Painting the stars....literally!

Our living room needs some love...and by love I mean money. Well, love of the monetary kind is being diverted to other needs at the moment so what's a gal to do?

Paint something, of course! Did you expect anything different from an artist?

While I like these stars, the red has gotten to be a bit much, lately. The leftover paint was raided and my trusty drop cloth came out. About fifteen minutes later, those red stars had become fresh and new again. Um, wish other things were that easy to update!

Why the sudden interest in "freshening up" our living room?

Some of the Hubby's fam will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year. The furniture is looking a little worn (we have kids!) and I've never really been able to pull the whole room together. I'm feeling some renewed inspiration and have decided to go for it in a thrifty kind of way....stay tuned for further projects and results!

Holiday Decorating...The Essentials

Holiday decorating fever is upon most of us...and why not? Break out those pretties and deck those halls!

I love decorating around our house and, over the years, I've come to rely on a few essentials when I get ready to trim the tree....and anything else I can get away with trimming.

Green craft wire or floral wire is one of my top essentials. Yes it's a must for those wreaths and garlands, but it also comes in handy for attaching ornaments to the tree...to keep little hands and feet safe from broken ornaments. Instead of just using a hook to hang my glass ornaments, I loop a piece of floral wire through the ornament's hoop and wrap the ends around a branch. When it's time to take everything down, I leave the wire on the ornament for the next year.

Ribbon and lots of it! It's reusable year after year and can be used in so many ways. Wreath hanger, gift wrap, tree garland, the usual bows........I've even hung a length of ribbon and paper clipped my Christmas cards to it for a card display on the cheap.

I looove these things! I use them to hang stockings, wreaths, seasonal art, garland, etc. I grab a few throughout the year whenever they're on sale and stock up for the holiday season. They're especially great when you're trying to keep your decor up and out of the way of little hands.

Then there's the less practical, but no less neccessary, item to add to my list of decorating essentials. Fireside coffee. Yum!

Mom found this part coffee, part hot cocoa recipe a few years ago and shared it with me. It's become a winter time staple in our house and it goes wonderfully with holiday bedecking.

There you have it, a few of my must haves for decking our halls. Do you have any?