Holiday decorating in the Kitchen {Christmas}

Good evening! 

Boy was it cold here today in the Carolinas! I still have a chill in my bones and I have been back in for hours now. 

Well, I am finally through decorating for Christmas in the kitchen.

  

I show you snippets here and there and then it all comes together in the end for you.

First I made this centerpiece, first inspired by this centerpiece

{bhg}

I had everything on hand so it was easy~

Simple Christmas ornaments under a cloche and a cute little tea towel draped underneath.

Chande dressed up with candy canes and a holiday bell...

I have already shown you this side,

Simple stocking hung, tied with a bow...

Wreath hung in the window to give me some greenery.  It is so bare back there now.

Enjoy your evening.

JOINING:

WOW us Wednesday

Blue cricket design

Someday crafts

Primp
Fall into Fall

We did it Wednesday
Design Dazzle

Recipes, family, and Party central going on!

Hi gals! Break time is over.
First a HUGE,HUGE thank you for all your lovely comments, emails, and face book messages regarding my families big debut in Country Woman Magazine! 
They mean more to me than you will ever know!
XO!

A few days off  from blogging does you good, refreshes you! I am ready full force here.....

Our family visit was spectacular as always.

Mike and his Dad reconnecting after almost 20 years has been an amazing time for all of us.

Lotta love there, and great times we are sharing together.

Couple things to fill you in on.

Country Woman Magazine is coming to our home on April 26th...

yes, just that fast.

The publication will be out August/ September.

They required some info on my end, such as family names, how we bought our home,

what we have done to change things, a little about my blog,
and they want three recipes we love to share in the summer.

This is actually my husbands recipe that we make often for when entertaining..Bruschetta

I think we have come up with them and I will share with you as well in the future.

Today I am just sharing some pretty pictures of food and a little of the dining area.

Something I want to stress to newbies.....

You never know who will stumble across your blog.  When you link to parties, there are actually editors and magazines that may stumble across your post. It does not matter if you are a big blog  a small blog, a new blog or an old blog...
If you have good content, good pictures, tutorials, etc...that may be exactly what they are looking for.
I know gals get discouraged when they link to parties and don't receive a lot of comments, after all that is what most of us love, feedback and interaction. However, keep in mind you are sharing your passions, whether it be cooking, writing, decorating, photography,crafting,decorating etc...you are sharing it and people are looking, and you never know who it is.
I never would have dreamed of that phone call.  Some of my facebook friends asked me if I entered a contest, or submitted something...the answer is NO!   
The reality is, that is their jobs, to find material for their magazine, so yours just could be next...
 Always do your best, and be the best that you can be.....that goes for everyday life.
Who knows you may just be discovered on Debbiedoo's party links! So link up!!~
I see some great content every week and am amazed at the talents out here.

Here are my party guidelines:
Blogging six months or less and/or less than 100 followers.
If you are NOT  a friend of mine, I would certainly love for you to be.
Have fun!

 By the time Country woman Magazine does come, all our trees will be in full bloom. We never covered this back window, because it acts as a beautiful scenic back drop.
We have lots of birds, deer, squirrels, etc...
Have fun at the party.
ONE MORE THING:
If you see your link is gone...OOPS you did not follow my guidelines.  I deleted around 15 links last week.
This is not a general craft party, this is not a link and leave party.
This is a newbie party to make new friends..I love when I see you girls visiting and connecting with one another ..that is the point of it! I really love when I see my older readers participating and making new friends as well, so thank you all for the support of the party!

Be sure to pop back in tomorrow as a I have a wonderful giveaway coming up.
Anyone know Lisa Leonard? I bet you do...and if you don't you will want to see her beautiful jewelery...so stay tuned!

Joining
Susan for her MM party

This was EASY!

A lot of us have this problem with the exposure of the side of the fridge area. 

Is it really a problem? No, not at all, just a decorating eye sore I guess.  

Mine was not too bad, but it could use a little face lift.  

So I asked my dear hubby if he would get some bead board, and do it for me.  

He much obliged, because you know how that would go otherwise.

Before

During the process.  We had some left over paint from our dining room, which is a shade darker than the kitchen area. I like the contrast

At first we were not sure about it. Then we added that old fanny paddle that is the same color as our cabinets, I think it works fabulous now. ( My Mom gave us the paddle years ago), she thought instead of calling in Super Nanny we could try this first.
Would you like to see a close up of the fanny paddle?
Funny Jack asked me the other day, just why did I hang this on the fridge, and did I plan on using it? I said of course, it is tradition, Nana used it on me and my sister. (NOT REALLY calm down)

 FYI, my husband used two sided tape to adhere to the fridge.
So in the future we can always remove it if we so wish to.  I wanted him to do bead board on the sides of the island, but he gasped at the mere thought of covering this wood. So I guess NOT!
Joining Susan For MM

Christmas in the kitchen

I have only shown you my dinette area and some snippets of the kitchen.  Again keeping it all simple this year. I tend to over do it sometimes, and then I get sick of the clutter I feel we have.  So far so good this year, I am loving it!

I found this wooden snowman last year at Marshalls, thought it was perfect for behind the stove area. I added a string of beads, and added a few snowflakes to the string.

This cider canister we found in October at an antique store. It is not that old, but we loved it! And for $12.00 how could you go wrong?

These books displayed I bought at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago, for a buck a piece.

