Christmas Greetings

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given...

and his name shall be called 

Wonderful,

counsellor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you joy everlasting,

wishing you peace evermore,

Wishing you love ever constant...

all things His coming was for.

Merry Christmas,

Jerri Ann

aka 

Salty Sister

The Gift

This Christmas is awareness of the gift of Jesus is settling in deep.  I can't seem to stop crying shameful, thankful, joyful, tears.

This video says what I can not.

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given . . .

and his name shall be called 

Wonderful,

counsellor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you joy everlasting, 

wishing you peace evermore, 

wishing you love ever constant . . .

all things His coming was for.

Thank you all for your prayers and support this past year.  I wish I knew you in person, I would hug your neck, look deep into your eyes and tell you how much you are loved.  An then I would give you some fudge.

Christmas Open House

Hi everybody, welcome to my Christmas open house.  I've been working really hard to put everything up just right.  Each year I do something different with the things I already have, so I never know where things are going or how they're going to turn out.

Check out this post for my table vignette and this post for my fireplace mantle Christmas decorations.

This wreath was new last year, this year I added the wooden white Christmas tree, the rusted bells and I used one of my favorite ribbons to make the bow.

AS you enter my home I put a small sampling of my Santa collection on display and added some of my favorite stuffed animals, sorry no picture of them.  I wanted to convey a warm and friendly welcome.

Just across from the front door is the dinning room.  I kept this room simple, and featured my woodland Santa and some beautiful candles.

You know, I have fought with this room all year.  It is a beautiful room, I know that, but there is something missing.  It reading a little cold to me here.  Maybe I should put the dining room chairs back around the table, or maybe I should go ahead and paint the wall some dark, rich color.  Hmmm???

I love this table but I can not tell you how many times I walk by this thing and think, "I wonder what this would look like painted"?  I'm getting dangerous.

A little something on the stair landing.  The turquoise Christmas balls were a new find.  I was visiting my daughter this weekend and while we were at her Wal-Mart I spied three boxes left on the shelf.  I grabbed them up PDQ.  Maybe they will begin to set the tone for next year.

In the living room, I wanted to feature the color blue, so I used as much as I could in here.  This year I decided to use what I had and not buy anything new however, I would love to shop the after Christmas sale and pick up a smaller tree and some new colors for my Christmas decor, and maybe add more blue for next year.

The decoration in the kitchen kept evolving and you know how I said I wasn't going to buy anything new this year, well the chandleir features some new decorations and I added the black and white check table runner.

This is the half bathroom just off the kitchen.  Sorry, the lighting in here seems very yellow.  I used a door swag that fits on the outer corner on the chair.  It looks kind of unique on there.

Here is the only crafting I have gotten around to.  I made two of these and one of them went to the white elephant Christmas party we went to the other night, tons of fun.  We had to take a present each, the other present was a re-gift.  I bought this woodland Santa face ornament thing, ugly I tell you.  And the funny thing was the man who picked it said the same thing.  I said, "Yep, that sure is" and no one traded him for it. lol.

So, there it is for the most part.   I tried not to do too much but I'm sure that when it comes time to take it all down I will be thinking I put up a lot.

Oh yea, this is the second year that I have not put up a Christmas tree.  Not because I am anti Christmas tree, but because mine is huge and I don't want to lug that big thing around.  It takes two days to put it together and get the decorations on.  Or maybe I'm just slow, and I am slow I've proven that many times, but anyway, this year I came really close to buying a new smaller tree and some new decorations in turquoise but decided I didn't want to spend the money so maybe a little after Christmas shopping is in order, when everything is half off.  I do miss my Christmas tree, though, my daughter, KP, is not happy with me.  Also, Sarah and Caleb will be here next week and they might have something to say about it too. We'll see if Nanoo goes shopping for a tree and lets the kiddos put it up.   Hmm, that would be fun.

Linking with The Nester

and Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life - Christmas Tour of Homes, and Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage for her Holly Bloggy Christmas Home Tour,

joining Julia on her Hooked on Holiday House Tours. 

and the ever so talented Kara at Elements Interiors

Seriously if you haven't made to Kara's place you really need to go, she is beyond talented and her Christmas decorations are amazing.  And she's fffuuunnnnyyyyy with some of that sweet Texas spirit, so ya'll go see her.

Merry Christmas everyone.  :))

See ya.

Kitchen Mantle Makeover - Reveal

Ingredients and tools, I once used a Styrofoam plate to paint with so I brought that back out, it does work but on small scale projects the best and smooth surfaces.

I used the joint compound to adhere the burlap fabric and then put two to three layers on top and around that.   I found that I fought the burlap through the whole process so I probably would not use that again.

Then I put on a base coat of paint, I used what I had, so the base coat was a light yellow color I had mixed from SW Ivoire.  Next, a layer of metallic glaze I picked up from the craft store, the color was Medieval gold but it looked coppery to me.  Coppery, that's a word, right?

Then I added brown, probably would have been best to have gone to the paint store and had some colors mixed but alas, no . . . . .  I used a heavy texture acrylic paint and again hard to work with.  Sorry no picture of the brown layer but you can see it here.

Then I decided the burlap I left showing was not working, so I decided to cover that up.  I brought the joint compound back out and smoothed some on, sanded, painted and basically started over.

This little guy will never be the same and the nails either, I've washed and washed and still not good.

I just kept adding paints and smoothing them out.  The real tool of the day was a damp rag, I used it a lot.

In the end I think it may be too dark, so we'll see, I need to live with it for a while.  It seems really strange looking up there and seeing it so dark.  The picture above shows it to be darker than it really is.

There is no washing of dishes when I am engrossed in a project or cooking of food, poor honey.