Every year about this time I start sharing great Christmas finds with you and where to get them.  I’m here to tell you that the Christmas decor at Big Lots is the bomb this year!

So grab you pumpkin spice latte – or whatever you drink – and curl up in a cozy chair and enjoy all of the wonderful items I’ve got to share with you today!

Random Decor

Let’s start with this Believe sign.

For $8.00  this would be great on a table, on the wall, or even on a wreath!

And this pillow?

Can you even???

If you love this truck as much as I do, you better run down to your local store and grab it.

I promise you it won’t be there long.

I have FOMO about this sign.

Loved it, but didn’t buy it.

I have a blank wooden sign that I’ve been hunting for something to put on it.

This would be perfect!

So cute…

Lanterns.

They had two that really wanted to go home with me.

This reindeer scene lantern, complete with greenery, is just beautiful!

The second lantern, and my favorite of the two, was this red one.

It comes complete with greenery, bow, candle and trees.

lIt’s the complete package.

I have a large red lantern that I put on my front porch at Christmas that would look awsome with this smaller lantern next to it!

Snowmen

Apparently snowmen are one of my favorites this year because I fell in love with a couple of them.

I can think of several places that this snowman would look awesome in my house.

And that Christmas present?

Totally adorable.

So in love with this sweet little snowman.

He’s cute from the bottom of his furry little body to his red and black buffalo check hat.

The co-ordinating tree is just perfect, too.

Tabletop

This insulated cup had me at “merry”.

It’s a nice size and I’m thinking it would be great for not only hot beverages but cold ones too!

We all know that black Labs are my favorite, so are cookies.

Add those together and you get the best cookie jar ever!

Isn’t this Jingle table runner just the happiest?

And the bells have the sweetest sound.

Ornaments

These wooden bead ornaments are very on trend right now.

Not only would they be pretty  on a tree, but I’m thinking that these would make great napkin rings..

Maybe even added to the top of a present?

This cut little red truck is super cute.

I’m thinking of taking the “Merry Christmas” sign off the bottom and using the truck as a decoration piece on a sign.

This is my favorite thing in the entire Christmas isle!

It’s made of metal and has the cutest tree magnet that you move to countdown the days til Santa visits.

I can just see one of the Littles moving it in anticipation every day.

That’s all of the wonderful Christmas decor at Big Lots, but I’m not finished yet…

Our local Wal Mart has just started putting out thier Christmas decor.

Both of these are just the prettiest little decorations.

And did you see the prices?

If the rest of the decor lives up to these pieces, then Christmas Decor at Wal Mart is going to be awesome.

Last share, I promise…

Gliz & Glamour Boutique is an on-line shop based out of Texas that has the cutest little girl boutique clothes at great prices.

These pajamas are just the cutest!!!

They come in green and red.

For an additional fee, they will even put your child’s name on them.

That’s it for today.

Stay tuned for more fabulous finds as we get closer to Christmas.

Until next time…

                                                                    Remember, if you love it, be sure to Pin 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.

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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You can find me at these fabulous parties!

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Woo Hoo! We are up to our DIY Christmas Friday #6! I think that my Christmas/Kitchen sign is probably one of my favorite projects that I am sharing with you.

It all started when I was going to make a wooden” Kitchen” sign for my sister’s new house. With the Holidays approaching I also thought I would make her a Christmas sign too. But, why make two when I could just make the sign reversible?  No storage for the unused sign and easy to switch out!

I started by going to my local hardware store and purchasing a 1 X 8 X 8.  Eight feet was a little too long for me, so I had the Hubs cut the boards down to 6 ft.  Now if you don’t have a Hubs to cut down the boards for you, then often your local hardware store will be happy to do so for you at no cost or for a nominal cost. I gave the boards  a good sanding and base coated with paint.

I printed off the design that I wanted using my computer and printer, then transferred my design to the board by using this projector and a white pencil.  Don’t have a projector? No worries.  Using your printer, print out your design and use transfer paper. No printer? You can easily use a stencil or vinyl lettering!

Here’s a tip: These white chalk pencils! I love them and use them all of the time. They show up better than a regular pencil and they are erasable. Which I seem to need – a lot!

Once you have the design transferred to your board, it is time to paint! Don’t worry about it being perfect… you won’t notice all the little imperfections once it is up on the wall!

As you can see, I couldn’t make a sign for one sister without making one for the other! This one says “Say Grace” on one side and “O Holy Night” on the other.  I added tiny embellishments to my signs,  snow to the Christmas side on the black sign and holly leaves and berries to the Christmas side of the kitchen sign.

After I finished all of the painting, I gave it a little distressing with a fine grit sandpaper. I like a little worn look.

And if you know me at all, you know I am gonna add some bling.  A little glitter paint goes a long way!

The signs are two sided so how to hang them? First drill two holes, evenly spaced, into the top of the sign. I drilled mine 12 inches in from each end.

Then using these screw eye hooks…

I screwed them into the holes I drilled.

It was just that easy! If you can color in a coloring book you can paint these signs!  I like these signs so much I started one for myself… hopefully I will finish it someday.

I hope that you love my Christmas kitchen sign as much as I do. Maybe even enough to try one for yourself or maybe as a gift!

Until next time….

                           Tammy

See anything you liked? Be sure and Pin it!

