Friday, December 16, 2011

The Art of the Shot . . .

Ok, so here's my second day of Christmas! 

I am not a great photographer but I do enjoy taking photos. Most importantly, I like taking photos of my girls and of course, taking the requisite photo for our annual Christmas card. Taking photos in the "ye olde days" was so much harder. Remember taking pictures with film?? Then you rush your film to the local photo shop and pray you got a good picture! If not, get another roll and start all over!! Nowadays, the "digital age", you can take hundreds of photos, load them onto the computer and delete the bad ones, email the good one to the photo shop and Voila! However, there are still bad photos but some are real funny! Last year, I decided to print out some of the bad ones and hang up for a fun and whimsical photo collage.


Here is the result! I ran a ribbon behind the frames and added a large bow on top. I think it came off looking great and  I always get a chuckle when I walk by it!

My girls started out cheesey!
We thought we would have them open their annual Christmas jammies.
They got a little too involved!
The girls are starting to get punchy!
Here's a winner!
So not every shot is a Kodak moment but I think this is really a fun, different and memorable way to remind us how much fun our Annual Christmas Photo Shoot is (well, not every year was, but I choose tonight, to look on the positive!)! So I'll touch base later, but that's for another post!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Holy Holiday Season . . .

Ok, so had this great idea to do the 12 Days of Maselli Christmas and share 12 posts leading up to Christmas of fun things happening around our home. However, I just sat down and realized that Christmas is in T-E-N days!! So much for that plan.

So, here starts the 10 Days of Maselli Christmas! I will start in our family room. It's attached to the kitchen and as most rooms in our home, needs a Christmas tree.


It's small, only about 6 1/2' but smells delish and looks perfect in that corner!! In this part of the house, I love red, silver and lime green decorations so I use those colors for ornaments on the tree.




This is a handprint wreath my youngest daughter made for me in preschool. I love it when crafts are made that are quality and something you can really hang onto for years to come.


This is one of my favorite decs. I tie a big red ribbon onto the curtain rod and hang a beautiful hand-painted ornament with some solid colors as well. Yes, you can't close the curtains but that's ok because it looks great! I do this in both windows and it looks pretty from the front of the house too.


Just add a matching ornament on a bed of "snow", hang a metal sign and add a fun ribbon to jazz up a wreath and light the best smelling Peppermint candles ever! Put them on red mercury glass candleholders and Voila! Looks great!



LUURVE my three Pottery Barn ledges! This year, I went with inspiration from Pinterest and made it all red, white and silver. I bought inexpensive ornaments in the dollar section of Target and filled up my milk glass and white containers ( I cheated with crumbled up paper in the bottom to take up some room). I then glittered two styrofoam trees with silver on one and red on another. If you do it, use Martha Stewart glitter. It costs a little more but you use a lot less. She has the best colors and quality! Thanks Martha for making me want to glitter everything!! I put the red glitter tree on a brass candleholder I bought at Goodwill for change and spray painted a glossy white. The other piece I made is the snowflake wreath hanging above all the ledges. That was a trial and error. The Pin I got the wreath idea from said to use a styrofoam  wreath. I found the snowflakes at the Dollar Tree (the dollar store that actually charges a dollar for their merch; not like $4 at the fake dollar store!) Once I put it together, I didn't like the looks of it. So back to square one (or circle one in this case - I know, lame joke!) I found grapevine wreaths at the Dollar Tree (yes, they were a dollar each!) and spray-painted them white. Added the snowflakes and STILL didn't like it. I have a lot of time already invested in this Dollar Tree wreath! I then bought some white grosgain ribbon, wrapped the grapevine, hot-glued the snowflakes on and finally had something I liked! I added a red ribbon and then topped it with a white one. Looks good!



I actually put a coat of white spray paint on the snowflakes because I didn't want them sparkly (which is the way they came from the Dollar Tree). I liked the way they turned out because it added a layer of texture and made them look more snowflaky (is that a word??)!




Here's my hutch. It's a bit cluttered by I use the all the items in here so want them for quick and easy access when cooking and setting the table.


On my chandelier, I add a green bead garland and hang some glass ornaments.



Add a jingle bell wreath above the door. Why above the door, you ask? The wreath use to hang on the door but it was annoying to hear it jingle ALL the time. I know I sound like an old lady complaining but the older I get, the more quiet I like!!


Hang your holiday aprons on the side of your armoire for a splash of color and this room is ready for the holidays!!

More of our home to share but that's for another post!


Monday, December 5, 2011

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to CVS ...



Actually, it happened IN CVS. Ok, so my youngest daughter, my husband and myself ran to Target to pick up some last minute items for Christmas decorating.  We get almost everything we need except we forgot one item.

While sitting at the light waiting to turn, the Toys for Tots motorcycle ride was passing for about 15 minutes, we remembered we forgot to get nails.  Lo and behold, there is a CVS at the next corner. My husband runs into the store and asks the man behind the counter where the nails are. He sends him to Aisle 3.

Here's what my husband sees:



Not just nails, Hello Kitty nails!

After finding the right nails, hammer and nails, not polish and nails, my husband and the man behind the counter had a good laugh!! We are not real sure as to what vibe my husband gives off but it did make for a good laugh!! We did finish our Christmas decorating so I will get those pictures to you but that is for another post!