My brown thumb.... or why I love faux...

Brown Thumb: (noun)

Definition: Lack of skills at growing plants; something possessed by a poor gardener.

Used in a sentence: I have a terrible brown thumb. I could probably kill silk flowers.

Brown thumb images: see An Enchanted Cottage's 1/29/2010 blog post

We won't even get into the layer of dust on the ceramic bird or the dead leaves all over the battenburg table runner. Wait a minute... do I still see hints of green in there? Let's see if I can bring these babies back to life (running to get the watering can).

While taking photos of the "brown thumb" gang, the bluejays kept a vigil on the deck, waiting for peanuts (it is bitter, bitter cold in Massachusetts today)... So I tossed out several handfuls of peanuts to the birds and squirrels and then stepped back and took this photo of the first bluejay that swooped down to grab a treat as reflected in the family room mirror. (Ignore the wayward peanut that rolled under the carpenter's bench.) I didn't even notice it until I up?/down?loaded the photos onto my computer. It has now been tossed out on the deck as well...

I hope you're all staying warm (at least in our area where we're experiencing the coldest weather of the winter season)...

Donna

snowbirds...

In addition to the beauty of a winter's snow (as you can see, I'm really trying to focus on all the positives of winter since it will be camped in my back yard for at least another month!)...


...we're treated to the sweet little juncos that arrive along with old man winter.


This is the view outside my dining room window. The ivy covered chimney and old picket gate, the arbor and fence were all coated with a heavy white snow after our last storm.

The juncos love to perch on top of the gate pickets between trips to the screen feeder which is located right outside the dining room window.

Another reason to embrace winter ... juncos.

Donna

a game of cat and mouse...

...or in this case...

... hawk and squirrel. I've seen this big guy in our yard several times over the past few weeks, often because I hear the ruckus being raised by the crows. But this time, it was the frenzied scattering of birds from the window screen feeder that caused me to look out.

My worst fears... One of our Sammies, who are like our outdoor pets, was being swooped down on by the hawk. Luckily, Sammy was able to get away...

He hid out on top of the tree house...

...while Mr. Hawk hung out on the lower rung of the tree house after Sammy's great escape.

They stayed that way for quite some time before Sammy finally ventured into the trees. Mr. Hawk stayed on the treehouse a bit longer before spending some time on a fence post and then flying off...

This was the view out my window yesterday... the second snowfall in as many days.

I'm trying to live in the moment and enjoy the beauty of this latest winter storm... and I really do appreciate the cloak of white that covers every shrub and tree in our yard. It's breathtakingly beautiful. But that doesn't mean I can't be counting the days until little buds are bursting forth from those same shrubs and trees.... right?


Donna

with heart in hand...

I promise this is the end of the handmade Christmas gifts! I'm sure you've all seen the jewelry hands for sale in a variety of stores... I decided to buy one for each of my girls, but in keeping with our handmade Christmas, I gave the hands a makeover and personalized them.


And since "hearts" figured prominently in the makeover, I thought I'd share them with you in case any of you are looking for Valentine gift ideas!


The hand on the left was stark white with silkscreened green vines and pink roses... The hand on the right was matte black with an ornate gold cuff. The first thing I did was apply sealer to both pieces and paint the hands creamy white. I then 'tattooed' a little black heart on each palm.


Left: With the help of a little craft paint, the gold ornate cuff was transformed into a blue-green/turquoise-ish cuff (Amanda loves all shades of blue). Right: I glued inexpensive pearl beading (a junktique store find) around the wrist of the other hand to dress it up a bit (Courtney likes pearls). Amanda's hand got a coat of clear pearlescent paint on the nails because she rarely wears nail polish; Courtney, on the other hand, is always applying nail polish so the nails on her hand got a coat of pretty rose pink paint!

The final touch was this quotation that I painted on the bottom of each hand, which fit right in with the "hearts" and "hands" theme.

"A mother holds her children's hands for a while, their hearts forever."

And there you go - that's the end of the Christmas gift posts... Promise!

Good luck to all of you who are going to be making photo canvases! I hope you have lots of fun! Let me know how they turn out! .................. Donna

canvas photos...

Can you stand more of our homemade Christmas? This is a very inexpensive gift idea and so simple...


Buy any size canvas. I used 5" x 5" gallery wrapped so there were no staples on the sides.


