Joie de Vivre V + Smilebooth

This month makes five years that we have been in our little casita and the fifth year we have had our Joie de Vivre party, serving up gumbo and good cheer.  I can't imagine what that first year was like since we had just closed on the house December 1st.  Needless to say there aren't any photos of that shindig.  Actually I usually break out the camera after the festivities.  So this year we had a Smilebooth to document all the camaraderie.  Here are a few of my favorite shots...I think Billie Holiday makes an excellent prop.  Hope your holiday festivities are rolling right in to the new year. 

I can't believe that I haven't blogged about Smilebooth before...as you can see it takes fabulous photos and looks great at your party.  My profile picture and our Christmas card last year were all from Queso. It's a really long story that started out with Queso and ends with a fabulous collaboration with Smilebooth.  Basically our cousin Josh made the finest, most modern, photobooth on the block.  

Deck the Halls Reveal, Part II

I am a pretty sentimental person, saving Christmas cards for years, storing them away in zip-lock bags.  In the spirit of my upcycle decorating, I was inspired to create festive bunting (after I spied this on Martha's site.)   Merry Christmas to you and yours!  

I have to say it was much easier than the pom-poms...once my template was created I just traced and saved the portions of the front, back, and inside of the cards.  Created a layout and strung on string that was lying around.  Ta-daaa!  

I hope you are having a wonderful time with those near and dear!

Holly Jolly

My sweet friend Meg gave me this adorable little vase in which I placed festive trimmings from our holly bush.  Merry, merry!

Ceci n'est pas une cheminée

"This is not a fireplace." 

When we bought our house it was advertised as having a faux fireplace...so we imagined a beautiful historic mantel installed on a non-working fireplace. Were we surprised to find a lovely little piece of SkyMall furniture.  In five years we have grown to appreciate its kitschy, humorous nature.  Will thought of the perfect way to wittily celebrate our awkward acquisition.  He is a Rene Magritte fan so he "commissioned" me to create this piece, drawing inspiration from one of his favorite paintings.  Neither of us speak French so we might have botched the translation, but we kept it close to Magritte's painting inserting the word 'fireplace' for 'pipe'.  

On a side note, we finally burned our only can of fire gel and it really does add a nice ambiance to the room (as long as you remove the paper label before burning...or else it stinks up the house).  

Deck the Halls Reveal, Part I

I have this ridiculous nesting/crafting bug right now, so rather than attempting to knit everyone on my list a pair of socks, which could go horribly wrong, I am sticking to what I know best, decor.  Everyone loves tissue pom poms and short of ordering tons off of Etsy, I decided to see if I could whip up a few.   It was so simple, especially with the slew of instructions out on the web.  In lieu of a whopping eight sheets of tissue per ball, I used one single sheet per ball and cut it into eight smaller segments.  The result is the perfect size for a pom pom garland. I am not one to save wrapping paper but I always save tissue paper, especially Anthropologie's.  I also saved their felt circle gift ribbon to use as accents and the actual strand.  And since this is Christmas, I added a few red felt circles to give it a little more cheer.  The color scheme was inspired by my robin's egg blue ceiling + how fresh red and apple green look when thrown in.

It's a Wrap

I have had so much fun wrapping gifts in bingo paper this year. Since I scored all that wonderful tape, I have forgone bows and ribbons preferring to weave and layer tape to my heart's content.

Now I am brainstorming how to wrap my Christmas gifts (gotta be prepared for when I actually start to purchase gifts).   Maybe I take gift wrap too seriously but I think that the experience of receiving the gift in your hands should be as magical as the gift itself.  I never ever use gift bags because I don't like the way they look under the tree, not to mention it is just too easy to sneak a peek.