Thanks to all of you for your kind words. I have so enjoyed looking at everyone's ideas and homes that I was inspired to post my own. I have to say it was such fun taking the pictures and learning about photobucket. I do enjoy the collecting of Christmas stuff but like most of you here on the boards I am budget minded too. When I get some on these gorgeous items on sale after the holidays it makes it that much sweeter. To answer some of your questions: Kathleen li - I love the ironing board Santa in the hall display too. It isn't really an ironing board but a piece of plywood with fabric and paint done to look like Santa. I bought it years ago at a craft fair here in Birmingham, AL for less than $20. The santa portrait is new this year from Kirkland's Home. The have one every year and it is only $59. I got it last week at 25% off. Calicocat1967 - I like the Santa plates. I was fortunate enough to most of them from Fitz and Floyd last year on Christmas day. They put everything on sale and I get their emails telling when. I picked them up for less than $10 each. The covered dish in the kitchen corner cabinet came from Tuesday Morning after Christmas last year. It is a Christopher Radko but I only paid $15 for it on sale. luvstocraft - Thanks for thinking I "belong". I kind of felt like I did and it's nice to point out to hubby "There are others like me. I'm not the only one always picking up dishes or decorations everywhere I go" One of the things I have enjoyed about the board is the comradery. Every when I didn't post I felt apart of the community. I am glad that I came out of lurkdom. I got the angles in the pictures for 25 cents a print years ago and had them framed for less than $10 each. I stole the hanging on a ribbon and dowel idea from a magazine. Very eye catching and costs very little too. phyl345 - I'm glad you enjoyed it. sameboat - Thanks for looking and commenting. melvalena- I hope I didn't create new work for you for next year. I am enjoying changing up things a bit from year to year, so I love the ideas you guys come up with. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your grandkids. bonniee- Thank you. I enjoyed your post about decorations too. mary ruth - Thanks, I love the Fitz and Floyd too. I got the large santas on top of the refridgerator last year on Christmas day. They are normally $350 each but on their clearance/outlet on their website they were only $89. I know that is still expensive, but I couldn't pass up the chance for something so large and beautiful for that price. I ordered my mom and her sister one for this year's Christmas present. I am so excited to give them to them. They are the chief decorators in the family so I came by it honestly. slinkey - What a nice welcome. Thanks for you praise and I feel like I will be a regular now that I've broken the ice. I do love my home. It is older and I actually came to these boards because we are considering building a new home on a lot we bought so I was researching building and come across this board on a search. But it didn't take me long to go from the Building a House forum to Decorating to Christmas/Holidays. purplemoon - I have loved all of your decorations and posts for the year. I thank you for your comments. The pair of large leaping reindeer are my "pride and joy". This is the first year I have displayed them, getting them last Christmas Day online. They came from Frontgate, which is not a store that I can normally afford. But after Christmas they put all their stuff on sale and mark it down a little more each week. On their website is a section called Outlet. I did not know of it and wanted a large reindeer for my fireplace hearth, so I searched and got a hit on them. The are regularly $199 each and but were on clearance for $59 each. Again a little more than I normally pay for a Christmas decoration, but a great deal on a heavy well made piece. I am pleased with the display. I would be honored to have some of my stuff in the Inspiration Album. Thanks for asking. Does that mean I have "arrived"? Ha-Ha. Feel free to look all you want. prosperity66 - Thanks for your kind words. I am glad others enjoyed it. Thanks again to all of you and I am off to scour the Internet for any clearance deals, but not ever sure where I could possibly put more if I find it. Merry Christmas!

