Between stripping paint and refinishing a piece of furniture, cleaning the house a bit, tagging pieces for Lucketts and working on some freelance stuff, I did a little bit more Christmas decorating.  When we were in Raleigh, I trimmed a bunch of branches from my in-law’s magnolia tree to use in my holiday decorating and photo shoots this year, so I felt inspired to work with some of them.  I plucked a few waxy leaves and made a mini garland to turn into a necklace for my antique dress form.   A charcoal velvet ribbon tied on the back adds a bit of contrast against the leaves.     I love how it’s simple, classic and a little whimsical all at one time.   I also played around with some zinc banners and black chalk I’m going to sell in my space at Lucketts…   I’m selling each one

Just a few years ago, I couldn’t wait to decorate for Christmas.  I had to restrain myself until the day after Thanksgiving and then the tree was up and the halls were decked.  Now, my freelance writing has me decorating for Christmas in July and Thanksgiving in January and I don’t feel quite as antsy to haul out all of the Christmas decor when it’s actually Christmas.  Today, though, it started snowing.  After pecking away at my computer for a while, the Christmas spirit got to me and I wanted to decorate. I started with some little trees I picked up yesterday at the grocery store.   …of course, it looked like this when I picked it up…     No offense to people who like this tree pick and the metallic foil, but it’s just not my thing.  To each his/her own, so I removed all but the pot,