Grey & Yellow Vignette

  I refashioned a little nook in our front entry way today. Grey & yellow have been calling my name lately, so I decided to see what I could come up with in those colours. 

  After "shopping" around our house, this is what I came up with. 

I love the name of that middle book! I got it for Christmas, but haven't had a chance to read it yet.

  I had some old embroidery hoops in my craft bin as well as some fabric squares in grey & yellow. The two combined = cuteness! (Is that a word? Well, it is now.) :) 

  I propped them up in the back (one leaning on a little stand & the other in front of it), stacked some grey & yellow books to the side, added a few other silver items & it all came together rather quickly. 

Some grey rocks added in the bowl bring a bit of nature to the vignette.

Vignettes can be a challenge. But when you remember a few guidelines, they can make it easier. 

• Different heights. If everything is the same or similar in height, it won't work. Bring in stacks of books or boxes & top them with another item of interest. Think of a city skyline - all the buildings are different heights & it draws the eye to different focal points. Your vignette is like a mini skyline.

• Repetition. In the vignette I've showed you here, I have repetition in the colours - grey & yellow - as well as the circles in the embroidery hoops & the silver bowl. An added bonus - my circular mirror echos the circle theme!

• Odd numbers. It's visually pleasing to have odd numbers in design elements. If you'll notice that I paired 3 yellow items & 5 grey/silver items. I didn't do that on purpose, but it works.

Click here to see the post on this table's makeover

  The silver "R" in this grouping is a project that I just finished. I'll be featuring a tutorial on how I made it next week. Be sure to come back for that! 

  I'm also on the hunt for something to put in my empty lantern for these winter months. For Christmas, I had it filled with vintage Christmas ornaments that I scored on my last thrifting trip.

  Well, I'm off to clean up my craft table so I can start my next project! Thanks for reading!

Enjoy your day!

Glittered Pinecones

  My very last Christmas project... what a month it's been! Don't get me wrong - a very fun month, but a very busy month. There were so many great things shared out in blog land. No shortage of inspiration, that is for sure.

  Back in November, I compiled a list of Christmas crafts I would like to try. Well, I am happy to tell you that I was able try my hand at all four. One, however, was a flop for me & so I am left with the remaining three. This is the final project... talk about leaving it to the last minute!

  Thankfully, these glittery pinecones are more of a wintery craft so I will likely keep them out into January & February.

  (If you're interested in the other crafts I did this Christmas season, check out the Spool Tree Ornaments & Toilet Roll Treat Packets I posted about. The wrapped candy canes I tried were a bust for me. I couldn't get them to look right. Bummer.)

  If you would like to make some of these, here's what you need:

• pinecones
• spray paint (I used white & silver)
• white glue that dries clear
• glitter (I used 'crystal')

1) Spray your pinecones very lightly with even, sweeping strokes. Let dry. Turn over & paint the other side. Let dry.  I purposefully didn't want mine totally painted. I wanted a bit of natural showing through.

I did a batch of white & a batch of silver, although it's hard to tell the difference in this photo.

2) Once the paint has dried, make a puddle of white glue on a piece of cardboard or something you don't mind getting glue on. I used whatever I could find in our recycling bin. 

3) One at a time, roll the pinecone in the glue, getting a bit on the tips. 

4) Shake some glitter over the glue spots. Let dry. 

You can also roll the glued pinecone in a 'puddle' of glitter. I poured, then when I had quite a bit sitting on my cardboard, I rolled to use some of it up.

I did steps 3 & 4 on each pinecone so that the glue didn't have a chance to dry before I got to them. If you're only doing a small amount, you could glue them all & then glitter them all.

5) After they've dried, use them however you would like in your decor. I'm considering making a pinecone wreath for next Christmas!

Little tip: I found this idea on Pinterest & had one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" moments.

Use a cardboard roll as a vase filler!

via Dandelions & Dust Bunnies

Genius, right?

So, hidden in amongst the pinecones is a cardboard roll. :)

My last craft project for the year. Exhale. :)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great link parties I attend!

My Christmas Tablescape

  Last week I had the pleasure of doing a table "dress rehearsal" for our Christmas Eve meal here at the Richardson home. I received some beautiful Christmas ornaments for my birthday earlier this month as well as a lovely set of silver chargers & napkin rings that I put to good use on my Christmas table. 

I set the table just as a test run & the kids convinced me to keep it set & use it for our supper that night. 

Twist my rubber arm... :)

I made super fast place cards with coloured paper & a paper punch. 

Then I nestled them into the napkin folds with a mini ornament.

So this is what our table will look like for our Christmas Eve meal. Pretty simple but special.

We really enjoy eating beside our Christmas tree. We often talk about our favourite ornaments & where they came from. 

The kids constantly want to hear about their "first Christmas" ornaments. 

Stories are told of those first Christmases & our precious babies. 

Memories are relived & love wells up anew for our treasured family.

We're so very blessed.

Here's to many more Christmas dinners & many more precious memories!

Enjoy your day!

Check out these great parties I link up to!

Nutcracker Suite

    Please tell me, do you have any special Christmas collections? Maybe snow globes, cookie cutters, or trees?

  I've been collecting nutcrackers for about 20 years now. Ever since my mom took me to the Nutcracker ballet when I was a teenager. That year, I bought my first nutcracker & it has carried on ever since.

  It's a special collection that I bring out only at Christmas time. Usually, I set it up on the top of my antique upright piano.

The grandfather, Clara with her nutcracker, & the Mouse King from the original Nutcracker story

My favourite nutcrackers are the knights (one of them is on the photo on the left) & Robin Hood (right). 

Since we bought a small white tree for our family room this year, I've included my nutcracker ornaments on it. I love how the colours pop off of the white!

