Wishing You All a Happy New Year!

 I Hope This Year Will be a Year of Magic and New Dreams for us all.

 "If you don't believe in magic or in dreams....you'll never find them!

Heres to a New Year with new opportunities for fresh starts and new beginnings every day, 

not just New Years, but everyday we are blessed with the opportunity to start anew. 

How lucky are we?! 

Happy New Year to you All!

Christmas Eve.

My Pinterest Pins

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season to you all!

It's a Magical Time of the Year!

Make wonderful Memories.

Treasure your family and friends.

Remember what it really is all about.

Wishing you all Magic, Stars, Love and a Merry Christmas! 

Shari


Sharing these links:


Romantic Home
Simply Designing
Craft Envy

A Very Special Heirloom.

I just had to get this post in before Christmas.... 

As you probably know I lost my husband several years ago.

 Celebrating Christmas is not alway easy and is sometimes a slippery slope. It goes somewhere between making new customs, adapting some of the old ones and remembering some very special memories that are sometimes sentimental but mostly fun. 

Bottom line I am always looking for ways to celebrate Fred's memory.

I have been looking at his baby dishes for quite sometime wondering what I can do with them beside keeping them packed away in a box somewhere. 

.

While visiting one of the many wonderful, creative blogs  out there I saw that one of them had put a collection of baby silver on a tree with ribbon. (I am so sorry I forget which it was so if it's you please leave me a comment and I'll link to you!!)

Inspiration struck! 

I put my own creative version on my inspiration....polished it up, added some of the old vintage tinsel I found at a flea market, some vintage lace and ribbon. I put a vintage ear ring on the top of the display ribbon. 

This is how it turned out.

I didn't have time to do the dish but I found a Christmas picture of Fred and his 2 brothers with their stockings when they were quite young that I plan to put in the center and work from there. This will become another family heirloom for our family to share.
To be continued....I'll show and tell next year.

I am so pleased that we now have an heirloom to be handed down in the family. I am so happy that this will keep his memory for our future generations. I hope to have it engraved after the Holidays are over. If it wasn't for the sharing done by so many wonderful, creative bloggers out there I probably would not have this wonderful heirloom tribute.

Merry Christmas to you all! 

Here's to celebrating so many wonderful memories.

Shari

Please enjoy these Links:

The Shabby Creek Cottage

The French Cupboard

The Brambleberry Cottage

Simply Designing
Romantic Home
Craft Envy

Wrapping Update

 Remember the Pinterest Post I did on brown paper gift wrap ideas  (Here) to give us some creative gift wrap inspirations which would save us a few Christmas pennies?  I just love gift wrapping...it would be fun to make a business out of it. Here is how some of my gift wrap creativity turned out.

I used vintage sheet music on a tag with the cut out circles from the ribbon and a 

vintage Ear Ring in the center.

 The long thin one with the green ribbon has poinsetta's cut our from another paper. 

 This is my friend Carolyn's gift....she loves all things vintage soooo it incorporates vintage lace, seam binding, vintage tinsel and vintage sheet music on the tag. This was so fun to do. I made the star too with lots of glitter.

 I love polka dots so I had to have this ribbon. The bow has a vintage ear ring in the center! I can't wait for my son and his lovely wife to receive this gift. Do you know how excited you get when you find a gift just perfect for the person/person's?

 I used the Polka Dot Ribbon again with this beautiful gold ribbon...thank-you Michaels! 

 I was pretty pleased with this...it is for my wonderful cousin who is beautiful gardener (hint). I love this ribbon combo! 

I glittered a clothes pin to keep the gift tag I made in place.

 Vintage button at the center.

I am so grateful to be able to reach out to so many positive, creative and supportive people by blogging. I appreciate all of your support, creativity and hard work we put into our blogs. It has to be a passion doesn't it? I love hearing your wonderful comments and finding so many talented bloggers. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! Stars have a very special meaning to me as explained in my profile and the name of my blog. My Christmas stars symbolizes that we can reach for the stars, all of us if we dare... you are all Christmas Stars!