Resize and crop your favorite photos so they're the same size as the canvas and print the photos on your home printer.


Paint the sides of the canvas whatever color you'd like. I chose to print my photos in black & white rather than full color, so I painted the sides of mine black.

Apply decoupage to the back of the photos and then press them firmly onto the canvas. I used a clean paper towel to kind of work the bubbles out and "press" them into place. When dry, I applied one coat of decoupage medium horizontally, let it dry, and then applied a second coat vertically and let that dry. (I think brushing on one coat in each direction gives them a linen-like texture.) The final step is brushing on a coat of high gloss varnish.

I also made a set of canvas prints for hubby for Christmas. He has very few photos of his parents so I scanned and enlarged some old (small) photos of them.

Naturally when you enlarge photos, you lose definition and there is some blurring, but for this project I think it worked to my advantage. I love the way they turned out.

I followed the same procedure as I did for the girls' photos, except I sanded the sides to distress them and give them a worn look...

I have one more project to share with you in my next post, and it's one that might come in handy for Valentine's day...

Until then, have a wonderful week!

COMMENT RESPONSE & A LITTLE MORE INFO ON THIS PROJECT:

I had no idea so many of you might want to try this project, so I'm going to answer a question and give a bit more detail:

Decoupage medium can be purchased at any craft store and in most craft sections of department stores. It's a thick, white gluey substance that dries clear, and it allows you to adhere photos, clippings, scrap paper (or pretty much anything) to other surfaces.

1) I have just an inket printer, and their inks do tend to smear. Here's a tip on avoiding that:

For your first application of decoupage medium (whether you apply it vertically or horizontally), make sure you have enough decoupage medium on your brush to make one full pass from side to side so that you're not brushing over the same area multiple times, which could make the ink tend to smear, especially if you're using an inkjet printer. (I believe there's much less smear-potential with laser prints and copy center prints. But if you're careful, it can be done on photos from an inkjet as that's what mine were.)

2) I actually ran out of regular printer/copier paper while working on hubby's parents, so I used some white card stock I had on hand. As it turns out, that weight paper worked just as good (maybe even better!).

3) One thing to watch for after youve applied the decoupage and pressed down your photo is excess decoupage that might have squeezed out. Just wipe it off the sides of the canvas if there are any big gobs or runs.

4) Don't be alarmed that you can't see your photo through the milky white decoupage medium at first. It ends up drying completely clear.

5) And lastly, I had to completely redo one of my first attempts because I applied decoupage medium to both the canvas and to the back of the inkjet photo before pressing the photo to the canvas. (I think those were the instructions on the back of the jar.) I had so much trouble trying to reposition my photo to get it just right. I found that applying decoupage to just the back of the photo made it MUCH easier to work with. Just make sure you have all the edges covered so they will adhere nicely to the canvas. You don't want the outer edges of your photo popping up from the canvas.

If anyone has any further questions, please feel free to ask. I hope you all have fun!


Donna

Before Christmas is totally packed away...

I wanted to share the newest ornaments to grace our tree... Every year since the girls were born, I've added a photo ornament of each of them to the tree. And since they're now 20 and 24 years old, that's a lot of ornaments!!


Last year's ornaments were photos of the girls wearing the cloche hats they got that Christmas.


This year Court's ornament features a sweet photo of her with her handsome Spotty, who we lost in November. I just love this picture of the two of them...

Amanda's ornament features a photo of her planting a kiss on her sweet Tiger. I love this picture, too. This year the theme was obviously kitty love. Both of these photos were also part of their handmade gifts this year and I'll show you those projects soon.

In addition to the photo ornaments, I buy an ornament for each of the girls every year. Someday when they have their own places (with room for a tree), they'll take all their ornaments, and the memories attached to them, to their new homes. This year I fell in love with these crown ornaments from pinkbuttercreme's ETSY shop.

I gave Amanda the white bird adorned with a sparkly princess crown, lace ruffles, and a rosette...

... and I gave Courtney the same ornament in pink. Aren't they GORGEOUS? Be sure to visit PinkButterCreme's shop - she'll be reopening January 15th with lots of new Valentine's goodies!

And then I came across another ETSY shop with the most adorable vintage styled tinsel ornaments - just look at these sweet kitties...

...and handsome hounds!!! They are the unique creations of Stephanie at Old World Primitives and they're just the cutest things ever!

