Lego Memories

As child I loved Legos.  While my little sister was getting giant Barbie penthouses and dolls for Christmas....I was dreaming of another box of bricks so my houses could be layered evenly.  My favorite gift was the red plastic brick carry case, which my mother STILL has.  At her house.  Love that.  This year Mailey is 9.  She should have been asking for Barbie's and American Girl Dolls, right?  Nope.  Not this little 9 year old.  She asked Santa for drums and Legos.  Hmm......Well, if you could hear the rhythms coming from above the garage you'd know that the big man did indeed bring the drums and see below?  He most definitely bought a nice box of bricks!

We plan to go to Disney over Winter break.  She's already asked about the Lego store.  It is amazing.  I could cry it's so amazing actually!  So yes Mailey, we will be going to the Lego store and adding some trees, more people and of course bricks to your 1st box of real Legos!

Puffy Heart

I've decided to start a series of posts called "puffy heart". I could call it something else, yes, but since that has become my coined term for things I share here on the blog that I absolutely adore, it fits. So be looking for regular posts that are filled with joy, silliness, yumminess and home.

 

Today I am sharing with you our "pickle gift".  What's a pickle gift?  Glad you asked!  We have a little glass pickle ornament that each year gets hidden deep into the Christmas Tree.  On Christmas morning William and Mailey search for the pickle hidden in the tree.  The child that finds it gets to open the "pickle gift".  Always the gift is a family game.  And they know this.  But getting to open one extra gift after all the unwrapping is done is quite a big deal!

 So this was the family game Mailey unwrapped (she always seems to find it....too many games of I Spy I suppose).  Let me tell you, this GAME ROCKS!!  It is hilarious and appropriate for many ages.  In fact we ended up playing a rather lengthy game of it with Billy's family ages 9-71!!  I of course received some pretty funny cards thanks to Mailey, the official card giver.  I was a Lollipop, unicorn and dragon.  So funny.  You have to ask yes or no questions of the group then pass or guess.  When it comes back around to you again you ask questions until you figure out what you are.

We ran out of headbandz so Billy used his finger.  A bed....geesh you shoulda heard some of his questions and answers.

My two children could hardly stand not giving hints to people what they were.  It was funny how they would just blurt out amazing hints.  Which was cheating yes, but the thing is, their cheating didn't help them win!  I suppose they just wanted everyone to succeed.  Which is a lovely trait in your bag of tricks, right?

So, do you guys hide a pickle in your tree?    Or do you have any other Christmas traditions that are silly like this?  I am hoping you all had a lovely holiday.  We are doing a bunch of nothing in the Horne house for the week.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I have ONE goal.  Promise to share later in the week once/if I get started!

Chistmas Treasure

It's easy to get wrapped up in Christmas, the holiday.  The big man in the red suit......man he has an entire North Pole, fleet of Elves, sleigh, reindeer and a magical nose.  Yep....easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle.  The gifts.  The food.  The parties. 

But today......today we should all stop and think not about the holiday.  But rather the birth.  And think about how quiet and still that day must have been.  A new baby to hold, love, to nurture for Mary and Joesph.   As the roar of the present opening is over and you have a moment to reflect, take the time to reflect on why we have this special day.....include Him in your day.  Because without Him, December 25th would just be another day.

The Bathroom Vignette....Before and After

Lucky for us the previous owners had already moved into their new home and had done a wonderful job of patching, repainting the whole house neutral and putting in nice carpet.  It was like moving into a new space.  At first I was like urgh....it's all khaki pants!  But now I totally appreciate it because it has made painting over the khaki a breeze!  No holes to fill and since I buy really good paint, one coat has done the job!  Woohoo!  I've since painted just about all the walls our color palette...this just happens to be the first project I tackled.  And it was the smallest, but has made the biggest impact!  This is the little hall that connects our kitchen to the garage, the laundry room (to the right) and the half-bath (to the left).  It is of course khaki pants here.

And now is Pale Honey (Home Depot).  It is by far my most favorite color I've ever painted.  It was in our old house in the kitchen and studio area.  It will very soon be the studio again.  For now though it is in this tiny hall and bath.  It makes me just smiley seeing it.  It's one of those colors!  Also hanging in the hall is a favorite painting I just never could sell.  On the right side we need a bulletin board or something for a "command center".  Our schedules are so wacky I need a place to record it!  Hopefully the frame I found in storage yesterday will do the trick.

Our little half bath was a little dark really dark and totally out of character for our creative explosive house.  So......after changing just about everything, we now have a bath that makes us all very happy while going....umm...potty. 

I just loved the outdoor tin light fixture in Lowe's.  And for a mere $20 it was a keeper!  Luckily Billy is a light switching genius.  The mirror came from a new antique store in Newnan.  On the back of the toilet are vintage brass letters that spell "kindness".  Just a little something to ponder on while.....

The over the toilet cabinet was just too much.  It is in the garage sell pile now.  I'm not exactly sure what you'd call the painting technique in this room.  Faux something....that was covering a world of faux pas!  This wall, if you look carefully at it, will find all sorts of ick.  That's why it now has a giant camper painting on it!