“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest”

HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE LINKS FOR GREAT INSPIRATIONS:

THE SHABBY CREEK COTTAGE
Somewhat Simple
Delightful Order
The Brambleberry Cottage
The French Cupboard
Savvy Southern Style
Romantic Home
The Common Ground

Just A Little More Christmas

With so much to do in preparing for Christmas I still can't stop adding one more thing here and there...... I just can't stop myself. Do you do that?  Inspiration strikes and I have to go for it. So I'm browsing through Pinterest - Christmas Decor and I see this picture....

I then remembered that I had just packed away some red pillows I was using in the gameroom. I use this same green throughout my home so of course I already had the green ribbon. I preferred not to add any addition "jewelry".

I love this shade of green!!

 Do you believe how the ribbon matched the toss pillows I already had perfectly? 

NEXT:

I bought this soap dish a while ago. Didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it at the time. I bought this cute little bird a couple weeks ago and suddenly I knew what I was going to do with the soap dish......

FINALLY...

My good friend Heather from Larissa Hill Designs has been encouraging me to get back to my pen and ink drawings especially in minature. She is always encouraging me in many ways. We all need a friend like her in our lives. I saw these frames on sale the other day and knew exactly what I was going to do with them. I still had several gift extras I wanted to add.

 They are done on vintage music from a music book published in 1911.

 The inside measurements are 1 1/2" wide and 2" high.

 Pen and ink, water color,  pine cones in silver and brown glitter and Swarovski crystals. I can't tell you how much fun I had doing these. I was thinking of doing more of these in different subjects after the Holidays and putting them on my Etsy site. I'm thinking greenery, rabbits, flowers like violets with touches of color and a little embellishing. I would love to know what you think. I love doing rabbits and birds. What do YOU think?

  

I hope you all are finding some time to set aside all the stress and craziness to enjoy this wonderous time of the year. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to you all.


Hope you enjoy these links:
Polish the Stars
Dittle Dattle
Crafts Keep Me Sane
The Sasse Life
It's Overflowing
Michele Raven Designs
The French Cupboard
Somewhat Simple
The Brambleberry Cottage
Delightful Order

Christmas Inspiration Decorations Update.........

Whew! Even though I said I wouldn't let it get crazy this year it is and I AM! Finished decorating, got my house cleaned today and a lot of shopping accomplished, yippee! Now that it's done I thought I'd take a moment and show you my interpretations of the Pinterest Inspirations I showed you from my November 29th Post Here.

I placed my basket on a cake stand to give it some height on my dining room table. I used cedar and sprayed my pine cones gold. After I took this pic I realized my bow needs some schooz (no idea how to spell this...it's my new favorite word when I don't know exactly what word I want to use, Ha!

 I didn't show this Pin but it is on my Pinterest board for Christmas Decor: Here. This gave me my inspiration for my mantle:

This is my version, not as large, but I like the way the cedar hangs down. It is tucked into a fake garland.

 I just wanted to keep it simple and natural this year. This is the first time I've used Cedar, I love the way it hangs.

Remember this Pinterest pic, my Ta Daaa inspiration?

It inspired me to do this version with things I already had and scavenged for through my boxes of Christmas Decor. The ice cycles were a last minute addition. It kind of reminds me of the hat I saw on one of the spirits that visited scrooge in an old Scrooge musical movie I have with Albert Finney.

Once you buy a cloche you will never get tired of finding new ways to use it. Here it is on my island in the kitchen. This was my own inspiration. My theme this year was natural elements like different pines (these are boxwood) and pine cones. 

 

More pine cones in a candle chimney.

 This is my newest cloche. Found it a The Home Store for......$6.99, now that's a Ta Daaa!!!! I whipped that little guy in my cart so fast, Ha! I love finding treasures in that place!!! The little guys inside was a gift from my friend Carolyn last year. They were in a little cloche too but it broke in shipping...they have a new home now Carolyn!!!! They are sitting on a candlestick holder! 

I love books...these are my vintage ones from flea markets I used in this tablescape.

 Remember the Halloween Apothecary Jar from the flea market for like $3.00 because it had a chip on the rim. No one sees ever sees it anyway, right. Gloating right now, sorry!!!

