Christmas-ing the Outside! Part 1

Hey All!

Hope you. Enjoyed your Saturday! I had no plans today so it was a get stuff done kinda day! 

First on the list was getting the exterior lights up! Usually I get them up in October but I'm a little behind this year, especially since I need to borrow a tall enough ladder! 

Thankfully a buddy from work brought his and then even finished putting them up for me! What a great guy! Last year the icicles decided to stop working, so we didn't put them up. I tried looking for the same kind but they've changed em since I bought mine and I'm not a fan of the new style so for this year, just plain lights again. 

Although I shouldn't say plain since they alternate between red and green, which is kind of fun!

I also decided to use the faux garland I stocked up on at last year (or the year prior's ) Boxing Day sales. 

I really wanted to use the huge snowflakes I bought last year but still haven't figured out the best way to hang then from the porch so I attached them to the garland.

A new addition is this trio of spiral trees. I scored them at a Zellers clearance sale and imagined them along the pathway but we just end up with too much snow and they get buried so they line the stairs now.

I did my best chipping away at the ice, but I definitely need a warmer day soon to do it!

As usual, Rudy is the guest of honour on the porch! 

I think I'll have to string some lights around him this year and really make him shine!

I haven't yet staged the little table, but you can see the start of a new project sitting on the floor...

One of my little pre-lit trees bit the dust, so this little guy is all by his lonesome. I'll have to find the right spot for him and get him lit up tomorrow. 

Here's an overall shot of how it's coming along: 

I also put the wreath on the door for the meantime. I made it 2 years ago and it's definitely time for a makeover so that will be getting updated shortly, but here she is currently! 

I'm really liking a more neutral, natural theme this year so we'll see what I end up with. So stay tuned for that! 

What do you think so far? Excuse the crummy shots, but I wanted to get them at night so you could see the lights! 

See ya later November! 

Indigo Loves!

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably seen all the amazing goodness that Indigo has been offering up lately.

I know I am constantly "liking" Instagram shots and them am pleasantly surprised to find out where the great stuff is from!

So, I thought it would be a great idea to do up a little Wish List:


Okay, so who wouldn't love this little antler bottle opener.  I'm off the belief that one can never have too many bottle openers, as during a party, the main one will inevitably go missing!

 

 

So, I join the ranks of everyone who's a fan of the "Bubbly" Champagne flutes, but even more so, I love the plates!!  So cute, right?

 

 

Since I don't really cook, I'm a big fan of hors d'eurves.  What better way to display stuff than a monogrammed cheeseboard?

 

 

So, one of my absolute favorite Christmas decorations is a snow globe!  It's uber sleek and modern and absolutely perfect for me.  When I saw this one, I realized I want to start a collection this year!

They also have a great little polar bear and penguin which would be great additions!

 

I've actually all but eliminated red & green from my décor, but when I saw this Tartan Stag print, I thought I might want to add it as a pop of color this year!

 

 

They actually had quite a few great prints like this uber girly one:

 

But back to Christmas, who wouldn't want a very dapper Santa sitting on their couch?

Especially when he's on sale!

 

 

I'm really loving the Monogrammed ornaments they have this year.  I really love the typography and style of the "B" ornament, but will most likely be picking up a few of our initials.

I desperately want some little birds in nests for my tree but haven't found ones I love yet.  While I still don't LOVE these, I figure I might cover the bird in this one in glitter and then they'd be good!

I also really love this ombre swirl ornament and think the colors would be perfect in my house!

 

 

 

 

Lastly, no one can ever have too many monograms and I think it might be time I embrace the gold trend in décor, and what better way to do so than by adding a nice big "C" to our front entry.

 

 

 

What have you recently picked up from Indigo or what do you have your eye on?

 

Festival of Trees -2013 Tree

Last year my company created our first ever tree for the Festival of Trees. The University of Alberta Hospital Foundation is one of our major charitable recipients, as such, we figured we'd try our hand at a tree! 

Little did we know, that tree would end up taking 1st place and raised a fair deal of money at auction! Which is always amazing.

This year, we have it another shot with what I like to call our Industrial/Seussical Tree titled "Christmas Whimsy".

Here's a little photo journey of the creation of this year's tree:

The base of the tree is actually a tension-mounted floor to ceiling wine rack. 

At 7' with pre drilled holes (for the wine bottles) it was the perfect base! 

Next up were the "branches". In keeping with our industrial/construction vibe we found Electrical Conduit worked nicely. But since we wanted to light the thing a little differently, we opted to drill tons of little holes in each piece so that when illuminated it would kind of be like a pierced Moroccan lantern.

This was the set up for spray painting the branches. We went with a hammered silver spray paint. 

The next and most time consuming part was threading the lighting thru. In keeping with construction materials we chose rope lighting that was generously donated by Park Lighting!

It didn't photograph well (kinda flat? But was really cool when plugged in.

After that came the fun part:  Decorating!

Someone had selected some very Dr Seuss-like cartoony characters and spring and spike shapes which we fitting with our tall, narrow tree!

It started to take shape here! 

Next up, a tree skirt. We originally had a faux fur throw drapes around the base but not everyone liked it so it was veto'd for simply leaving it wood and spraying it silver to match.

Our tree topper was the last addition and boy does ours make a statement! From <a href="http://ikea.ca">IKEA</a> we yanked the lights outta this star and jammed our rope lighting up instead! It's definitely oversized but I like to think that that's how Dr Seuss would have liked it! 

When we got to the Shaw Conference Centre for drop off, we realized as soon as we set the tree on the white draping that our silver wood base was NOT special enough so a simple covering of snow and the addition of some lot presents and we were much happier! 

Here's how she turned out. Again, keep in mind it photographs flat but it quite stunning in person! 

As one of the only non-tree, trees, we really think it will be a standout! 

The gala is tonight so we have our fingers crossed that the tree will get bid on for a nice amount and raise a fair bit of money! Plus, we're obviously hoping the judges will enjoy it as much as they liked last year's tree! 

If you'll be checking out the festival this weekend, please check out our tree! Oh and of course leave me a comment trolling me what you thought of it in person! 

-Cindy

A Collection of Happiness!

I've been pretty busy lately, doing nothing in particular but a lot of randomness. Here are a few photos detailing my last few weeks:

I bought myself a happy new ski jacket since we are heading to the mountains next week! It's been about 10 years since I've been in skis do let's hope it's like riding a bike! 

This little guy, Fred, belongs to one of my besties! She's newly pregnant so we've been having lots of girls nights in since her hubby is out of town for work often!

This little guy turned one recently. This photo was taken at his party last weekend. He also had surgery to put tubes in his ears yesterday but seems to be doing well so hugs to him and his mama! 

This girl loves to go for rides but we keep the seats covered now after an incident with pasta salad meant a very $$$ seat shampoo visit 2 weekends ago! 

Dog park and then....

Afternoon snuggle naps! 

We are working on our 2nd Edmonton Festival of Trees tree! We strung up a makeshift line to get the "branches" painted today! I'll post more photos once the tree is complete! :) 

We got a huge dumping of snow here over the last 2 days so tonight's Girls Night Out has been swapped for Girls Night In! I'm off to get ready- stay warm!