  I hope this last week before Christmas is special for you as well as productive. 

Enjoy your Monday!

Click Here to see the great link parties I'm linkin' up to!

Oh Christmas Tree(s)

  I have a question for you. Do you decorate your Christmas tree the same way every year or do you like to switch it up a bit from year to year? In the past, I've done it pretty much the same from year to year... mostly silver & blue, but with the kid's colourful ornaments added in too.

My tree a couple years ago.

  This year, I was able to purchase a small white tree for our family room which my daughter decorated with the kid's ornaments & my nutcracker ornament collection.

  That left my big tree for the living room. It's the first year in a while for me to have an "adult tree". It looks even more sophisticated this year with the addition of some dark navy ornaments. In certain light, they even look black or charcoal. Pretty sophisticated. I like.

It is SO hard to get good photos of a Christmas tree. Have you noticed?

My favourite ornaments are probably the nature inspired ones:

And whooo could resist these sweet owls?

What are your favourite ornaments from your Christmas tree?

Enjoy your day!

An Easy Christmas Centrepiece

 Today, before I share what I've prepared, I would like to take a minute to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. If you're not familiar with the real reason for Christmas, let me tell you very kindly that it's not about Santa, stockings, or snow (although I'm not opposed to those things). It's about one gift that was so generously given to all of us... Jesus. I know that December 25th isn't necessarily the day that Jesus was born. I know that many of the traditions we've adopted as "Christmas" traditions have pagan roots. 

  The point I'm trying to make is this: December 25th & the days leading up to it is to be a celebration of the coming of the Messiah - The Saviour of the world!

  I like to think of this season as the biggest birthday party of the year! I believe we should put up decorations, sing Christmas songs, & make tasty things to eat. But let us (me included) not forget that it's all about & for Christ.

  As my favourite carol, Joy to the World, says, "Let every heart prepare Him room..." 

  So, let us not just prepare our homes. Let us open our hearts & give room to Jesus... the real reason for the season.

  To read the story of Jesus' birth, click here. 

~~~

  I'm off to a great start this Christmas season. We finished our Christmas shopping this weekend, I've done most of the gift wrapping (more on that tomorrow - stay tuned!), I've got a good start on the Christmas baking (to see what I've made so far, click here, here, & here.), & the decorating is all done! 

  I'll still enjoy creating Christmas crafts as well as doing some more baking throughout the season. But now I can focus on enjoying it all with family & friends as well as helping out some friends along the way (more on that coming soon too!). 

  In my Christmas decorating this year, I wanted to do something different on my dining room table than I've done for Christmases past. When I was pulling out my decorations, I came across this 3-tiered dish that I inherited from my grandma. I had almost forgotten about it.

All I had to do was add some Christmas ornaments & it was done! 

How fast is that?!

During the day

You could do it with pinecones, candies, or whatever you wanted. So easy!

In the evening with the glowing lights

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well too. 

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' up to these fine parties:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Craft-O-Maniac

Tuesday Talent Show

Homework

Mommy By Day, Crafter By Night

Today's Creative Blog

My Girlish Whims

It's Overflowing

Office/Craft room/Guest Room Makeover

  Before I start today's post I have to tell you that I'm so excited to be able to add a new "I was featured on" button to my small collection. Yesterday, my Christmas Banner was featured on Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night. I totally did a happy dance when I found out! I feel like Sally Field - "You like me! You really like me!" (I have to be honest though. I didn't actually know who said that until I googled it.)

  Anyway, onto today's topic - our office/guest room.

  When we moved into this house, this room (in the basement) was actually divided into 2 smaller rooms, but you had to go through one room to get into the next one. Also, the wall connecting the two rooms was just a temporary wall. So we took down the wall to open up the space. The side that is now the office was decorated as an 80's diner or something. Kinda fun, but so not my thing.

  If you've looked through my Home Tour page, you know that I love colour on the walls! I am not afraid to paint... like, at all. I guess growing up in a decorator's home, some of my mom's courage rubbed off on me.

  My colour inspiration came from the turquoise chair. I love the colour turquoise & wanted to incorporate it into the house somewhere.

  I chose a scrapbook paper line that I loved that had turquoise, pink, & brown in it. It was the Urban Prairie line from Basic Grey. Those were the colours I matched my paint up with.

My craft table

    This table is made of two small book shelves & a glass table top we found in the as-is section at Ikea. It has a small chip out of one corner & didn't have a base. It works perfectly & even has a bit of an aqua tinge to the glass.

  A few weeks ago, my mom (an interior decorator) came over & helped me reconfigure the furniture in this space. I love how it looks now! 

  After mom & I reconfigured the furniture, I set to work cleaning up my desk a bit. I added some decorative scrapbook papers to my pen jars & the front if my little box of drawers. I'm so happy with the results!

What do you think? I'm loving crafting in this space. It's my happy place. And hopefully a pleasant place for our guests to stay.

Oh, before I go, I want to keep things real & show you the pile of stuff I had to remove from the office before I took the photos. Just so you know that my office is not always never that neat & tidy. 

I almost always have some projects on the go on the desk.

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Let Birds Fly

Turquoise Lovin'

Update

This was featured on:

A New Little Family

  Fall is officially over in Saskatchewan. The temperatures have turned colder & we now have snow. Since winter is now here, I took down my fall decorations this week.

  My mom & I also went to a Christmas open house at Creekside Decor & Antiques. The store was decked out in gorgeous Christmas decorations. I picked up a couple of Christmas gifts & bought this little family of owls for myself.

I can't wait to add them to my Christmas / winter decorations!

My kids even helped me name them. :)

Heehee. They make me smile.

Enjoy your day!