Archives for 2013

Merry Christmas!

Hi friends! Just couldn’t let the day pass without stopping in to wish you merriest of Christmases, from our family… …and our wild little Christmas elves (who have grown so much since last year’s photo on the left! Whoa!)… To you and yours! Hoping you get a minute or two to take in and reflect […]

Quick and Dirty Christmas Kissing Balls

I mean that literally: these sweet little kissing balls are fast, and messy. They look sweet hanging in your entry or sitting contentedly on a little footed dish. Look how happy! SO EASY, it feels like cheating. Here’s all you need: Styrofoam ball in whatever size your heart desires. I think this is the size […]

Christmas Goodies at Pier 1 Imports + Gift Card Giveaway!

Thanks to Pier 1 Imports for sponsoring this post! If you were here yesterday, you saw The Dining Room That Saved Christmas: Did you love the assorted mercury glass and silver candlestands as much as I do? Pier 1 Imports, guys. I let my whole family loose on the store a few days ago and […]

My return-to-tradition dining room to SAVE CHRISTMAS!

Last week I showed you guys my gold and black Christmas home tour: A couple days later, while we were looking at the tree, Andy sighed dramatically and said, “Welp. I guess this is the Christmas of no red. The anti-Christmas.” The ANTI-CHRISTMAS?! We’ve been married 8.5 years and I never knew the color red […]

DIY gold magnolia garland and surviving a deserted island

I made this gold magnolia leaf garland from a very rare breed of magnolia tree which grows the most incredible solid gold leaves! Or, I just spray-painted regular magnolia leaves with gold spray paint. One of those things. There’s just nothing a can of gold spray paint can’t accomplish in this world. Send me to […]

Christmas Home Tour

HOME TOUR DAYYYYY! I’m so excited you’re here! Our house is all decked out for the holidays, there’s residual glitter on every surface and it smells like fresh greenery in here. I burnt the cookies I baked for you, but if you scrape off the bottoms, they’re still delicious. It’s my first time participating in […]

Easiest, cheapest little wreaths of all time

I don’t know what it is about “simple” and “free” that sends my little heart into orbit, but I’m just built that way: simple and free feeds my soul. Check out what happened when coat hangers collided with fresh boxwood cut from my front yard. BOOM! I’m not saying these tiny, happy little wreaths will […]

En-DEER-ing Christmas Mantel

If cheesy puns make you gag, you may want to go ahead and click away now while you’re still holding your cookies. My Christmas mantel is up! In the past, my Christmas mantels have been sparkly, silvery metallics… But this year I went a different direction with a brass deer, graphic black and white and […]

Tips for easy holiday entertaining (with Kirklands #HolidayHostess!)

Thanks to Kirklands for sponsoring this post, and forcing me to consume large quantities of hot cocoa. It’s the holiday season, y’all! We all know what that means: calories stop counting and you don’t need an excuse to gather friends around mugs of steaming cocoa and warm fireplaces. I LOVE IT. LOVE LOVE LOVE. (I […]

Posts of Christmas Past + What’s coming in December!

BUDDIES! I hope you had the most amazing Thanksgiving of your life! According to my official decorating rulebook, as of midnight last night, it is officially required that we immediately dive head-first into sparkly, festive holiday decorating, covering every surface in greenery and accidental permanent glitter. It’s just the right thing to do. I’ve been […]

Gold leaf Christmas canvas + craft supply misbehavior

Look, I know it’s technically not Thanksgiving yet, but I’m hoping you’ll be a little lenient this year and let me start talkin’ Christmas anyway! Because I accidentally already started doing a couple Christmassy things here and there. I didn’t mean to. The gold leaf LEAPED into my hands and hurled itself upon a canvas. […]

25 simple, beautiful advent calendars

YOU GUYS. Guess what Andy did. The kid actually, completely pulled off a surprise 30th birthday for me! That little deceiver. This me, going, “FRIENDS! WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE??” Oh yeah – he planned the whole thing in our house, where I had been hanging out just a couple hours before. So that’s […]

Our Christmas Porch: the Home Depot Challenge!

This is our tragic little front door. It has nothing of value to offer the world. No overhang to protect visitors from the rain, or from which to hang a pretty pendant light. No space for a rocking chair or two to kick back and enjoy a sweet tea. It has: a front door. A […]

Our little rustic split-log advent tree

Are you ready to be moved? To be transported by my husband’s lilting, flowing poetry, to a place you never knew existed? As I was sitting down to write this post, Andy offered to write it for me. This is how he started the post: The thing about Christmas is, you’re sitting there and it’s […]