It's beginning to look alot...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Shabby Nest! On Friday, the kiddos and I cleaned up the rest of our fall decorations, and pulled out the boxes of Christmas goodies from the basement. Boy have I had fun! Here's a little bit of what I've been up to...


First, I put me up a garland. Since I don't have a fireplace mantel, I like to put my garland on our staircase. We do have a very pretty staircase, that turns at a 45 degree angle toward the bottom, so it really looks pretty all dolled up with a garland!

In our old house we had a formal living room, so I did two Christmas trees...a formal tree and a family tree. The house we live in now is open concept, and doesn't lend itself well to the two tree thing, so I decided to use a little bit of the "bling" from our formal tree for the garland. It gives it a shimmery feel! Love it! (wish the pictures did it justice.)


This little bird cage sits on my piano. Just filled it with some pretty toile ornaments that the Hubby bought me a few years back (he knows me so well) and some red Christmas balls. Threw down a little pine cone garland for atmosphere and voila! Easy peasy.

I loved my Halloween pixies so much, that I had to make a Christmas version. I gave her a little sparkle on her wings and dress and a cute little banner. So sweet!
My apothecary jars are lonely no more! I filled one with the the glass ornaments that I used for my formal tree, and the other with some fake snow and pretty wrapped boxes.

This is one of my favorite projects...a snowflake tree. I took my Thanksgiving gratitude tree and changed out the leaves for snowflakes. Then I added some more fake snow, another pretty package, and this pretty little bird! I found the pattern for the bird here. I am so in love with the way it turned out! Another view so you can see the rocks and the snow.

The whole vignette on top of my entertainment armoire.

Just gettin' started...much more decorating fun to come!

Have a lovely Monday~

Christmas through my son's eyes

Keep linking to the party here ladies! What fun this is! I am loving seeing what you all are loving right now! I've already found about ten things I HAVE TO HAVE and quite a few projects I'm going to try out too. (Sorry about the mess with Mr. Linky. He's on my crap list right now.)

So as I was thinking of more of my favorites right now, my son came to mind. This season has shown me example one million and one of how my son has changed my life for the better...he sees magic in everything right now. Snowmen are awesome. Snow is magical. And Santa is the BOMB. (Da bomb.)

And for that reason, some of my favorites right now are mine only because they are his...I mentioned the 12 foot Santa for the front yard? No I haven't purchased one (yet.) but I am just itchin' to, just because every time we walk into Lowe's, he is. in. heaven. But I have purchased plenty of other items I never would have before. And I LOVE them! This has translated to me spending WAY too much on cute, fun, magical little things that I know he will love for years.

Like a Santa cookie jar. I've never owned a cookie jar in my life. And now, I just had to have it!:

Cute snowmen towels from Target:

Silicone cupcake molds for a DOLLAR each from Target:

We already tried them out tonight for Hubby's birthday. They came out PERFECT! (Love you Lovey!!)

Stuffed Santa: (consignment shop find, brand new, $7 people.) He doesn't put him down:

My countdowns. (Which I will be finishing up tonight...GAH!)

Of course we needed a The Night Before Christmas book, it's beautiful. And I wanted to get him the Rudolph movie and of COURSE they had a set of the old Christmas movies for $40 and I just had to get it. Help me. My husband begs of you.

And the gingerbread house from Hallmark that lights up and plays music (click play button!):

HA! I just had to do it! Seriously though, our son must play this thing 15 times a day. He tries to carry it everywhere with him...while I follow him around freaking out because I'm thrifty and that thing was $20!!


I can't wait to see more of your favorites! I'll be back this week with more of mine!

Tell us a few of your favorite things!!

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**Edited to add that I've extended this for the giveaway till Saturday at noon. So keep linking till then! And you are still welcome to keep posting after that just for fun!

It's here! It's here! I don't know about you, but this time of year just makes everything more fun. I guess I find I'm more thankful for the little things right now too. I don't know what it is, but weeks ago, while shopping, I thought of this idea after I must have said "OH, how CUTE!" about fifty trillion times while eyeing all the Christmas stuff.

