~ Happy New Year!! ~

Every year since I can remember, I have watched the ball drop in Times Square on television so that is what I will be doing at midnight....haven't spent a New Year's Eve away from home since I was in my twenties which was a LONG time ago, ha!....I always worry about my kids being out and about with all the drunk people and hope they aren't one of them!....I guess a mom never stops the worrying.

I wanted to wish all my friends here in blogland a VERY Happy New Year! I hope that not only this new year but this new decade brings good things to many!

Happy New Year my friends!
Janet

~ It's Christmas Eve Eve! ~

The picture is a painting by Thomas Kinkade (yes that's how you spell it) and it's called St. Nicholas Circle. I have it as my computer's desktop wallpaper every year at this time, isn't it festive?

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I am thoroughly enjoying meeting all my new friends here in blogland and sharing our love of things olde~n~early. I think we are a special group!

Merry Christmas everyone!! {{{{HUGZ}}}}
Janet

~ SNOW! and a few more decorating PICS! ~

Well this was definately a day for the record books here in Virginia and the most snow this So.Cal. gal has ever seen! We've got about a foot and it's still snowing right now! This is our backyard and that big mound is the BBQ! LOL
Here is the front of our house. Our youngest son had to be to work at 6AM (perfect!)....his car parks on the driveway and was pretty entrenched so we got up to take him which was quite the adventure at that hour! I took a couple of pics in the afternoon when I went back out to pick him up. This is our subdivision street, as you can see it hasn't been plowed but other's had driven on it including me earlier! You have to be very careful!
This is a pic of the street that you drive down to get to our subdivision, it's considered a secondary road and by the time I had to go pick him up it had been plowed but it hadn't been at 5-something in the morning and that too was quite treacherous but doesn't it look pretty!
I'll bet some of you who get snow all the time are rolling your eyes but this is all very exciting for me! LOL

While you're here I thought I would share a few pics of the tree I have in my office that I forgot to show you last time!
Most of the ornies were made by Shannon of Sweet Liberty Homestead, she sells on ebay and I purchased a few ornies from her last year and a few the year before.
There's little log cabins and barns and a couple different lanterns that have a hole in the bottom so you can insert a light from the strand up in there! Cute huh? I added a few candles and paper ornies and think it makes for a mighty cute tree!
Then lastly, I wanted to show you the blanket crane that husband made me using Kris' tutorial (Thank You Kris!) He did make a change to it, he modified the middle piece a bit and added screws to the top and bottom of it so it can move side to side. I have been saving that throw just for this! I also hung a little framed Christmas print on it for now.
I figured that today would be a good day to hang it so we did. I had a couple of pictures in that spot before but took them down to make room for the blanket crane.
Well that's all for now! This is the first time in my entire life that I've had snow around me right before Christmas and it's WONDERFUL!! Merry Christmas!!

~ Lots-O-Pics! ~

Well I think I'm done with my Christmas decorating....for now anyway, ha! I've got lotsa pics to share so here we go!










I've done the mantle the same for a few years in a row now, not tired of it yet!
Here's what the whole fireplace looks like:I love that olde sled leaning there on the right, it hides the electrical cords needed for the garland and wreath! Here's a closer look at the sled:
On the left side of the fireplace is the doll chair where I usually have my favorite dolls but I changed it up a bit for Christmas. That wonderful little basket you see there was made by Pam! I filled it with festive faux greenery and berries along with a few prim candy canes tied up with tinsel garland that I sell in my shoppe.Here's what it looks like when I stand back further:
Some of you may remember that not long ago I got that rocking chair that's in the corner, here's a closer look at that corner:I have a smaller coffee table now which makes it easier to keep it simple:I have an end table on either side of the sofa with two matching lamps and I change the shades to cranberry red and leave them through winter....I love the color combination of sage and cranberry!....the shades are parchment the rest of the year.
Here's a closer look at what I have on this end table currently....the doll was made by Jackie and I got those cute little seedlings from Pat....they are in wooden pots that were handmade by her husband!....I purchased one and one was a gift! That was so sweet! Thank you again Pat!!Here is what I have on the end table that is on the other side of the sofa....the Boyds Bear is very special to me because it was given to me by my youngest son one Christmas. He bought it with his allowance money and I remember it took quite a chunk but he wanted me to have it because he knew I would like it :)
I have a green painted stepback cupboard that my husband made several years ago and I usually have a sign hanging next to it that says, "Primitive Gatherings" but for Christmas I changed it out to this one, it's one of my very favorite Christmas songs! Can you read it? It says, "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas It's the best time of the year!"Since I'm here why don't I show you a closer look at what I have on the shelves of the green stepback. Here are the top two shelves....I sell the Joy and Star Blocks in my shoppe along with those cute little votive candles and the Spruce with Cones Sprays. Oh and that adorable little spool doll you see in the lower right of the picture was made by my friend Karen in the UK!
Then here is what is below....I wish you could smell that jar candle....I sell them in my shoppe and they are wonderful!I still have a couple chippy white tables in the entry way and here is what I have on the bottom of one....you saw the top in a previous post.Then here is the top of another table....I sell those Penny Quilt Flower Trays and Tea Dyed Doilies in my shoppe and that primitive gingerbread boy was made by Dru....I got him a couple of years ago and he's a favorite!And on the bottom of that same table I have more dolls made by Jackie and I sell those cute chambersticks in my shoppe!Let's see what's in the kitchen....here's a simple tree:And here's a display that I have on a little red cabinet that husband made quite some time ago....I have a fruit theme in my kitchen which is why those fruit label signs are hanging there.Back out in the family room....here's a couple of my favorite displays this year:In this picture there's an extremely primitive ginger made by Tina and a wonderful pinkeep made by Jenny. Oh and I sell the cute Spool Light with Star Bulb in my shoppe, love those!
My wall cupboard of course gets a few things added for Christmas:Here's a look at the table below and a closer look at what's hanging from the pegs on the wall cupboard....there's the Cranberry Striped Tapers that I sell in my shoppe and on the right is a special pinkeep that was a gift made by Lisa! Thank you again Lisa!
In the center is a hand painted card made by Maureen and I sell those cute Striped Woolen Mittens in my shoppe!

