proud mom...

I.am.exhausted...

...but a good kind of exhausted...

I am also a proud mom...

mike, dan, matt & jake

love these guys!

jaclyn and jake

so proud of you both!

Jake is at his over night college orientation right now so I still need the tissues.

See you for White Wednesday!

I should have myself pulled together by then!

christmas came early...

Do you remember when I told you I won Maria's giveaway over at Dreamy Whites?  Well I received my beautiful gifts this week and it was like Christmas came early...

Loving the color of the velvet ribbon!  I hated to open them but of course I did...

There are two beautiful stockings and a gorgeous table runner made from antique European grain sacks!  She also sent me a sweet little lavender filled sachet as well as a dried bouquet of lavender...

Thank you so much Maria!!  Would  you like to see where I put everything?  I thought, just for the holidays, the table runner would look sweet under the tree in my Paris Hotel Suite...

Then I put the little sachet with the brown paper packages tied up with string (secretly hiding a few of their favorite things)...

I made tags out of scraps of sheet music from other projects as well as adding some sparkly snowflakes to the packages.  The music side of the tag is displayed but when you turn it over...

 It shows who the gift is for!  My family thinks these brown paper packages tied up with string are just for show ~ hee hee!  The wonderful stockings are hanging from my Santa stocking holder...

I have the lavender in my craft room with all the treasures I am collecting for my kitchen mini makeover after the holidays.  Now these lovelies aren't the only thing I won from Maria ~ I also won a beautiful wreath from Wintersteen Farms!  Again, Christmas came early for me...

Jim helped me hang it on the beautiful old mirror I put over Santa's entry way...

Isn't it beautiful!!  It smells beautiful too!  I was so excited I had to go and light my candles...

I think it is the perfect finishing touch for Santa's entry way...

Of course I had to take pictures the next day when the sun was shining...

Pretty ribbon for hanging and pine cones to save year after year...

Thank you again Maria and thank you Jeff and Kelly from Wintersteen Farms ~ your beautiful hand crafted wreath is helping me celebrate the season!

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you can visit Debra at Common Ground where she is celebrating Vintage Inspiration Friday!  Have a wonderful weekend!!

christmas music...

Good Morning!!  Debra is hosting her Vintage Inspiration Friday again today at Common Ground ~ don't you just love  her new button...

Today my little holiday nest tour continues with a bit of a music theme.  I put this simple vignette together and my Mom's old music book was the starting point...

There is a little peek of my tree in the reflection!  I love the graphics on the cone don't you...

I wanted the vignette on this table to go with this sweet Christmas sheet music banner I put on my mantel mirror (which I do not use on my mantel!)...

  Each "flag" is a different Christmas carol and the edges are trimmed in glitter...

Another peek at my tree!  And yes, it sits right next to my ugly old computer table and chair (hoping to find new ones soon...still trying to talk the Mr. into the chair Hilary!)  Well, since I sort of showed you a bit of the desk I will share with you how I tried to make it look pretty for the holidays.  Above the desk on the message board I put the advent calendar I made for myself...

Then I took the old drawer with metal dividers out of my craft room and put it on the corner of the desk...

I added a few little flower frogs and some petite white bottle brush trees but I think it might need something else.  Any suggestions?  I am sure a bit of browsing through all the other VIF links over at Common Ground will probably give me a few ideas!

I hope you all enjoy your day ~ mine started off just fabulous ~ I won the beautiful giveaway over at Dreamy Whites!!  Thank you so much Maria!  Am I a lucky girl or what!!!