Christmas House Tour 2013

Hi I am so glad you came to visit today for my Christmas home tour 2013.  I am very excited to be a part of The Nester’s 5th Annual Christmas Tour of Homes.

Instead of showing you pictures I did a video tour of our home.

Please click HERE to see it.  (I had a cold when I did this, so my voice sounds pretty bad.  You might want to turn the volume off and just look at the pictures.)

To see more wonderful homes all decorated for Christmas go to  Nesting Place

Thanks for coming to my Christmas home tour  today!  Rhondi xo

Christmas Candle Ideas

This post about Christmas candle ideas all started because my mind has a tendency to wander..

Every morning in December, as soon as we have our tree set up in the living room I light some candles and light up the tree.  Then I bring my tea, my journal and my bible and curl up in a chair to have some quiet time before the day’s activities begin.  As I was sitting there looking at the flickering candles in the big glass vases, my mind began to wander and I thought how pretty they were and how easy it was to just plop a candle in a glass container  and group a few together.

Did you notice the broom in the corner of the picture? Oh well!

I have a lot of crystal which sparkles when it has a candle in it.

Our mantle is decorated with crystal, a little silver, pine cones and holly.  It’s not really Christmasy so I might leave it that way for awhile in the new year.

Anyway I got thinking that everyone doesn’t have crystal for their candles but there are lots of ways to use candles to get a sparkle without spending much money.These glass containers were yard sale finds, $2 & $3 each.  They make a great statement alone or in a group.

You can leave them plain or add something like glass balls for a little more sparkle

Putting a mirror  behind the candle adds more sparkle.  I just got this mirror the other day, $3., so I just leaned it up against the wall to see how it would look.

Putting a mirror  behind the candle adds more sparkle.  I just got this mirror the other day, $3., so I just leaned it up against the wall to see how it would look.

Lots of Christmas candle ideas come to mind.  Group several on a silver tray.

You don’t have a silver tray?  A dinner plate will work fine.  You can find plain white at Dollar Tree, or at Goodwill .

One candle on a colorful plate in a hurricane always looks classic.  You can use your coupon at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s and get one very cheap.

Any tray with one candle and some greenery around it is so simple and pretty.  I am lucky because we have a huge hedge of holly right outside our door which is what I used here.  If you live in an apartment or have no greenery at your home, maybe a friend or neighbor will let you cut a branch or two.

I hope you’re not tired yet.  I have just a few more Christmas candle ideas which can be done with what you have on hand. This one is pretty simple: a glass from your kitchen with a small candle in it, some scrunched up aluminum foil and a  few green leaves on a plate.

A colorful glass on a plate, with holly.  The glass was a recent Dollar Tree find, so cute!

While I was getting the glass out of the kitchen cupboard I thought, “What other random thing could I use?”    A colander is pretty random.  That’s not something you would think to put a candle in.

Some jute ties around the candle and pine cones scattered around it. Love it!

But you might say, I don’t have an old colander, or fresh ivy or even nice fat candles.   But you probably have a few old candles that are burnt down low, a plate, some aluminum foil, paper and scissors?  Well let’s use that.

Melt the bottom of the candles enough to make the wax sticky so you can adhere them to the plate.  Make a wreath with the aluminum foil.

There is no end to the number of Christmas candle ideas, so look around your house and see what you’ve got.  Might be fun to do a link up for Christmas Candle Ideas.  Anyone interested?

Today I am joining

Works For Me Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Whimsy Wednesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Rhondi xo

Christmas Decorating with Blue and White China

Finally started to do some Christmas decorating with some of my blue and white china.!  For the last couple of years part of my Christmas decorating has been a small tree with some of my blue and white china on it. It began as a little tree sitting on the  island in the kitchen.  Then it graduated to a larger tabletop tree.  This year I decided to go for a full size tree.  Our daughter borrowed this tree for a few years and we just got it back.  I love it because it looks like a real tree. I used pine cones gathered from the neighborhood, plastic silver and white snowflakes, blue and white china and chandelier crystals.  Needless to say it sparkles!!

Today I decided  to link up with 2 blogging friends who I haven’t visited for a long time. It’s always fun to see what other bloggers are up to!  Why don’t you come along with me?  I’m sure they would love to see you.

Mary hosts Mosaic Monday with Mary at her Little Red House blog.

Sally is hosting  Blue Monday at her Smiling Sally blog.

Hopefully in the next few days I will have got the decorating done and I’ll have you over for tea and cookies, so you can see how our home looks with its Christmas decorating with blue and white china and other good stuff..

