I'll have a blue Thanksgiving!!

Happy 11th birthday to MrBill!!!! He's rocking his camo sweater and showing off a couple of his gifts!!

Hiya Blogland!!! Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating!! I intended to post last night but got caught up in this:

Some of the Christmas hoard awaiting placement.

More of the hoard. I think I have approximately 200+ Santa figurines

I have been busy decorating for Christmas. It's definitely a major undertaking but I love doing it. My Santa figurines are all DIY, thrifted or gifted. Detailed photo's to follow!!

Remember this from the last post??? My vintage tree DIY is done and I'm thrilled with the outcome. They came out really nice. The two tiny ivory ones were the ones that bleached out. I just glittered them with some mica glitter. I managed to get this photo about 2 seconds before our evil child Callie threw them on the floor and took off with one of the little ones.

It's been FREEZING cold here this week. Tuesday & Wednesday we had lovely 34 degree RAIN. It's been miserable. My office at work has been an icebox. I told them if the hot-flashing menopausal lady is cold then it's COLD!!!! LOLOLOL

Monday I pulled out a black and grey tweedy sweater dress from Avenue that I thrifted. I added warm leggings, a black tshirt and boots for extra warmth. Topped it off with some rhinestone bling for a dreary Monday!!! I'd love to find some more sweater dresses like this but all of them seem to have HUGE horizontal stripes which I'm not too fond of. I did see a lovely plain forest green one that I might snag with gift money this season if it goes on sale>

 

Tuesday's outfit is my Spy Girl 52 Pick-Me-Up: Blue Hues outfit. Anne's themes are always fun to try out!1 I highly recommend this challenge!! I've become quite enamored with cobalt blue lately. I've got 4 sweater, a tshirt and tights in this color. Patti of Not Dead Yet Style did a post about cobalt this past week, too. It seems to be the "IT" color this season.  I pulled out my thrifted CJBanks denim skirt, cobalt tights, thrifted sweater with cobalt & black pattern on body (it's hard to see in the picture), thrifted Nine West booties, vintage cobalt bangles  and DIY Queen Bee Pendant. I also have a bit of cobalt in my hair.

Wednesday I dressed for a cold, rainy day in thrifted LaneBryant pants, thrifted SagHarbor Cashalon sweater, thrifted Hush Puppy wedge booties and a leopard print scarf from the Dollar store.

I love these SagHarbor sweaters and look for them when thrifting. They are called "Cashalon" as it's an acrylic cashmere knit. They are very soft, wash and wear like a dream and easy to wear. I love the mock turtlenecks in winter because they lend themselves so well to scarves, necklaces or brooches. Plus they are thin enough to layer.  DressBarn carries something similar which I also look for thrifting.

I hope to get a majority of the decorating DONE this weekend!!! Today (Thanksgiving) we are off to Lauren's cousin's for dinner. I plan on taking pictures of their house--it's this really cool modern cantilevered house they recently designed and built. That's if I'm not in a turkey coma!!

Everyone have a fabulous holiday and weekend!!

TTFN
Tamera

PS--I know MrBill looks pitiful--but really he is one happy boy. He just HATES having his picture taken!!! Plus he knows how to work those soulful brown eyes/!!

Has it reached critical mass yet??

Hope everyone else had a relaxing weekend!!

Hiya Blogland!!!  BBBBRRRRRRRR!!! It has gotten ridiculously COLD here. If it's this cold I want SNOW!!!

I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. I think I'm starting to reach critical mass in the amount of Christmas stuff I have.  These are the containers full of stuff I have YET to put out. This doesn't include the six I've already emptied, all the outside stuff or the decorations for the four large trees yet to go up.  and I live in a fairly small house LOLOL!!

I've also been busy making stuff from my stash!! Here's the kitten ornaments on their tree in the hall bathroom. The tree came from Hobby lobby and I stuck it in a milk glass vase I had. Added the little bells, some vintage balls and a vintage plastic topper.

Here's a picture of the angel variation I made of the kitty ornament. These are on the tree in the master bathroom.

I tried last week to bleach some bottle brush trees I had. I wanted to decorate them up shabby chic style like I've seen on Pinterest. Fro some reason the dumb things wouldn't bleach white!!! The small ones did--I'm going to glitter them up before I show them off. But the big ones didn't even get a shade paler!! I have a set of decorated bottle brush trees from my childhood that are green. I decided to do these up the same way. The vintage one is on the left.

I'm also going to DIY an ornament wreath from a thrifted wreath and some of my solid vintage bulbs. I need to do SOMETHING with them instead of stuffing them in a box as I don't have room for them on the tree.

