christmas

Stained Glass Christmas Ornaments

by

stained glass christmas ornaments

About today’s picture:

A dear friend of mine makes wonderful stained glass Christmas ornaments. We have her make a new ornament for each family in our church every year. This was last year’s edition. It sparkles so nicely with the tiny lights shining on the Austrian crystals!

I will post the whole collection – including the newest edition very soon. You can feel free to contact me if you’d like to pick any of them up for family – friends – or yourself 🙂

You can find her shop “The Glass Menagerie” here on Etsy.

Blogging From NYC

by

Rockefeller Center

Even though I am away on vacation with my husband, I was so excited to post today!

My husband & I decided to go away for a few days & spend some time together, since we are not able to do that very often. My parents came up to be with our children, so we don’t have any worries while we’re gone.

We decided to go away “last” minute, since we were both feeling a little “under the weather”, but because my parents were kind enough to come up & be with the children, we decided to pack up and go.

We wanted to do something that we’ve never done before, so we decided to head down to NYC for the annual Christmas lights, and store front displays.

As we were walking down 5th Ave., we saw the wonderful New York Library (that’s were I’m sitting right now :), and I thought that would be the perfect place to catch up with all of you! You would love it here! The ceilings are so high & very ornate, the walls & floors are marble, there are murals on the walls, lots of nice lighting, and moldings as well. Dan & I have gotten some nice ideas to use in our library back at the cottage. We especially liked the darker colors with the spotlights that highlight the books & artwork.

There are so many wonderful things to see here in the city!

Lots of people (so diverse), wonderful smells of food on every corner, and glitz & glitter everywhere. We’re looking forward to seeing everything tonight as the sun goes down & the lights come on!

Well, it’s almost 4pm & we still haven’t stopped to eat, so I’d better go for now.

I’m looking forward to sharing lots of pictures from our trip, as well as piles of holiday ideas with you in a few days! Tomorrow we’re off to visit Sturbridge, MA & celebrate Christmas in the early 1800-1900s.

Writing from the city that never sleeps,
Pearl

Sitting Area With Grapevine Garland

by

I Love this sitting area in the dining room – lots of light & big windows! When trying to decide what to do about the window coverings, I decided to leave them open. At the end of the season, I went outside & gathered some vines from the cottage garden. Then, I simply took some small gage wire & hung the garland up on some small nails that were placed every few feet near the ceiling. You can see the little white birds that I added. They clip on & add a nice natural feel. During the Christmas season, I hang our Christmas cards along the garland using an opened paperclip place in a hole in the corner of each card.

Here’s a picture of one of the birds close up, although this one is on the primitive Christmas tree on the side of the room.
It’s so easy to add a natural feel to a room. Here, I’ve used a harvest basket, plants, vintage watering can, clay pots, birds, and a cast iron bunny.