Thanks for all the inspirations..some are beautiful, some gaudy and stuffy, some elegant but not practical, some are cozy and you could see yourself crawling right in the bed and going off to sleep right away. It is really nice to have a large bedroom, it helps when decorating it. My DH and I have had our separate bedrooms for at least 3 years. I'd like to decorate it but it is hard to find something a solid color that he'd like, is not too expensive, and I can take to the laundrymat and wash myself. Oh, I could go with a quilt or comforter but most of them are large bold plaids, strips or flowery. I want something that will hang over the dust ruffle, maybe with a scallopped edge. The builder installed all rooms with electric baseboard heat in the house when they were built in 1977, and each room has a separate thermostat to control the temperature of the room, which we like but you can't have floor to ceiling drapes because of the baseboard heat register. I use mini-blinds and valances. The furniture is dark cherry, Traditional style. His headboard is one we had for our guest room in former home..kind of light aqua silk headboard that he has ruined from the natural oils in his hair. I've been thinking of recovering the headboard with a leather or replacing it with a wooden one. Any suggestions?

flyleft and spank md, thanks for all the information about mosaic supplies and hints on what to do, you both have given me. I really appreciate it. flyleft, I am going to go to the bookstore today to see if either of those books you recommended is available, if not, I will order them on the internet. I think they both would be a good investment because I can see myself doing more mosaicing. And I still have the two bowls to do too. spanky md, you are right about the tile looking much better after it is grouted. Thank you for reminding me about that. I remember when we did our master bathroom, we had some stuff called redgard painted on the backerboard as added protection from water and when the tile was up without the grout - it looked ugly because you could see that red coming through. Once it was all grouted it looked beautiful. Heh, I might use some of that redgard stuff on the top of the wood - it supposedly seals out moisture. I think I still have a little bit left. I found this site, linked below, last night and in the mosaic questions section, they talk about the fiberglass mesh technique being used for walls and when you don't want to hand lay each piece again. They also talk about the contact paper method - which I would probably use in this application, because I laid the tile with the good side facing up. The back of the stones still have some of the fiberglass mesh on them from when I peeled the stones off of the backing. The guy on this site also says wood is ok for interior use. I do know one problem with cracking grout can be if it is mixed too thin or too much water is added. When we redid our two bathrooms and the slate floor the grout mix was very thick according to the directions on the bag and none of that has cracked. Of course, the bathroom is done on backerboard and the slate is on a concrete floor - so no movement there. The previous tile in the guest bath was laid on linoleum and one piece near the door had cracked grout - I don't think the linoleum was glued enough underneath that section - or it got water underneath it. I will probably seal this piece since moisture from a drink placed on the table could soak into the grout. For this project, I think I may just use the wood and see how that goes. I will still need to find the copper to put on the wood. I'll check out the hardware store in town to see if they have some copper sheeting. As usual I have entered into another project that is going to be more time consuming than I realized. But definitely something that will be fun and creative. I can see there is a lot involved with mosaicing and lots of different products that can be used for different applications. Thanks again to both of you, I will definitely post my completed piece, but it may take me a while since I want to do some more research and I have some other pressing projects that have come up unexpectedly. Here is a link that might be useful: See - Mosaic Questions - Category

Somersetlass, yes, it's so easy to get bamboozled indeed! this is the 3rd time I've started the process of changing out our counters to granite. The first 2 times I chickened out, decided to use the money to visit Europe instead. From testimonies throughout the years, from as long as I can remember, all I've heard is about the stress that comes with getting granite countertops. I knew we wouldn't be immune to the anxiety, and I didn't want to deal with all the logistics that comes with it either, but this year I knew I just couldn't work with my existing counters any longer. I think I may have the ugliest kitchen counters known to man-kind. They are formica swirly blue. They're so totally atrocious. We've been living in this house for 3 years now and they still make me cringe every time I enter my kitchen. So I finally took the leap of faith. I'm not even an "I have to have granite counter-tops" type of woman. I honestly would've been happy with formica had they been a neutral color. I like the simple things in life, and sure I like nice things like everyone else does too, but I don't want to lose my mind over them either, but it seems that now this has taken on a life of it's own. What I'm really excited about is our sink more than anything. Do you sense the guilt I'm feeling over such an extravagance? lol