I happened to have the cute wooden box in the basement.  It's perfect for holding toilet paper!  I've started a collection of robin's egg blue pottery and found this room to be a perfect spot for it until it grows.  I wanted a shelf to hold other nic-nacs like our Little People Family, silly kid pics, more pottery and mirror I found at Lakewood years ago. 

It's just so....so....not us.   And now....

It is.  I used vintage hangers to hold vintage towels I've had for years.  A little tree sprig and yellow ornament give the room a perfect amount of holiday cheer.

So, there it is.  The first nesting project tackled and completed.  It started a snowball effect.  Yep.....just about got the house nestled.  There will always be projects on the to-do list.  It's just my personality.  And makes the house fun to be a part of. 

Little Christmas Vignettes Day 2

Onward we go up the stairs to find this little vignette nestled so sweetly for all to see:

We have a unique staircase that makes a hard left turn on the way up.  The builder placed this super cool corner shelf at the turn...NOT.    I mean seriously who needs a shelf in the corner of the stairs on the way up?  Is it supposed to be a bench to rest on the way up or something?  Anyhoo....while decorating I had an "AHA" moment for the corner bench/shelf/decorating thorn in my side.  I found the awesome feather tree at the Country Living Fair.  It's decorated with gorgeous vintage Shiney Brights from the fair as well!  The sweet sugary houses were a purchase years ago from TJ Maxx.  The $5.99 sticker makes me smile real big.

 Vintage books with the covers ripped off are a staple for my vignettes.  My go-to riser.

Tomorrow...a peek at the renovated half-bath.  So it'll be a before and after peek as well!

Christmas Vignettes Day 1

We've enjoyed preparing our home so much for the Holiday season.  I thought I'd share a few of our favorites over the next few days until Christmas.  I know...I know...this is supposed to be an artsy blog.  But decorating is such a sweet passion of mine.  I hope to share more of my decorating tips and ideas in the new year here.  It is big a part of my creative expression.  Yep.. one big creative explosion in this house.  Good thing I married a very patient and very easy going man.

So on with the tour.....this is how the Horne family is greeting its' guests for the Christmas Season:

The front door has no protection, so I literally bought picks and ornaments for the wreath at Wal-mart so at the end of the season, should they be pretty funky, I could throw them out without a cringe.  I wanted lots of sparkly too because when the sun hits the door it is magical.  Totally.  Magical....I LOVE driving up to our home and seeing this.  I started with a basic pine wreath, added lots of fresh greenery for smell goodness and then added the sparkly pics, nest and bird.

Inside you are immediately greeted with the banister totally decked out with lighted garland, more sparkly nests, silver painted leaves and this amazing creamy ribbon I found at Heeney.  I've never had stairs to decorate.  So you can only imagine how tickled I was this year to be adding this to our Christmas decoration box!

The balcony area received the same garland strands.  Below is a close-up of the coveted ribbon and sparkly nests.  The ribbon is by far my favorite ribbon find ever.

This vignette is also in the entry way.  I just love glitter house and have been slowly collecting them over the years. A few bottle trees and snow make this scene a wintery wonderland!

Of course our home would not be complete without one of these.

Because it is the reason we are blessed every year.  And look forward to the next!

Parties and Christmas

This past weekend we headed to the beautiful city of Monroeville, Alabama.  If you've been following me here a spell then you know I was just here a month ago meeting the other Jennifer Horne at the Beehive.  Yep.  This weekend however was the start of our FOUR Christmas'.  Not complaining.  Nope.  I mean, that's pretty darn lucky that I have family and friends to travel and see over the holidays to share the Christmas spirit with!!  Four times.  My kids LOVE it.  And I LOVE it.  I love to give, give, give gifts.  I get a total crazy high off finding and giving the perfect gift.  That look of "wow, you remembered...or Wow you really know me..." man it's the reason to give.  I don't even like to tell others what I am giving others.  And I really don't like knowing what is being given to my children.  I love the surprise and excitement of the entire holiday joy.   Yep....man....I am rambling a joyful crazy high right?  Whew.  Sorry. 

This weekend however, wasn't just about Christmas.  We also went to celebrate my sister Molly's only child's 2nd birthday.  Talk about time flying.  Seems just yesterday we were going down for his birth.  It was the best time for us(Molly and I) to be with our families and our Mother for Christmas.  And what a bonus to be celebrating Fielding's 2nd!  And celebrate in grand style we did.  Molly has a gift I had NO IDEA was in her.  And that would be the gift of Birthday Party planning.  Down to a tee.  Yep.  Just look below.  Not one detail missed.  Martha would be proud.  She worked us to death....but in the end it was a perfect day and a perfect party for a pretty darn cute little boy.  So enjoy the party pics below!

 There were 6 carnival games perfect for little tykes to enjoy, a jumpy house, fresh lemonade stand, hot dog stand, cupcakes to knock your socks off good, and a photo booth.  Geesh this is a cute idea.  I am SO going to implement one into my festival booths.  Wouldn't that be a hoot??