And that's how this fun post came about. So all you have to do is either create a post and link to it here, or link to a past post. It can be ANYTHING!! How about your favorite TV show right now? (Kath and Kim.) Or your favorite food? (Cinnamon Bagelfuls.) Your favorite song? (Darius Rucker, "It won't be like this for long." Dare you not to cry.) Favorite holiday decor? (Magnolias.) Toiletry? (Oil of Olay warming scrub. Ohhhh, love. it.) Home decor? (New flannel sheets from Target. Only $20 for a king size!) Anything! Have fun with it! If it's an item you buy, tell us where you get it. If you made it, tell us how. If you cook it, give us the recipe.

And if you don't have a blog or Web site, don't fret! Just leave a comment (everyone else please comment too!) and let me know by leaving your name or e-mail or something I can identify you with.

And for all this...you'll be entered for my fantabulous giveaway! Well, not fantabulous, just kind of fabulous, or a little fantastic, either way. I've just been grabbing fun stuff for weeks as I've been shopping around. Some is Christmasy, some isn't. All my favorites right now, all fun:

Hot chocolate

Bath salts

Christmas kitchen towels

Pine scented BBW home spray

Christmas scrapbook paper

Holiday scrapbook items

Popcorn (you knew that was coming!)

Dollar bin stuff from Target

Santa matches (Precious!)

Pine cones you can glitter to your heart's content

Santa sign

Fun and easy recipes for entertaining

Reindeer food for the kiddies to sprinkle on the lawn

I'll draw the winner this Friday. So until then, Linky, Linky ladies! (Taken down for the time being because of Explorer issues!)

P.S. The reindeer food and the pine spray aren't in the picture because my frazzled brain can't remember where I put them. I'm thinking of about 32 projects I want to work on right now. It will come to me tonight when I am just about to drift off to sleep...then I'll have to get up and run to get them so I don't forget again. Bear with me.

Got a front door?

Then you can do this:

And make the outside of your house as pretty as the inside.

You'll need:

A door. (I'm funny.)
Numerous garlands ($3 or less each)
Numerous light strands
Large or small cup hooks
Step ladder
Measuring tape

Measure the height and width of your front door. Take your garland and figure how many feet you'll need. Most come in nine foot sections. (By the way, you can easily cut these to size with pliers or wire cutters.) Then, depending on how much you have and how full you want it -- twist numerous strands together. Then wrap the strands of lights around the whole thing.

Take your cup hooks, and start putting them around your door. I like to put them opposite ways, so the garland kind of weaves around them:

At the top, put one right in the middle. Then find the middle of your garland:

Keep a hold of that point in the garland, then hang that part on the middle cup hook. Then drape the rest down the sides of the doorway, tucking the garland in the cup hooks as you go. (Make sure the plug for the lights is closest to the outlet!)

If you don't have an outlet, just use a bunch of garland and make a full one to put around the door. Stick ornaments, ribbon, whatever in it! I have a very small porch, so I put up two sets -- one around the door and one around the overhang. I also do this around the garage in the same way.

The cup hooks will leave a very small hole in the trimwork. If you are worried about the hole, use the smaller cup hooks.

The great part is, you'll know exactly where they go every year -- the hole is already there! Greenery makes for a very traditional, sophisticated exterior and I LOVE IT. If you have the 12-foot, blow up Santa, I'm sure it will still work with that. (OH, do you know how close I am to getting one this year?? More about that later.)

To do this:

That's a lighted wreath, hanging in the window, in case you can't tell because you are blinded by the lights because my stupid bleeping expensive camera won't take pictures worth a crap in the dark no matter what setting I use... Breathe.

Anyhoo, take a small wreath (I got mine for about $3 each at Joann's years ago.) Wrap it with a strand of lights. Take fishing wire, floral wire, string, anything, and wrap it through the top. Open your window, pull out the screen, lay the wreath on the screen, figure out where you want it, then pulling the wire and end of the lights through the top, shove the screen back in, cuss a few times, call your husband to help, cuss again cause he's taking too long, slam the screen back in, then close the window.

