Sunday, October 12, 2008

Halloween & Christmas!


I believe I inherited something from my mother. No, I'm certain I inherited something from her.
The love of decorating for the holidays.
I have such fond memories of my mother decorating our house for every holiday. It was always so fun to come home from school and see that she had been a busy little bee placing every little decoration in it's perfect spot. I did the same a few weeks ago while the girls were napping, although I don't have near as many as she did. I didn't realize how much Morgan enjoyed it until she met Justin at the door when he got home from work and told him to close his eyes. She proceeded to take him from one decoration to the next and then would say, "Open your eyes, Daddy!" and then she'd tell him to close them again and then drag him to the next decoration. Most of what I have used to be my mother's. I have really fun ceramics with lights in them that are inscripted on the bottom with "BM '78" that would be Betty McPherson... my wonderful Mimi, who used to paint ceramics. My friend Lindsey was over last week and told me she had the same ghost holding a pumpkin from her grandmother! Anyone else have him too?

We also decorated the outside of our house this weekend. Most of our guests, except the UPS man, use our side entrance. So we decorated our side door. When we get around to overhauling the front doors, I'll decorate them too. Here's what we did at the side door...

You'll see my owl wreath didn't make the cut... the black boa against the black door didn't make much of a statement. When we overhaul the front doors, we're going to overhaul this door too... and hopefully paint the house {can you see the $$?}. Our new door won't be black so I'm saving my wreath for another year. The precious "BOO" owl came from Jennie-Marie. I saw him on her blog last year and asked her where on earth he came from... I should have known better... he showed up at my house a matter of weeks later! I think she said.... Cracker Barrel? Random, but I think that's where he came from! My sister-in-law brought us these fun lanterns {below} on Friday... they're so fun and colorful! I had to rack my brain to figure out how to light them... I ended up using night lights and extension cords... it's very rigged but works great! They are hanging in our bay window and can't be missed from the road!

All this talk of Halloween got me excited about Christmas!! I've been working on a "star garland" for my fireplace made from all my fabric scraps over the past year. I thought it would be very fun above our stockings. I'm almost done. Morgan loved lining them all up, counting them and telling me which stars she has outfits to match!



I just layered "fusible fleece" {left over from my Amy Butler "Nappy Bag" project} between the two layers of fabric; sewed them together and then used pinking shears around the edges. They were done quickly and are little rough around the edges but I kinda like 'em that way! I'm planning on punching a grommet hole at the top of each star and connecting them with ribbon!

Ok, I've put in a special request to E for an inspirational post on Halloween decorations... depending on how inspired I am... I may do some more decorating! :)

I hope each of you had a splendid weekend!

17 comments:

The Sims Family said...

The star garland is too neat! I love it! And special too! If only I had your talent! :)

Allyson said...

Your house looks great!! My mom decorated for every holiday, too! She would go ALL OUT and at Christmas there wasn't any decoration, picture hanging on the wall or hand towel to be found that wasn't festive. I LOVED IT!! Your house looks GREAT!! I can't wait to get my Christmas stuff out. I know it's only October, but I'm excited already!!

Anonymous said...

Can you tell us about your wreath for the front door? Love it!

Lindsey said...

I love the Halloween decorations! I have been meaning to at least put some pumpkins on my front porch even if I don't carve them.
And I am pretty sure my mama has the ghost holding a pumpkin too! She used to take a ceramics class and we had more stuff like that than you would care to know about. :)

Star said...

Everyone makes fun of me for my love of holiday decorations. Currently I decorate for New Year's, Valentine's, St Patricks Day, Easter, summer, 4th of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Am I leaving out any holidays?

erika said...

My grandmother had that ghost/pumpking too! ;)
I love you... maybe this Christmas you will make me some star garland out of of left over fabrics I send your way? I LOVE IT!
xoxo
mommasis'

becky said...

ok that is it!! i commented to E this morning and now you have cemented it. i want to be like yall when i grow up. i am going and yanking down my sad fall decorations. i know there is a creative gene in me somewhere, otherwise i wouldn't have the ability that i have. maybe i need to spend a weekend lurking around the bookstore or houseware or fabric stores and just soak up, no...WALLER in inspiration!

all that to say, toooo stinkin' cute!

becky said...

ok, i'm not really yanking anything down, but i have new inspiration for things that need to be replaced next year ;0)

TMB said...

love it all!! your side door looks beautiful--with the decorations and the ferns. the owl is precious!

i am in LOVE with the star garland. if i had leftover scraps of fabric, i would be copying you! can't wait to see it hanging on your mantle!

PS-i see "anonymous" has already asked...but i've been looking for a wreath similar to the one you have! where did she come from?

Dianne said...

You are so precious. Your heart is just where it belongs...with your Lord and your family. Bless you!

Dona said...

I can't WAIT to see that garland!!!! Can I come over for a sneek peak? I need some great decor for our family room fireplace- it will be very rustic-I think your garland would be PERFECT!!!

Rachel said...

I get some new ideas everytime I read your blog. I LOVE the ghost holding the pumpkin. That is too adorable. I normally love to decorate for any and every holiday but this year, I just haven't felt it. You have inspired to pull out my decorations again and see what I can come up with!

Kendra White said...

I feel the same way about decorating. I wanted to share with you a fun thing that i do with John Hunter that I think your girls would like. I got several different pumpkins (different sizes and all from the $1 store). I wrote different Scriptures on each pumpkin. Ones about harvest, changing, thanksgiving, gratitude... you know. And each morning I put a sticker on 1 pumpkin. In the morning after breakfast I give JH a matching sticker. He then goes around to MATCH the stickers. When he asked about the pumpkin it is a super easy way to share the WORD of God with the little ones.

andi said...

I think I will make some garland too, oh my bad. I don't have left over scraps. I don't sew! LOL. :) Can't wait to see your Christmas decorations. Great idea.
a

Jack said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jack said...

I first wrote a comment for another post here-what I meant to say was I LOVE MY GHOST and all my other ceramic decorations from Grandma!!!

Anonymous said...

Your Halloween decorations are looking great. Love the little stars.