Girlfriend Christmas Party

Hello Everyone.

Every year for a long time now I have hosted a Girlfriend Charity Gift Christmas Party.  It is traditionally always the first Friday in December.

I am very blessed to have these beautiful and loving girlfriends in my life.  So each year I host this party in honor of the beautiful friendship we share.

Now that my two daughters are grown they also have sweet girlfriends in their lives that now share in the party with us.

I cannot even express how much these beautiful women give such meaning to my life.  Each of their generous hearts and souls make my life so much better.

We all wear our Christmas Jammies because we all know that it is more fun at a party in your jammies.  Eating, drinking and laughing are just so much better when you are relaxed in your comfy PJ's.

Each girlfriend brings an exchange gift. The gift has to have some or most of the proceeds benefit a charity of their choice.  Most of us pick a charity that is near and dear to our hearts.  It is amazing the gifts that each girls brings and the touching stories that go with the gifts.  We do a fun gift exchange game and each girl goes home with a beautiful gift.

Each girl got a light bulb blinking necklace to add some fun to their jammie choices.  

This year I had a slipper contest for the cutest slippers worn.  These were Diana's jingle bell elf slippers.  Just adorable.

Her daughter Mindy made her cute slippers.  Sorry this is a little fuzzy.  I was not thinking and should have taken a group shot of all the cute slippers worn.  There were so many cute ones.

I know a lot of you know Diana from Nana Diana Takes A Break Blog.  This is Diana and her sweet daughter Mindy.  Terry surprised me last year and arranged for Diana to come down to the party.  I was so excited and honored to have her at my party.  This year was even more fun that one of her daughters Mindy could join us.

We play lots of games.  This was a scratch off game to see who's been naughty and who's been nice.  

We played the saran wrap game.  This game is so much fun.  The person has to try and unwrap the saran wrap while the person next to her is rolling dice to try and get doubles to steal the saran wrap ball.  As the ball unwraps prizes fall out.  Lots of fun and it kept us laughing.

Then we play a game called LCR.  This game is the hit of the party.  This is my daughters friend winning the Santa Bag full of dollars.

I am sorry I did not take more pictures of the food tables and the slippers worn and some of the beautiful gifts.   I was having a great time and forgot.  The important part of the evening was celebrating our love for each other and having lots of fun.  Terry's Fireman/Man Cave will never be the same!!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend.  I hope to have some of my Christmas decor pics up soon.

Hugs,

Kris

Outside Christmas Lights

Hi Everyone.

Sharing my outside lights with you today.

Here is the house lights on at dusk.  The house gets to blurry to take pics when it gets really dark.  That is when it looks so pretty but bad for picture taking.

Simple icicle lights and white lights on the trees and bushes.

Instead of a traditional wreath I decided to put up my angel wings on the front door.

I found this cute welcome mat at Kirklands.

This tree made of old spindles was gifted to me last year by a good friend.  I added lights to it this year for the front entry.

I decorated up a wreath for reach of the front windows and added some white lights too.

The outside of the house is complete for the holidays.  I am embracing this living smaller.  I can get things decorated so much faster so there is more time to really enjoy the holidays.  I will have the inside soon to show you.

Hope as we slide on down into the holidays you are enjoying decorating, shopping, wrapping and baking.

I have my annual Girlfriend Charity Party tonight so I am hoping to remember to take pictures to show.  Sometimes when you are the hostess you get busy and forget to take pics!!!!!

Hugs,
Kris

PS:
Before you go.  Do you see the little photo bomber.  I know this picture is very grainy but if you look closely you will see the little photo bomber Peggy.  I was trying to take some night time shots and apparently she felt like she needed to be watching and supervising!!!!

Kitchen Reveal

Hi Everyone. 

Hope all of you had a great Turkey Day.  It was so nice to relax and enjoy good food and family all around the table.

I finally got my slipcovers for the kitchen chairs.  Now I can show you the kitchen.  

This is a tiny galley type kitchen so we needed to be creative and come up with more room for storage.

So we accomplished this by making the small dining area off the kitchen an extension of the kitchen area.

Here are some before pictures:

This was the kitchen area when we bought the house.  Old appliances that did not work, cracked kitchen floor and dated fixtures.

This is the kitchen after.  New butcher block counters.  We took the upper cabinets down and put up shiplap and then open shelves.  I gave the cabinets some new paint and hardware.

Before

After
We added new flooring and new appliances.

Now this kitchen is updated and more my style.

This was the dining area right off the galley kitchen that is now an extension of the kitchen.

Since we needed this space to add the big armoire for a pantry I decided to make a seating area instead of a traditional table and chairs. These chairs are comfy and it is a great place to have our coffee in the morning.

We added the big armoire for a pantry.  I love having all my small appliances on shelves and a big amount of space for pantry foods.

I am so happy I could repurpose my antique armoire into a more useful piece.  It really works so well as my pantry.

I added this old chippy cabinet door to the side of the pantry.  This chippy cabinet door is from an old farmhouse kitchen.  You know how I love to repurpose things with history!

This room gets lots of pretty light throughout the day.

