Hi friends! Happy Sunday! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a great long weekend! It's the official kick off to the holiday season and it's December first! Christmas will be here before we know it! We enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving here at our house and then we got up at 5am to go shopping on Black Friday. We have had a shopping tradition for many many years. I love being out in the hustle and bustle of the mall and the stores – everyone wearing their holiday sweaters and feeling festive! We shopped til we dropped – having fun. Didn't really buy too much, mostly just looking. I feel like the store/mall decorations this year were super amazing!! I love that kind of stuff. It makes me inspired and in the spirit of the season!! 

We had a Christmas miracle happen also… I left my iPhone on a bench at the mall (right by the exit to the parking lot) and didn't realize it for 10-15 minutes. I FREAKED out. We ran to the Apple Store and they turned my phone to lost mode and we were able to track my phone – to still being inside the mall (I thought for sure someone would take it and run)… The Apple store employees were so nice. Since my phone was locked, they sent a message to it which allows the person to call a number…. Well, through divine intervention an honest person had my phone and she called me. Boy did I feel grateful!!!! Whew. 

I have a couple of projects to share today since it's December! I love working with my supplies from Iron Orchid Designs….gorgeous molds and transfers and stamps…They are really wonderful to work with and create beautiful things. I made a home decor piece and some ornaments and I have some more to make also. Here's my home decor piece…. It's hanging in our entry way now…. This started with a plain wood arch piece, which I painted with navy and gold, then a big fabulous transfer, and then more gold paint and a few coats of wax. Annie Sloan Chalk Paints and waxes are the BOMB!!!

The piece is painted Navy (I combined two blues for a dark starry night color), and then I painted gold on that inside edge to look like gold leafing… I also splattered gold paint (of course). I used three coats of the blue paint and about five coats of the gold paint on that inside edge. The entire piece is coated in two coats of clear Annie Sloan Wax and then buffed out to a shiny finish. The tree is actually a giant rub on transfer! I cannot even tell you how pretty it is in person.

I also made these resin ornaments using my supplies from Iron Orchid Designs supplies also. The shapes were made using resin and then I painted 2-3 coats of deep charcoal chalk paint onto them. I used sweet woodland rub ons and then gold wax as shading. The ties for the ornaments are Tim Holtz velvet ribbon from my stash. These came out soooooo nice. I love them and can't wait to make more!!! I like to use the quick set resin so they set in about 10-15 minutes and then I usually let them sit until the next day before I paint them.

Here's another photo of my home decor painting piece – on our dining room table – in different light. It was a very hard project to photograph!!

I took some in-process photos with my iphone – so you could get a feel for the projects…. Here I'm starting with my first layer of paint…

The two colors I mixed for the blue color….

That gorgeous transfer!!

Starting on the gold paint…

Ready to put the tree on!!!!

And it's almost done! I let it sit overnight and then did the wax! I used two coats of wax and let that sit for a day and a half and then buffed it out. You can see in my final project photo that it has a pretty sheen to it now. LOVED making this!

I only took one photo of my ornaments! Ugh. I get caught up in the moment and the fun and forget to take more pictures!!

Thanks for spending a little time with me today. Happy Sunday! Happy December! Wishing you a bright and lovely holiday season! XOXO