Sweet Salvage...Yummy

 Has a month really gone by since the last Sweet Salvage sale?? I can't believe it. One of the things that I find such a bummer is how quickly the Christmas season seems to just fly by!!!

Oh well, the good thing is the time between the sales of great Sweet Salvage merchandise flies by too!

I am so thankful to be able to go and take photos early every month and enjoy the lovely vignettes (and of course the shopping!)

 They have lots more of the these great rustic Christmas signs. You can see the one I got last month here.

 They have tons of lovely old frames this month...

 and some of the coolest industrial pieces I have seen.

 I want!!!!

 Love this clock!!!

 There is such a nice combination of rustic and girly every where in the store.

 Word art is everywhere this month and so very cool. I think if I had the room, this piece would have found it's way into my car.

 Are you a suitcase lover?? There were lot's to choose from and the prices on everything are just wonderful!

 This vignette was so pretty.

Can you tell I'm a fan?? Well yes, I am. I have wanted a shop like this here in the valley for so long, and now here it is in it's 5th month. (Lucky us.)  The shop will be open for the next 3 days so be sure to run over there and see what treasures you can find for yourself. (After all, I can't be greedy.) (wink)

Next month, artist Christie Repasy is going to be the special guest there. The theme will be Romancing the Home and I'm sure if there was too much industrial for you this month, next month will be filled with gorgeous girly goodness!!!

Visit the Sweet Salvage blog for all the details!!

See you there next month!!

Tour of my Christmas Home

 Today I am joining  The Inspired Room and Jennifer Rizzo for their 2011 Virtual Holiday House parties! Welcome everyone to my holiday home! This is the family room. It is the room we spend most of our time in.

 Here in Arizona, fresh greens dry out much to quickly so I settle for artificial ones. I like to mix different kinds of greens to help make the arrangement look more real. I love to collect vintage scales and this one was a recent garage sale find for $6.00!!

 The mantle holds my growing collection of bottle brush trees....

 and the tree is filled with many handmade ornaments. I love the light flocking on this one. This year it is my favorite tree. (The other one is in the living room) For more details on the trees and ornaments you can go here, or here for an ornament tutorial.

 These stocking are a new addition this weekend. I have been inspired by some really neat ones on Pinterest and wanted to create my own. I bought some burlap at Hobby Lobby and I intended to use it, but even after airing it outside for a week it still stunk so badly I settled for a natural cotton duck.

 I made tags for myself and my hubby and added a little embellishment to each one. I think I may add a few buttons too, but I'm letting them be for now.

 Some of my vintage style snowmen.

 The sign and the pillow are new additions this year. I absolutely love the new wall art with all the great words on them. I have always had a thing for the written word so these were right up my alley. The sign was a recent purchase from my November visit to Sweet Salvage. The pillow I bought on Etsy. I painted the words white and added the trim.

 This is the view from the fireplace. I have a collection of brown transferware plates that is spread all over the house.

 My garland is filled with more handmade ornaments, crystal drops and mercury glass garland.

 This is the dining room with a view into the living room.

 The chandelier gets dressed with it's own wreath of greens with silver and glass balls and glittery statice and glass ornaments replace the brown transferware creamers that usually hang there.

 The centerpiece overflows with vintage silver ornaments,

and a little greenery dresses up the buffet where I showcase my collection of green and white transferware.

 The living room through an old window.

 The tree has a bird and icicle theme.

 I like to do something a little different for the tree topper so I hung several handmade paper snowflakes that were covered in glitter from the ceiling. This is the only plus to having an old popcorn ceiling... no holes later!

 I love my snowflake garland.

 I've been collecting them for many years. 

 At night the light in the garland sparkle and shine...

 and during the day, the light from outside shines through all the crystal and glass and is so pretty.

 The altered bottle angels I made sit here on the table,

 and the coffee table gets a little snowy greenery.

Well that's the tour of my home this year. Sometimes I do the bedroom too, but I just didn't have it in me this year! I hope you enjoyed it. Now I'm off to go check out all the other homes tours over at Jennifer Rizzo's! Merry Christmas to all!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas tree....

