Okio B Designs

I saw this idea on Pinterest yesterday and thought it was so sweet and simple that I just had to copycat:

A clear mason jar filled with some fresh pine cones and an evergreen branch (courtesy of my neighbor's pine tree!) with a couple of candy canes.

I love the simplicity of it and the fact that I had everything I needed for a quick little holiday touch.

And since simple seems to be my word of the day, here's the cowbell and little frame at got at the estate sales this weekend. A little gold vignette of sorts. The bottle brush trees are from Home Goods. I want to swap out the photo of the girl praying with a black & white one of my mom and dad but there is something about the little girl that speaks to me.

I bought these little acorns from Walmart last year. Surprisingly, I did not see them this year. Bummer because I would have loved a few more. Anywho, I filled my little black tray with vintage sheet music and added the acorns.

Sometimes I like to keep it simple.

Linking to Between Naps on the Porch: Met Monday.

Jeanine

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We hit another estate sale this morning. Brrrrr...it was a chilly wait but definitely worth it. Just take a look at today's batch of oldies but goodies:

I collect old spectacles/glasses and these are perfect for my collection.

I've been looking everywhere for these glass insulators in blue and I finally got them! Four to be exact.

I couldn't resist the old books, cow bell and this "No Smoking" sign which is more of a gag because, unfortunately, both me and the hubby smoke. Never in the house and this sign will remind everyone of that.

Today set us back about $75. My husband also got an old wagon wheel and old wall-mounted coffee grinder.

Jeanine

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The hubby and I hit an estate sale this morning while the boys were in school. Lookie at all of the goodies we snatched up:

There is something intriguing to me about the clown with the violin. I don't know if it's a jewelry charm or perhaps more of an ornament. The artist painted the image onto a metal shape - which I know makes it very old. I just can't tell what type of metal it is though. This one may or may not go into my Etsy shop - after I do some research. The tag says $89!!!!!!! I paid a quarter. Meanwhile, my husband picked out the salt and pepper shakers. And who could resist the little frame for 50 cents?!

Once I clean up these tongs, they'll be perfect for my Xmas eve table. The vanity mirror was another piece that intrigued me so I grabbed that as well.

A week ago I couldn't find any bottle brush trees and now they seem to be everywhere I go! These little cuties were 10 cents each. The ceramic tree napkin rings will also look nice on my Xmas eve table.

Twenty dollars well spent!

Jeanine

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I made a few more painted peat pots this week and I think I'm becoming a little obsessed. For this batch, I added some number tags along with the buttons I used on my previous bird one:

The first one is filled with rolled vintage sheet music and ones I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy.

The other two I'm still deciding on what to fill them with. For now they are filled with shredded sheet music. I'm leaning towards adding some fresh greens and pinecones to them for a natural, festive look.

I love that these are super simple to make and I think they'll transition nicely into my regular home decor after the holidays!

Jeanine

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I just can't seem to get any good photos of our Christmas tree. I don't know if it's because of the dreary weather or the lights on the tree or what?! Here are a few of my attempts:

I almost feel like this one makes the tree look like the leaning tower of Pisa! Ha!

Got this idea from a magazine (f course I can't remember which one as I'm typing this!). I just love the look of vintage toys for Christmas, don't you?

Little rocking horse from Home Goods.

Another view.

I can't wait until it's filled with lots and lots of presents underneath!

Linking to 2805's Christmas Tree party on December 9th.

Jeanine

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In the midst of all of my holiday shopping madness, I sat down over the weekend and made myself a little something for all of $2! Yup, I'm such a big spender - lol:

This is a simple Dollar Store prayer candle with a fabulous Keep Calm and Carry On image that I got off of Etsy for...$1 (graphique.etsy.com) that I Mod Podged on. I am keeping to a tight Xmas gift budget this year but figured I could splurge $2 on myself. I even had the little rhinestone on hand for the crown embellishment.

It's the little things that sometimes make you very happy - and calm! - during the holiday madness. And I think it would make for a sweet gift for perhaps a teacher, an Aunt, Grandma or Mom.

I'm also in the midst of playing around with decorations for my Xmas table. The little stack of books is from Home Goods. I painted a peat pot white for a shabby, chippy look and filled it with shredded sheet music. The little button embellishments I got from a giveaway last year. And I couldn't resist adding the French script, tea-stained seam binding and little crown.

My 6 year old suggested adding the little bird since he thought it looked like an Xmas nest. I couldn't agree more!

Linking to Faded Charm: White Wednesday.