You can find me at these fabulous parties!

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 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As soon as the turkey was polished off, the elves here at the castle got their Christmas decorating on. (There may have been a little shopping going on too…) I have so much to show you that I am going to break it down into several posts for fear of putting you in Christmas decorating overload. What can I say? I love Christmas! I’m starting with Christmas in the dining room.

I normally do lots of glam red, white and silver in the dining room, but not this year. I didn’t intend to change it up. It just happened. It all started with two new things. The first was this Santa art. You can’t tell but it lights up.  I bought it last year and never found a good home for it until now.

The second was this old truck that I bought from a local antique store. It isn’t an antique, it just looks old. Old and awesome.  I was planning on using it in a different area. Oh, well …

The Santa art and the old truck led me down a more natural path. Less bling. I KNOW! I can’t believe I even said that, but it’s true. More nature with a little bit of bling. We all know that there is still some bling…

Y’all know I love chalkboard stuff. I won this runner at my PoKeeno group and it was perfect for my theme.

However, I did add some trim – the raw edges were a little too rustic for me.

I loved the black so much that I made Blackboard Merry Christmas chargers to go with it. I’ll be sharing how I made those with you on DIY Christmas Friday, so stay tuned for the 411 on that!

I loved where this theme was going to much that I ordered new napkins and a plaid scarf to go with all the things I already had. As you can see the napkins came in, the scarf did not. Womp waa…. dang!  As soon as it does, if it does, I’ll add and share.

The only things I used from last year are my Christmas plates, silverware and stemware.

My chandy got a little bling and nature too… I love these little red birds nestled into the greenery… so sweet! I got them at the Dollar Tree and they even came with clips on them.

So there you have it. Christmas in the dining room. I’m loving the simplicity of it. And I didn’t spend a whole lot of money changing things up. At this time of year ain’t nobody got a ton of extra change!

Until next time…..

                      Tammy

See anything you like? Pin it!

You can find me at these fabulous parties:

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WARNING!!! If you are expecting a home tour of the perfect model home filled with fresh greenery, perfectly matching decor that looks like it came out of a magazine – this ain’t it! Some days I wish it were.  We are allergic to fresh greenery and we actually LIVE here with a psycho cat and a big lab. Not to mention that I just wasn’t in the mood to have every surface available decorated this year. Hey!  It is my circus and it is my monkeys!  I have to keep reminding myself that it can’t be perfect all of the time!  This is my Christmas home tour!

I was gonna show you all of the downstairs in one post but as I was taking pictures it occurred to me that it might be too much information overload. Plus, I would have to make sure everything was picture perfect – ALL AT ONCE!  Not gonna happen! So I am going to break it up into two parts for you.  Starting with my kitchen and eat in dining area!.

This year I am keeping it simple. Yeah, I keep saying that. Denial much?  I love my sweet hutch. It reminds me of one my Granny used to have! Here is where fresh greens draped across the top with candles and berries would be killer awesome!  Allergies – remember? Instead I have my Christmas dishes and my white dishes mixed together with a few other items.

Here is a close up of the shelving.  I love how versatile white dishes are!

The eat in dining area.  Again.. I just use the white dishes and add in my Christmas dishes. This table gets used everyday. A lot. So having a fussy tablescape is not an option for me. At. All.

I fought buying Christmas dishes for years.  Everyone I know had Spode.  I like it, I just wanted something different.  Something I could dress up but at the same time use daily.  We are pretty casual here at the Castle. I already have my grandma’s and my china. So enough with the china already!  A couple of years ago I found my Christmas dishes at Walmart of all places! The Better Homes and Garden line. And the price was super awesome.  ( Not getting paid by Walmart, just so ya know!) Besides the dishes, this line also has a serving platter, bowls and these sweet red bird salt and pepper shakers.

See how sweet the red bird salt and pepper shakers are? OH!  The placemats and napkins are also in this line.  Another thing that I NEVER do… buy everything in the line. Too matchy, matchy!  But for some reason I don’t mind these so much.  Although I would love to find the perfect black and white napkins to go in here!

Of course my kitchen would not be the same without my Chalkboard.  I love this. I let out my inner artist and just go with whatever suits me at that moment.

Moving into the kitchen I have this great “bump out” area behind the sink that is just screams to be decorated. Every year it is different. I never know what I am gonna put here. I usually have some plants or poinsettias here but this year I wanted a cleaner streamlined look. ( OK I am busted! I was too lazy to go buy them!)

This platter is also in the Better Homes and Garden line.  It fits perfectly on the countertop, in the corner of my cabinets. I love the vintage feel of it.

Here is the closest I am ever going to get to an Elf on the Shelf.  This vintage one was given to me by a friend and I love him! He reminds me of the elves that my Granny had at her house for us to play with.  So fun! These red ornaments were on the tree the first year the Hubs and I were married.  I have used them everywhere! Over time they have worn down and look a hundred years old. Love that!

Here is my one live plant this year- a small pine.  Thank you Kroger for putting all of the fun flowers right across from the  produce section so I would be sure to see it.  Love those impulse buys.  They even decorated it for me! It really looks good on the kitchen island. AND makes me wish for real greenery through out the rest of the house….

Thank for stopping by! Come on back next time for the rest of the tour – my living room, formal dining room and powder bath.

Until next time…..