Mo, that's how I feel about the pretty egg plate. Too pretty to cover up with real eggs. By the way, I am really sorry you are having anxiety issues about your husband's trip. Anxiety is terrible to deal with. I hope maybe you can talk yourself into some decorating, it truly helps to stay occupied. Plus being surrounded by pretty things and a festive looks helps one's mood too I believe. I know nights make anxiety far worse, and I will be thinking about you. You can join the slumber party here that Yacht and I usually do. LOL. We don't sleep at night due to pain, so our computers keep us going. Jeanne, I didn't stretch $20. LOL. Wish I had. I can never seem to get out of Dollar Tree for less than $20, that is why I changed its name to reflect that. I think this time they got me for $23. And trust me, you don't want to know my Michaels bill. LOL. Dad gave me $100 to spend and I had no problem at all doing that between the two stores yesterday. They are side by side, so I frequently refer to them as "Double Trouble". hugs, Karen

Thanks Lynn, I've only started doing more ornate Christmas vignettes in the last few years since seeing this forum and hope to take more pics this year. There are a few old Christmas pics on one of my albums in the link below. That site mostly shows my YS finds. I need to take and add more pics - taking good pics is a challenge and right now I'm not getting along with my new camera very well! ;-) There's also an album showing some coffee table arrangements I just threw together when I was cleaning my LR sideboard. Hadn't taken pics of some of those things but there wasn't a lot of thot put into them and I need to upgrade a lot of those pics. Thanks, Bonnie, I'm in Canada so our Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October and I did my fall deco's before that. I'll likely be doing Christmas deco's by mid November before Thanksgiving in the US! Seems I start earlier every year! :-) Karen, I've always enjoyed arranging things on tables, even when I was a child and long before the internet showed us so many nice vignettes. I constantly save pics of arr. I like and have looked at the albums you've created many times. Thanks for doing that, it's a great inspiration to many, I'm sure. Here is a link that might be useful: my trashy treasures albums

Thanks everybody!! Punk, my DM has asthma and she helps fluff the branches and then hands me the ornies to plug into the tree lights and takes the bulb. Even that much makes her wheeze, but we have fun as the Christmas music is playing while we are working and I have the fireplace on, so it is very Norman Rockwell!! LOL Jeanne and Nana, it makes me smile putting out all of my décor!! I don't consider it work, I just say I am playing with my toys! SD, I originally bought the letters to paint gold and use for the LOVE letters I used in the Home for the Holidays luncheon décor. Then I got the idea to use them for the B & B sign. I think it was Old Algebra or someone else here that gave me the idea to make it reversible. PM, no, it is only a B & B for visiting family and DGK's, LOL. I think anyone who drives by realizes it is just part of the décor. :) Thanks, got to go finish the Angel room. Candy

Good morning, Bebe. Yes, I was thrilled to see there were rake brushes since I only had one. I bought three angle brushes--that's my favorite too. Works so great for shading, and even for pulling stems into leaves or filling in small places where I used to have to switch to a smaller brush. I also got a few really small rounds for detail work. I love my one stroke brushes because they hold lots of paint, but don't need that for all projects. I think Donna just sort of "oversaturated" (Is that a word?) the market there for awhile. Like with everything else, people have tried it and are moving on to the next "new" thing. I've never gotten her show on PBS here, but used to see her on some of the shopping networks. Haven't really looked lately to tell the truth, but know she has branched off into fabrics, texture paints, and even clay. Still see her ads in some of my Painting magazines. I think she persuaded allot of people to try painting--because she made it seem like everybody could do it. I think many people feel that painting is just too hard. Have to admit some of the books I've read where they list a ton of paint colors and do the multiple different float on float techniques still intimidate me! LOL I love the one stroke technique, but it doesn't really work for everything--sometimes just need to do a basecoat, shading and then hilighting I think. Michael's and Walmart (I don't get to Joanne's often enough to know) here are both carrying less and less of the painting supplies. And the choices of books is pathetic! They don't even try to change them out, the same ones have been there for years and maybe they will add in a few newer ones once in awhile! Since those are not selling, I suppose they think painting books are not a popular item any more! LOL Even the selection on Artists Club is so much less than it used to be. Used to be every April there would be so many new books released and I would get so excited to see them all! I have to admit that since the prices have gone up so, to $10.00 or more for a book (many of the bigger ones are $25.00 now) I don't buy them like I used to when they were $5.99 each. Then I'd buy one even if it only had one or two patterns I liked--don't do that anymore unless it's got a really amazing design that I want! ;o) I miss the smaller painting shops. I always tried to stop in there at least once a week. And they had so many projects all painted up and displayed so cute that when I saw it, I just had to have the pattern! And you could chat with other painters, go meet some of the artists and have your book signed, find supplies for your projects, etc. We don't have any around this area like that anymore. You are such a good painter--bet you could even sell those poster boards you use for your classes! ;o) I used to think that when I watched Donna on television too. Except it looks like she just paints on paper to demonstrate. I always thought the paints would soak in too much--but guess it helps that the Folkart paints she uses are thicker. That is good that you take extra supplies with you for the people who come to class without them. Plus that saves having to loan your's out and possibly not getting them back! ;o( Well, I'm really long winded this morning. Better get moving. Fun to have a good discussion about painting though. ;o) Luvs