Here they are, out of the package, so you can see them better. I couldn't decide between the kitties...

...or the doggies, so I had to get both!

Be sure to visit Stephanie's ETSY shop where you'll find more of her kitty and doggy ornaments as well as Valentine and Easter ornaments in this same style!

I also want to mention that both of these shops offer EXCELLENT customer service - quick shipping, friendly correspondence - the works! I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Hope you're all enjoying the start to the new year. We're surviving the weekend's snow, but longing for spring!!

Donna

Christmas cactus and cherubs....

The Christmas cactus...


...started blooming weeks and weeks before Christmas


Long before the Christmas decorations were put up.

And it's still going strong.

The cherub planter and Christmas cactus are sharing the windowsill...

...with the Christmas decorations right now...

...but in a couple of days, when Christmas is packed away in bins, the planter will once again be the focal point in this little window, as it is eleven months out of the year.

I wonder if it will miss the Christmas decorations? Or if it prefers having the window all to itself...

Donna

bluebirds of happiness...

This year we made most of our presents in an effort to simplify and maybe save some money. I managed to size and crop some photos of one of my projects (being without a computer for a few days slowed me down a bit!)

A while back I saw a post on Brenda's beautiful blog, Cozy Little House, where she was making the prettiest birds in such beautiful, colorful fabrics! That project of hers immediately came to mind when I spotted this blue & white snowflake fabric at a junktique shop (and at only $1.00 for a couple of yards!). I decided to make each girl a "bluebird of happiness" as one of their homemade gifts and the snowflake fabric definitely fit the bill.

Now I am not a sewer or seamstress, so right off the bat I was off to a rocky start. The first bird, a prototype that I'm keeping, looked much more like a seal than a bird. And the next two, pictured above, came out much smaller than I expected (I forgot about that pesky seam allowance!)

After stuffing the birds, I attached a wing ornament to each. I purchased them several years ago but never got around to using them, so they came in handy for this project. I wrote the date and a little message to each girl on the underside of the wings.

I pressed sticky rhinestone eyes onto each bird (from my stash of craft supplies)...

...and finished them off with a vintage earring (again, from my stash) clipped onto the ornament ribbon around the throat.


To say these birds are a bit tipsy is an understatement. I hot glued a big flat button to their undersides, hoping it would keep them upright. And if you place them just so, they do stay upright...

So thanks for the inspiration, Brenda!! If I hadn't seen your fabric birds, I doubt that I would have thought to make these!

I'll share a few other homemade projects once I get pictures onto the computer!

Donna

Panic button

Christmas Eve... After everyone was in bed, I went to my office to make a couple of last minute photo ornaments as gifts... Pressed the button to turn on my computer and.....................nothing. Dead. Kaput. Disconnected it. Reconnected it. Turned the power strip off... then on. Nothing. My little computer button, which no longer glowed blue when pressed, had become my panic button.


Who would have thought this little machine, that didn't even exist in my life until just over ten years ago, would have such control over me!




Then the Sex and the City episode where Carrie's computer died popped into my head... Everyone kept asking her if she had backed up her work... Of course, she hadn't..... Ditto for me.


All I could imagine was that everything on my hard drive was gone. All my photos (of the girls, family, our pets).. All my business related work... All my tax records... Oh my gosh, did panic set in. So today, the day after Christmas, the second busiest store day of the year, we lugged the computer tower into Best Buy and hoped for the best...


The bad news: the power supply was definitely shot.

The good news: it could be replaced and, most importantly, nothing was lost.


Lesson Learned: I coughed up $89 above and beyond the repair bill for an external hard drive and I will start backing up my files!


Hoping you all had wonderful Christmases!!!


And I'm glad some of you enjoyed my Night Before Christmas collection/obsession. I'm going to be on the lookout for the Grandma Moses version! And I agree, there are lots of cats -and dogs - in the illustrated editions I have!



Donna

The Night Before Christmas... my collection (obsession)

I have a serious problem. I can't resist a beautifully illustrated copy of The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. I open the cover and then get lost in the illustrations, all as varied as the individual artists who created them.

(click any photos to enlarge)

I've gotten some of my books on-line, some at used & new bookstores, and some at thrift & junktique stores. In this post I'll share some of my books, along with the illustrator's name and original copyright date (just in case you fall in love with a particular version and want to hunt down your own copy!) I'll just show you the covers first - then if you're interested in reading further, I'll include sample pages from each book so you get a feel for the beautiful pictures waiting to be discovered inside!

