It’s Christmas Eve and the festivities have begun here at the castle. So before all of the crazy begins, I wanted to take a moment and wish you and your family the very best holiday season. Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

All of my boys will be home for a few days, which is a rare occurrence, so I will be taking some time off. This momma’s got to get her family time in when she can.

Don’t worry, I’ll be back after New Years and have the start of a bathroom reno to share with you!

Until then….

Merry Christmas and the best of 2019!

Have you ever read DIY articles about what to do with your “extra” closets? Yeah, me too. I used to laugh hysterically. Ain’t nobody that I know got an extra closet! Until I did. Empty nesting is good for something. So I made mine into a wrapping closet. My one guilty indulgence. Unfortunately, from time to time, mine blows up and its time to start  cleaning out the wrapping closet. In a big way!

See what I mean? Being a small closet, thankfully it also makes me clean it up in a timely manner. There is no room to do otherwise. Also, Christmas is the perfect time to change things out and tidy up a little bit. Here’s how I do it!

Here at the castle, the stockings are hung. The tree is up and the elves have finished sprinkling Christmas decor through out the castle. So, what’s a girl to do? Why break out the Christmas crafts at the castle, of course!

For the first time in many years, I have almost all of my Christmas stuff done! I’d love to pat myself on the back, however it’s mostly due to my car being in the shop off and on for the last month! Certainly not because this girl is rocking it! When you are forced to stay home it’s amazing how much you get done. Who knew?

What happens at the Christmas party, stays at the Christmas party. Especially the Queen’s Christmas party!

When the Queens get together it’s always fun, this year was no exception. We ate, laughed, cried, told crazy stories, made a craft and had a cookie exchange.  In other words, a normal night with the Queens!

I’ll have a blue Christmas with a big splash of hot pink, please!  My dining room colors are blue and hot pink, which just happen to be my favorite colors. So naturally, when it came time to decorate the dining room I couldn’t help but think that they would also be perfect Christmas colors.

And boy, did I find some hot pink! It’s so hot that it was truly hard to get pictures that didn’t hurt my eyes. But, I love it!

The elves have been busy decorating here at the castle. Of course, they always start in the heart of the home, the kitchen. This years theme is simple, less fuss and not as over the top as in years past. It’s a black, white and red Christmas kitchen!

I don’t buy all new stuff from year to year, instead I like to mix and match a few new things with old things from years past. Don’t get me wrong. It’s tempting, however every time I consider it I hear my sweet Granny’s sarcastic voice saying “Well, aren’t we Miss Aster!” For those of you that are younger than dirt, that was her way of saying that we aren’t made of money. And even if we were, money doesn’t grow on trees! Thrifty was her middle name.

Anybody who’s had children has probably heard “I want a pony for Christmas!”. My great niece, Beep, is in love with ponies. In fact, her Grandparents on her Dad’s side bought her a pony recently. She’s crazy about horses.

So when a neighbor of mine was moving and had this horse themed table and chairs for sale I couldn’t resist. ( I thought  I had taken a picture of the before, but no. My bad.)  This table is the quintessential DIY project. The base, or horse part, was originally a cigar ashtray.

I can’t believe the holidays are just around the corner!  With that in mind, I’m trying to stay ahead of the game by getting as many of the little things done as possible. Although, I’m pretty sure I’ll forget something! While at my grocery store today, I found some really cute items that would not only be great gifts, but wonderful hostess gifts for the holidays! So I thought that I would share them with you.

Some of the items are a little more expensive, like these reindeer, however most are so reasonable priced you’ll be tempted to buy quite a few of them to gift to your favorite people.

Happy November! Can you believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner? With cooler weather, it puts me in the mood to make a few handmade Christmas gifts.

It’s also the perfect time for Ten on the 10th! I can’t wait to see what Christmas gift ideas my blog friends have this month!

I know that we haven’t even celebrated Halloween, but the big holidays are just around the corner. Yikes! If you are like me, I like to plan ahead of time so that my holidays are a little less stressful. Today I’m sharing a few things to do  for the holidays now.

You know, things that will leave you feeling a little more like wonder woman and a little less stressed out!

As I was getting ready for Memorial day, I could not help but be thankful to all of the brave men and women who have served or are serving our country. There is not enough thanks in the world for what you do!

I’m a firm believer that getting ready for Memorial Day should be simple and easy. Here at the castle, we definitely have a low key Memorial Day.  Not a lot of decorating. More lets get together, have fun and eat some wonderful barbecue that the Hubs grills. Maybe swim or play a few games. I love every minute with my family!

