Gabrielle Messina Just a Girl

Christmas Card 2010

As a result of finishing my decorating a bit early this year, Christmas cards WILL be mailed out BEFORE Christmas this year. I was able to capture a good picture of all three of my little sugarplums yesterday.(Hallelujah) This was picture number 920565 of 924766 pictures taken.... And of course, my battery died in the middle of the photo session. This was an opportunity for my kids to play on the swings a bit and come back refreshed! Why is taking a picture of all three together one of the toughest things in the world to do?? I wasn't even asking for them to smile of look at the camera.....  This was another favorite picture of our little photo session in the backyard.... This one too... I love those chubby little fingers. I even thought about sending this one out since I got it very early on, but thought it wouldn't be fair since there were two more pair of hands that weren't captured here....LOL

 My little man's been carrying that vintage little elf around him for the past few days. I'm not exactly sure of where it came from, but I'm thinking he swiped it off of my in-law's tree. I'll have to let them know that the elf's now under the care of a certain two year old.....

Wishing you the the start of a beautiful holiday season, my sweet friends.

Jack the Nutcracker

Well hello sweet girls! I hope you enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with your loved ones! We had a great one this year! We just got done having leftovers for lunch... I love having a little Thanksgiving in the days that follow! 

I've been working on a rather large project, on and off(more off) for much longer than I'd care to admit. This is Jack. Jack's our five and a half foot nutcracker. That's right, he's taller than me!! Jack wasn't always a part of our holiday home, I must admit. He was next door at my mom's house for a year or two and my girls were in awe of him and is giant stature!! Finally, my mom told mt girls they could have Jack for their house. Of course, they were ecstatic; I on the other hand, wasn't so excited....I guess, because Jack looked like this before his dramatic makeover. He was in classic Christmas colors and as pretty as he might have been in someone else's holiday home, he didn't quite fit in with all the pastel and muted colors in our house. Here's his head in the process.... And because my neighbors don't think I'm odd downright weird enough, I dragged this huge, headless nutcracker to my side yard to give him a few hefty coats of cream spray paint. After he was dry, I tugged him back into the house and got started on the fun part of making him a one of a kind nutcracker. I should add, my husband thinks I took away every last ounce of Jack's manhood with his makeover. LOL   I started by making some hundreds of baking cup flowers then added glass glitter for a more festive touch! 
He was foofed and primped, decked and spruced.....Detail on Jack's shoulder... an old rhinestone bit, scraps of tulle and velvet leaves in pink and aqua. A fancy collar of paper flowers and Christmas baubles in the perfect pink! For his torso, I used some of the most beautiful embossed vintage wallpaper Lori  gave to me last year at Silver Bella. I was saving it for a special project and I think this one fit the bill. I trimmed it with velvet ribbon....  and some old rhinestone buttons completed the look.   Even Jack's little friend had a makeover too! I think he's looking much happier now than before....  Do you think so too?  I don't know why it was so hard to get a good shot of him in his entirety, but here he is....
I gold leafed his shoes and dusted with mica then topped with another bauble and I covered the base in cotton batting and sprinkled more mica on top of that!   I saved his crown for the very last. I was a bit perplexed on what to do, but I decided to just remove the velvet jester's hat he was wearing originally. I filled his crown with old glass and velvet millinery berries, and flowers and sprigs of silver pine. I think it has this wintry nest look and that a little bird would find his crown a welcome place in the cold.  I guess that about sums up his makeover. My mom asked for him back now that he's been upgraded... she was totally kidding, but did remind me that she gave it to the girls so, when the time comes for them to one day move out, Jack goes with them. {{I laughed}}

 

On This Thanksgiving...

 Wishing you all a bountiful Thanksgiving, bounty of food, of friends and of family! 

Flurry and Frippery

      This year, I promised myself one thing.... That trimming our home for Christmas would not be rush rush. I brought the decorations out a bit earlier, so I could take my time and sort of just revel in the all the  big and little festivities this time of year brings.... I so love this time of year and all the cheer and fuss that comes with it!  While my sugarplums slept, I brought out boxes and boxes one night. I gingerly placed the contents of one of the boxes on the kitchen table. All the rooftops so snowy and glistening! I couldn't help but think how pretty it all looked there. A few boxes of old ornaments await to be put on the tree, in garlands and jars. We're planning on trimming the tree next week. It'll be just me and the kids. My hubby isn't into the process of decorating the inside of the house.... I've completly come to terms with that, this year as well.  And, in complete contrast of the table on the other side of the kitchen, this is what most of the house looks like. Not the least bit pretty. There's cereal out from breakfast that morning in the midst of unclosed cabinets, wreaths, pine cones and garlands. There are trails of snow, and glitter and mica through the house. We've already started some festivities for the season. I am loving every second of this!!

 

And the winner....

 The winner of the velvet fruit giveaway is Jen from the The Cottage Nest! Just a little something to get you into the holiday spirit!! 

 

P.S. Forgive me for my few and far between posts. My computer has been running really slowly and it takes me double the time to post as it should, which really takes the fun out of posting... Hoping Santa will be good and bring a new one to replace this fossil! 

Velvet Fruit Giveaway and Halloween too!

In this world, there are few things better than velvet, so soft and decadent. As much as I enjoy velvet throughout the year, I love it all the more come the holidays. Earlier this morning, I was trying to get some Christmas decorations is in order. As a rule of thumb, I always have my decorations up by Thanksgiving and this year won't be an exception. I like to take my time and enjoy the process. As I was saying, I was going through some of my decorations and came upon these velvet fruit ornaments I had purchased at Anthropologie about ten or twelve years ago. Year after year, I look forward to unwrapping them, each like a little gem. I place them in the kitchen, either on a tree or in garlands. They have such old look to them. There's plums and pears, grapes and cherries and the tiniest slice of watermelon you've ever seen! Gosh..... ten years ago, I loved everything about Anthropologie then. Their style really has changed. Am I the only one who liked it beter years ago?? A whole 'nother post I guess....  The reason for this fruity post is that I have a dozen or two and wanted to share some velvet fruit with one of you. Just comment here, on this post for me to put your name in the hat! If you'd like to better your chance of making these fruits yours, blog, post to Facebook or Tweet about the giveaway and  I'll drop your name in twice!  If you win, I'll send you one of each fruits for you to adorn your holiday home.   Is it too late to share Halloween pictures? I know, I know, from Christmas to Halloween. My life right now, is certainly reflected in this post! I feel like I'm all over .... and never in the right place. I can't believe we're already this far into November! I adore this snapshot of my girls. Even though it's almost a portion of a picture, it's so in the moment and their faces just exude excitement! We went to our favorite them park for some Halloween fun! All three of them on the Tilt- A- Whirl! Right before trick- or- treating!!And my little man as a cheeseburger! We got stopped so many times while trick- or treating. He was quite the attention getter! Well, I hear my little cheeseburger waking from his nap now! Take care, sweet girls!