Beginning with the oldest:

"An Exact Reprint of an Early Edition," no copyright or illustrator listed.


Arthur Rackham version, copyright 1931



Eleanora Madsen, copyright 1940

Corinne Malvern, copyright 1949

Elizabeth Webbe, copyright 1950

Gyo Fujikawa, copyright 1961

Nino Carbe, copyright 1964

Tomie dePaola, copyright 1980

(one of my all time favorite children's book authors/illustrators who we got to meet at a booksigning last year... great memories of reading his books to my girls when they were little)

Greg & Tim Hilderbrandt, copyright 1981

Cyndy Szekeres, copyright 1982

(as you can see, I own a mini book, a softcover and a hardback of this version - it's too cute for words!!)

James Marshall, copyright 1985
(a favorite - I read lots of James Marshall books to my girls when they were little!)

Cheryl Harness, copyright 1989

James Rice, copyright 1989

John Steven Gurney, copyright 1989

Jane Chambless, copyright 1991

Christian Birmingham, copyright 1995

Bruce Whatley, copyright 1999

Matt Tavares, copyright 2002

Susann Ferris Jones, copyright 2005 (written by Henry Beard, created by John Boswell)
Normally I only purchase the Clement C. Moore version of The Night Before Christmas, but I couldn't resist the illustrations in this one!

Tom Newsom, copyright 2008

Okay, now that I've shared the covers of these beautiful books, I'll let you take a peek inside to see the magic that these artists have created while bringing this poem to life! Again, starting with the earliest and working our way forward:

From "An Exact Reprint of An Early Edition":

From the 1931 Arthur Rackham version:

From the Eleanora Madsen 1940 version:

From the 1949 Corinne Malvern version:

From the 1950 Elizabeth Webbe version:

From the 1960 Gyo Fujikawa version:

From the 1964 Nino Carbe version:

From the 1980 Tomie dePaola version:

From the 1981 Greg & Tim Hilderbrandt version:

From the 1982 Cyndy Szekeres version:

From the 1985 James Marshall version:

From the 1989 Cheryl Harness version:
The amount of detail in this version is incredible!

From the 1989 James Rice version:

From the 1989 John Steven Gurney version:

From the 1991 Jane Chambless version:

From the 1995 Christian Birmingham version:

From the 1999 Bruce Whatley version:

From the 2002 Matt Tavares version:

From the 2005 Cat's Night Before Christmas version:

From the 2008 Tom Newsom version:

So that concludes this year's installment of my collection!!

If you're not all "Twas the night before Christmas'd" out, I shared even more of my collection last December in this post (now you can see why I called it my obsession!!)

Reading this poem has been a part of our Christmas Eve's since the girls were babies. First with me reading it to them, and then as they got older, all of us taking turns reading it. And as the girls have grown, so has my collection! So if you're in the market for a copy of this book, I hope you spotted a version that really spoke to you!!

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Donna

The sugar village and A Christmas Carol

My little sugar village is set up on the family room TV.


Did anyone else watch Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol when they were growing up? This 1962 classic is my sister's favorite version of A Christmas Carol, and several years ago she gave me my own copy! (My favorite part is when they all sing The Lord's Bright Blessings - I love that song!) I actually have two favorite versions of A Christmas Carol - the 1938 version starring Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit, and the 1992 Muppet version starring Michael Caine as Scrooge (wonderful memories of watching that one with the girls when they were little, not to mention I love Michael Caine!)...


Back to the sugar village... The sugar houses were bought at TJ Maxx and Marshalls several years ago...


They were very reasonably priced and, with their little bottlebrush trees and wreaths, they had a vintage look to them. The reindeer and sleigh actually are vintage.

They definitely show their age, more yellow than white...

...and they're no longer glued to their cardboard base.


But I think they look right at home in the sugar village.

The houses and churches in the village are all white, but the roofs are pink, green, and blue, all heavily dusted with snow.

Several of my vintage angels appear throughout the village, some on the ground, some on rooftops.

I almost passed on these houses and churches several years back because, (to borrow one of my mom's favorite sayings) I needed more Christmas decorations like I needed a hole in the head. But I thought they were so pretty that I ended up collecting several different houses and churches over a two year period.