Jeanine

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Although I haven't been ice skating in years and was never quite good at it, I do love the look of them in the wintertime. This is a pair I did a couple of years ago when I first started blogging. I had spied a similar pair in Romantic Homes and did a copycat you might remember from my old blog One Cheap B*tch:

Some of the glitter on the blades has started to wear off but I do still love the fur cuffs!

I bought another pair of old skates from the church thrift store a couple of weeks ago. They sat and sat until this week when Jill from The French Cupboard shared her French-inspired skates. It was just the little nudge I needed to get started on this latest pair of skates. Problem was they were in pretty bad shape so I had to spray paint them - the whole boot, blade and all. Here is one of them now:

I love how Jill used twine to lace hers, and as luck would have it I had some, what I like to call, candy cane twine from Ikea. I used that to lace them up.

I tied a Joyeux Noel coffee tag around the front of the boot, and stuffed some tissue paper in the top since I didn't want to use fur again. Then I added some random Xmas balls and faux branches, pine cones and berries from the Dollar Store on top.

Meanwhile, this is the other boot - patiently awaiting its complete makeover. =)

Linking to Between Naps on the Porch: Met Monday.

Jeanine

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We're planning on putting up our tree this weekend, but in the meantime wanted to share some more Christmas touches about the house. Cindy from Cottage Instincts helped with the inspiration for these mason jars:

I had filled them with some shredded vintage sheet music but that's about as far as I got until I popped over to Cindy's yesterday. I loved her jars so much that I immediately went to the Dollar Store to get some big ornaments to put on the top of each one. I love the look of the twine ribbon too.

These clogs are actually from two years ago. I had gotten the idea from Martha Stewart's now defunct Blueprint magazine. They add a touch of color to the porch.

This little porch table is still a work in progress. I feel like it's still missing a little something.

And there is an awful lot of JOY in our house this year:

More here:

And here:

Here too:

Thanks for joining me on this mini tour!

Jeanine

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I got this lovely little basket back in October at a garage sale. I used it for Halloween and now with a simple switch of some ribbon, I'm using it for a place to display some holiday postcards:

I simply added some plaid ribbon and tied it in the front. Then I added some white tissue paper and added my postcards. My mom gave me the vintage Santa ones last year. The larger black and white postcards are actually from Ikea. They show Paris, London, New York, etc. in the wintertime. They show some really pretty scenes!

I just couldn't hide the Paris one! I have it propped up on this vintage typewriter.

Click here for a great article with tips for selling on Etsy featuring your's truly.

Jeanine

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***You still have time to enter my giveaway here!***

After searching just about every Dollar Tree in a 10 mile radius for bottle brush trees, I was just about to give up. Luckily, I popped into Home Goods this morning and lookie what they had:

I'm so happy that I found these two pretties! And I love the fact that I really don't have to do anything to them. Right now they are on a shelf in my livingroom - right next to a Dollar Store birdie I picked up last year.

I also couldn't resist these little books this morning. They were only $4.99 each. I have them stacked on the diningroom table for now.

These are some other Xmas goodies I picked up from Home Goods last year.

And here's a view of my Xmas kitchen window shelf which is kind of like a make-shift mantel since I don't have one:

A lot more Home Goods goodies from last year here too!

The Crown is a recent Home Goods find. Not sure if you can tell but it's filled with some small Xmas bulbs.

Am I the only one humming: "Oh it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." these days?! =)

Jeanine

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Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday. We enjoyed a nice, quiet, peaceful day at my Mom's. I needed the relaxation because today I officially started to decorate for Xmas.

These are just little packages to put under our tree (which hasn't gone up yet) while we countdown to the 25th. With two little boys who still believe in Santa, I can't have the actual gifts under the tree so I decided to do some faux ones so it doesn't look bare under there. You can probably also see the shabby bucket I did a week or so ago. It's pleasantly filled with some red plastic ornaments from Ikea.

This is just a little envelope I made from some vintage sheet music. Got the inspiration from Pinterest. I sewed up the sides to keep it closed, and then added the button, baker's twine and jingle bell. The little tag says: "To Wish You Joy at Christmas."

Next I did a large Dollar Store matchbox - also with some vintage sheet music. I tied this one up with twine for a more rustic look. The "Compliments of the Season" tag I made using an image from The Graphics Fairy.

Lastly is this little shipping box that I wrapped in simple brown craft paper. The Santa image is also from The Graphics Fairy. I used some Ikea candy cane-striped twine for this one and added some faux greenery from the Dollar Store.

I have a bunch more to make and what's so nice is you can use any type of simple box. Maybe even one that you might have otherwise thrown out!

Linking to The Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday and Funky Junk Interiors:SNS.

Jeanine