Rhondi X0

Christmas

I was at Walmart yesterday and they already have live Christmas trees there.   I pity anyone who buys one of those.  There is no way it will hold its needles until Christmas!

Anyhow, when I saw it, my negative feelings about Christmas all came rushing to the surface.  I have to confess that I really don’t like Christmas. All the shopping,  buying gifts for people who already have everything they need, all the parties, food, etc.

Every year I get all stressed out over Christmas.  I don’t even have very many gifts to buy, just the grandchildren and our children and spouses. But even with only a few gifts it still stresses me out.  I am not a shopper.  I am great when it comes to finding an old chair to fix up at a garage sale or thrift shop, but that kind of gift doesn’t go very too well with 2, 4 & 7 year old boys, or 2& 9 year old girls.

But yesterday seeing those trees at Walmart I had a brilliant idea.  Every time I see Christmas stuff, ads on TV, decorations in the store, Christmas music at the gas station, I am going to thank  The Lord for sending Jesus and remember what a gift that is.

The greatest gift…JESUS

I am not going to let the “Christmas spirit”, you know, the one that says we need to create the perfect Christmas experience for our families,  I’m not going to let that get to me.

Instead I am going to think about Jesus and what he did for us by coming to this world and thank God for it.  And when I hear “It’s a Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives for the umpteenth time,  I am going to remind myself that is is a HOLY JOYFUL CHRISTMAS.  I am going to get out my Compassion International and World Vision catalogue and give something that is needed.

I am still going to decorate our house because I do that all year anyway, but  it will be simpler and I am going to take my time doing it. I may invite a friend or two in for tea but no big parties.

I am laying aside all the expectations.  I love  Thanksgiving and so we will celebrate Thanksgiving all the way through the “holiday season”.  Thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus.

Rhondi xo

Preparing For Winter

 I began to preparing for winter yesterday.  Preparing for winter for many people involves stocking up on firewood, canning and freezing food from the garden.  My preparations are much less strenuous. I bring the ferns that are on our front porch, inside.

 Our sunroom gets a lot of light especially in the winter, so that’s where I put them.  Two go in front of the windows.

One hangs above my wicker desk.

 The other one goes in the corner where my wicker chaise lounge is.

Here is a view from the kitchen, with my messy desk in the way.

I did one more thing in preparing for winter.  I bought some pansies to put in some planters on the back deck!

So as you can see I have been VERY busy preparing for winter.  The water in the birdbath was frozen this morning so I got all my winter chores done just in time 

In my previous post  I was telling you how I have too many projects on the go.   One of them was to paint the top of this table which I use as a desk. I used Annie Sloan Louis Blue, a color I have  been using  quite a lot lately.  I gave it one coat of wax and so far it seems to be holding up well with the amount of use it gets.

Another project is painting and recovering the seats of a set of chairs I got at a yard sale.  There is a tablecloth sitting on this one which I am considering using to cover 2 of the chair seats, but I’m not sure yet. Did I tell you about these chairs already?  I don’t think so, but I’ll wait to tell you about the great deal I got on them when I get them finished.

One last thing.  I got this decal at The Dollar Tree.  Isn’t it great?  It fit perfectly in the panel on our fake fireplace mantle in the living room.  I liked it so much that I bought a bunch to give to friends.

This post was a little rambling wasn’t it? A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Are you preparing for winter?  What have you done so far?

I’t a chilly day, just the kind of day that is perfect for a hot cup of something.  I am going to make a nice pot of tea.  Care to join me?

Rhondi x0

Too Many Things

Do you ever have too many projects on the go at one time?  I do!

Awhile ago I decided to paint our front hall, living room and  dining room white.I planned to stencil the upper half of the walls in the front hall and paint the upper half of the dining room walls a pale blue.

I painted the hall, living room and the bottom half of the dining room.  Then I stenciled the upper half of the hall walls and painted a couple of a sample colors over the yellow on the dining room walls.  I couldn’t decide what color blue looked best, so I just left it with for a couple of weeks with patches of blue here and there.   I rearranged some furniture and hung a few things on the walls but it just wasn’t coming together.

So I just left it and I started on 2 quilts, one for my sister in law and one just for fun to cuddle under on a cold winter day.

Then I found some matelasse spreads  to make slips for my wing chairs,

So the  quilts got put on hold.  Here are the spreads just thrown over the chairs.

Then I found some matelasse spreads  to make slips for my wing chairs,

So the  quilts got put on hold.  Here are the spreads just thrown over the chairs.