The little table in the corner of the family room is also set up with a church that I've had for years (much smaller than the sugar churches on the TV), some bottlebrush trees, and more vintage reindeer.

Well, I set aside some time today to take photos of my Night Before Christmas books, so I'll share those with you next....

Until then, stay safe and warm!

Donna

a white Christmas...

It's official. According to the local weather, we'll be having a White Christmas.


So this is for you, Mom.


My mother loved, loved, loved snow...


...especially for Christmas.

So she would be tickled pink with the view outside my windows .

(I'd better brush the snow from the birdfeeder and put some seed out)...

It was 13 years ago today that we lost mom...

She was buried on Christmas Eve day.

At that time, I didn't think I would ever enjoy Christmas again.

Thank goodness I do. Time is a great healer.

My dad and sister were here for supper tonight, and of course we talked about Mom a lot. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she was right here with us, enjoying the conversation, the decorations, and the view from the windows....

So Merry Christmas, Mom! It's quiet ... I'm closing my eyes... concentrating... and I can hear you singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" as clearly as if you were right here with me.

"The heart, like the mind, has a memory.

And in it are the most precious keepsakes."

(Longfellow)

I love you,

Donna

I found the perfect manger!

Last month I showed you these sweet little white nativity figurines that I found while out shopping.


I liked them so much that I bought one for myself ...


...and one for my Christmas giveaway.


So how lucky was I when I spotted this vintage manger for $3.50 at Goodwill in Boston a couple of weeks ago! I couldn't remember exactly how big the nativity figurines were, but it looked like it might be a good size for them.


It's better than good - it's almost as though they were custom made for each other! As a finishint touch I set a mini ornament in the manger's loft - the Christmas star.


I placed the manger on a small table in front of the family room windowseat.


As it turns out, the table is also the perfect size for the manger.

I love it when all the pieces of a puzzle fit together so easily because sometimes in our little house, and in life in general, that's not always the case!

And over the past 24 hours we got socked with a good amount of snow here in the northeast. I'll try to share photos soon - freshly fallen snow is so beautiful (even to me, who is longing for spring!)

Donna

Winter white, silver, and green for the mantel...

Of course the winter white is year-round since it's the color of our walls, our painted furniture, and our slipcovers. I don't know why I'm so afraid of color. I love color! I drool when I visit blogs with bright colored walls, and furniture painted in blues, greens, & reds, with vibrant slipcovers in florals and stripes. Maybe someday I'll get over my fears, but until then... winter white!

(click any photos to enlarge)

Alrighty, so in my last few posts I've shared the dining room, including my bird tree and the dining room hutch. As you can see from the photo above, the hutch is actually located in the living room, right next to the fireplace (because our little dining area is too small to accommodate it!)


So come on into the living room with me... Oops - don't go too far! Mm hmm, that's the end of the living room already, right where the corner TV armoire is. Very tight quarters in here, especially at this time of year.


The tree has been set up where the loveseat usually sits. And the wing chair, because it's smaller, was moved over next to the tree. It usually sits next to the fireplace.


As you can see, it's pretty cramped over here by the fireplace, with the loveseat and coffee table plunked right in front of it. But instead of saying cramped, let's call it cozy. That has a nicer ring to it!

I tried the mantel with green glass balls hanging from the garland...

...but ended up switching to silver.

I guess I have a bit of a winter woodland theme going on. There are lots of trees on the mantel - all sizes and varieties of bottle brush trees, as well as some birches.

There are also woodland creatures, in the form of deer (stocking/garland holders), cavorting about...

... as well as mirrored snowflakes (again, stocking/garland holders) and sparkly silver trees of all heights and textures.

I wish I could remember the name of the woman that I purchased these stockings from years ago so I could share it with you - aren't they pretty? This one has a cream crocheted doily-type border at the top...

... while this one has delicate lace and ribbons.

The finishing touch is The Christmas star, sparkly white with silver tinsel edging.

I also decided to tucked my peach and green floral lap quilt over the loveseat sitting area for a little change of pace, trying to coordinate with the green floral sheet I'm using to cover the old brick hearth (we don't actually use the fireplace so the sheet is safe!). So that about does it for our cramped, I mean cozy cottage living room!

