We Wish You a Merry Christmas! (Part Three)

Oh my! The Christmas season has been so busy in the best way, but boy am I behind in my blogging! 

Home was not on the list of priorities for decorating this year, the schedule was just so cramped.  We did get a few simple decorations up! The tree as always, with white lights and our collection of family ornaments.  Then a few other pieces around the house.  Check out the quick captions! 

The same triple tiered baskets from my Thanksgiving vignette, kept the pine cones, and added classic color Shiny Brights! Plus a couple fun holiday balls like the snow fun above.

And this lovely seasonal messaged ball! 

My favorite part of this display was the great fabric that I found at JoAnn's! It has a bit of shine so it goes perfectly with those bold Shiny Brights! Pardon my ridiculous reflection! :)

The stairwell in our home is perfect for a gorgeous garland! Add some lights and  berry strands for some pop!

Took that Thanksgiving vignette and simplified it for Christmas! Picked a simple, but stunning fabric that belonged to my grandmother, added the white porcelain nativity set, faux candles, and basic vases with fresh greens.

Look at that fabric! Silver thread pattern!

Late one evening I got the harebrained plan to give the kitchen some Christmas cheer. Red sheer ribbon and holiday shaped cookie cutters! A little Scotch tape and they were just right!  

Thanks Giving!

Well it's that time of year again! Time to be especially thankful. Not that it should be just one day! One should be thankful for many things every day! 

This year I am specifically thankful for my family, including my extended family members, and especially my grandma who we are celebrating this year at Thanksgiving!

My grandma's 75th birthday is today, one day before Thanksgiving, and so we are having a two in one party this year. This means that we have tables and chairs for 31 people in place at our house! Uff da! I'm so excited to have our extended family gathered together for two wonderful celebrations, but it's been a busy week here as we prepare! This blog is a compilation of the festive decorations that are ready for our fun!

My first decoration location was the giant upright piano in the dining room, the perfect place for a fall vignette. It is full of fall patterns and colors, as well as some fun decorating pieces. Check out the pictures below, captions give quick explanations of each piece.

Pulled a group of vintages books from my parent's and my own collection. They coordinate with the colors that are in my fall inspiration fabrics. The yellow and gray book is especially neat because it's the book my grandpa used to study Brazilian Portuguese when he became a missionary to Brazil. :)

The vintage green vase was left in my parent's house by the previous owners. The matching colored basket is from one of my favorite stores, my friends at Vintage Hardware! Ooh and so is the little berry basket! The eucalyptus is from JoAnn Fabrics.  The pumpkins come from The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island! 

Snagged these adorable over sized tiles from the harvest bazaar that is held at my school. Thanks to the wonderful Andrea Weaver for making these! They are the perfect message for Thanksgiving!

I'm totally in LOVE with my red canister! (It has a matching short and wide canister, 2 in 1!) This was a find a couple weeks ago from Ikea! My aunt gave me the three tiered baskets as a hand-me-down that she got from a friend. The chocolatey-charcoal color worked perfectly with my color scheme and held all my fall goodies (pumpkins, Indian corn, and pine cones) so snugly.

Not sure where this lovely little gem is from, it's just been in our house for as long as I can remember. :) But it works perfectly with my red canister and fall funk theme.

Final product at the piano! 

My fall fabrics that I have used all over the house! The chocolate fabric is on top of the piano. It is also featured as table runners and one table cloth. The orange check is also a table runner and cloth. And of course... burlap! It's my favorite.

My Aunt Kathy made these ADORABLE place cards for everyone! She used vintage print music, card stock tags, and stamps. The fabric ties are extra scrap from the fall fabric. Told you the fabric is everywhere! The tags turned out so amazingly! Thanks Aunt Kathy for your creativity and time!

Aunt Kathy was tasked with the job of making tags that will fit into pine cones as tag holders.  Now the house smells like eucalyptus and cinnamon pine cones. Oops!

Almost finalized look for the tables! Just need to put the flowers in the jar in the morning.  Centerpieces are simple, leaves that I pressed, and Ball jars with chocolate covered raffia. 

Picked up these beautiful flowers from Costco! They will end up in the Ball jars Thanksgiving morning! 

Now let's hope that our birthday/thanksgiving celebration goes smoothly tomorrow! 

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! Full of blessings, joy, and love! No matter where you are or what you have or have not, take a moment and find one positive for which you are thankful! 

PS: I'm thankful for all my blog readers! Thanks for making this a wonderful year! Stay tuned as the Christmas season approaches! I have decorating, gift making, and present wrapping in store for you!  

Pack a Little Picnic (Part Two)

Of course if I show you invitations, I have to show the party decor! This is more of a photo journal sort of post, limited description, but fun ideas! Of course, you know from the invites that the potluck luncheon was picnic themed so we used fun, vintage decor! 

At our lemonade stand, we used old wooden crates and canning jars for glassware. 

Paper products and utensils were stored in various glass jars, and then in a vintage wire basket.

Each table (the buffets and lemonade stand too!) was covered with plastic picnic table cloth as seen in basically every photo! The colored daisies were put in larger versions of the utensil jars. 

And no picnic is complete without ANTS! Ours were friendly, plastic, and snagged from our math manipulatives for a fun effect!

I was super excited that McKenzie (decorating partner in crime!) embraced my harebrained idea to use the bench in our decor. It was really only thought of because it was still in my car from the Vintage Hardware Fire Sale we shopped the day previous. We decided it would be perfect to hold our drink bucket.  This photo was taken before the bucket was loaded with ice and bottles.  

The room as a whole, the tops of the library shelves served as our buffet line, so they were decorated with paper flowers and picnic baskets too! If you look closely, you can see the butterflies that the wonderful Mary Ann hung from the lights! The perfect topper to our picnic party! 

Thank you so much to McKenzie and Mary Ann for teaming up with me to decorate on Sunday, you are both so clever and crafty! 

Thank you to all of our certified staff for providing all of the food! And for your help setting out food in the morning and clean up after! And for giving our classified good break time by covering their obligations for them.

AND BIGGEST THANKS TO OUR CLASSIFIED HEROES! You are truly the foundation of our school and programs. I know I'd be lost without you! 

PS: Lynne B. the bar has been set! ;)