The pretty trees behind the sink I bought at the WOW store. It is a local decor store, rememeber the one I did the commercials for.  The tree's where on clearance for $7.00 each, plus I received 20% off. You may notice that is a wine bottle with soap in it. The bottle has a rooster on it, and I thought it would make for a good soap dispenser.

Simple lime green balls, a few glitz and some glam of beads

I was going to add some live greenery to the top of the cabinets. As you see I really do not decorate on top.  To me it is way too cluttered to have decor up there.  At one time in my life, I would have them jammed packed with all my tea cups and pot collections. I have two sets up there now, and I do change those out per season.  I can't handle dusting all the time up there. Not to mention, it is not that easy up and down on a ladder. Safety is no accident is my MOTTO!
Joining Susan for BNOTP 
Amaze me Monday 
The girl creative 
Kim's Boring to better party

I'm so excited!

I am a huge fan of FALL. I love the season and I love the warm colors.

That was pretty much the deciding factor when choosing our interior colors. We have a very open floor plan, very little walls dividing the rooms.  That can pose a problem when trying to create warmth.  The color we have chosen for most of our living space is called Butter. It is by restoration hardware.  We love it, and the nice thing about this color, is just about everything goes with it.

I just love the backdrop here, love Mother nature! THis is why I keep these windows free of window treatments.

This side window brings in a lot of natural light, I need blinds...HERE are my new valances! I love them....New valances are from Walmart! Loves them.....

Of course it led to a mini project...Have you ever seen me paint anything white? NO, but I like it, not sure for how long though.

And here it was black

What glorious Fall indeed! We are at peak now.

If you are new to my blog. I would like for you to take a few moments to see some of my new features.  I am on a mission to helping all the newbie blogs out. Although, I have only been blogging a year myself, I know how it feels to be the new kid in town.  Please check out my tutorials, and coffee chat series.

Also Every Monday I will be doing a newbie linkie party for blogs 6 months or less and/or less than 100 followers.  The first one was a huge success.

Joining the nester

Halloween kitchen

 I would say I am just about finished in doors with my Halloween fun. Come along and see the fun changes I made.

 Jack who is my candy freak, hates candy corn...therefore it was perfect to decorate with, he won't eat it. As you can see I took a simple little ribbon and tied it around the jar and added a bat.

 This is about all the embellishing you will see on my pumpkins. I decided I like them traditional ORANGE.

 Dollar tree sign, skull garland and skulls.

 I love these cupcake candles from Home goods, I sprinkled coconut and chocolate chips around the platter, I notice each day chocolate chips are thinning out.  Those cute little candy filled jars (plastic) are from the Walmart.

 I acutally used Halloween towels behind the chicken wire in my pie safe.

I will be Joining Marty for tabletop Tuesday.
DIY 
MY romantic home
Tickled pink party with Holly 

CSN giveaway here

Orange you glad you came?

Ok I am starting to get crazy over here with colors.  What I realized the other day, and for those of you who contemplate using yellow on your walls.  I am here to tell you GO FOR it! Every accessory I put in my kitchen has seemed to go.  At least in my eyes which well maybe that is not such a good thing....but truly I think it does.  On my ventures last week of garage salen' I came across a few things that I was not sure what I would do with them, but bought them anyhow because they where so cheap.  In the meantime, I was making some pretty orange burlap pillows. I do not sew and I can tell you stitch witch is my friend.  So easy to make a pillow it was ridiculous.  Loved the orange color, and burlap is cheap too, 2.99 a yard and if you have a coupon you can get it really cheap.  I knew I had to put something on the pillows but had no clue what I wanted.  That was until I saw these textured like doilies...I guess they are....there where a whole bunch for 1.00...loved the colors so I grabbed them.  When I came home that is when I realized what I would do with them.  I also have made a new table runner, which was also a no sew, no brainer project for me.  I say this because all you girls who say I can't do that, or I stink...no you don't! If I can do it, anyone can.  I am no rocket scientist believe me! I decided I would set the table fun today.  So funny too, if you have kids you really have to see this you tube video...my son Jack just happened to be watching it when I was setting the table...we have good energy like that...it was hilarious! So let me start with the pillows I made.

 

I really do not know what those doilies are, they are a thicker texture as you can see..those are two I layered on

Look how nice and neat I sewed NOT! As I mentioned before stitch witch....

 

Here is my big 1.00 garage sale purchase, I spruced it up with color.  The votives where amber which that is what I loved about it.

 

My home made table runner, love funk and whimsy pattern

 

This was the kitchen last week, which I love and of course will go back to....I just want to show you how just about every color I add with the warm yellow walls, works...or at least I think so.  I am loving the orange this week. We shall see what next week or two brings.

There you be....orange you glad you came? If you have kids, or just want a laugh, go check out this you tube video...annoying orange...my son Jack was belly laughing over this. Have a great weekend everyone.  I will be putting up my Mr. Linky every Saturday morning and it will be up until Monday night.  Have fun, and I can't wait to see some more fun finds.!

 

I will be linking up with a few parties myself this week. Thank you to all  of you lovely ladies for hosting, I appreciate it and love all your feedback and your comments.  Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget about my linky party coming up this Saturday and every Saturday here on in. PARTY going on now, go check it out, my recent post!

http://theshabbychiccottage.blogspot.com

http://romantichome.blogspot.com

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com 

http://lbratina.blogspot.com 

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com 

http://mybackyardeden.blogspot.com 

http://www.houseofhepworths.com 

http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com 

http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com 

http://www.thanksmailcarrier.com

http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com  

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com 

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com 

http://www.remodelaholic.com