All Holiday Cafe http://www.allholidaycafe.com All Holidays, All the Time Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:36:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en b5media/AllHolidayCafehttp://feedburner.google.com Thirty Second Centerpiece in a Basket http://feeds.b5media.com/~r/b5media/AllHolidayCafe/~3/ST_IwrSeNno/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-centerpiece-in-a-basket/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:36:17 +0000 Katelyn Thomas http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-centerpiece-in-a-basket/ 30 second centerpiece 006

This Christmas centerpiece was so easy that a four year old put it together. I think he did a pretty good job, don’t you? I helped with the bow. Although Martha Stewart always seems to make it look effortless, that bowmaker can be tough to use. I’m so glad he prefers blue and purple to pink and orange. These colors really look nice together.

I kind of feel like that annoying Geico commercial - So easy, a baby can do it. (Babies are cuter than cavemen.)

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I have to admit, this centerpiece took a lot longer than thirty seconds for me to put together. Why am I still calling it a thirty second centerpiece? Because you will probably be able to get it done in thirty seconds unless this happens to you:

I have the bowl. Now, where did that garland go?

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Right. Now, the garland is in the bowl. I’ll just go grab a few ornaments and it will be together in no time. Or not.

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Now, where was I?

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So, the bowl of glass ornaments obviously couldn’t stay on the art studio table. Any ideas for a kitten proof Christmas centerpiece?

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]]> http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-centerpiece-bowl-of-ornaments/feed/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-centerpiece-bowl-of-ornaments/ Thirty Second Christmas Centerpiece http://feeds.b5media.com/~r/b5media/AllHolidayCafe/~3/hg-CnqKlQJE/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-christmas-centerpiece/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:24:26 +0000 Katelyn Thomas http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-christmas-centerpiece/ Sometimes, you can spend all day fussing over a Christmas centerpiece. If you have time, great! I am all about getting my 1001 thing list whittled down fast, so I’ve been working on a thirty second Christmas centerpiece series. Now, I do have things set up beforehand. Containers are clean and supplies are on the table. But that’s it. Here’s the first one:

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Greenery, berries, pinecones and a little bird all tucked into a McCoy type planter. It is perfect for a small table that just needs a touch of holiday color.

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]]> http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-christmas-centerpiece/feed/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/thirty-second-christmas-centerpiece/ Organization Is the Key to a Thrifty Christmas http://feeds.b5media.com/~r/b5media/AllHolidayCafe/~3/PzoEAcRrT2Y/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/organization-is-the-key-to-a-thrifty-christmas/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:14:23 +0000 Katelyn Thomas http://www.allholidaycafe.com/organization-is-the-key-to-a-thrifty-christmas/ holiday house 035I used to buy things on clearance and hit the after Christmas sales hard. Three years later, I’d be organizing an area and…stocking stuffers! I knew I had more stuff. After awhile, I got really tired of buying stuff I already had just because I couldn’t find it. That’s when I came up with my secret weapon - the sun room. For some reason, probably because it is actually the darkest room in the house, no one uses the sun room. (I keep threatening to rename it the shade room if someone doesn’t put in that wall of windows soon.) I cleared a lot of stuff out that needed to be donated or put on Craigslist and bought a few inexpensive cabinets. Then, I installed a counter height cabinet below them.

Now, I have a holiday wrapping area, a gift storage area and a decoration storage area all in the same place. Any gifts go immediately in the cabinets when I buy them. So, no more "Size 10 Spiderman pajamas? When did I buy these?" moments in my house!

I’m still not done, but it made Halloween downright simple. As you can see from the Halloween shelf, I plan to have bins so I can keep things neat. Bins also make it easy for me to pull down the contents of a shelf and sort through them.

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The present center is currently packed, but it will be much emptier shortly. I have the majority of the upcoming year’s birthday toys and all of this year’s Christmas gifts in it. Here’s a glimpse of what’s inside. The bag is holding stuffed toys for a baby shower I’m collecting gifts for. I should switch it for one of those clear zip up bags you buy bed linens in, huh?

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Photos by me

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Made in Japan Mouse

Originally uploaded by StampingMad

I love vintage ornaments and have a small collection of odd ornament creatures from the 50’s and 60’s. I thought I’d share the little I know about them with you.

This little creature is tagged All New Material Japan. I’m assuming it is a mouse because of the ears, but there is no tag. The body is flocked.

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]]> http://www.allholidaycafe.com/vintage-christmas-ornament-guide-made-in-japan-mouse/feed/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/vintage-christmas-ornament-guide-made-in-japan-mouse/ How to Get Ready to Decorate for Christmas http://feeds.b5media.com/~r/b5media/AllHolidayCafe/~3/CWiQZgeZwAw/ http://www.allholidaycafe.com/how-to-get-ready-to-decorate-for-christmas/#comments Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:49:28 +0000 Katelyn Thomas http://www.allholidaycafe.com/how-to-get-ready-to-decorate-for-christmas/ christmas puppies and kittens 003 I used to stare at magazine spreads and wonder how people did it. How did they manage to fit in all those holiday decorations and still have their homes look so uncluttered? Where was the stuff? Did they really live without stuff? Then, someone let me in on a little secret.

All those people with those gorgeous, perfect homes? In most cases, right outside each breathtaking photo is a towering heap of stuff. The magazine crew comes in and preps the place before a photo shoot. They pull all the extra stuff out and literally pile it somewhere and then they give everything that’s left a good dusting. I felt better, but still wanted to have my house look like the photos. So, I decided to pretend I was getting ready for a photo shoot, too. Here is how I get ready to decorate for Christmas.

  • Take a photo of every room as is, so it will be easy to put things back the way they were after the holidays.
  • Pack up a lot of your accessories. Almost everything that isn’t Christmas related needs to go right into the storage bins that you just took your decorations out of and back up into your Christmas storage area. After Christmas is over, you can switch everything back out, but this really helps keep everything nice and uncluttered looking.
  • Wipe down walls and trim and touch up chipped paint. This gives you a nice, clean background for your decorating efforts.
  • Put all your current projects in bins that you can push out of sight when you’re entertaining guests.
  • Clean off and polish the dining room table, even if you’re going to use a table cloth. If someone has a spill and you have to pull the cloth off, it will still look nice. If you really want to wow people, keep the dining room table set at all times. A fabulously decorated table all ready to go when people drop by uninvited will make you the envy of Martha fans everywhere.

Do you have any tips on getting ready to decorate for Christmas?

photo by me

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