Karen's Holiday Decorating

My cousin Karen shared some of her decorating pictures with me and said I could share them with you on my blog. In the top photo I just love the little tree in the red basket-Longaberger I bet! The ornaments are darling on the feather tree.
Karen commented on my old cake pan and came up with her own for decorating. Yours looks great! I bought one at the BB that I use for baking and there was another that was a little rusty so I left it. Well, it sat there for almost two months and finally I bought it for $1, I might come up with other uses for it too, who knows.
Can you see Jenna's crown near the top of the tree? Isn't that fun and a special memory too!?
There are a lot of things I really like in this photo, those twig reindeer are really fun and the vintage ornaments in the jar are so pretty. But the main thing I noticed is that Karen has a twin to my hutch! I got mine at a Brandon antique store and it turns out that Karen almost bought it before I did! We both must have got a matching decorating gene as we like very similar items. Where did this one come from, Karen? Did you have it when you were considering the one I purchased?
In this photo, my favorite thing is the trophy! I'll take that if you ever get tired of it, Karen!! Oh and that metal laundry basket too. :) I know, fat chance....

Sarah Richardson

Most of these photo's are from Sarah Richardson's country house which is a Canadian website/tv show. I love her style. The black dining room is not hers. I love her wainscott and how she uses wallpaper above it. I'm thinking about doing something similar above the wainscott in the entry and maybe one other room. I could easily put it up myself because it would be short strips.

This picture makes me think I should paint my hutch black.

Back to Sarah's house, doesn't the wallpaper look nice in this room?

I like how they used a towel bar to hang a quilt in this room, thought some of you quilters might be interested in that idea.
The entry is my favorite-the red door pops and the paisley drapes are perfect. Google Sarah Richardson and you'll find her blog which shows about 7 different homes she has decorated in totally different styles. This country house is my favorite.

It's hard to believe it's the last weekend before Christmas. It definitely looks like Christmas around here. On Thursday we got about 6 inches of school. I was surprised to hear that school was cancelled but enjoyed my snow day very much. Lazy mornings are always a nice thing in the middle of the week! After I'd had enough coffee/lounging I decided to be productive by shoveling the walk, and in front of the garage. Dan blew the driveway later. I did a couple of craft projects, and organized the entry for all our winter gear. Dan was working from home, so wasting time on the internet was not an option. He was in Mpls on Tuesday and Wednesday and was shocked by the amount of snow they had, especially downtown. It sounds like we could get dumped on again on Monday, but the rest the week sounds good for travelers.

Have a good weekend, whatever you're up to!

He's back!

I walked through the living room this afternoon and that little bright red spot in the snow caught my eye. It's been over a year since I have seen a male cardinal in our yard. We had a female last winter, but she disappeared in the spring-probably in search of a mate. I wonder if this male has a mate or if he's a loner. He was eating sunflower seeds and cracked corn on the ground. His color will be a welcome addition to the landscape this winter. Hope he sticks around!

A little more Christmas

This manger is made from wood from my Grandpa Larson's barn. It was torn down a few years ago so it's nice to have something to remember it by. I do have some photo's of the barn. The animals are figures that Dad gives us quite often. The company produced a Nativity set that we found at Town & Country.

Lights at night-the days are so short now.

Christmas Decor 2010

We went to Matt & Jenny's wedding last night-very nice! Fun to see all the Huntley family celebrating and many other Cyrus people too. Dan enjoyed visiting with former UMM coworkers too. The gift pictured above was for Matt & Jenny, it was fun to be able to use Christmas wrap. I didn't take any pictures at the wedding but I'm sure there will be plenty on Facebook. They are a nice looking couple!

I love this little planter.

Vintage cake pan-now a candle holder

I think this little towel came from the BB.

Plaid pillow made by Annette, Santa purchased at the Cyrus Bazaar made by Paulette.
I'm using the hutch as a Christmas secretary this year. You can see it's still white, maybe someday I will paint it, just not sure what to do yet.

On top of the fridge

I went with the natural look on the mantel.

I found this old fashioned tree topper at the Fergus SA for $1.

Dan's getting used to the tree dropping needles in his sink. The wire basket was a recent clearance find at Walmart for $3. I only bought two, wish I would have bought more.

New Old Tablecloth

I found this at the Bargain Bazaar last week for $1.50. I love the colors and it will be fun to use this spring and summer. I think it will compliment some of my floral china very nicely. It had a couple of yellow stains but I was able to get most of them out with the dishsoap hydrogen peroxide solution.
I don't know what this edging stitch is called but I really like it. I see it used in many vintage linens.

December Sunsets

Happy Wednesday!

Thanksgiving at Tim & Deb's

Dan and Jimmer in classic form.

Pam, Deb, Darlene and I enjoying Deb's gorgeous Shutterfly albums of her trip to Ireland this summer.

Random Pictures

A glimpse of our tree and the snow outside.

I stepped outside this morning in my pajamas and snapped this picture. We got about 4 inches last night.
Here's a picture of some of our kids welcoming the author a couple weeks ago. My student who came up with the limo sign idea is to John's right. John got a kick out of it. I thought it was a clever idea too.
I had been saving a couple of goodies for Deb's hostess/birthday gift and the week of Thanksgiving I found the perfect bag for all her stuff at the Bargain Bazaar. You gotta love thrift stores!

Jen & Family

I took this picture of Jen & family at Thanksgiving at Tim & Deb's house. I think it's a great picture of all of them!

Fur at the Salvation Army?!!

I went to Fergus today to do some Christmas shopping. I stopped at the Salvation Army as I haven't been there for quite awhile. I was looking for old frames and padded vintage hangers and found fur instead! I bought three of them. This is the largest collar and it was $3.80. The smaller ones were $2.80!! I'm wearing this one as I'm typing and it's very cozy. I think it's a cream fox according to my web research. I found similar collars for $78 on a vintage fur website.
This one has a notched collar and might be kind of fun on a jean jacket, sweaters/cardigans.
I'm not fond of the red wool bow one this one but it was the collar with the nicest fur. There were a couple more but I felt a little crazy just buying 3. Should I have bought them all or did I buy too many-that is the dilemma. I like them so I guess that's all that matters.

In addition to the fur, I did find a couple of nice frames, some books, and a cashmere winter hat. I scored a bunch of books at Goodwill too. Some of my treasures are going to be Christmas presents.