 Today I am joining Honey at 2805 for a Christmas tree blog party and Debra's Common Ground for a Vintage Christmas Inspiration blog party. I have two trees to share with you today and a few tips on how to make your Christmas trees even more fabulous than they already are.

This is the tree in my Family Room. I have an old wooden trunk I use to put it in. This year I wrapped it in a big burlap ribbon with a bow. Sometimes I have a hard time photographing the tree so you can really see the ornaments with the lights on so here is a pic with the lights off...

A large percentage of the ornaments are handmade.

 I like it to have a warm fuzzy feeling ...

 So I use ornaments that have that "days gone by" feel. I also have small frames that I use to put pics of all the dogs we've had (and have) on the tree. They are not "ornaments" per say, but just small frames with an easel back  that I stick on the branches. (Having an artificial tree really is a plus in this case.)

 I like to make sure there are plenty of lights deep inside the tree as well as on the outside.

It really makes the tree glow nicely.

 I made these two ornaments with mine and my hubby's initials...

 Another handmade ornament. If you missed the pics of the other ornaments you can find that post here . And if you missed the post where I did my pipe cleaner ornament tutorial you can find that post here.

 In addition to handmade ornaments I also use alot of the glass balls that you can get at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. They are inexpensive, and really help to fill in the tree. Rather than hanging them one by one from ornament hooks, I group 3 of them on a pipe cleaner and wire them to the top of the branches.

 I love drippy things. (You will see a lot of this on this tour.) Nothing sparkles as much as crystals and glass on a tree. These are hanging down from almost every branch.

 I also like to hang unusual items in the tree. It makes it much more interesting and love hearing visitors say things like.. "Hey! There are dishes in your tree!!"

 This is the tree in the Living room. I try every year to get away with only doing one tree now, but my hubby is spoiled! He loves the decorations so much he's not happy if both trees aren't up!!

To create the "snow" I took quilt batting and rolled the edges under. Then I sprayed it with spray glue and sprinkled diamond dust all over it. Then I just laid the pieces on the branches.

 This tree has a bird theme. It is covered with as many glass icicles as I can put on it. They really sparkle at night.

 This tree also has handmade ornaments on it, although I still need to make a lot more. I just add to it every year, because eventually I run out of steam!

 I found some wonderful twinkle light at Ace Hardware a couple of years ago, so this tree just shimmers!!!

 Again, I put things in the tree that are not necessarily "ornaments" In this case there several birdhouses wired into the tree.

 I made a nest out of grapevine, shredded music sheets, cheesecloth, and tinsel. Then I painted and speckled some cardboard eggs.

I hope you enjoyed a peak at my trees. Here are the tips I learned from a great teacher while working at his design studio/store during the holidays.

1. Make sure there are plenty of lights inside the tree as well as outside. It will really make a difference to the finished look.

2. Place ornaments deep inside the tree too. Most trees have open space where you can see inside. By placing ornaments within the center of the tree you will give it a lot more depth.

3. Vary the size of your ornaments. Don't be afraid to put big things in there, especially if you use an artificial tree. If your tree is real, just secure them well and place them closer to the center for more support. Trees can look kind of one dimensional if all the ornaments are close to the same size.

4. Use "unusual" ornaments in your tree. Books, picture frames, watering cans.. anything that goes with the theme or look you are trying to create.

Don't use the string that comes attached to most ornaments. Instead snip it off and use wire or a pipe cleaner to attach the ornament as close to the branch as possible. If you can't see the hanger it looks so much nicer.

5. If you have a pre-lit tree and one or more of the strands goes out, it's not a lost cause. More often than not, this can be fixed. Ace Hardware and Lowe's (and maybe even Home Depot) has a tool just for that. It look like a ray gun, and the ones I've always seen are red. You simply take out one of the bulbs on the bad string of lights and place the zapper into the socket. Click it a couple of times and PRESTO the lights will work again. It has saved me from pulling my hair out more than a few times!!

Well that's it! That's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed the tour and took away something useful to you. Be sure to hop over to 2805  and Debra's Common Ground to see the rest of the beautiful Christmas Trees and Vintage Christmas Inspiration!!