Design to Shine: December 2011

New Year's Eve Menu

Anyone that knows me, knows I like to keep things simple, easy, fun and inexpensive.
The same goes for our little celebration tonight to ring in 2012.
We will have a couple of friends down on the farm along with keeping things kid friendly.
Of course, the table is shiny

Photo compliments of my iPhone via InstaGram.

My friends like to pick on me about being all fancy and such.

Not really, I just thought this was so pretty and if you read the post about it, you find it's really ~~cheap~~ frugal.

But this is about the MENU Sherri! Yeah, Yeah, I'm getting to the food really I am.

Finger foods, so we can munch, play and enjoy the evening.

Source

Apple Toffee Dip

A co-worker brings this for our work parties and it is DELISH!

Source

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

3 ingredients and pop it all in the crock pot. My kinda recipe.

Source

Ham and Cheese sandwiches on Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Based on the above roast beef party sandwich recipe.

Source

Little Pigs

Smokies and crescent rolls. Kinda fittin' down on the farm. ;-)

Source

Lemon cupcakes with sprinkles

During the after Christmas sales, I picked up some of the sugar pearl sprinkles to use. I'm using silver liners to match the table decor and keeping it simple, a store bought mix. Shhhh, don't spill the beans.

Chips and dip

That's it folks!

I have silly party hats, noise horns and will be making a few of these for kicks and giggles:

Source - Pinterest

Mine won't be as fancy, but Bear will think they are cute.

What's a night down on the farm without one of these?

Good friend, family, fun foods and a fire. All the best F words. ;-)
I will share a few photos of all the fixin's on my Blog Facebook Fan page later this evening.
Whatever you and your family are enjoying tonight, at home or out...I want to wish each one of you
the HAPPIEST of New Year's in 2012!

We will see you from down on the farm, next year! ;-)

2011 in Review

What a difference a year makes!

Not to sound like a cliche. There have been some MAJOR changes this year round the farm.

Enough to crow about.
January

A major and rare snow storm for rural Gawga, resulted in an extended 'snow-cation' from work for a week.
No worries, down on the farm we always have a way of gettin to and fro.

My daughter on the 4-wheeler.
February

With the month of LOVE came a thrifty Goodwill styled Valentine's mantel on the farm;
and additions of my Goodwill Glamorous Fashions for work and play.

March
The month that started one of the biggest changes in our empty nesting down on the farm.
The addition of a 3 year old boy (my nephew) via a temporary custody order.

We call him, Booger Bear ~~don't ask my how that nickname, wasn't my idea~~...I usually refer to him as Bear here.
To celebrate CHANGE ~~and to try NOT to look like Bear's Grandma~~, I went BOLD with my Goodwill Glamorous fashion statement this month.

April
Warmer temps brought out the Spring colors in my thrifty fashions.

From head to toes - Goodwill purchased.
A spring mantel was tossed together for zero dollars, using what I had on hand.

Love my birdies and old things.

Bear hunted eggs and

held bunnies at a local farm.

We were blessed as my sister had her 3rd successful brain surgery.
May

We played.

And we opened the pool, Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the arrival of Summer!
June

Had me putting together a little boy's room with a thrifty makeover.

In addition to our vegetable garden, we put together our own mini Fairy Garden.

Which is still thriving in our office during the winter.

And a fun visit to the Zoo.
July
Found us frolicking on vacation at the beach...

Bear's very first trip to see the ocean!

Starting a new ~~daycare~~ "school".

August

We enjoyed the small things down on the farm.

Once again, August found us back in the courtroom regarding custody of Bear.

The case was continued.

September

Had me turning another year older...along with a shift in job duties;

becoming our Social Media Marketing Coordinator at work...

and attending a Social Media Training Conference in Atlanta.

Bear adopted a Grandfather.

October

My very simple Fall mantel.

We went back to court, yes yet again...only to cancel the hearing and reschedule for December.

October had us celebrating Bear's 4th Birthday in a BIG way....

A huge Cowboy Up party in our Barn (yep, with the chickens...there are photos to prove it)

Over 30 family, friends and community members came out to support one precious little boy.

Of course, we ...

went Trunk-r-Treating.

November

We remembered all that we are grateful for in our lives.

Our very own Tall Tom, who was NOT on our Thanksgiving table. ;-)

December

We decorated...

Our Tree, our mantel and our table.

We toured a Historic Home and visited Santa.

We crafted...

and we had a visit from a silly Elf, named Mister Sam....

Then Santa came...

However, the BEST gift we received for Christmas this year wasn't delivered under the tree or wrapped in pretty paper. It came in the mail. After a December 8th court visit, permanent custody of Bear was awarded to us...the final papers arrived in the mail on Christmas Eve.

New Year's Eve Table Centerpiece

Do you ever have this idea and just hope it all comes together the way you see it in your mind?

That was me yesterday.

Knowing I would be putting away all the Christmas decor, I still wanted some fun shiny snow inspired winter decorations around the house. Usually I am standing at the door of Target the day after Christmas waiting for them to open. Not this year. Chasing a 4 year old and staying up late ~~playing an elf~~ watching for Santa, wore this mid-forties momma out! I did however manage to get everyone out mid-afternoon to scout what was left.

Lucky for me, I found just what I needed for my New Year's Eve centerpiece vision!

My assortment of Goodwill candle holders, along with the white crocheted runner (another Goodwill find last year) and stash of white candles were my base.

The blue trim on the white runner had me thinking blue, white, silver and glass.

The 1st item I found was at Hobby Lobby - the tiny silver star garland ($2). I almost picked up silver bead garland, but snagged the last strand of stars instead. So glad I did! I {heart} them.

Next stop, Target.

Target gave me my hint of blue, with the blue tiny star burst tinsel garland ($1).

I also picked up blue and silver snowflakes at Target (50 cents each color for a pack of four)

The silver tray is another Target deal marked down 50% off for $7. I've been looking for a silver tray for a while and was tickled pink (or would it be blue?) to find this one at a steal!

Next stop was the much loved by us thrifty decor and crafty types...the Dollar Tree.

Look closely, closer...do you see the white felt snowflakes lining the silver tray? Dollar Tree HALF off!

A whopping 50 cents. Along with all the blue and silver bells (8 to a pack), same price.

My fellow shopper con'ed me into a Walmart stop.

At least I found another item while battling my way through the buggies and crowd - the small silver Mirror Ball ornaments in the center candle globe for $1.50. Mirror Balls just scream New Year's right?!?

A few of the details:

A wine goblet tuned upside down for a candle holder. To add interest, I stuffed a white snowflake ~~wrestled that sucker under there~~ from my old Christmas stash under the glass; along with bells and one of the tiny silver ornaments.

The ornaments and bells are in a wide mouth candle holder sitting atop another Goodwill candle holder (nope I didn't even glue it ...cause I'm daring like that).

The cute tiny fingertip towels say it all...