Is he the cutest little man or what?  Of course I am a tad biased.  Anyhoo....we celebrated much on Saturday.  From Christmas with our mother to a 2 year old's birthday.  It was such a joyful way to start our holiday season.  So.....how many times do you celebrate the season?

Painting in the Process

Today I wanted to share another painting progression.  Last week I shared a whimsical flower painting where I started with a black background and worked my way forward with layers and layers of paint.   In this technique I layered yummy texture onto wood, carved the truck image into the texture, painted then filled the lines with oil sticks.  It is a rather lengthy process with days needed in between each step.  But the end result is quite capitvating... 

 Almost there.....it's amazing the difference the lines filled with oil stick make!

 Think I have enough tubes of paint?  Never enough....like my closet....never enough.  hehehe...

This was a custom painting for a sweet client I met at the Decatur Arts Festival.  I truly hope her wife was speechless when she opened it!  Because it was painted just for her.....

Puffy Heart

I've decided to start a series of posts called "puffy heart". I could call it something else, yes, but since that has become my coined term for things I share here on the blog that I absolutely adore, it fits. So be looking for regular posts that are filled with joy, silliness, yumminess and home.

Cooper and Xavier

Seriously....seriously?  Could this pottery be more fun???  I had to have these for Billy and I.  Yep.  Had to.  And yes, the potters named them Xavier and Cooper.  Geesh.  I puffy heart this find.  Want to know a little more about the dynamic potter duo? (because they are super cool...and look alot like a Ken and Barbie doll just warning ya!)  Head over to their site: Nelson Studio (Ug-Chugs)

OMG....look at that face!!!!!!

Artists and Friends

I've spoken about these two adorable ladies before:  Tiffin and Joyanne .  Tiffin is the one who went to Portland with me this year and held my hand, well not physically but mentally, while I got the nest on my wrist.  And Joy was a right hand during the Country Living Fair.  So you may recognize these pretty faces from here on the blog.   We all three met at the infamous Shakerag festival 3 years ago.  And over those 3 years we have slowly developed one of those sisterhood type friendships.  We don't see each other much, or talk much much as we should.  But rather we have one of those friendships that is effortless and brings so much simple joy to my life.  We share so much in common and use this common thread to continue weaving what I know will be an eternity scarf. 

I hope each of you has some type of connection like this.  Because it is invaluable to have women like this in your life.  Strong, grounded, confident and beautiful from the inside out.  Yep...I am one lucky duck to have had these two cross my path when they did.  And like I always say, everyone comes into your life EXACTLY when and where they are supposed to. 

While at the Country Living Fair I joked with Joy that we should totally have a show in my house.  Forget the setting up a tent and freezing our butts off....have it in a nice warm house.  Right at Christmas.  Call it something like "Handmade Holiday".  Well, all 3 agreed, the date was set and the next thing you know the day was here!!  I was bubbling over with excitement.  I love to share my home with people.  Love.  And yes, I was running around like a banshee the day before cleaning, cutting bushes, and decorating.  Of course as much stuff as we had you'd hardly have noticed a crumb on the floor!

 Orange truck even got a Holiday cheer!  I set up in the main living area:

And in the entrance.  My last few paintings left from show season greeted everyone.  Well, and so did Lily.  She loves to have company over too!!

 New little baubles were a hit.

 I even made some glass puffy hearts this holiday season.  Just gotta puffy heart them, right?

Joy had the pink room (dining room).  And so very appropriate since she creates the most amazing gentle, feminine jewelry! 

 Her little vignette under my ribbon decor even matched!

She just knows how to place each unique find with the right beads, baubles and chain.  Each piece is so very different....and so very lovely.  And talk about hand skills....she has new crocheted pieces that any Grandmother would be smiling over!  I had to have one and have worn it twice since Sunday.  I feel so elegant while teaching art to crazy K-5th graders in it!!  That's the phrase for her: elegant vintage chic.  remember that Joy!

Tiffin had the eating and kitchen area for her amazing assortment of goodies for the home.  And talk about hand skills here.  I have never seen anything more well crafted in my entire life than everything that comes out of her studio.  I mean seriously.  Flawless.  And a diverse portfolio was well.

 I just love the way she puts lamps together.

 And the new embroidery she is joyfully crafting....I want them ALL!!

I know,  I know!!  They are just beautiful!  She has such a knack for creating edgy decor for your home.  (You should see her house.  Man, she is an amazing decorator!!)

She had loads of aprons and prints as well.  Like I said, she crafts for your entire home.  Got to love a well-rounded crafter.    My catch phrase for her:  vintage edgy home

So, yes....to answer your question we are hosting a second event.  In the SPRING!  With a new twist...we plan to share our thrift decor finds, display pieces ready to be retired and of course a fresh batch of handmade goodness for your heart, home and body.

As soon as we set a date a sidebar link will appear.  And be blogged about too I am sure.  For now, enjoy the rest of your week.  We are off to Alabama for a spell of Holiday Cheer!!