Merry Christmas! I’m a little last posting today. It’s cold and wet outside. As I write this, I’m sitting by the Christmas tree in my comfy clothes, there is a fire in the fireplace and hot tea at my elbow. What more could a girl ask for?

Normally, three days before Christmas I would be in a mad rush buying last minute gifts, baking, and wrapping presents. You know the drill. Actually, I have to admit that, for the first time in as long as I can remember – which admittedly isn’t all that long – I’m ready for Christmas!

The Queen’s Christmas party always kicks off my holiday season.  It is fun, crazy, loud, and full of all things merry!

I honestly cannot imagine the holidays without these seven crazy women! So how did we celebrate this year? I’m glad you asked. We did a lot!

Christmas in the family room is pretty traditional here at the castle.  Well, there may be a bit of whimsy here and there just for a little fun! The elves have been busy flinging tinsel, wrapping presents and decorating. So come on in for a peek.

My favorite thing in the family room is the Christmas tree. I love to light a fire at night and sit by the tree reading a book.

It is officially time to start planning the Queen’s Christmas party! The past few years, we have been trying to mix things up a bit by starting new a fun things to do. We’ve been together so long that it was time to change things up a bit. A week or so ago, Queen Siana sent me a picture on Facebook, suggesting a Christmas sock exchange!

My first response was “A what?” However, after looking at the photo from Thinkerete Lifestyle on Facebook, I was hooked. 

Wishing You A Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for stoping by and reading this year. I hope you have a Merry Christmas! I’ll be taking a break this next week to spend time with family and recharge. See you next year!

May you and your family have a happy and joyous Christmas!

Tammy

I’ve jumped on the bandwagon and decided to share my Christmas home tour!

I resisted sharing my home with you this year, mainly because my knee surgery has slowed me WAY down. So much so that I didn’t even put everything out this year. I know that the Hubs is laughing as he reads this. I cut back, but I’m sure he doesn’t think so!

The Queen’s Christmas is always one of my favorite celebrations. This year was certainly no different! Every year eight of us get together and celebrate the Christmas season.

Normally, we would get together, eat, play few games and open gifts from each other. We always have a wonderful time, but over the years it seemed like we needed a change. So this year, instead of eat, play and gift, we decided to change things up a bit!

My new front porch wreath is probably one of my most favorite wreaths I’ve ever had!

In fact, it’s more of a decoration than it is a wreath.  For the past few years, I have been using the same wreath.  To say that it was a little sad and tired was an understatement, but I couldn’t find anything I loved to replace it. It was definitely time for a change!

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I’m giving Bubble Wands for Easter to all my littles! I was recently at a link Party surfing around and found the cutest enchanted bubble wands. I had to make some. Not gonna lie, if you want a tutorial that is creative and fun keep reading. However, if you want an EXACT and informative one Rena Klingenberg at Jewelry Making Journal.com has a fantastic tutorial.   I am gonna warn you right up front, this post is a little long and has a ton of pictures. So get a drink, settle in and enjoy!

Supply List

16 or 18 gauge wire – 9″ long for a large wand or 6″ long for a small one (copper or brass)

24 gauge wire for stringing beads

beads

wire cutter

file for smoothing wire ends

Round nose pliers

Flat nose pliers

Chain nose pliers

Ring mandrel – don’t panic if you don’t have one of these – I didn’t either! I just used a piece of PVC

Fine Sharpie

Danger Will Robinson! Read this entire post before attempting to make a wand. Trust me. you’ll thank me later! Your welcome.

I wanted a large wand so I cut my wire 9″ long.  The tutorial called for a file, but I was too lazy to hunt one up so I just used sandpaper to smooth out my wire ends. No sharp ends for my littles!

Next, using my fine sharpie, I marked the wire 2″ from one end.

Sorry this is a little blurry! It’s time to make the bubble blowing loop. This can be any shape, but I felt like since I was a bubble wand novice the circle would probably be the easiest.

Leaving the 2″ end of wire straight, wrap the wire around the PVC to form a circle. Now don’t panic like I did if the circle isn’t super tight. Mine wasn’t. It still turned out cute!

Using your flat nosed pliers make a bend in the stem below the circle you just made. You want to center the main wire stem directly under the circle. Like a lollipop.