You may have to push a little harder for the window to lock this time. :) I'm sure it's some kind of minor fire hazard to smash a strand of lights through a window, but I've done it for years and we're OK. (Knock on wood.) Here's a better pic:

Wow, that little guy needs to be fluffed. Garland is like a wet cat, you need to fluff it up to get it looking it's best.

Really, none of this is hard. It just takes time. The first time you do it will be the longest. After that, it takes me well under an hour, start to finish, to hang everything.

More crappy pictures to show you the beauty (I'm really selling this well, aren't I??):

Notice the coach light that's burnt out. Only the best for you folks, I tell ya.

P.S. The posts will probably come fast and furious this month! If I see something, I'm going to post it...like that puuuurdy Christmas tree. Kelly, NO THAT IS NOT IN MY HOUSE!! :)

P.P.S. We're getting our tree tomorrow -- EARLY this year. Yippee kie yay!!!

Purdiest Christmas tree EVER.

Would you BELIEVE this is made out of these?:

OH, I am ROLLING!!! Not because it's made of Mountain Dew cans, but because I actually think it's kind of pretty!! My favorite part is the "star" on top. Have I lost my mind? Just another testimonial to the magic of Christmas lights -- they can make anything pretty!

Anyone up for a soda can tree? And talk about thrifty -- just save up your pop cans and wire hangers for a year and a FREE TREE!

P.S. Click on the tree cookie and watch my pet reindeer. Ca-uuute!

A finished project and a little fabric cleaning tip~

I just wanted to share another pillow from my earlier teaser. Here is my bee pillow! I added some black and white ticking to the back of this one and I just love the way it turned out. (And for those who have been asking, the bee and the crown are both my drawings - I just scanned them into the computer, and used photo transfer paper to transfer them to the fabric.)

Coming soon to an Etsy store near you!

And now for life with a toddler. The other day I walked into the boys' room to find One's headboard had been drawn all over with ballpoint pen by Three. My heart sunk. I made the headboards and I just love them. But then I remembered a little tip that the Hubby and I have learned from photographing weddings. DIAPER WIPES! Yes, you read it right. DIAPER WIPES. Now, since we have a toddler in the house, I have them handy. Since many of my readers have no babies at home, I realize that you probably don't have them hanging around your house. But, babies or not, I would encourage you to get some. They get stains out of all sorts of fabric. We would carry them with us when we did bridal and wedding portraits because they remove stains from satin, silk and other fancy-type fabrics without leaving "water" marks - and they work just as well for cotton and other less-fancy fabrics. I use them on my sofas between launderings of the slipcovers. (Oh, and my personal opinion, is that the generic ones work best for this. Target wipes are my favorite - but this isn't an advertisement- so try 'em until you find a favorite.) Anyhoo, I went, grabbed me about ten wipes, and after some elbow grease...all of the pen was gone. GONE. Diaper wipes. They're not just for bottoms anymore! ;-)

Before the ballpoint pen attack: So you have something to compare the after to!

After cleaning up the mess: Do you see any pen marks?...Neither do I! Hooray!

Have a wonderful weekend~

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We slept in till 9, are watching the parade, and are about to start the pancakes. Does it get any better? I don't think so!

Couldn't let the day go by without saying Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy, stuff yourself, enjoy your families, and try to relax at some point. I am very thankful for all of you. (Sniff.)

Oh, and give my "pet" turkey a pet. :)

Thankful Thursday~

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all that I have, I give thanks. I am truly blessed.

Master Bath Redesign...Finished!!

Yes! The work on the master bath was completed today with the installation of the mill work framing the vanity mirror. (From Mirror Mate at www.mirrormate.com, Mediterra/Glazed Earth). It's remarkable the impact adding this frame has had on the room. This once generic plate glass mirror has become a gorgeous feature of the bath, looking like a very expensive and large custom hanging mirror. It is a great finishing touch.

