HAPPY NEW YEAR!

{here's to a pot-banging good time}

HOPE IT WAS MERRY!

CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR

In all of the Christmas card craziness, I finally have a moment to show you what I've been working on! In addition to the frenzy of Christmas Card orders that I have been diligently filling, I have also been doing some Christmas decorating! Not at my own house, although I better get busy on that before my family rebels against me, but on a house that was a part of the Christmas House Tour in our town this year. The Christmas House Tour is a fundraiser where a team of volunteers get together to transform five houses in town into a holiday fantasies come true. Tickets are then sold for people to view the beautiful homes.

I was asked to design the room of a little girl who lives in one of the homes on the tour. This family moved into the home recently, so I was really starting with just a bed and a desk and the little girl's desire for pink and green. Here is a little tour of the (nearly) completed room.

The photos were taken at night (very late, just after the room was almost completed. The bed was not yet fluffed, but I was waiting for the next morning for that last minute detail) so the lighting was terrible. But the tour was to start the next day, so I had to snap some shots while I had the chance.

Here is the view as you just walk into the room. What you cannot see is that there is a little entry into the room created with white cotton panels from Ikea that were trimmed and swooped back with yards and yards pink ribbon, framing the room as you enter and mimicking the swoop of the curtains that frame the bed.

The bed was formally a bunk bed that the girl shared with her sister, so I had to hide the pegs on the posts where the top bunk once sat. This was done prettily and easily with ribbon balls and streamers. 

Above the bed, we painted the girl's monogram and created a canopy of sorts with tissue paper flowers courtesy of Martha Stewart crafts and at the end of the bed, figure skates are hung for Santa to fill with gifts and candy.

Next to the bed is a handpainted table and chairs made extra special with a wreath of fresh pine hung from the ceiling and lit with small lights for some extra shimmer and fantasy. When the fresh greens dry out, I have a plan to embellish the wreath with something more permanent.

To fill the wall beside the table, vintage paper dolls and lacing cards downloaded from The Crafty Crow's other blog Belladia , were framed and hung in a grouping. (thank you crafty crow!)

The little girl who lives in this room is both an accomplished figure skater and hockey player, so we set up this desk as a vanity for her to get ready for skating events and display her most treasured medals and awards, complete with inspirational messages tucked into her mirror.

Here is another view of the vanity area. The chair was covered with leftover fabric from curtains and bedskirt.

Finally, the piece de resistance - the tree! Covered in ribbon and tulle and little paper cones embellished with ribbons and fresh greens, it's a little girl's Christmas fantasy!

At the top of the tree sits an outgrown skate monogrammed and embellished for a lovely little skating princess (and rough and tumble hockey player, of course)! Thank you so much K for allowing me to invade your life and your bedroom for the past couple of weeks. It was such a pleasure to create your winter wonderland. Enjoy!

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO!

I know I've been MIA for many, many days now but I promise, I have a good excuse. No time for a complete post now, but this picture is a little hint of what I've been up to. More to come in the next day or two!