Using your flat nose pliers firmly grip the circle and wrap the straight 2″ wire ( two or three times) around the main stem of your bubble wand right below the circle. You can use pliers, but I found it was just as easy to use my fingers.

Cut of any excess wire. Use your chain nose pliers to squeeze down the cut wire end so that it doesn’t stick out and catch or scratch something.

Time to make the handle. This step is super easy. It’s also where I messed up! Find the half way point of your bubble wand stem and mark with a sharpie. Place the mid point wire against the handle of your sharpie marker and wrap the end of your wand stem around the marker making a round or tear drop shape.

So far so good right? WRONG! You are suppose to have enough leftover wire  after wrapping the end around the sharpie to get creative and make a fun design. Where did I go wrong? I should have made the adjustment for using the PVC instead of the mandrel at a ring size of 15. Yeah… math was never my strong suit. Back to the drawing board.

This time I cut my wire 12″ long. Now repeat all of the steps up to and including wrapping your wire around the sharpie. NOW, you should have plenty of leftover wire to get creative!

See the difference? Now if you want a no fuss teeny, tiny end do the 9″. If you want to go all out and make yourself a really enchanted bubble wand you want the 12″. Up to you.

Now is when you use your 24 gauge wire and the beads to embellish your bubble wands. I left some plain and really blinged out some of the others. I made some wands big and some little. What I realized that you don’t have to be exact with any of this. Thank goodness or I would have had a mess. It’s so hard for me to color in the lines people!!!

I bought some bubbles and tied the wands onto the bottles with coordinating ribbon.

Then I packaged them up in these cute bags, added some eggs, chocolate and a few other toys.

I tied it all up with some tulle and my bubble wands for Easter were ready to be delivered to all of my littles!

I think my bubble wands turned out pretty cute. Maybe not as cute as Rena’s, but I’m happy with them and hope that my littles are too! If you decide to make any, I would love to  know how yours turned out!

Until next time…

                    Tammy

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Merry Christmas! It’s Christmas eve and as I look around I think that I am ready for the next few days. I can’t wait for my boys to get home for the celebration to begin! I love it when we are all together.

The stockings are hung just waiting for Santa…

It’s Christmas Eve! The presents are wrapped…

Food is baked and ready to be eaten. Family and friends are on the way to help us celebrate.

There is only one thing left to do… So from my castle to yours, here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

I’ll see you next week as I’m taking the rest of the week off to enjoy my family, celebrate and take some much needed time to relax!

until next time….

 Tammy

I’ve been sharing my Christmas home tour with you. I’ve already shared my kitchen with you and if you missed it you can see it here. Today it’s Christmas in the Living Room!

My tree is very traditional with lots of reds and greens.  It is NOT a pretty, perfect tree by any means. Every year I have let my boys choose an ornament that reflects what they have been doing that year. We have Nightmare before Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Ninja Turtles, Batman, Spiderman, puppies, and lot’s of Queenly ornaments just to name a few. I don’t even have a regular skirt under my tree. It is a big piece of mongolian lambs wool material, but I love the white furriness of it!

Have you seen these? We have bought these glasses off and on for years at Lowe’s. They cost $1.99 and are awesome cool! You put them on and look at the Christmas lights….

And this is what you see!  The lights turn into reindeer, snowmen, stars, candy canes and gingerbread men depending upon the glasses you are wearing. When the boy were small they LOVED them. I saw them for the first time in years and couldn’t resist buying a few!

I told you I love and collect snow globes – here’s the proof!  This is just a few in my Christmas collection. Every year I put them out on the coffee table. This year I used a new mirror to pair with them. Although every year is different.  Sometimes I add beads, greenery, glass balls… being able to look at them and play the ones that have the music boxes just makes this Queen happy!

Here’s our mantel.  Again, not the perfect pretty ones you see in magazines, but it makes me want to curl up in this chair, light a fire, grab a beverage and read a good book!

The garland on the banister is lit and heavy with glittery ornaments and ribbon.The bell you see here was my Queen Granny’s. She hung it in the arch of her dining room doorway. Every year my Grandpa would hold me up and let me pull the string – just once – on the bottom so that we could all hear it play jingle bells.

My stairs are so tall it is almost impossible to get it all in one shot! Here’s a close up of the garland.

I always try to have something fun for the “littles” – my nieces and nephews -to play with.  This year we have stuffed reindeer, a dog and a pop up Tigger!

I love these girly snowgirls. My one nod to girly since I live in manland! I want to go shopping with them!

