MERRY CHRISTMAS

I absolutely LOVE Christmas...
it is my FAVORITE time of year...
Christmas music has been playing through the house since Nov. 1...
the first year Chad and I married, it was on October 31 that we decorated...

(Halloween would be the LEAST favorite)

I share some decoration ideas...
from the living room...

But even a Charlie Brown Christmas tree (which is what we had the first year we moved here....because all of my LIFE was in storage)
or any decoration looks great with cookie dough and sprinkles being scattered beside it...it's all about the smell...and a mix of cinnamon, cloves and vanilla on the stove is just as good.

We put ornaments on that tree with paper chains listing what my daughter, son and I were thankful for...including the ONE bathroom apartment we used to be in that made us appreciate "not standing in line" for the toilet...HA

But I must say LAST year we had a tree that went floor to ceiling in our two story space....we had to trim the top...took so much testosterone from the neighborhood...
I felt like Tim whatever his name was here from Home Improvement...
chain saws were blaring..and when we cut the net...limbs spread across the room like my old favorite movie..Christmas Vacation...
The kids did acrobatics from the rails to decorate the top..
I'll add a copy of that photo...

I pray that this Christmas has special meaning for you and your family.

I know it does for us, even though the kids go to their dad's this Christmas..
we are NEVER deterred...we just begin Christmas on Dec. 26...
hey and it SURE DOES LAST LONGER THAT WAY!

Allison

The POWER OF COLLAGE- MEMORIES

I love to save things,
old ticket stubs, maps, photos or pages from old magazines.

I recently found a way to use them!

When my husband and I took a trip to Italy a few years ago, he kept asking me
to paint him a picture of poppies. I never found the right motivation and so the
idea sat idle and the painting never got done.

Recently I came across an envelope, with pictures and maps of the places we had been together...
most importantly, Italy, where we fell in love,
the red poppies of Tuscany, Florence by train, and our favorite spot, Positano, where we rented a boat to travel to Capri for his 40th birthday...

then the gulf coast, New Orleans, the Bahamas, Mexico, a motorcyle trip to Gorham's Bluff in North Alabama (look for an article about that in an upcoming issue of Southern Beauty Magazine)

a family trip to the Bahamas with the kids,

then off to Paris, France, where he surprised me for my birthday, and Nice and Cannes, and along the coast of France via London, England, and flying out of Milan...

Vail, Colorado, Chicago, and New York.

A piece of all of these is meshed together on a painting to remind us of the first three and a half years of marriage together(we are a BLENDED family of six)

So I encourage you...
you horse lovers, get out those old programs and have a horse painted across them,
you fashion hounds...tear out line drawings of awesome dresses and have a big shoe painted across them!

take black and white photos and have them printed as line drawings and make a collage!

Just don't leave those memories in the drawer!
DISPLAY THEM!

If you don't know how to start..I'd be happy to help!
Custom collages available by commission!
Gallery wrap 24X36 for $800.
You supply the memories!