Terry with his trusty tools made me these beautiful cornices for both windows in this kitchen area.

I have a nice framed out chalk board to add market reminders.  As you can see I started to put up some Christmas decor.

I have a nice area for a coffee bar.

Love having my open shelves.

I think this is my favorite transformation in the kitchen.  We took old vintage frames I had in storage and framed out this window.  It gives the window some character and still lets in lots of light.

 I have to give a shout out to my favorite slipcover artist.  Lisa from Fabric 8 Slipcovers came up with these slipcovers for my seating area.

This was a before picture of these chairs.

So you can see what a beautiful difference it made to have Lisa perform her magic for me.
I love that the gray and white compliment my new buffalo check drapes in this room too.
If you are interested in having beautiful slipcovers made please visit Lisa's website here.

I am so happy to share my new kitchen in our tiny cottage home.  I am embracing living smaller .  I am finding that I need less stuff and like the cozy feel of living small.  Being creative with the rooms  has been a fun challenge for me. 

Hope you all have a wonderful new week ahead.  Christmas will be here quickly.  Enjoy all the decorating, shopping, baking as the season unfolds.

I hope to have a post soon on my Christmas decor.  

Hugs,

Kris 

Snow Birds

Hi Everyone. 

 I want to wish all my US friends a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.  With firefighters and nurses in our family we will actually celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday this year.  Call of duty for a few of us on the actual holiday.  It is about being together and celebrating our blessing so it is all ok to wait one day!!!

I wanted to share with you a little find I found at Target.

This is my new snowbird family.  Are they not the cutest?!!

They just make me smile with their cute little fur hats and winter coats.

I really was minding my own business in Target actually looking for an extension cord when they sweet little birds flew into my cart.  I had to adopt them and take them home for my Christmas/Winter decor.


Since we are celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday at my daughters that has given me tomorrow to finish up my Christmas Decorating.

In this tiny house I did not have a lot of space for much decor but what I am doing is making me smile.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope there are so many wonderful blessings for all of you this year.

For all of you that are not in the USA have a great rest of this beautiful week.

Hugs,
Kris

PARTIES:
CREATE, BAKE, GROW & GATHER
Share your Style

One Room Three Uses

Happy Monday.

I have been learning that when you downsize into a tiny cottage home you must be resourceful and creative with the spaces you have.

This is a two bedroom home.  That left me with our Master Bedroom and I needed an office, guest room and since the bathroom was so small a make up area.  So to solve the problem of needing three more rooms,  I just made one room work 3 ways.

I took my one and only extra bedroom space and made it into my guest room, makeup area and office space.

When you walk into this room I have a twin guest room bed.  I would have loved a queen bed for a guest room but living tiny did not allow for that.  I do have the twin bed if I have a guest stay over.

Most of my family live here so on holiday's we do not need an overnight guest spot.  My mom would probably be the only one that might sleep overnight and this bed works great for her.

I hung my sweet garden angel picture over the bed in this room.  My chippy arched window works well for a headboard.

I made this corner of the room my makeup table.  In 1949 when this house was built they did not think of large bathrooms with long counters, double sinks and make up areas.  I made one for myself in the corner of this room.

I hung my chandelier over the mirror area and have this cute little make up table with a wide drawer area for all my makeup.

I have these vintage chippy white hooks hung for my necklaces.  My sweet friend gifted me that Angel friendship sign so I hung this near my morning make up table.

I created a office space in this room too.

I have my vintage office bins hung on an old curtain rod for all those odds and end things.

I have my sweet chicken wire mannequin made on an old 1934 Chicago Hilton iron valet.

I have my Madonna's on my desk.

They give me peace.

Of course I have my sweet Grace angel guarding all the throws.  Another angel that gives me peace and makes me smile each day.

Now that we are living large in a tiny home I have been trying to be creative and utilize every inch of living space.  So this small bedroom is now 3 rooms in one.

As we head on down towards Thanksgiving I want to wish each and everyone of you many blessings on this special day.  I hope that your tables will be surrounded with loved ones.

Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs,

Kris

Parties:
Share your Style Party

Shabbilicious Christmas Magazine Feature

Hi everyone.  Happy New Week.

I recently was asked by KerryAnne at Shabby Art Boutique to have my Christmas decor from last year published in her pretty magazine.  I am honored to be asked and the magazine is beautiful.  I think you might recognize a few other talented bloggers in this magazine too.  

If you want to order a copy or view this magazine for free please head over to KerryAnne's blog here.

Thanks KerryAnne for this sweet honor.

While we are all preparing for Thanksgiving and our families around the table take a little time out  with a yummy beverage and be inspired by this lovely Christmas magazine.

Yikes! Thanksgiving is sooooo close and then it will be the down hill slide into Christmas.  This time of year goes so quickly.

Enjoy a few minutes looking through this beautiful publication.

Hugs,

Kris

Fireman Cave/ Family Room

Hi Everyone,

Here is a video of the before basement and after the renovation basement.  I thought it would be easier to see this room through before and after videos.  Just get a better feel for the room through a video than still pics.

Grab a frosty beverage and enjoy the mini before and after videos.

Have a great Weekend.  

Kris