New Year's

I hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year's...

...now bring on the champagne!!

Blanket of History

Christmas was full of meaningful gifts for everyone in my family this year. Lots of things were made by hand and given with love, including the table I posted yesterday. But, the quilt that I made for my Grandma tops the list too :)

If you've been around for awhile you remember that my Grandpa passed away back in April. After, my Grandma gave me all of his old ties not knowing what to do with them and not wanting to throw them away.

I didn't want to make just any old project with them so I decided to make a quilt for my Grandma. I knew it would be something she would love since they were ties from my Grandpa and also because I made it with love.

All the ties cut into squares, ready for sewing

All the squares sewn into long sections

The finished quilt.

As you can imagine there were lots of tears this Christmas too. My Grandma was completely surprised and loved it beyond words.

It will certainly be an heirloom that is cherished for many, many decades to come.

Generous People

Santa, aka my parents, family and BF were very generous this year!! I could not have asked for a more amazing Christmas if I planned it and bought for myself :)

One of my most favorite and special presents is a new table that my Daddy made for me, yes MADE FOR ME!

It kinda looks like this only a million times better, it's white and has a shelf. Like my drawing?

He is crafty like me...I mean where do you think I get it from? So it is built to perfection, like not one measurement off. Once I get it behind my sofa I will take more pics and share them- but I was too excited to wait to post so this drawing will have to do for the moment.

I also got a new laptop because two special people knew that my old one was no good for blogging- thank you Mom and Dad!! So you can't really see it, but just know that I am posting on it now and it is just perfect, blogging is so much faster now!

I hope Santa was good to everyone out there in blog land!

Merry Christmas!

Signing off for Christmas. I hope you all have an amazing and wonderful Christmas this year!

To keep you entertained here are a few of my favorite Christmas images.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

(Photos from: Martha Stewart, House and Home, and Coastal Living)

Stocking Stuffers

I'm so behind in my blogging...please forgive me.

Jaime over at La Vie J'aime asked me to put together my perfect stocking- only rule was it had to fit in the stocking.

I picked a classic Pottery Barn stocking, love the little bling detail on it. To see what I selected to to go in my stocking go HERE to Jaime's blog to see more :)


Christmas Countdown- 3 days wooohooo!!!

Whoa!

I can't believe that its Christmas week already?!? Where has the time gone??

I feel like I am up to my eyeballs in finishing some handmade Christmas presents, wrapping presents, cleaning the house, getting laundry done before we leave for the holiday, etc, etc. Please tell me I am not alone?

One of the things on my list is to make my Christmas Spiced Nuts. These are a favorite of everyone in my family and I always make a few extra jars to put in my Dad and Brothers stockings.

Last year I just re-packaged them in their original containers- you can see those HERE.

But this year I am using glass jars that I collected and covering the tops like I did in this little craft.

Wrapped with a pretty ribbon and a nice tag, these are the perfect hostess gift or stocking stuffer.

I use a Better Homes & Gardens recipe for the nuts, I like the way they taste the best- you can get it HERE


Happy Christmas week!!!

More Leftovers

Since my peacock Christmas makeover was budget based I used what I had around the house and lots of creativity.

Remember my walls are also a pretty peacock blue color? The little sample pot of paint came in handy here.



Added to some white paint, I got a pretty turquoise color



And left over glass ornaments I bought on clearance at Target last year.

It's these times where I am thankful for my needless buying/shopping. Take these ornaments for example, when I bought them it was kinda like, "I don't really need these at all but they are pretty, so in the cart they go". (That's how the conversation in my head went, just in case you were wondering )





Leftover paint + clearance glass ornaments = pretty additions for my tree to go with the Peacock color theme.

I love being in the Christmas spirit- it really is the best time of year!!!

Tartan and Pine

Since I had the scrap fabric box out to make my new stockings I figured it was about time to do something with the pretty tartan fabric that my Grandma gave me.

Tartan fabric + a bag of Balsam Fir goodness = an amazing smelling door-hanging-thing.






I just added gold ribbon as the hanger for a little extra sparkle and ta-da

I was making them as stocking stuffers for my family, but since I like them so much they might just have to stay at my house.

