#562...dollhouse rehab

I bought this plain wood dollhouse on ebay for my nieces for Christmas, and decided to spruce it up.

I painted some of it and added scrapbook paper as wallpaper and flooring.

To adhere the wallpaper, I used matte Mod Podge. I put a thin coat on the back side of the paper and several thin coats atop the paper once it was stuck in place.

I also painted them a wood peg family in their likeness for their house. I used these wood peg dolls from Goose Grease on etsy. My parent's gave the girls furniture for the house, so they are all set to play.

#561...merry christmas gate

For Christmas, Tyler and I got a new gate and fence into our backyard. The old wood one was rotting and falling down, so we had a welder come and make a metal frame. We chose to run the cedar pickets horizontally to give the fence/gate a more modern aesthetic. I still need to put an oil on the wood to help it retain its color. It's a huge improvement in our yard.

#560...scrap skirt

My nieces are in town for Christmas, so I organized a craft afternoon with some of my girlfriends and their little girls. We crafted this scrap strip skirt that my sister Julie found on Pinterest.

It was an easy, no-sew project, (although the Moms did the bulk of the work). The skirts were a hit with the little girls.

...however, running around the backyard afterward was equally as big a hit.......

#559...snood

I knitted this snood to give as a gift to someone who lives in a much cooler climate.

To knit the snood, I used 2 skeins of Rowan Big Wool, which is a chunky wool measuring about 87 yards on each skein. I casted 22 stitches onto size 17 needles and used a single rib pattern of knit one purl one to create a long scarf. After knitting both skeins, I cast off and used a tapestry needle and yarn to sew the ends of the long scarf into a circle, creating the snood.

#558...holiday stories

I have a holiday book collection that I pull out every year. I got a couple new titles this year, based on recommendations found here. My collection includes:

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Madeline's Christmas

The Night Before Christmas

Babar and Father Christmas

Dream Snow

The Quiltmaker's Gift

Singing Away the Dark

The First Starry Night

The Mitten

Santa Claustrophobia

Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Skipping Christmas

Holidays on Ice

#557...deer and bear

My little sister Sarah is not allowed to have pets in her apartment, so in lieu, she has Deer and Bear. Deer is a  resale shop taxidermy rescue. Bear is a carved wooden statue...also thrifted. We talk about Deer and Bear like they are real. When it came time to decorate for the holidays, I did not want Deer and Bear to be left out, so I made them some decorations. 

For Deer, I made him a ribbon doll ornament from felt, crystal buttons and a bow I knitted. (Sarah says Deer is scared of his holiday addition). I'll admit, she is a little bit bug-eyed and weird. Last year Deer wore my pom-pom garland, seen here, which he liked better. 

For Bear, I knitted him a bow-tie to help him feel more festive this season.

#556...least likely to be adopted

This is so awesome

#555...candy cane converse

We donned our holiday Converse this past weekend to stroll the neighborhood for the annual LIGHTS IN THE HEIGHTS holiday extravaganza. I got us these matching beauties about 8 years ago, and we get to wear them a couple times during the holiday season, which makes us both feel more jolly!

#554...matte stephens

I've been researching a retro-inspired color palette that a client of mine wants to infuse in her home. In my search, I came across artist Matte Stephens. I have seen his work before, but I forgot how much I like it. Here are a few of his pieces that I thought had a wintry feel. You can see more of his work on etsy here. Also, he lives in New Hampshire, one of my favorite states! 

#553..white christmas on my porch

It's been a few years since I've put up a tree at my house. I guess I'm feeling more festive this year...or less stressed, so this weekend, Tyler helped me put up my white artificial tree. I could not really settle on a place to put it inside, so we erected it on our front porch. 

#552...munny forest

My Munny dolls that live atop my dining buffet decided to get dressed up for the holidays this year.

First, I disrobed them of their individual personal accessories. Next, I got a set of these toy train Christmas trees. I used gaffer's tape to secure them to their heads, and cut little tree skirts from red felt to hide the tape and base of the tree. 

They look like a little grove of Christmas trees....or Santa's little army.

#551...let's get small

Whether your space is small or large, this article in Dwell has some good tips for warding off the hoarding urge. I like that it focuses on surrounding yourself with pretty, yet functional items for your home. I need reminders like this. 

#550...thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, my family and friends celebrated at my house. The weather was nice, so we ate outdoors. We had the usual Thanksgiving fare of turkey, potatoes and dressing, but I ventured out with a few recipes this year, and added some sides to our meal that I've been wanting to try.

These Thai-spiced roasted Brussels Sprouts were really tasty. Recipe here from OhJoy.

Roasted almonds, (especially these Marcona variety) are addictive. Recipe Here from Cook Like a Champion.

This tofu and veggie infused quinoa salad is really good leftover, scooped up with blue corn tortilla chips. Recipe Here from 101 Cookbooks.

I also made Emeril's Seafood Mac and Cheese. I used pre-cooked frozen lobster from Whole Foods. It was such a hit I did not get a photo of it before it was gone.

For the table setting outdoors, I used some of this boat fabric from Ikea as a table cloth. I got inspired by these linen napkins sold at Heath Ceramics, and serged some neon thread onto blue linen and made some of my own for our feast.

#549...pottery cabana progress

It took us forever, but we finally moved all of my kiln and pottery accessories into the pottery cabana.

We ordered these floating slat wall brackets on ebay, and used a pine board to make a narrow shelf above my kiln and slab roller table to house my posts, stilts, and other clay tools. 

Under my table I stacked my glazes and used a burled root planter to hold my giant rolling pin, clay gun and test firing cones. (The big white appliance under the table is the portable heater/air conditioner for the cabana)

Hooray for small progress! Now onto the back wall decor.....