I still need to share my collection of Night Before Christmas books with you, and I also have a few things in the family room to show you!

But now you should head over to visit Cielo at The House in the Roses, to see the incredible mouth-watering meal she has prepared for Sunday dinner with her family! You'll also find a list of bloggers who are participating in Show Off Your Cottage Monday...

Then after that, be sure to head to Nesting Place for a huge list of Christmas homes to visit!!

Stay safe and warm, wherever you are!

Donna

Sweet memories, a manger, and the new bird tree...

I have such sweet memories of my Nana, whose china I proudly display on my dining room hutch.

(click any photos to enlarge)

I so enjoy decorating the hutch at Christmastime, and I like to think that she's right here with me as I unwrap each delicate nativity figurine that will go into the manger...


That's a photo of my nana when she was a young woman, in the center of the plate rack hanging above the hutch (between the two empty vases donning lampshades that may someday come in handy for lamps that I don't yet own!)


The manger/nativity takes center stage on the hutch every year. The oversized white figurines were found years ago at a Salvation Army for a song... Then I found the oversized manger several years ago at Target and couldn't believe my luck - it was the perfect size!

The candles I'm about to show you are very special to me. After my mom passed away in 1996, my dad didn't have the heart to decorate for Christmas. But a couple of years ago, he changed his mind so we went through all the old boxes of Mom's decorations and ornaments (Mom loved decorating for Christmas!) Dad only wanted to put up a tree and nothing else, so I got a lot of Mom's old decorations for my house. These are the things I grew up with as a kid and they bring back such sweet memories...


This tall glass encrusted candle, in its own little stand, is titled A Home in the Country, and it features a beautiful, snowy New England style scene that wraps around the whole candle. My mom purchased these in the early sixties. That's a baby photo of my mom next to it...


I wish my photos captured the beauty of these encrusted images...


On the other side of the shelf is the companion candle titled The Skating Pond. Mom used to put these on the fireplace mantel every year. And that's my baby picture next to it...


Here's a closeup of one of the skaters... I'm sure these would be beautiful if they were illuminated from within by burning the candles, but my mom used them strictly as decoration, so that's what I will do, too.

Every year I decorate my "bird tree," which up until this year was the little white one in my dining room bay window. But my bird collection outgrew that tiny tree.


Luckily I had this skinny tree stashed downstairs from about 15 years ago (sometimes it pays to be a packrat!). It was the perfect size to squeeze in next to the hutch, and it allowed me to hang all my bird ornaments in one place.

The tree is also decorated with a silver jingle bell garland, white berries, frosted sprigs, and white lights. The most sentimental part is the tree topper...


... which isn't really a tree topper at all. Again, it's one of the decorations my mom used to put out every year at Christmas time... just a little glass candle with glass ornamentsand silver foil leaves on a little round stand. There used to be two of them and I hope to find the other one in dad's basement some day!

The tree is actually sitting on a stack of magazines to give it some height, so I hid those with a vintage embroidered table topper and then placed a nest at the base of the tree.

These are just some closeups of the many bird ornaments on the tree. My mom's favorite bird, the cardinal, is so special...

And you might recognize the pastel bluebird I got in Concord at the end of October, at the top left of the photo...

Here's a hummingbird (with a broken wing), a reminder of summer spent on the deck watching them at our feeder... And the Carolina wrens who make their home in the birdhouse by our front gate each year. And everyone needs a little bluebird of happiness in their tree, right?

The beautiful white glittery bird right under the silver sparkle bird at the top right is a gift from my friend Jill (who I am trying to convince to start a blog!) She has incredible taste... She's the one who also gave me the Christmas lamb that I just posted about!

There's Mr. Bluejuay that I picked up in Concord (the same day I got the bluebird ornament)... He is very happy to be living in the bird tree, and he reminds me of all my bluejay friends who come to the door for peanuts..

There are Baltimore Orioles, a robin, chickadees, finches, nuthatches and so many more birds, all enjoying the Christmas season in our dining room... How lucky am I?

So this is where the bird ornaments will spend their Christmases from this point on. (I am sooo glad I hung onto this tiny tree!! It just fits!)

And the glow from the lights at night is just magical!

Tomorrow we'll head back into the living room and I'll show you closeups of the fireplace (of course our little cottage is soooo tiny, you can see it from here!!)

Till then, wishing you all a wonderful weekend!


Donna