Gotta love quick, easy sewing projects that bring joy every time I smell them.

Proud Moment

I'd like to take a little detour in my post today and congratulate the most wonderful man, also known as my boyfriend, for graduating yesterday- he is now and MBA Graduate!

While working full time, taking on an unpaid internship to build his resume AND taking classes at night he finished up his MBA in only two years and one semester! It makes my head spin thinking about all the work he has done over these two years- the papers, group meetings, trips to Asia, meetings with Professors, his day job, etc. etc., the man did it all!!!

Congrats baby I am so beyond proud of you- you are smart, driven, successful, talented and most importantly a great boyfriend! I love you!

_________________________________________________

Now that the celebrating is over, do you want your to-do list now, or later? OK, I'll just give it to you now:

Would you please:
Take out the trash
bring the recycling downstairs
Fold your laundry
Clean your office
Put all school books/binders aside so we can put them in storage
clean out your closet of all clothes that don't fit/are old/ or that you don't want so we can donate them.

Other than that, CONGRATS!!! xoxox

Blue, Green, and Peacock Blue in Action

The sun finally came out- or actually I was at home during the hours when the sun is out- and got to snap some quick pictures to show you all my fully completed peacock colored mantle.

So here it is in all its blue, green and teal glory!

click on the pictures to see the full image

So was it worth the wait or was it a total let down? Let me have it.

More Christmas crafty items to come later this week- stay tuned.

Overexcitement

Before anyone gets overly excited about the whole peacock thing I did for Christmas, I would like to "manage expectations" (as my boss says we do with clients).

I realized that I already have a ton of ornaments so I'm not going to spend a ton and buy all new peacock feather themed ones. I'll just add to what I have. Why you ask? Well because we are doing an eco-Christmas. Short for "the economy sucks, time to cut back, need to save pennies and not spend them on peacock feather ornaments so Lindsay has something to blog about-Christmas", get my drift?

So here is how the tree looks so far

Just the same with some pretty peacock birds here and there- nothing too over-the-top since I'm on a strict budget. Think I can say peacock 100 times in this post? Keep count for me.

Moving on with the peacock makeover. The red and green stockings I had last year were just not cutting it. So last night out came the sewing machine and box of scrap fabric and these babies were whipped up

better then red and green, no? The color is actually a peacock blue color like the walls (that's 7 peacocks so far, count that 8)

In other news, my amaryllis is in full bloom and I am loving it.

(Thank you Aunt Sue and Uncle Rick! I know you picked it out because it was Orange, well the tag lied to you, it's white. I love it just the same)

More half-ass peacock Christmas decor to come soon, I promise. But like I said, please don't get too overexcited.

*peacock count = 10

Tar and Feather

Almost done with all my Christmas decor. I actually stuck to my original plan this year and went with the peacock colors. No tar, just feathers.

I changed my mind about 100 times, but figured I already posted THIS so why not just go with it.

Just a tiny sneak peak for now...I have to take pics during the day and since I'm at the office from sunrise to sunset it makes it kinda hard for taking pretty pictures...damn you day job.

An Old Love

No matter how many times I see some images I love them just as much now as I did the day I first saw them.

Like this room for example....I just love it!



Tia really has it going on IMO, and lets face it around these parts my opinion is pretty important.


love


no question here- love the orange


i.must.get.that.rug

love more- I totally want to try dark walls in the bedroom, but I know the BF will put the squash to that one. A dark headboard might just be the way to go, like this one.

I want my own house already so I can have a kitchen like this one, I love the mix of white and wood tone. The BF and I could definitely come to an agreement on something like this.

She is the woman!

All photos from Zoldan Interiors

Keeping Warm

There is just something about a roaring fire that screams cozy, warm and comfortable. With the snow/rain storm that is expected to hit Boston tonight, this is where I would like to be for the next few days till it blows over.

Photo from House and Home by Angus McRitchie

Stripes like what what!

Total hotness for a fab NYC couple.



Article HERE

Photo by: Donna Alberico for The New York Times