Holy. Canoly.

I am humbled by all the comments, I'm not kidding. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. And a HUGE shout out to Heather over at SITS. Thank you SO much. I LOVE COMMENTS!! Yipee! I'm in heaven today! I logged on this afternoon and about had a conniption, I had no idea why I had so many. LOVE. IT.

So you see how I ended the HO's -- all day I was trying to find just the right little snowflake to go on that last block. Couldn't find what I wanted. Got home -- stared at the foam letters. There it was -- "!" Well, duh. So it's all glittered up and I love it! A few of you (I missed you AnNicole!) suggested it and I laughed out loud when I read those comments (after I had already done it!) -- great minds think alike! ;)

The other day over at Kimba's place, she was showing off some of the beauteous monograms that are out this season. I covet these and long ago had an idea to do one with the big honkin' cardboard letters you can find at JoAnns. I got my garland today and did it in about 15 minutes...(well, more like 30...I'm trying to convince you of how easy this was, OK?!)

Started by spray painting it green, then I just started wrapping like mad...

Stuck a few berries in there...

Hung it with some extra Christmas ribbon and voila!

That sad ribbon needs some fluffing and I still need to fill in a few spots. I can't decide if it looks good or just like a furry green "S." What do you think?? It would help if I used expensive, gorg greenery, but I'm thrifty. Not happenin'.

Total cost was $5 for the cardboard letter and $7.50 for the greenery. I'll take it for $12 instead of $35 or more (plus shipping!!). Have any of you attempted one of these?

P.S. I filled the tank of my SUV today for thirty. freakin. dollars. If the economy wasn't in the crapper and our investments weren't losing thousands by the minute, I would say that rocks!!

P.P.S. I try to visit all of you -- but good Lord there's no way that's happening this time. :) If I haven't visited you and you want me to, just tell me to come by! I love seeing new sites!!

49 days and counting...oh IT'S ON!!

I'm getting so tickled red and green that Christmas is coming. It makes me SO HAPPY and fills my heart with joy. Little overboard, I know. But I'm serious. I love it. We have a local company nearby that puts together a HUGE light display on their land and they have everything ready to go...I could have about peed my pants when I saw that today. Serious.

So I finished my first Christmas project tonight. I bought this little doohickey a couple weeks ago at Goodwill (GO! NOW!! And take some imagination with you!) knowing exactly what I would do with it, and it turned out just as I hoped. I got this for $1.99:

I painted the inside white, the outside Santa Red (that's what it's really called! hee!), painted the blocks and added some scrapbook paper to the fronts. The letters are foam and I covered them with glitter:


I love how the glitter almost looks snowy. Precious!!

I can use it like the picture above, or like this:

Or this:

Or this:

OK, that may be pushing it, but you get the idea. Can you get better for $1.99?? Say it with me..."No, Sarah, you can't!" Thank you!

I have so many fun Goodwill/garage sale finds to show you later this week that I need advice on. Here's one as a teaser:

This cutie patoot sled was five bucks. Would you leave this as is or repaint it? I see it with a brighter red (maybe Santa red? Hmmm...) What do you think? I also have picked up a few items that I'm going to redo as gifts. I think I can really make them shine. We'll see.

I'm also excited about my first giveaway! I've been gathering some of my favorite things of late. On Monday, December 1st, I say let's share some of our favorite things. I don't care if they are decorating items, crafts, appliances, whatever. Just share. It's fun. Sharing is fun. But the best part is I'm going to award my little goodies to one person who posts their favorite (randomly) -so be thinking about what you want to share.

***Edited to add this little tip I found out about Goodwill: If an employee there sees something they like as it comes on the floor, they can purchase it if it hasn't sold within 24 hours (or some time frame like that -- can't remember the exact amount). One of my recent finds was turned backwards, on the bottom shelf. And when the employee saw I found it, he told us this little tidbit. So DIG women, DIG!! Look on the bottom shelf, look under things. You might find extra special treasures. Lord knows I'd be hiding the good stuff too. :)