Remember how I  made these and even though they looked great the brown wasn’t making me happy.  I posted about it HERE

I am pleased with how they turned out.I didn’t feel too bad about recovering them again when I was able to get those spreads for only $20.

I LOVE matelasse on chairs because it is durable and you can just throw it on the washer and dryer and even bleach it if you need to.  I made one at least 13 years ago for our sofa.  It has been washed so many times and is still holding up well.

Finally I decided that I really like the yellow so I painted over the sample patches of blue and kept the dining room yellow.

As with most of the projects I have on the go right now, this post is unfinished too because I have to go and do something else

to be continued…

Rhondi xo

I am pleased with how they turned out.

We Will Make Art

We will make art. I am reading a wonderful book A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman. Here are a couple of quotes from her book:

“You stare at your living room and imagine ways to make it better and then you do and it changes your mood. It should be silly, except somehow it isn’t.”

“I don’t believe there is one great thing I was made to do in this world.  I believe there is one great God I was made to glorify.  And there will be many ways,  maybe even a million little ways, I willed declare his glory with my life.”

It’s not just painters or writers or musicians who are artists.

Anyone who has an idea in their head and presents it in such a way that people can be inspired, encouraged, comforted, etc  is an artist.

I like to make quilts.  The fun for me is choosing the colors and putting them together in an interesting way.  I’m never sure how it will turn out until I’m done.

When people look at my quilts it makes them feel happy because they are colorful.

When people sleep under my quilts or wrap them around themselves while watching TV it makes them feel warm and cared for.

I have made quilts from shirts for a friend whose husband died and a quilt quilted with Psalm 91 for a friend who was battling cancer, which brought comfort and love. ”

 In her book she says, “What if you began to see your art as something other than your idea?  What if it was less lofty and more necessary to your daily rhythm?  What if your art is part of a bigger picture, part of a daily grace God has in mind for someone else?”  So when I am thinking about the colors and how to put them together it is so much more than just some talent I have.  I am  doing something God has called me to do.”

So, “we will make art”

I am going to make something with fabric, some type of quilt.  The first thing to do is decide what colors to use.

Decided to use blue (what a surprise)

It always gets quite messy.

I was thinking of using some pink to, but finally settled on this simple block with 16 2″ squares.

More messiness. My sewing room has a bed in the middle of it!

I start to arrange them in a pattern.  I don’t know what it is going to be yet, a quilt for a bed, for a tablecloth, to throw over the back of a couch.  For right now my job is just to arrange the pieces and wait to see how it turns out.

This is the art I am making right now.  Here is one more quote from the book:

“The world needs you awake and alive.  Does the world need another book? Song? Painted living room? Not necessarily, but the world does need you to come alive right where you are and not where you wish you were.  If writing books, or songs, or painting  living rooms is what makes you come alive, then that’s what you’ll need to do.”

What makes you come alive?  Are you doing it?

Rhondi xo

I am linking with Emily’s blog Chatting At The Sky today.

Magpies

                     I’m taking you on a field trip to one of my new favorite shops, Magpies in Matthews NC.

                           The path to the front door wanders by a garden filled with lots of rustic treasures

                                                               and interesting plantings.

                                 Cheerful yellow boots filled with lantana greet you on the front porch.

Inside the shop is filled with vintage treasures, dishes, glassware, linens, and wonderful things for entertaining and decorating.

Sorry about the quality of photo. I took them with my phone and the light wasn’t right.

Right now she has lots of things for fall and Halloween in the shop.  I have a teapot like this in red. You might remember it.

I almost bought this basket of dishes because I need some more blue and white china lol.

One whole room is filled with a wonderful collection of books.

Other rooms hold bedspreads, quilts, tablecloths,, things for babies and young children,garden items, bathroom items and so much more.

Magpie Treasures is a unique shop.  It is always being filled with new merchandise, some of it new, most  of it found by Becky .the Magpie who owns the shop.  The prices are great, the variety of items is amazing.

It is only open at certain times.  You need to get on their mailing list to be notified of when it’s open.

It is open this Saturday October 26 from 9:00 -2:00

The address is 6809 Potters Road Matthews NC

If you go be sure to say hi to Mary Beth the sweet lady who works there.  Tell her I sent you. Oh and make sure you have something to eat. Last I was there time she had made pumpkin cheesecake squares with chocolate on the top.  Yummy !!  I won’t be able to go this time because we are having a yard sale with some of the neighbors.

Rhondi xo