CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR

Buckle up, it's going to be a long,

hopefully not bumpy ride.

For some of you this might be overload.

I kept taking pictures, but did not have time

to post.......and like bunnies, they multiplied.

And since I took them, I will share them with all

my friends in blog land and my family in Germany.

This will be more or less a picture show.

I hope you enjoy the tour.

Welcome to our home.

Since I am a "Nester", this ornament suits me well.

You might have noticed, this year I went more sparkly,

but my beloved color red is still showing up here and there.

I purchased this stocking many years ago.

I love the little girl on the sleigh.

One of my Santa's.

These silver bullion wire balls were packed

away for many years.

I forgot I had them.

They glitter and sparkle when the light

catches them.

My Santa only stayed a few days in this spot.

He moved to a new home.

Funny, I have been making Santa's for many years,

and I have never been able to keep a white one for myself.

That is OK, because I know they will be loved for

many years to come  by someone else.

As I wrote in my last Christmas post,

I was inspired by James Cramers book

" 'tis the Season"

I made my birds and they landed in different

spots in the house......

and finally they settled in the kitchen window.

I love how they came out.

The guest bedroom (this bed lifts up and out

 and becomes two twin beds), is one of my favorite rooms.

I snuggle in the chair, or stretch out on the bed with

a good book.

The little doll is by doll maker Nicole Sayre.

She looks adorable with her companions.

I found this beautiful silver plated trophy cup

at the Goodwill store for a mere $ 8.50.

I knew right away where it would end up.

I love it !!!!!

She is ready for bed with her kitty

to wait for Santa.

I always have fun dressing her up.

I played with these toys as a child.

They belonged to a very large dollhouse

with lights and running water.

The little pictures are copies of paintings I grew up with.

These ladies are in my studio to keep

me company.

The standing Americana doll and the

snow girl are mine, don't know who

made the others, but I think they are

charming.

 

I had to decorate the newly remodeled

bathroom.

And I spoiled myself with lovely

towels from Pottery  Barn.

I like combining my German traditions with  American ones.

I grew up with this advent wreath stand.

Love this funky rabbit and sheep.

Don't know the maker...

One of my older Santa's with  "Jodel",

a gift from my friend Laura @ 52flea.

Makes me want to sing songs from the

"Sound of music".

Jodel just reminds me of that, and makes me smile.

That sweet kitty snuck in again!

I leave you now with this wish

for peace on earth.

May you all have blessed and joyful holidays.

Merry Christmas!

I wish you for the new year health and happiness,

may all your wishes come true,

 but most of all we, hubby and I, wish for

PEACE ON EARTH

God bless,

Evi

A FEW NEW CREATIONS IN MY SHOP

Just in the "nick" of time,

I have added a few new creations to my shop.

Go peek.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS........

These lovely little bells are ringing

in Christmas in our home.

The sound is delightful and makes me want 

to take a ride in a sleigh.

(In reality I dread the snow)

But it does look pretty!

Another sign that it is the season, is this sweet

little Advent calendar.

My niece and nephew sent it to us from Germany

with many other goodies.

What is so special to me, is that it is of my

hometown... well city ...Berlin.

Every day I have fun opening the little windows,

wondering what is behind each door,

and just as I did as a child, I delight in every

discovery.

I will show it to you again with all the windows open.

This year, like many of you, I am wearing

many hats......decorating...cleaning up the mess

after all the fun,

sewing , trying to finish dolls for my blog shop,

baking, shopping, packing packages,

entertaining, etc. etc.

To change things out a little and to give a little boost,

I decided to change my red accents to neutral light colors.

I got inspired by the Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine.

In some parts of the house red still rules.

Somehow a lot more glitter snuck in,

which I love.

My girl friend Debbie and I saw these

cute birdie mugs at Home Goods and

had to have them.

They are great for any hot drink,

but I love to drink hot chocolate

out of mine. The lids keep the drinks warm.

There are four different bird designs.

How cute!

They even had tea pots, creamers and sugar pots.

I reminded myself to be a good girl

and not over indulge.

And of course there had to be more birds.

My friends Paula and Laura also have

"bird-fever"

It must have been catching.

It's chronic and has been with all

of us for years.

We heard, there is no cure!

When I was growing up in Germany,

we put our shoes out in the evening of

December 5 TH,

and if we had been good, we would find

sweets in them the following morning.