And here's a closer look at an arrangement I made with some wonderfully charming gingers and candy canes made by Barbara:Well I think that's about it! No, wait! I also tweaked my folkart cabinet a bit from the last time I posted:Ok now that's it!
Merry Christmas!

~ A Few More Christmas Pics & Some Links! ~

I am slowly making progress with the Christmas decorating....the mantle is actually done but I can't take the picture until husband goes up in the attic and brings down the olde sled that I lean up against the wall on one side. I'm kinda stuck for ideas in a few areas and I'm waiting for a couple of goodies to come in the mail which should help LOL, I think it's fun to have a few new things to play with! So here are a few more pics for now. I'm sure you remember this folk art cabinet that hubs made recently:Here's a closer look at what I have on top....the bench was made by hubs from a tutorial that was on Char's blog a while back and I got the other little wood piece from Winterberry Prims last year. There are two Schneeman candy canes, a Jackie Schmidt doll, and a pillar candle with a poinsettia stitchery made by Shelly Auen. The Belsnickle Santas, the jar candle, the Gingerbread man that is peeking out of the drawer, and the hogscraper candlestick are all items that I sell in my shoppe!
Here's a little table that sets in the entry way. The bird was made by Tammy, the little flicker candle that is wrapped with fabric was made by Betsy, and the homespun mat is from Olde Thyme Homespun, I also got a new tree skirt from them too and it's very nice!This is the top of the crock bench husband made some time ago, I don't have the bottom part done yet. The doll and the kitty were made by Betty and the jar candle is one I sell in my shoppe, it smells soooo good and I love the scent throw on these!Here's how the foyer table is looking. There's a basket with gingers and candy canes made by Barbara and on the mirror's shelf you'll see a tiny doll from Ghost Island Primitives and a pinkeep made by Lisa. On the pegs is a wee Onion Basket made by Pam that I filled with faux cranberries, a Stein bird, and a cute hanging flicker made by Betsy.The breakfast nook table....the painted wood server bench hubs made some time ago, the hogscraper candlestick is one I sell in my shoppe, and I got the cute prim tree in the box from Winterberry Prims a couple of years ago.
Lastly for today, here is the dining room table....the sun was shining in bright yesterday when I took this picture. The Belsnickle Santas and the Colonial reproduction table runners I sell in my shoppe, I got some preserved cedar branches from Early Farm Primitives, and the olde basket I won recently on ebay for a really great price!

The weatherman is saying we might get a wee bit of snow tomorrow, I'll believe it when I see it!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Merry Christmas!

~ Christmas Decorating Underway! ~

Well I have been having lots of fun decorating and wanted to share some of my progress thus far. I usually try to get the main tree done first because, to be honest, I don't really enjoy doing it! It's not a primitive tree, it's the ornaments we've collected throughout the years. I used to do a 7 foot tree up until last year when our baby moved out....I bought an inexpensive 4 foot and found it soooo much easier to deal with....so even though that baby is back home again, I put up the smaller tree again. Granted, I'm not able to fit all the ornaments that the big one had but this one holds all the favorites. I have it sitting on the olde wash stand that I keep in front of one of the family room windows. Here's an overall view:

Here's a look at some of the ornaments:

My all time favorite ornament are those ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, here's a closer look:

Now for something prim to show you, I put up a cute little tree on the boot bench hubby made a while back, leaned a picture in back of it, and added a snowman and some candy canes:

Then lastly for today, I took a picture of my primitive stepback that stands in the breakfast nook with it's Christmas decor:

That's all for today!

Merry Christmas!