A look back, and looking ahead

I hope you had a wonderful New Year! We’ve been on the go, so much this past week, I seem to be a day (or two) behind the rest. So let’s play a little catch up, shall we?  

Here’s my New Years Eve table. I put it all together super fast, and it doesn’t help that I couldn’t find the photo card for my Canon Rebel, so my little point n’ shoot Kodak was my go-to back up. (It was that or use my iphone!)

The round silver tray and mercury glass votives are from Z Gallerie, one of my favorite places to shop. I also purchased my silver chargers from there.

To add a little interest, I placed a vintage silver trophy cup in the center of the votive grouping with a pinecone on top, along with frost tipped pinecones scattered throughout. I’m all about incorporating nature, even on a tablescape. The silver birds are my friend Rosemary’s, and I’m borrowing them for an upcoming project, stay tuned for more details on that!

Keeping it simple, I just placed glittered snowflake ornaments on top of the napkins…

I bought these great metal frame stands from my friend Kymberley at 3 Fine Grains a while back, and simply printed out New Years themed images I found at The Graphics Fairy…

The mercury glass decanters were purchased from Home Goods. They came with fancy crystal tops, which I left behind and opted for dripless wax candles instead and turned these decanters into candleholders…

I’m looking forward to completing more house projects in 2011. I have a bunch of plans on my to do list, such as this bad boy, my cinderblock fireplace wall. It has been my nemesis since we first bought this house over two years ago.

As a quick, semi-painful reminder, here’s how it looked when we first bought this place:

And here’s how it looks today, shot at night time. As you can see, the room dividing section of cinderblock wall that faces out hasn’t undergone much more than paint, crown moulding and base trim moulding up to this point…

I’m also feeling a change is gonna come to our fireplace wall as well, although the jury is still out on that project. In the meantime, don’t you just love the stockings gifted to me by my dear friend Laurie at Bella Inspirations.

Note: It’s January 2nd and my stockings are still up. Does that make me crazy, lazy or just plain sentimental? And a quick question, dear bloggers: How long do you leave your holiday decor up on your mantel? I get the whole taking down the christmas tree by the new year thing, but is there a decided expiration date on mantel decor and stockings?

  

In closing, I want to thank each and every one of you who have shared in our journey this past year. To all those who’ve been so kind to comment and email, or called just to say hello! Even the lurkers who quietly drop in for a visit. You guys simply amaze me with your support. I also want to thank all our incredible customers who dig my goods and shop my online store. You’ve helped make this past year our best yet, and I can’t wait to show you the cool finds I’ll be listing next.