If you had not behaved, Saint Nicholas

would put coal in the shoes.

I must say in all honesty that I once got coal.

I bit my brother in the fanny....

well, he was crawling in front of me...

These little treats went to my hubby

who is a sweetie and would never get coal.

Now, these cookies came all the way from Germany.

My niece backed them and carefully mailed

them to us.

My friend Debbie also got a package.

We compared notes the next day and

could not get over how wonderfully delicious they were.

We all had to put the brakes on,

 so we would treasure every bite

and not just devourer them.

Stephanie, thank you soooooo much.

We absolutely need the recipes, PLEASE!

Another wonderful treat was this little book

by James Kramer.

It is called  "Tis The Season"

It is charming.

 I know Jimmy from a  long time ago,

when we all did shows together.

Any of you, who know about him,

know how very talented he is.

Jimmy, I am copying the doves in the window!

Besides being a very talented decorator,

my friend Paula also knows how to knit.

This is one of her stockings.

Paula, I adore it.

(I am NOT a knitter.)

I think some of you have discovered

my passion for antique stockings.

Some even came home with me from

our last trip to Germany and Austria.

Every Christmas I find places for them.

This mirror once belonged to my friend Debbie.

And although I enjoy it all year,

I find the little angel on top is

especially appropriate for

the holidays.

At the end of the season I found

this wire urn for a mere $25.00 at Home Goods.

There was no way I was going to leave it there.

I immediately thought of a Christmas tree in there.

And I love it just as I thought I would.

I got to use my mercury silver ornaments

at the base of the tree.

Being that the tree is by the window,

all the glitter catches the light.

Lovely!

And now to my stocking...hmm...fetish.

When I was at Pottery Barn, I saw a pillow with stockings.

The wheels were turning in my head.....should I buy, or not.

I went home instead and made my own.

The pillow is linen with jute trim...

a mere $ 20.00,  of course from Home Goods.

It even has a feather pillow insert.

I swear, I should have stock in that company.

Then came the hunt for the stockings,

and the fun began.

Voila!

A little work, but alot less money.

While I was getting the pillow above, I also found these

pretty textured pillows made from off-white wool.

I was smitten....and lucky for me, I found two.

Don't know what it is with me,

I am always doing this Noah thing, always two by two.

I discovered that I like symmetry.

Well, I needed more pillows to go with these.

 I had some pillow covers that my friend Liz

made for me when she made my slip covers

many years ago.

They had not been used for years.

Sooo, I embroidered and stitched pine trees out of

old blanket remnants,

and embellished them with a variety of left-over

pompoms.

Ta da, and here is the result.

I am happy!

Soon I will show you more of our

Christmas home.

I hope you enjoyed the tour so far.

Have a heavenly Christmas season.

God bless,

Evi

P.S. For all the bloggers in foreign countries..

Home Goods is a great store, that sells

everything for the home at fabulous prices.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

And though our lives are not perfect,

we can find many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful, that we are reasonably healthy,

that we are blessed with family we love,

and good friends to share our lives with.

I am hoping and wishing that everyone

in blog land, finds something to be grateful

 and thankful for.

God bless,

Evi

TRICK.......

It was supposed to be

"The spooky Season".

It was supposed to be

Halloween....

Instead we got WINTER!

We had 18 inches of snow in a day.

or about 46 centimeters.

Everyone is disgusted, dismayed, upset, etc, etc,

and simply just plain sick off it !!!!

It looks weird with most of the leaves still

on the trees and bushes.

It created havoc with trees coming down everywhere.

Everyone we know, lost power.

All in all about two million people had no

electricity because of this storm.

We were nearly 4 days without power

and no land line phone service either.

Thank God we have a big generator

and had all the necessary essentials.

Our son and grand kids did not however.

So we made up beds and huddled together.......

and had fun.

For him it will be one more night.

Hopefully life will get back to normal

for everyone.

I caught this very confused deer looking for food.

The day before it was fall and still plenty to eat.

And when there is nothing much to do...

you text......

or just cuddle.

And even though it looked like winter,

we celebrated Halloween.

So after all, we had our treats

 to munch on, and the best treat was just

 all of us being safe together.

I hope, you all are doing fine

out there in blog land.

God bless,

Evi