Happy New Year to My Kindred Spirits!

My little wooden saint, keeping an eye on things around here.

Hello my dear blog friends!

I have been staying away from the computer intentionally for the holidays but decided to drop by for a quick hello.  I have been missing your wonderful posts.

This is just a note to wish you all a Happy New Year.  Having you as my e-friends makes my world a lot brighter.  It is so nice to have a secret collective with whom to share my mad love of decorating.  I have met so many wonderful kindred spirits here and hope that we can continue to inspire and amuse one another, and to bring such love and acceptance to each other's lives!

I feel like I am home here...because of you!

Happy New Year!

I have several projects underway, including a newly reupholstered chair and a painting project that starts tomorrow.  Please come back soon...

Love, Terri 

 

A Heritage Christmas

A chalkboard at the old schoolhouse, Heritage Park, Calgary

Today we spent the morning (and some of the afternoon) at a lovely historical village in Calgary, called Heritage Park.  Heritage Park is designed to showcase  life in the late 1800's and early 1900's in western Canada. I just love it there!

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During the Christmas season, the park is decked out for Christmas and features a wonderful weekend breakfast, which we attended at 9:30 a.m. in the historic Wainright Hotel.  

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Below is the Wainright's dining room, where we stuffed ourselves on eggs and bacon, French toast and pancakes, and lots of hot coffee: 

The Wainright Hotel, taken while we waited for a hay ride:

Our hayride providers, two gorgeous Percherons, arriving on the scene:  

After our frosty hayride, we visited some reindeer.  This is me petting a very soft reindeer:

Below is a shot of the historic town.  A huge and utterly amazing model train set-up was displayed inside the Snooker shop:

The old school house, a few days before Christmas (1885):

The Thorpe family house, decked out for the holidays:

I love old-fashioned Christmas decorations:

Some staff members, dressed in period costume:

The bedroom of another house, where my mother-in-law and I were very fond of the giant headboard:

I also admired the homestyle Christmas decorations (and embroidered drapes):

Not to mention the o-so-humble Christmas tree:

Hope your pre-Christmas weekend was lovely too!

~ Merry Christmas ~

Christmas Lite

Biscuit supervises the Christmas decorating

This year, I've decided to go very light-handed with the Christmas decor. I'm growing increasingly fond of a spare look and with work being so busy, I really haven't had time for much fuss!

Above is our beautiful tree.  We got a beauty this year, tall with a lovely shape, and have it decorated with our collection of miscellaneous ornaments.  I would prefer white lights but David likes the colours, and honestly, I don't mind them.  It really is pretty, and it suits the tree, with its multi-coloured, collected-over-time ornaments. 

Below is the sideboard...I'm getting boughs for the basket on the weekend. I switched out one of the framed prints for a Christmas scene (right) and added my sparkly glass garland across the front.  I've had a little faux boxwood wreath on the mirror for a while now and I'm fond of its simplicity.  But this scene needs something more...any suggestions?:

Here is a close-up of the winter print (below).  I wish it was a vertical, but it will suffice.  I love changing out my art seasonally.  I'm starting a picture framing class at a local art college in February and cannot wait to start framing my own prints in some of my collected antique frames.

Below is my little counter-top tree where I get to have white lights.  I used two sets of my sparkly glass garland and little felt decorations mailed from a Swedish friend.  There are also little birds in nests here and there.  In this picture, you can see my new brown drapery panels from Restoration Hardware, flanking the bay window:

We have a very beautiful china cabinet (my favorite furniture item in the house).   I decorated it with a little "D" that I bought for one of David's Christmas presents last year.  Inside are the boxes from my recent giveaway.  I would love to put tiny lights inside this cabinet, but need something with a battery pack as there is no hole for an electrical cord:

I decorated my console table (below) with more sparkly garland and a bowl of pears. Pears make very inexpensive decor and they look great.  Sitting in the sun, the pears ripened beautifully and we've been eating them all week. I started with a bag of two dozen, moving them daily from my cold room to the bowl, and this is what's left!:

On the weekend, I did a little photo shoot with my favorite model, my cat Biscuit.  He really enjoys having his photo taken and is quite vain.  In the foreground is a hurricane with a white candle inside.  I love these and have them all over the house.  I shall never tire of this look.  You can see our Christmas tree reflected in the mirror.  My new drapes match my lampshade:

Usually I splurge on a boxwood wreath for the front door (below).  I say splurge because boxwood doesn't grown here as abundantly as in Eastern Canada, so it's expensive here at Christmas.  But this year, I decided on a local fir wreath instead.  It smells great and reminds me of the Maritimes where I grew up, where our house was surrounded with these trees! 

Hope you've enjoyed a little tour of my simple Christmas decor for this year.  Have you simplified this year or doubled your decor??

And the Winners Are...

In my 300th post/holiday giveaway:

The winner of the large round box is Lina T. from Denmark!

(Lina, I don't have your email address, so please email me!):

The winner of the three small square boxes are: 

Emily, Smarts, and The Gardeners Cottage!

Congratulations to the winners!  I have emailed everyone and as soon as I get your address, I will mail your boxes!  

And a huge thanks to sweet Noel of Fanciful Designs for providing these beautiful creations and going in with me on the giveaway.  You are a jewel Noel!

Merry Christmas everyone...

~ A Fanciful Little Giveaway ~

To commemorate my 300th post, and to celebrate the holiday season, I'm having a wee giveaway! 

A couple of weeks ago, I contacted my blogger friend Noel, a very talented artist and founder of Fanciful Designs, to buy a few of her paper box creations for a giveaway (and also one for myself)!  I have been coveting Noel's French-inspired designs since I first saw her lovely Etsy shop!

Noel was so gracious and offered to go in with me on the giveaway!  So, we are giving away three small square boxes from her Etsy shop (shown above and below), and one larger round box (not shown...I will photograph this tomorrow night).   

All the boxes have a Christmas style, but are so elegant and timeless you can display them all year.  Right now, I have them all sitting in my china cabinet and they look so pretty it will be hard to part with them!

The wax seals come in ivory, red, and gold.

These boxes are little jewels – so dainty and sophisticated, like all of Noel's work.  I also thought they would be an easy giveaway as they are small and lightweight for mailing. 

To enter the draw for one of four boxes, all you have to do is leave me a comment!

I will draw the winners on Saturday, December 5th at 12 noon (Mountain  Time), so I can get these mailed out before Christmas.  Winners in North America will likely receive their boxes by Christmas – others may be a little late!

 

Good luck!  

And if you want to buy one for yourself, please check out Noels' Etsy shop!