A Minimalistic Christmas....back to basics

This year I am shaking things up a bit....

I'm  going to keep the Christmas decor very minimalistic...

Think Red and White.....

This is our tree.....

I put the tree up on a little table with a vintage Christmas tablecloth.

See the stockings?  Yep.....the tree and the stockings.....that is it!

Boy Wonder got the privilege to put the star up on top this year.....No ladders needed!

Not only am I going minimalistic on the Christmas decorations.....the gift department is going to be minimalistic too.

This year with Mr. Smith losing his job in January...working 4 other jobs....now with a good job again....We aren't financially able to go all out.  Quite frankly after this year, I don't really have any desire to go all out.  Could be that I'm having surgery on December 27th (hence the slim decor-since I'll be in the hospital recovering and won't be able to put them away). 

We are getting back to basics.....like the real reason we celebrate Christmas (Thank you Jesus!). 

I tried to tell Boy Wonder the other day that he has his Mother's Love that keeps on giving and Jesus' Love that keeps on giving so why would he need anything more than that?  Ok, he is 12 years old and we will see how that flies on Christmas.....He told me he just wants cash....

Redid my Christmas Wreath to go with our Red and White theme this year.....

Nothing fancy just some odds and ends.   Hung it on my "Front Door" that is in the entry way of our house.  Not our real front door...just the one that is hanging out next to it....

Oh yeah,

when you aren't spending alot....

the shopping gets done early....

Yep,

I am basically done.

I didn't even go out on Black Friday.

Done....

Just need to get Boy Wonder his cash (which won't be much either-but he has his Mothers' and Jesus' love).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Owl Pendants

Combining inspirations and making it my own~I took my felted material that I used for my pumpkins and stuffed owls.  Made a little pattern and cut out 2 pieces of material.

Drama Queen is modeling the one that I made for myself.

She wanted the cashmere facing out.

I know I've created a monster giving her cashmere sweaters-now it's all she wants.  I tried to get her to pick another sweater to use but no it had to be the brown cashmere-Thank you very much!

Drama Queen's owl has the orange corduroy on the back. 

We will be wearing these on Thanksgiving Day.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hugs,

Mrs. Smith

and

Drama Queen (aka cashmere snob)

Today I will strive to be more organized.....yeah right.....

No studio for me.....no sir...I have a kitchen table-that multi-tasks as an eating table, homework table, sewing table and craft table.

My desk is to the left, just a swivel of my chair away.  In the kitchen....Grand Central Station.

In order to contain the "beast" that is my work,  I went and bought an organizer from Lowe's.  Not usually the girl that walks into a home improvement center without Mr. Smith, last night I went alone.

It's not pretty but hopefully I can organize my bottle caps, chains, baggies, tools, etc.  Yeah I know~should have bought another one. 

Oh, do you see the mail that is piled next to my new organizer~well I still have a long ways to go before my house is a well oiled machine.

See pictures can be deceiving....

What I want you to see is a clean table.....

What is to the side is this....

My dresser next to the table and by my desk.....

It just continues to spill over....

My desk....notice the lovely blue cord that is connected to my printer?

Don't think Where Women Create will be calling

 me anytime soon. 

Oh, to be an artist....

Mr. Smith is very understanding....he said that creativity creates chaos (or something like that). 

From my messy desk to yours,
glue, tape, and kisses,

Mrs. Smith

Adding some Christmas Cheer to my Booth!

 I've been moving things around in my booth and adding a little Christmas Cheer.  I always have to work with a theme in mind.  Since this is my first year having a booth at Oregon St. Antiques Mall, I decided to go with red and lime green.

Traditional with a little zip!

I started collecting vintage Santa Mugs and decided to sale  them in my booth.

I made flower puffs out of old patterns-I used them as filler for the Roses and Rust sale in October.  My mom and I decided to put them in the little trees and add in little baggies of wooden spools in the trees as well.

The flower puffs (that's what I am calling them) also look good as fillers for the Santa Mugs too.

Mini burlap stocking that I made.

I made another Noel banner to sell in my booth.

I love floral frogs to display pictures and postcards.

 My friend Kiera from ChambersMade made a couple of cute signs that I have for sale in my booth too!

Ever since I started my booth in March, my home has suffered.  The seasonal decorating that I used to do at home, I spend my time doing at the booth instead!

This year we are going to get out our little Christmas tree and the stockings for the decorations at home.

  Simple Christmas!



New Vintage Items Added To Etsy Shop!

Adding new Vintage items to my Etsy shop today!

They would make great Christmas gifts for the "collector" in the family!

The last set of razors sold in less than 2 hours from when I posted them!

Shop

Free Decorating

Yesterday the kids and I spent a glorious Veteran's Day at home.  We cleaned the house.   Of course, one thing leads to another and I ended up emptying out the TV cabinet.

Naturally I didn't take a "before" picture.

If you look closely you can see some of the items I had in the cabinet on the coffee table.

I also decided to take down the items that I had on top of the cabinet as well...

I stashed most of the small items in the office.  I wanted to make a more simplified statement.

Less is more was the mantra of the day.  I took everything down off the fireplace mantle as well.

Put 7 white candles on the mantle.

Done.

Nice, simple and FREE!

In my decluttering, I am going to part with a box full of items that I just need to price and take over to Oregon St. Antiques Mall.

I feel like I can breathe a little better-Oh maybe it was the dusting that helped!

Spelunking

Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary for blogging! 

I didn't blog though....you see I was busy spelunking.

4th grade field trip to Lake Shasta Caverns.

Boat ride.....Drama Queen is in the red jacket....

Drama Queen took this picture because she is fascinated with animals.

The kids geared up with helmets, elbow pads and knee pads.

Getting ready to enter the caverns.

While the tour guide was talking I turned around and took these pictures of Lake Shasta and the surrounding area.

Now I am by far not the best photographer, but add into the mix darkness, well it got a little tricky.

Part of the tour the kids got to go off the path and spelunk.

Climbing, digging, crawling....

I'm driving my daughter crazy by saying that we went spelunking.....

Loads of fun and a very interesting field trip. 

I spelunked.

Hmm I wonder how many times I can bring up spelunking today?    Trust me when I say that it's a little sweet revenge for riding on the bus with yep a bus load of 4th graders.

One more thing......my Redding Handmade Etsy Team is being featured today on Handmade Spark!

Go check it out!