And now on to the outfit portion of this post!! Wednesday I wore a thrifted LaneBryant pencil skirt, Sweater from Kmart(Jaclyn Smith on sale) Scarf from Kmart, tights and the kick-ass laced boots.

 Thursday I broke out some tartan. The sweater is Dressbarn/thrifted, the dark tartan skirt is Alfred Dunner/Thrifted, The wedge booties are HushPuppy/Thrifted, the bracelet is DIY and the scarf is thrifted.

Friday I wore a thrifted SagHarbor skirt that I need to alter a bit, Thrifted Cardigan made into pullover, black tights and thrifted Aerosole maryjanes.

Sunday I helped set-up for a Thanksgiving dinner for disadvantaged teenagers. I'm wearing a thrifted LaneBryant tunic,  thrifted WhiteStag mini-wale pants I made into stirrup pants and my Aerosole boots. Added a little bling with some vintage rhinestone pins. I bet you noticed the hair-cut. I was trying to grow it out but decided it was just too much aggravation. Based on the compliments I've gotten I really need to just rock the Jamie Lee Curtis hair and be done with it!!

Notice MrBill on the poochie pouch bed getting snuggly!! I made the Santa on the TV.

I hope everyone had a wonderful week!! I'll be back later with more DIY reveals!! Safe traveling to all of you who will be traveling for the holiday!!

TTFN

Tamera

Christmas Kitty DIY

Hiya Blogland!!! Everyone having a wonderful start to the  week??  I received a surprise in the mail yesterday from the always colorful and fabulous Senora Allnut. She sent the most gorgeous pleated ivory maxi skirt. I have pictured several outfits with this for next spring/summer. It will be very versatile!! She also sent a lovely bracelet and copper heart. I'm planning an outfit for the bracelet for later this week!! I love black and white!!

Here are some kitty ballerina ornaments I just made from stuff in my stash. Below is a quick DIY on how to make Santa ones. They go together really quickly. I'm also using this DIY to make angel ones. You can also make them into regular Santa's by substituting Santa faces for the kittens.

Pipe Cleaner Kitty Ornament DIY

 

Your supplies: 1 regular pipe cleaner, 1 bumpy pipe cleaner, 1/4 extra fuzzy pipe cleaner, face cut from old card,  tiny wreath and tree, also 4 small beads and a piece of string for hanging.

 Cut the bumpy pipe cleaner in half. Fold the bumpy and fuzzy pipe cleaners in half.

 

Loop the bumpy pipe cleaners together. Twist the bottom piece to make a star like below.

 Lay the fuzzy piece on top and wrap the untwisted (arm) pieces around it to hold it. It should look like below:

 Wrap the other pipe cleaner around the middle covering the white "ends" to form a body. don't make it too tight.

 Leave a piece loose for the tail. Secure by passing it under the loop above.

 Stick the beads on the ends. Bend a tiny bit of the pipe cleaner end up to secure the bead.

 Pass the string through the fuzzy loop and make a hanging loop by tying off.

Hot glue the face on the front and add tree and wreath. You can also add some glitter. The pink kitty's skirt was made by putting glue along the back of the ribbon and ruffling the crepe paper onto it. Then it's just hot glued on.

Santa Kitty!!!!

On the fashion front Monday's outfit was a big hit at work. The sweater is Basic Editions(Kmart)/Thrifted. The trousers DressBarn/Thrifted, shoes are Clarks/Thrifted and the necklace came from the clearance rack at Burlington Coat Factory. It was broken but easily fixed. I started out with a grey pinstripe shirt under the sweater but the shirt was too big and bunched up weird.

Tuesday outfit is for SpyGirl's 52 Pick-Me-Up: Trend Salad. We are supposed to wear as many trends as possible. I really don't follow the trends but here's my take on it. I'm covering pattern matching, menswear, colored tights,  and booties. Oh, and like Val Sparkle- silvery foxy grey hair!!

Everything except the tights is thrifted. Skirt is SagHarbor, Shawl/Vest is CJBanks, Turtleneck is Dressbarn, and the booties are Nine & Co that I got for $6 brand new unworn!!

I am also thrilled and honored to be SpyGirls' Digital Catwalk Model this week!! She even caught the purple in my hair!!!

Wait to see what happens when you mix some bleach, cheapo bottle brush trees, glitter and vintage beads. Stay tuned for the reveal!!

TTFN
Tamera

It's amazing how creative a fever makes you!!

Puppy Love--snoozing together on their blankeys.

 Hiya Blogland!! Has everyone been having a fantastic weekend?? I am finally feeling human again. The cold I had a couple of weeks ago turned into a cruddy bronchitis this past week. I've been house-bound other than a couple of trips to the doctor.