Finally, a few final accessories were brought in. A basket for towels, soap dishes that follow the lines of the sinks, candles and a little adorable bird I found while sourcing fabric at Calico Corner. Because...what bathroom is complete without a gold bird!? It brings in a bit of whimsical personality, completing the final goals for the room. The aim of this redesign was to infuse the room with a wonderful sense of style, a bit of whimsy and drama, through decorating. I think the redesign has been a great success! I love the final result. Looking back at the 'before' photo I think it is amazing how a room can be transformed through creative decorating, when a remodel does not make sense.

Next time, how to make decisions like a pro when shopping...but most importantly... Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Thanksgiving Checklist

Turkey?Check!
Stuffing?Check!
(Don't Laugh! My family prefers this over homemade)
Plenty of Dishes for the Feast?Check!
Canned Cheese for the Celery?
(Considered a delicacy in our home)Check!
Homemade Pies Ready to Bake?Check!
Cute Festive Dessert Plates?Check!

I'm almost ready for the big day.
But there's one important thing left to do. . .
I want to wish you all
a wonderful Thanksgiving!
THANK YOU
for being a very important part of my life.

I'll see you again next week.

I can't believe my good luck...

Photo from Camille of Thimble Blossoms

Anyone heard of an amazingly talented lady by the name of Camille? As if I need to prove that she's talented (which I don't), she was featured last week on a little blog called Today's Creative Blog. I've been reading her blog since I discovered it about a year ago. She is AMAZING! She owns her own quilting business and has even designed a line of fabrics for Moda. So she did this giveaway for one of her quilts that she would custom make for the winner. To enter the drawing, we left her a comment with the quilt pattern that we wanted, and the winner would get that quilt custom made by Camille! I didn't win that quilt.

But, a good friend of Camille's, Lissa, who's the director of marketing at Moda, offered to make a second quilt from one of Camille's patterns for another lucky winner. I DID WIN THAT QUILT! Wahoo!!!! I was seriously so excited, if everyone in my house hadn't been asleep when I found out, I would have screamed!!! The pattern I picked is the one in the photo! Isn't it darling? And Lissa is going to change the monogram for me so it will be personalized! You've gotta love a monogrammed quilt!!!

Thank you so much to these two wonderfully talented ladies...Christmas came early to my house! Please go check out both of their blogs...so.much.talent.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of giveaways, Kirtsy is sponsoring a fantastic giveaway from One Laptop Per Child. Have you heard of this organization? Their goal is to get a laptop in the hands of every child in developing nations. Awesome! And they're giving one away. Here is their link. Drop by Kirtsy and enter!

Have a lovely Wednesday~

Magic. Take Two.

You so know me by now and were probably expecting this...but I had to make a change. The tree candles on the mantel were so...oh I don't know, 2006. I adore them, but they just didn't do the GORG magnolia garland justice. Sooooo...

I took floral foam, stuck a ton of garland in there, wrapped 100 lights in it (Good LORD!) and more flowers. Ummmm...love it. But is it too much? Even if it is, I luuurve it and it's stayin'.

**Edited to add -- I kept the crystal candlesticks (honestly, just because I am totally lazy and didn't want to take a trip to the basement to get the others. Added some green sparkly candles and done! I also moved the NOEL stocking holders to another spot.




Is it sacrilegious to not hang your stockings on the mantel when you have a mantel?? :)

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends and just relax and have fun with it all. We will do very little other than cook, eat, lounge, watch TV, lounge, eat, cook, eat, eat. Sleep. Sounds like perfection to me. We are ready:





Also stocked up on Christmas cookies, cinnamon rolls and wine. We've got all we need. :)

Finally, I told you my house pukes up garland...(this is about a tenth of it):

This weekend I'll show you how easy it is to hang this and transform the outside of your home.

P.S. Don't forget to be thinking of some of your favorite things for December 1st!! Mr. Linky is coming and I want to see your favorite things you love right now -- it can be ANYTHING -- craft stuff, decorating stuff, holiday decor, jewelry, cleaning supplies, food, blogs, whatever! I find the greatest things when people share their favorites. I have the giveaway almost completed. :)

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

Gobble.

Gobble.