 I dragged this big guy in and put it up myself. These are the times I really miss my husband, but I always feel that when bad things happen you need to learn or take things from them. The one thing I took from loosing my husband is to be more self reliant. Trouble is maybe I should also learn when it's time to ask for help too sometimes, Ha! I'm always learning! Well I hope you enjoyed how I used the inspiration pictures I showed you in the previous post  Here

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. Try to take a deep breath and remember what it's all about and take a few private Christmas moments for yourself to enjoy the season.


Hope you enjoy these links:


Romantic Home
Simply Designing
I Heart Nap TIme

Polish The Stars

Craftomaniac

Crafts Keep Me Sane
Dittle Dattle
Sugar Bee Crafts
It's Overflowing
Michele Raven Designs
Savvy Southern Style
The French Cupboard
Somewhat Simple
The Common Ground
Beyond the Picket Fence
Delightful Order

A Penny Saving Inspiration Day....

So much to do and time is flying by.....The one thing I have done is decide on my Christmas wrap motif and since we are all trying to watch our pennies these days I decided to do brown craft wrap paper. 


You all know by now how I feel about the importance of your gift wrap presentation. It's like another gift to show how special you think the person is. It is, for me an integral part of the gift...the gift presentation...it shows you gave just a little more to make it special for them. So this year instead of buying rolls of beautiful Christmas wrapping paper this year....which is one of my favorite things to pick out, I am going to use brown craft paper.     We are all trying to watch our pennies these days. Why not just use the good ole brown wrap and add repurposed and vintage items to my brown palette.


So off to the web and Pinterest for ideas. Having brown craft paper is like having a blank canvas to work from...how fun! I thought I'd share some of the lovely brain storming ideas I found.  These people have done some lovely, creative ideas for us to inspire our own versions....So let the inspirations begin......

 Babble.com via Pinterst

love vintage lace or fabric. I may just use a strip a fabric across the center of the brown craft paper.

 Flickr via Pinterest

a little tinsel, a glittered star on a round gift tag with decoupaged sheet music....

 Little Birdie Secrets Blog via Pinterest

could do this with sheet music or fabric, lace or an old doily....

Fleur Avenue via Pinterest

 Two Shades of Pink blog via Pinterest


Oh just noticed there is a doily on the one in the back....

 The Inspired Room blog via Pinterest


We could even do this on brown gift bags....

 2 Gypsy Girls via Pinterest

a bow made from interesting pieces with seam binding....love it!

Craft Berry Bush blog via pinterest

 BY Stephenie Lynn via Pinterest

all would look great on craft paper...

 2 Gypsy Girls via Pinterest

Reuse left over strips of your last years rolls!

Outside the Workroom Blog via Pinterest


Once again I continue to use pine and pinecones...back yard scavenging!

Abrakadeborah blog via pinterest


Twine....there is a really trendy penny safer

Shorely Chic blog via pinterest


How cute to use ribbon around brown paper gift bags!

Pinterest

Brown looks so pretty here, maybe a touch of gold somewhere to make it more festive....

http://pinterest.com/kisscathie/

with red, fun......

Paper hole punch, twine,  a little gold glam and a plain gift tag...love it!

This is my Ta Daaa.....
Don't you love it...vintage lace and piece of jewelry and it looks so charming!

So off I went to scavenge my home for things to use......here is some of what I found....

See my vintage tinsel!!!!! I found it in a bunch of junk at a flea market...I have tons of for about $3.00....that was a score! I found books of old school music books on another trip.....fun!

 The ribbon I bought yesterday at Michaels...major sale like 40 or 60% off.

I'll post how my packages turned out later when I come up from all the Christmas crazies. Hope this has helped get your creative juices going.  I may be short on blog posts for awhile as I have to 2 art commissions due and a gift I am trying to make before Christmas including everything else and a job....wish me luck. 

Remember what this season really means and everyday make a little Merry Christmas in some way for yourself!

Please enjoy these links:

Polish the Stars

Dittle Dattle
Savvy Southern Style
Michele Raven Designs
The Shabby Creek Cottage
The Brambleberry Cottage
Somewhat Simple
Romantic Home
Common Ground-Debras Vintage Designs
Shabby Nest