The Details, Bits, Bobs and I'm Crazy

Some behind the scenes, details and craziness goes on when your home is on the Homes for the Holidays Tour.  I'll share some of that today.  

The lights in the mixer were a happy accident.  They were laying on the kitchen counter when I needed room to whip up a project, they got thrown into the mixer and I plugged them in, voila!

 I gained five pounds finishing the 'for display only' cupcakes.

 The Santa and his sleigh on top of the globe with a jewel on our town is my favorite thing in the entire house.  I love details and I Spy books.

Pinterest and Hubby rock.  I saw the wood in the fire place on Pinterest, showed Hubby, he went outside, cut down a tree, used the chop saw, arranged it just so and bam it was done.  Love it.  And him.

An interesting selfie, I might add.

I had fun adding the little toy soldiers to the garland in our US Army Combat Medic's bedroom.  It wasn't fun finding his soldiers in the attic, I crawled on my stomach OVER boxes and junk to find them, much like the soldier you see in the garland doing the army crawl.

I love to set a table with details.  I've used this ice skater theme before for dinners with family and friends.  I mentioned to Shelly that I wasn't sure how I'd set the table for tour.  She told me I would be setting the ice skater table for tour because it's her favorite.  Done.

 This Fall I found a silverware set for eight at an estate sale.  I got home and researched it to find the pattern and I realized it was designed to be engraved and hadn't been yet.  I called around, never had time to get it to Bellingham.  Hubby told me to forget it, that we were done and things were good enough.  Well, I ran into Cheryl from Hat's Off in Lynden and asked her if they did engraving.  Yes, and she was willing to do a rush job because of the tour deadline.  Great!  In passing I asked her the cost, $9.95 set up and 15 cents per letter. I didn't mention it to Hubby because he had told me to stop and was tired of me spending money.

Then I started thinking about it in the bed one night... What if the set up fee was per piece of silver?  What if each piece was $9.95 + .15 = $10.10 per piece X 40 pieces= $404?

Hubby had said no.  I did the math again.  NO!  This couldn't be.  Calm down.  Go to sleep.  You have a million things to do tomorrow.  Sleep.  $404.  

So, I lost two nights of sleep.

On Friday they called from Hat's Off that it was ready.  Good thing, since tour was Saturday.

I dilly dallied, got a nervous tummy ache, then went.

My legs were weak, honestly.

That will be $36 and some odd cents.

Thank you Baby Jesus!  

I love it, Hubby loves it and Sam called it for our estate so he must love it too.  Hahah

I'm crazy.  But you know that already.  I'm sleep deprived but everything is okay.
Isn't it pretty?

 I had fun in the laundry room, playing with my vintage Santa collection, tacky plastic garland and my craft supplies.

 I love this guy!

 For weeks the counter in the laundry room was covered with junk, a foot deep sometimes, most of the time.

 Ziploc bags of deer, beads, old pipe cleaners, light bulbs etc.

 By having everything sorted by color and type I could whip up a project quickly.  I made the wreath for the old screen door in 15 minutes.  Boom, it's done!  Shelly ran to her house for a minute, came back and it was hung on the door.

For tour I left a tray of 'craftermath' of the counter.  The aftermath of a crafter.

The wall upstairs on the landing was blank so I picked up mirrors at garage sale, made my antler craft, 

Chris K. helped me with the 'Night Before' and that was an easy, inexpensive fix.  Ask Chris about my stenciling technique next time you see her.  Apparently, it's painful.

I have a wrapping cart named Stella.  She goes everywhere during the season.  I have all gifts wrapped but as the guys come home they'll pull her into their rooms and wrap their gifts too.  She has lights and a Santa hat to help you feel festive as you work.

I always replace the cord and lights in my blow molds.  They make me so happy with their little glow.

That's all for today...  Next up, the people!