Not Another NYE Blog Post...

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

Yep… it is… 

Everyone on FB is saying great things… the year past was fantastic… and the year ahead… going to make it great!.. I totally agree (well not with the past year part - a large portion of ours was rather sucky)… but looking forward and making 2013 our best year yet… Just like everyone else we've got big plans… big hopes… and dreams… It shouldn't just be looking forward with excitement because it's NYE… We should hold onto this all of the time… hahaha how chachi does that sound?.. but really though… who doesn't want to feel great and excited for what they're going to be doing!?. now sustaining it is the challenge!..

I've read one of Erin Kelly's FB posts about a yearly ritual… when taking down and packing away the tree she writes a letter to herself that she'll see next year when she takes the tree out again… 

"One of my favorite traditions, is an annual letter I write to myself. I started it in 1994, before I really understood goal setting. It is essentially a letter to my future self, inspired by the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I pack it away each year with the Christmas tree. That way, next year, when I am getting ready to decorate for the holidays, and listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album, and drinking chai eggnogs, I get to read, reflect and re-commit to anything I might be struggling with, and celebrate the successes I've had.

The day I take the tree down, is the day I write the next letter. It is an amazing and tangible way to track your annual progress, and celebrate all the wonderful things a year can bring. It will also teach you, over time, that all the things you might be worrying about today are just cluttering up your mind, because odds are, one year from now, those things will be insignificant."

Yep… I just took a big fat quote from Erin Kelly's Facebook Page...  In the New Year now I'ma follow up with a post about Erin's Goal Setting and Achievement Seminar that Colleen and I went to a few weeks back… really good shit… for reals!..

I'm big on this goals thing since her seminar… and thinking "what I'm doing right now  - is it moving me towards achieving my goals?.." I've got my goals set and am ready to take on 2013 and make it mine!.. How about you?..

xo

Lacey

Ghost Lamp Shade...

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

I did it!.. I completed a project that I'd bought the bits and pieces for MONTHS ago... actually almost a year ago now... the right room has just come together in the house to hold such a specimine... did I mention we just furnished the front living room... FINALLY!?. it's been in flux ever since we've moved into the house... NOW it has two completed wingbacks... and a big wooden piece of furniture thing with some baskets in it... and a lamp I found at Winners...  anywhoot I digress… ghost lamp shade...

Got this beastly lampshade at the ol' VV boutique… still wrapped in plastic… i cut the plastic off… then the fabric… turns out there was some plasticky paper around the top and bottom metal bands of the shade...

I peeled those off too… then gave it a quick scrub down with a scouring pad… to remove any loose bits of glue…

Then to the basement we went… and I looked through the few cans of spray paint that I have down there… I knew I wanted it to be matte black… I had some BBQ paint down there… I used that and sprayed the shade… the bulb holder… and the metal bit that holds the shade to the lamp...

The lamp itself is a weathered old bronzy colour and luckily the lamp body shape is very similar to that of the lamp I found at Winners… I was temped to paint the lamp body too but it turns out that it works well left as is...

I made a quick trip over to Restoration Hardware and grabbed up a fancy tungsten quad coil bulb… not too bright... and neat to look at… pardon the lack of photos in the frames on the wall… those are coming… tomorrow… I will have photos of the finished room once it is fully sorted… it is still coming together and being decorated for Christmas...

Balls everywhere… Christmas balls… I have another bowl that I have to dig out of the basement with lion heads on either side… I think it'll go great with this deer head dish...

I found some designs online for the chalkboards… and tried my hardest to keep the writing neat... I'M SO EXCITED HOW IT TURNED OUT… the ones online are printables… but I replicated in chalk...

I have to fix the stars on this one… they look like jacks… I'm not too pleased with them… and the N could use some tweaking too...

Christmas tree star… Chris picked this one out at last year's Spruce Meadows Christmas Market…  

Mistletoe is up.. and ready for kisses...

It has been so Christmassy out lately… check out the frosty snow on the branches today… amazingly beautiful...

And supa cold… yesterday I stayed inside and put up the tree and begun the decorating… and ventured out quickly for that fancy lightbulb… 

...at this point when I was writing last night I fell asleep completely with the laptop on my lap and hands on the keyboard… yesterday was quite an action packed day at a seminar run by the amazing Erin Skye Kelly about setting goals and achieving them… More on that later...

I can't go without a couple shots of the furbabies… they're doing well and haven't been in the christmas tree… or banging ornaments off of the tree… all is well… they stuck close all day Friday while I was decorating… one in each chair asleep in the front room while I decorated the tree… such sweet little fur muffins… and right now Oliver is laying under my right arm and across my left arm and wrist making it slightly difficult to write… but he's purring like a chainsaw so I dare not push him off!.. 

Today will be filled with activities that help me to reach my goals!.. again more on that later when I get my thoughts down about the amazing Erin Skye Kelly… I want to get some final decorating done today as well… and then some house cleaning because this place ain't gonna clean itself!.. and we have to get the house in shape for next Friday's Annual Christmas Shindig…

Can't wait!.. what are you getting up to this Sunday?..

xo

Lacey

I'm getting back on the link party train… and starting this Sunday with:

DIY Showoff
C.R.A.F.T.
Coastal Charm
DIY by Design
Savvy Southern Style
The Shabby Nest