And last, but not least, is the powder room. A small, colorful white tree just screams fun!

Again I like to add a little whimsy… This owl from Pier One fits the bill!

And this tiny sign should be the motto here at the castle!  It can get pretty crazy.

I hope that you are enjoying Christmas in you home as much as I am in mine.

Until next time….

                            Tammy

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Ok…Somehow I posted my DIY Christmas Friday #6 before #5. How does that happen? It couldn’t be that I’m losing my mind??? Anyway, just pretend that #6 was #5 and we will be good to go!  I shared my Christmas Dining room with you and I promised you I’d show you how to make these Christmas chargers. Since it is DIY Christmas Friday #5 it is the perfect time to show you how to make a Christmas charger!

A quick visit to the local Dollar Tree to purchase these gold chargers.

Then a quick couple of coats of flat black spray paint. Yes, the irony is not lost on me here. Normally, I would be spray painting chargers gold – I am addicted in love with Krylon’s Gold Metallic spray paint!

Although they are a bit shiny here, when dry they will be flat and have the appearance of a chalkboard.

Next  I printed off my design about one and one half to two inches tall. Instead of trying to figure out the “curve” I needed I just printed it out normally , then cut the letters apart and placed them as I went. I had white transfer paper from  Michael’s that I used to transfer  the design to the charger as you see here.

tip: start at the top placing your lettering. Once done tracing the lettering, find the center. Lay a ruler vertically from the center of the top lettering down to the bottom of the charger. Lightly mark. This should be the center of your lettering on the lower edge.  To trace your lettering on the bottom of charger, start in the middle and work your way out.

Once you have transferred the outline of your lettering, color in the letters with white paint pens. I also found these at Michael’s for about $3.00 each.

I wanted a little more detail on my charger, so I colored the very top of the raised dots that are on the edge. Again coloring with my paint pen.

Your lettering may be a little streaky, but that’s okay. It’s suppose to look as if you colored it in with chalk. If this really bugs you, give your design another coat of paint.

There you have it. I painted Merry Christmas on all eight of my chargers, but really it would be fun to put a different sentiment on every charger too!

I think I spent a total of $1.50 on each charger as I already had the transfer paper and left over spay paint.  Not too bad for a custom look on your table!

Until next time….

                         Tammy

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Time to share my Christmas home tour with you! I have already shared my dining room with you, if you missed it be sure to check it out here. I am gonna start with Christmas in the Kitchen because we all know that no matter how big – or small – your house is, that is where everyone ends up at gatherings. At least at my house anyway!

I keep the table pretty simple in the kitchen. This is where we eat daily and  I’m lazy! If  the decorating can’t look good AND be cleaned up fairly fast it’s just not gonna happen!  Like they say “ain’t nobody got time for that!”.  I like the red and white dishes with my everyday black and turquoise decor.

I added these ornaments, that I picked up from Walmart last year, to the chandy over the table. I absolutely LOVE this. I wish this were a better picture, it just doesn’t do it justice! Even the Queen’s commented on it.  It’s a lot of bang for your buck!

My hutch is an explosion of all my Christmas dishes and art. I like to mix it up a bit. I would love to add fresh greenery to the top, but the Hubs is allergic to most evergreens.  Since I love him and want to keep him around, I rely on garlands and pops of color to decorate.

I ‘m not one to buy a lot of new stuff to decorate with every year. I like using what I have in a new way if I can. This santa is about thirty years old!

I am also lucky enough that I have wonderful friends who give me gifts, like the Santa pitcher, sugar and creamer. Woo hoo! Although I have to admit that every time I look at them I hear Sting singing “I’ll be watching you…” makes me giggle.

Again, in the main kitchen area I keep it pretty simple because I really do use it everyday. I want pretty and function!

Several years ago a good friend gave me a vintage elf. I love it. It reminds me of my Granny’s house. She had a red one and a green one. If my sister and I were really good we were allowed to play with them. I made “snow globes” out of these jars and added the elves for a bit of whimsy in the kitchen.

I love and collect snow globes. I have loved them since I received one when I was a little girl!

The center island hosts my a red glass bowl and a christmas tray . Easy to remove when it’s time to make Christmas cookies. Okay, when my family reads that I will get several eye rolls, but I really DO bake occasionally!

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas in the Kitchen tour. I’ll be sharing the rest of the house with you soon!

Until next time…..

                        Tammy

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