with some new greenery.

My daughter made the sweet mouse (correction: I understand that he's actually a reindeer with no antlers!) and the snowman from a kit using large plastic pop bottles.The little sled belonged to my mom, as did the two largest wooden deer. The smallest deer (who is now antler-less) was made by Spouse many moons ago. When my folks first purchased those large deer, Spouse tried to prove how "easy" they would be to make. (Maybe he was thinking of a side business???) Suffice it to say that it took him WAY longer than he expected to fashion that deer! We still laugh about that!

I put out a smaller version of my village this year, with only five buildings on each side of the fireplace.

It takes a huge amount of time to put up the 30+ buildings in my collection. I just didn't have it in me this year!

This is another Santa in our very small Santa collection. He is hand carved from a piece of wood.

I found this little wire basket last year in a great thrift store in the town where Bailey did her student teaching. I normally keep it in my craft room but I thought it would be fun to fill it with Christmas goodies this year. I filled the little jar with red wooden Bingo chips, added some matching paper to the lid, and tied it with twine and a jingle bell. The little card is from my stash of vintage ephemera cards (possibly from October afternoon?) which I love to use for holidays.

This table includes a few special items. The old world Santa JUST fits inside the domed stand I bought last year, and I made the JOY card in a class at Memory Bound taught by Tammy Tutterow. But the sleigh bell is the most special memento of all. When I was cleaning out my grandma's house, I found the bell tucked inside her hope chest, so I took it to the nursing home to ask her about it. Grandma told me that every Christmas Eve, Grandpa would ring a string of sleigh bells outside their old farmhouse, and the kids (including my dad) would quickly scurry under the covers. This is the only bell left, and I was honored when she told me I could keep it.

We've been putting our large tree in the entry way for many years, and it seems like that's the perfect spot for it. You can see it through the window from the street.

In addition to the presents, I added a few meaningful items under the tree. Teddy belonged to my maternal grandma and is over 100 years old! My mom actually took him to the fair in competition one year, where he received a blue ribbon! For now, he only comes out at Christmas. He is sitting in a doll bed that belonged to my mom as a child. The tiny quilt was made by my grandma. The books all belonged to me as a child.

The apples (missing their stems!) also belonged to me  and have tiny wooden dishes inside. The lid comes off the apple and inverts to become a table. I love these apples and played with them often as a child! I found the little moose/reindeer a couple of years ago. We were driving home from Indiana and got snowed in at a hotel next to a Goodwill. It was my birthday, so I thought I'd do a little thrift store shopping! This cute little guy had to go home with me. :)

Not everything I have shared in this post is a family heirloom, but everything does have meaning and a story. For me, those are the most special kinds of holiday decorations. :)

jp