Kirk, Oh, the LOVE of BB's! You did find a really cool one. Those swirly marbelized/glitter ones are the neatest! I had one that was a burnt orange/red swirly so I left it as is in the garden. It WAS shiny too. Eventually the shine lost it's lustre and it did crack. I was so dissappointed but didn;t know what else to do. SO, #1 son, Sean, and I took a chisel and a hammer to it! I wanted to see it's insides. Did you know that a BB will bounce on concrete? It took some effort but we did crack the egg open! :-) The top layers were a polyethylene plastic material. The inside had a composite plastic/light concrete/foam like center shaped like a barbell. From expereince the older balls are made with rubber and wood. I had my FIL drill a hole through the center of two balls. One is still sitting in the garage. The other became a fountain bubbler in my bathroom. Getting back to care---you may want to avoid the extreme temps with your BB. Ours would get the 100 and teens plus temps in the summer and down to the teen temps in the winter. Whatever bowlers use to put a nice shine on their balls would be what I would use to keep it shiny. If you ignore it it will eventually lose it's shine.... You had some NICE neighbors to give you that wonderful eagle! The BB is it's golden pearl! BTW, we need to see your rain chain! :-) Hope you have an excellent weekend. Three day weekend for you? Yep, us too! It's nice to NOT be a banana sandwich on a weekeday! TTYL Love, Jules Here is a link that might be useful: BB in the garden

CC, I love your ideas, now that's what I'm talking about! I have a lot of small teapots on display (not miniature), so if I were to buy a miniature set, how would I hang them on the "branches? I could use tiny ribbon for the cups, but not sure about the plates. But...teapots would be more for kitchens so I think I want this in the LR because of the color of the tree. I especially like the clothespin idea. Not sure about the quotes, etc. I want the display to be visible without having to get next to it. Okay ladies, put your thinking caps on. What can I use the clothespins for which would fit with the LR decor? The decor is on the rustic, country side. Colors are the jewel tones, burgandy, green, some blues, brass, silver and copper. Karen, thanks so much! It's about that time of the year where I'll be looking at the inspiration pictures again!

Jane, that's funny about your daughter, mine will turn 16 this next March (shutter!) and I've got all the ornaments and decorations from her "unwanted" tree packed up. I know she'll use those one day when she has a daughter. Luvs, I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas...I think for me, I have always been a creative/artistic person, drawing, sewing, etc. But as the kids have gotten older and the business has grown, time for that has dwindled. My work allows me to create, but I'm on this computer all the time and there is no hands-on in that creative process. So, my Christmas decorating has become my hands-on! Now instead of taking a simple piece of paper and a pencil, I take a simple tree and bargain-basement priced leftovers.... Anyway, here are some more photos then of the entry tree: The ivory, gold and silver tasseled garlands and the shiny and matte balls, were all that I had on the ugly corner tree before last year. I got those about 8-9 years ago for 75% off. All the decorative ornaments, I have gotten over the last 2 years, after Christmas, again 75% off....The topper I got last year, and I want to say that I spent $12 at the most on that! Here are some closeups of the glass ornament tree:

In case anyone is interested, I did make 25 of the Sonobe Cubes (150 squares of wrapping paper in red, green and gold plaids and florals) and I put a couple of red beads at the top, and a couple of gold pony beads and red beads and a beaded tassel at the bottom. For the tassel, I bought a yard of beaded fringe from Hobby Lobby, and used 3 strands for each tassel, pulling them up into a pony bead. They came out really cute, and the best part was that I did them ENTIRELY at work, from start to finish. (I have THAT kind of job, lots of down time, with permission to work on personal stuff.) The peeps at the party really seemed to like them, too, and made me demo how they work. I forgot to stick a jingle bell in 'em, though. *dope-slapping myself* Thanks again, Karen, since I pretty much COPIED yours completely! lolol