Christmas House 2013

This past week was the annual Christmas Idea House in Gilbert, Arizona. My women's club works all year designing, creating, making and baking to put on a fabulous showhouse that raises money to give scholarships to needy students and local charities. 

Here are some highlights of the decor and goodies we had for sale. Many thanks to those who attended and support our efforts!

 This glittering tree was featured in the dining room.

 One of our members made 3 different playhouses entirely out of felt. Adorable!

 We get some of our ideas from following your blogs. I wonder if  Debbie over at Confessions of a Plate Addict recognizes these Frenchy dishtowels ?

I wanted to take this entire chandelier with it's crystal stars and acorns home with me!

We made 140 pounds of lucious homemade fudge.

Here are just a few of the talented ladies who make this event possible. 

Whew! Now I can move on to decorating my own house!

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Christmas Tags

Are you like me and you like the gifts under the tree to match or coordinate? It actually makes wrapping simpler if you limit yourself to one or two papers and one or two ribbons. I always have brown craft paper and red wrapping paper on hand, they work for almost any occasion. Then I embellish with cute tags and colorful ribbon. 

I've had fun making tags lately, downloading vintage images, printing on cardstock and adding a bit of glitter.

I found this bolt of grosgrain ribbon on sale last summer, $14.00 for 100 yards. That's only 14 cents a yard!

So there's the plan for my gifts this year, 

two down...

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Paper Rosette Tutorial

I got lots of compliments on the decor for the bridal shower I helped with last week. I thought I'd show how easy it is to make this paper rosette garland. There are so many cute papers out there but I chose to use book pages from an old encyclopedia. I also like using vintage sheet music.

 Take 3 pages and accordion fold them about 1/2" wide.

 Separate the pages, fold each in half and fan them out.

Use either hot glue or double stick tape to seal the folded edges closed and the 3 pieces together. Sometimes I glitter the edges by brushing on a little glue and dipping in loose glitter. You can also distress the paper if you want a vintage look.

I printed out the lettering I wanted onto regular cardstock, cut out the circles and hot glued them to the center of the rosettes. There are lots of creative ways of embellishing here by using contrasting papers, layering small rosettes onto large ones, or using vintage photographs.

I simply used clothes pins to attach the individual rosettes to some twine. Alternately, you can paper punch holes and string your letters onto ribbon.

Ta da! A super easy and inexpensive decoration. 

Now, to make some for Christmas!

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Bridal Brunch

Saturday the weather was perfect to host a bridal shower for my dear friend's daughter. We've been going with a "book" theme for the party as the bride is planning on becoming a teacher. This has been a really fun theme to play with, there are so many great ideas for using old books and paper. Here are some of the ways I incorporated this theme into Becca's shower. 

The invitations introduced the colors and the theme.

 I made a banner using pages from an old encyclopedia. I'll do a separate post on how to, but it was pretty simple - it reads "A Love Story".

My co-hostess found this charming sign that we placed in the front entry to her home. 

There I am caught in the mirror taking a picture. I've never figured out how to do this!

 Remember all of those book bundles I've been making? Here are a few of them. If you missed the post, read about HERE.

We served some wonderful brunch foods. 

Sweet orange rolls,

 an assortment of light salads

Ham Spinach and Gruyere bread pudding, and 

 fresh fruit and cookies with flavored cream cheese spreads.

I've been playing with homemade chalk boards lately and made this one  for the couple's new home.

It's made from an old kitchen cupboard door.

Guests could take home a packet of book plates 

for their own library.

I was too busy to take many photos during the event, but that beautiful brunette is the mother of the bride!

Isn't it lovely that good friends and family get together to help a young bride set up her new home? I'm so grateful for a dear friend who did this for my daughter last year. 

Now is the count down to the wedding!

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Three French Hens Tablescape

Every year the women's club that I belong to puts on a fabulous Christmas show house. We call it the Christmas Idea House and it is full of home decor items, gifts and holiday goodies for yourself and to delight your friends and families. All of our proceeds go to local charities and scholarships so it's truly a win-win event! This year's featured home is in Gilbert, AZ and has been part of the Street of Dreams home tour. It's an amazing house!

For the past few years I've been assigned to put together a tablescape to be raffled off. This year the theme was The Twelve Days of Christmas so I narrowed it down to 

Three French Hens!

I started with an old crate that I embellished with a hen label printed on old sheet music and filled with three feathered hens and hydrangeas. 

The dishes I chose are vintage ironstone, the Richmond pattern by Johnson Brothers.

I took mint julep cups and added a bit of burlap and bling to make votives.

I made napkins out of some French script fabric and found a full set of silverplate flatware at a thrift store, Wakefield by International.

Goblets embossed with crowns hold chocolate peppermint balls for favors.

I also made a burlap runner and placemats shown here with this charming hen casserole dish. 

What fun I've had putting it all together! Some lucky winner will get everything on the table, linens, dishes, silverware, centerpiece etc! If you live in the greater Phoenix area mark your calender for the first week of December and come and see us. For more information click on 

Christmas Idea House.

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