Dirty hands, Beautiful life: 2012

Friends, Food, Fun, and Fabulous Decor!

On Saturday our friends amused us by letting us host a holiday gathering. The party was an informal affair (the only kind a bunch of mechanics would tolerate), but I must have festive flair in the air, so I mixed in all the practicalities needed for a casual affair with the holiday table setting.

The blue Ball jars add the perfect mix of strong, enduring, and practical to tone down the glitz.

The wooden recipe box is a great place to tuck in some everyday napkins “more manly than the red, holly…

A formal setting would have made this crowd uncomfortable, so the napkin and casual placemat just welcome each guest to have a seat and enjoy. (Finger licking acceptable!)

Extra tooth picks and plasticware included…

A lovely tray of beer nuts…

Some gifts for our guests…

For the ladies…

For the Gents…

(for my southern readers that’s an ice scraper, gloves and flashlight)

A couple of happy hosts…

Merry Christmas Party!

Flashback to Fall

Since the school year began, I have been less than regular at blogging. Our weather here in Iowa was abnormally warm the last couple of days. Sitting at the park this afternoon without a heavy winter coat, scarves, and gloves made it feel like a beautiful autumn day. Because the fall skipped by me here in the land of blog, I want to take a look back at some of my favorite moments of fall.

A visit with family from far and near for Labor Day

High school football

Handsome cowboys

A visit to the pumpkin patch

The remarkable moments of childhood

A little fall photography

Sunrise over the harvested fields…aka…the back yard

6 days of Christmas decorating…

Although I L-O-v-e working with new fashions and trends in holiday decorating, there’s nothing that makes me smile and crave the heart of Christmas (the kitchen of course!) like red and green.

Here are two very different looks that can blend so well to bring the relaxed contemporary look together with a more traditional and elegant feel…

7 days of Christmas decorating

I think of this look as an "enchanted forest". It takes the natural elements that are irresistible to me…pinecones, birch, twigs, ivory, sage, chocolate. All shades and textures found in nature. The trick to a contemporary and festive new look is the shimmer, glitter, and shine that’s layered into the elements. Easy to incorporate into our looks in our homes…

8 more days of Christmas decorating

A quick and simple way to take your lanterns from summer and make them the centerpiece of Christmas..

9 days of Christmas decorating…

Unless your Cindy Lou Who this look probably isn’t for your living room, but small touches can be worked in to so many creative decor schemes. Family room, kids room, bathroom, hallway…

10 Days of Christmas Decorating

11 Days of Christmas Decorating

Some things just make you hear songs like “I’ll be Home for Christmas”…

Nothing says home like a touch of plaid…

The touch of leather on glass brings such a contrast to the senses…

Where can you slip in a touch of plaid and contrasting textures?

12 days of Christmas Decor…

With just 12 days left until Black Friday and the shopping, decorating, gifting, cleaning, baking, and entertaining that follows I thought I would share inspiration from each new design of the season I worked on. Some you may love and some may leave you in wonder, but I hope all are inspirational in some way!

Is that really a black tree???

Why yes it is!

If you are brave enough can you think of any more bold way to ground your

Holiday Bling and set it off at the same time?!?!!

Perhaps tabletop accents are more practical…

But either way…don’t forget a bit of sparkle this season…

Linking to:
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http://www.linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/"
http://www.itsoverflowing.com/
http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/"
http://www.astrollthrulife.net/"\\

Junk Asylum

Yes…they make a place for us “junkies”!!!

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend away as a family. A night of lounging poolside at a hotel, a visit with old friends at church this morning, a trip to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon, and then we wrapped it all up with a short stop at a road side treasure trove!

It’s been a long time since I came home with any sort of antique, chipped wood, paint-falling-off treasure. It seems with all of our remodeling and renovations that it just hasn’t “fit” into our schedule, our budget, or for that matter our home.

Until…I spotted it…a sweet white table that in the past I would have picked up and loaded in the car before anyone could dare snatch it up before me. But not now….now all things must have purpose, be L-o-v-ed, and have an anticipated home before calling it MINE!

While trying to ignore my attraction to the table I saw this on the floor. It reminded me of those new “As seen on TV” make your own tortilla bowls….anybody tried those by the way??? It had a tag that said “bird bath,” but I thought who could keep such beauty outdoors?! (Perhaps Asylum is not just a play on words…)

Well I knew that I owed it to the table to at least remove the predictable Pyrex bowls from it’s surface and try this combination…

I fell in L-o-ve…

After consulting with my cowboy and deciding I could get rid of a small bookshelf near the entry that I do NOT L-o-ve…it was paid for and loaded in a hurry! He looked pretty handsome carrying on out the door too I must say.