Gabrielle Messina Just a Girl

Hippity- Hoppity Easter's On It's Way!!!!!

Before it comes and goes, I wanted to wish you a very Happy Easter! I hope it's filled with pretty pastel dresses, patent leather shoes in lovely hues and Easter bonnets too! I hope Mr. Rabbit leaves you lots of chocolate treats and marshmallow PEEPS, plenty of sweet smelling flowers and green grass with hidden painted eggs for the kids to find!  I have a few projects started around the house and this is one of the little ones I finally got around to making one of the adorable paper clay dolls that the fabulously talented Amy Hanna contributed to Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas Christmas Magazine. So much fun! I need to make two more still.... Right now, my sweet little chick's just hanging out on our Easter tree!  A spun cotton bunny's there too! Lots of vintage flowers and eggs hanging about!  A few months ago, after seeing and swooning over it, I made one of Amy Hanna's Baskets of Love, also featured in Amy Powers' Spring edition magazine!!!! Let me tell you how much I love, love, love this project! Loads of inspiration in those pages, I'll tell 'ya! Well, very soon my little man will be waking from his much needed nap and this chick has got some Easter preparations to tend to! In the midst of all the bunnies and candy hope you'll enjoy the beauty and peace of the true meaning of Easter!!!

Lots of pastel kisses coming your way! xooxxox

 

Walt Disney World Magic

It was a week spent in the most magical of places, a escape from reality and everything that mid-winter brings. There was no cooking or cleaning, no responsibility of the shop, meetings to attend or paper work needing attention. We silenced all telephones and agreed that we would not check emails. There was nothing that was going to take our attention away from moments like these.... Live an in Techcnicolor meetings with characters we've only seen on screen or read about in books.

Pure enchantment... All smiles as they posed for photos and and waited for autograph books to be signed. There was sheer joy as my big girls experienced their first big roller-coaster!! To my delight, they loved every second of the high- speed thrills.One of our favorite rides is the "Mad Hatter's Tea Party". I love the whimsical "paper" lanterns and giant teacup. My little Alice ready to spin!  Outside of the ride, another favorite spot with cups, saucers, and teapots in the colors of taffy amidst topiaries of equally colorful characters from the story of Alice in Wonderland. Disney never disappoints when it comes to detail, and like a glass of lemonade on a summer's day, I take in every last drop of it.  Daddy with his lovely little troop. (I suggested the girls get fanny packs... Yes, I did. They are big collectors of the tiniest of mementos; sugar packets, pressed pennies, park maps and tiny sticks.... Apparently, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.)  Casted as an extra in a **Big Screen** production on the streets of old time Hollywood.  A pair of regular movie stars, they are!  We jet- setted to Venice for the day. By way of EPCOT, of course.   This was taken the day we arrived. How I wish I could go back to that day and do the whole thing over again... The time goes by so fast. Of course, vacations always do, though. 

Another Snow Day...

   Snow day today.... again.  These paper flowers on my window sill are making me smile a bit, although I feel rather out of sorts and off kilter today... They make me wish for spring, instead, I've got snow.....  More snow...  I baked a cake.  I like to bake cakes and eat them too. The kids like to bake cakes and eat them too.  They wanted to celebrate the snow day.... I lit the candles for them, but did not partake in the celebration of another snow day.... Pardon me, but I hope you can understand.  I did however, have a slice of cake....   I think I'll put a movie in the VHS player to entertain them. Because I am done. They like The Parent Trap with Haley Mills. It's my movie from when I was little. I've heard way too much bickering today and am going to implement a mandatory quiet time during the movie..... Anyone else so over SNOW DAYS?

because they're not already excited....

 We're off to Disney World! A magical place even for me. My kids are excited and haven't been able to fall asleep for the past few days.... I have a little tea party awaiting the girls when they get home from school.... just to add to the excitement of it all!   I'm this closeted Disney fan. I've read all the books on Walt and daydream about what it would have been like to visit Disneyland on opening day over sixty years ago.... I lost count at how many times I visited the park... Of course, you're not going to find a Mickey Mouse shower curtain in the bathroom or Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers on my table, but this tea set on the other hand, is the most beautiful set I've ever seen! It blends perfectly in my cabinet with mismatched vintage sets. So much detail! Of course my girls love that Tinkerbell's on it.   Chip's in the same cabinet as well. There you have it, the extent of my Disney Collections.... Now, what to whip up for this little party since there's NO food in the house is the question.....

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

I want my children to know Christmas isn't all about a plump man in a red suit, a reindeer with a shiny red nose, or a stack of piled high presents. I want them to know the true meaning behind all this jubilee is one little Baby, that without this tiny Baby's birth, there would be no celebration. That the birth of the Newborn King, saved all of humanity. I also want my children to know how very, very blessed they are, which is why I'll be taking my girls to our local food bank with food we've been collecting. They need to see the real world, I want their eyes to be opened, as well as their hearts. They only know that if their hungry, all they have to do is open the refrigerator. They do not know that there are kids that have to wait in long lines to receive, whatever food is available. There is so much we can do to help others and I want to teach these values, the values of compassion, serving others and generosity at a young age.... 

I'm wishing for you and yours a very Merry, Merry Christmas!! 

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}}

 

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!!

 

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! 

Character

See that silly smile? Look closely.... There's something that makes it extra special! Do you see it yet? "Chip"... as we lovingly call it. My little lady chipped her tooth when she was just a tiny tot. Of course, when it happened I felt terrible and so did her daddy. She was about 16 months and getting a little cranky while we were in church. Her daddy had taken her outside so she could run around a bit. She ended up falling face first onto concrete! I still cringe thinking of it....Shy and quiet around those she doesn't know too well, in school and in public....And the biggest goofball when she's home. She likes to make you laugh. That's for certain! A performer and comedian. That little chip has become part of her personality, her character.... anyone that know her, and knows her well, says the same thing. It's a part of who she is. I can't imagine her without it.... I wouldn't change a thing! What a perfect little smile.

P.S. I made my girls some of these headbands a while back out of necessity and completly forgot about them... I'll share a little tutorial sometime next week!