Weirdly enough, being sick and feverish amped up my creative juices. SO MANY IDEAS!!!  Plus I had to use an inhaler so after a few days I was WIRED. I had lots of little projects that I could do whilst vegging in the recliner. Heaven knows I have enough craft stuff to outfit a store!!

I've been making all sorts of pastel ornaments for the pastel tree. Here again is my FREE picked off the curb pastel Christmas tree:

I teased everyone Thursday on what could I possibly be making out of this stuff:

Jello molds, elves, birds, shredded paper and pipe cleaners

 Here's the finished products. I made little bird nests with the vintage birds, a mold and the shredded paper. I added some vintage beads and greenery.

Close-up of the bird ornament

I had a few of these vintage elves from my childhood.  I stuck some floral foam from my stash in the molds, topped it with some bating and added the elf and a little bottle brush tree. A bit of glitter and now I have ornaments that really set off the elves.

Close-up of elf

I pulled some white and pastel pipe cleaners out and made candy canes for the white tree. It's SUPER easy. Just cut the pipe cleaners in half. Take a white and pastel and just twist together and form in cane.
I may glitter these with snow glitter when I find my spray glue.

I also re-furbished these tiny vintage porcelain bell ornaments. The silk ribbon hangers were dry-rotted. I added pipe cleaners to hold the clapper in and a bit of vintage ribbon.

I'm busy making other ornaments I'll be showing off later this week! Plus I have some new to vintage bottle brush tree make-overs to share.

Outfit-wise it's been a boring week. Friday I had to go back to the doctors for a lung check (make sure I didn't develop pneumonia) My outfit other than the boots (Kmart) is thrifted. I was going with comfort not style for sure.

Today we  met up with my mom, daughter and son-in-law for dinner. I dressed for comfort in thrifted WhiteStag skinny cords I DIY with stirrups, a Bentley (this used to be sold in Kmart) pale grey tweedy tunic sweater, Aerosole boots and a scarf I got at the craft store.

I'm linking up with all of the fabulous ladies at Visible Monday and Monday Mingle. Come check out REAL style!!

Daddy and his babies on Saturday morning. MrBill always hops in my spot when I get up.

 Everyone have a wonderful beginning of the week and I'll be back Tuesday with more crafty reveals!!

TTFN

Tamera

Jello Molds and Pipe Cleaners

Hello Blogland!!! How is everyone doing this week?? It's gotten freakin' COLD here. It's crazy--we go from days when the high is in the 70's to days when the high is in the 30's. IN THE SAME WEEK!!! UGH!!!

I found a tree stand so I was able to stand the new (fresh from the curbside)white tree up. Ain't she a BEAUTY??

Here's a close-up so you can see the opalescent colors and needle texture:

Here's a view of the corner of the basement where my Christmas hoard lives. About half the stuff has been moved out to be re-lighted(I'm re-doing the trees with LED lights)and inventoried. Do I need an intervention??

The new white tree is going in the master bedroom and will be done in pastels. I've been busy going through my stash and making new ornaments for it.  I have quite a few vintage pastel glass balls that will also go on the tree. Here's a peek at what I've made so far:

These are made with copies of vintage cards, glitter and crepe paper.

I had a bunch of old reflectors for bulbs that do not fit any of my lights. I also found some glitter balls I had hoarded. A bit of hot glue and a pipe cleaner to attach to the tree and Wah-Lah!!! Flowers!!!

Reflector and ball

Add pipe cleaner to ball's hanging loop

Reflector Blossoms!!!

I'm going to give you a sneak peak of something else I'm working on. What do you think this pile of stuff will become??? I'll reveal it on Sunday!!!

This weeks SpyGirl 52 Pick-Me-Up is Color Friends- colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. . Which I totally skipped by to trend salad theme. DUH!!!  I  did wear color friends recently. I love anything blue and green and in between!!

The tshirt is Denim and Co., the sweater is a green & blue tweed from Preswick & Moore, the pants are Gloria Vanderbilt, the shoes Clarks and it's all thrifted!!!

 

This month's Mis Papelico's Share in Style theme is plaid. As a Scottish gal I bleed plaid!!! I found this Coldwater Creeek buffalo plaid sweater for $3 recently. It's a nice cotton knit and super comfy. I'm wearing it with thrifted jeans I made into stirrup pants and my thrifted cowboy boots! i feel like a cowboy lumberjack!!

I'm hoping to get to a couple of Christmas bazaars this Saturday. I REALLY need more Christmas stuff!!!

Everyone have a fabulous weekend and I'll chat with y'all on Sunday!!!!

TTFN
Tamera