The Belle Elsewhere

misteltoe-how-to

Yesterday, I got to share a little holiday How-To over on Inspire Me Grey. Click on over to see how easy it is to make this little mistletoe of your own… perfect for hanging, for wrapping gifts, or as a hostess gift!

Decking the Halls

I always *love* having our home decorated for the holidays! And, I must tell you, this Christmas is even better because I’ve had the chance to make so many of the decorations myself. So I thought I’d share a little peek inside…

christmas-decor-secretsofabelle

 

{ Click here to see the Christmas collage How-To. }

{ Click here to see my Card Wreath How-To on DIYNetwork.com. }

There are decorations all over the house, but I cannot seem to pull myself away from the living room. What about you? Do you have favorite room in your house during the holidays?

Hello, Gorgeous!

hello-gorgeous-RED-secretsofabelleToday’s random links are chosen in honor of one of the festive colors of the holiday season. Despite the fact that I may have said in a recent video, “Red is your grandmother’s color,” I really do love wearing red year round. However, it always feels most appropriate during Christmas, don’t you think? So today, I thought we would take a cue from ol’ Gwynnie, dab on a little red lipstick, and heat things up a bit…

Watch

White Christmas, of course! There are 2 particularly fabulous red outfits in this movie. The first being the red gloves worn by the sisters during the minstrel number & “Mandy,” and the second being the red & white Claus-esque garb the cast wears for the finale. Which is your favorite?

Read

Diana Vreeland is known as the queen mother of the color Red. She surrounded herself by it and wore it  religiously. Thus, it is only appropriate that a retrospective of her work would have a deep red cover. I found this book years ago in an antique store and have regretted not buying it ever since. One of my favorite Vreeland quotes:

 “Red is the great clarifier – bright, cleansing, revealing.
It makes all colors beautiful.
I can’t imagine being bored with it – it would be like becoming tired
of the person you love.”

Wear

My first pick would be this red sequin body suit that I am coveting from Patricia Field. However, if that is a bit risqué for your taste, might I suggest a trusty tube of the perfect shade of red? MAC has numerous shades and all of the MAC ladies are trained to help you find the perfect shade. I’m a ‘Russian Red.’

 

 

Cue Andy Williams Singing

Kennedy Christmas chaos

Hello, Monday! It is officially “the most wonderful time of the year,” and if you’re anything like me, your holiday cards have yet to be sent, you haven’t bought half the gifts yet, and all you really want to do is hunker down for a long winter’s nap.

Perhaps your life is not feeling nearly as glamorous as you thought it would on December 17th, but that’s why I’m here: to remind you that if Jackie Kennedy can look this disheveled in a Christmas picture, then you can too! “Living a beautiful life” is an art form, and sometimes every belle needs a little helper. Enter, the Belle’s Little Sanity Saver…

 

Belle's Little Sanity Saver

 

Belle’s Little Sanity Saver

ingredients:
2 oz. Vodka of choice (I’m a Grey Goose gal.)
1 oz. Simply Apple Juice
.5 oz. Appleton Jamaica Rum

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

1.) Fill cocktail shaker with ice and ingredients.

2.) Shake & serve in a chilled martini glass.

 

Hello, Gorgeous!

Alright, so we are “Hello, Gorgeous”-ing a day late, but these random links are still going to put a smile on your face! Promise.

Read

Yesterday, I shared some of my favorite holiday books over on English Muse. The one pictured (Christmas at the New Yorker) is particularly fantastic. My mother-in-law got it for me several years ago, and it’s the perfect collection of essays to read curled up on the couch.  Click here to see the full list.

Listen

I was so excited to find this recording of David Sedaris reading Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol, one of my favorite selections from his book “Holidays on Ice.”

By the way, the prologue of this episode is also really great. Host Ira Glass gives a little background on Sedaris and, as it turns out, David has some seriously fab views on gift-giving!

Look

Last year, I ran across these photos of the Queen at Christmas, which I pinned to my “Royalty” pinboard. I thought I’d post a link to them today because I thought of them again when I happened upon this really amazing recording…

Listen

Click here to listen to Queen Elizabeth’s first Christmas Day address. She was 14 and the year was 1940. She already sounds like a young leader as she attempts to reassure the children that have been evacuated to the countryside during the war.

 

Life Lessons from George Bailey

When I was growing up, my family’s tradition was to decorate the Christmas tree while watching It’s a Wonderful Life. I like to think that the movies one watches during the holidays say a lot about him or her and his or her family. For instance, the first year I celebrated Christmas with my in-laws they watched Gran Torino after opening presents. (For the record, after being scarred for life, I now pick the post-present movie.) So I thought that as this holiday season really begins to get ramped up, it’s only appropriate that I share a few of the life lessons that I took in after countless viewings of The Life & Times of George Bailey…

wish It's a Wonderful Life

It’s always important to make wishes.

dance It's a Wonderful Life

Ruffles, a cute hairstyle, & a great corsage are great, but a girl who knows how to get a guy dancing can make him do anything she wants.

bathrobe It's a Wonderful Life

You can feel like royalty wearing just about anything. It’s all in how you wear it.

old house it's a wonderful life

Dream big and always look for the potential when others can’t see it!

Mother-in-Law It's a Wonderful Life

Always keep an eye on your mother-in-law, especially if she tends to run around in pin curls and a bath robe.

bar It's a Wonderful Life

Live your life right so that you know if you hadn’t been born all your friends would be floozies with a penchant for alcohol…

Or worse, they’d mix plaid with stripes and polka dots!

It's a Wonderful Life

So what about you? What does your family watch while decorating the Christmas tree?

 

Saturday Plans…

Hello, Lovelies!

Terribly sorry for my little absence this week, but I have been slammed! (Did anyone else catch the post-Thanksgiving work rush?) Anyway, I will be spending today adding a bit of *twinkle* to a lot of random things in preparation for Tuesday’s holiday craft fair at work. So while I rush off to Michael’s to get more glitter, I’ll leave you with a little weekend inspiration. Is your life getting more sparkly in preparation for the holidays?

Our Christmas Gallery Wall

picture collage display close-up

Confession: We bought our 1st house 6 years ago and, until recently, had virtually nothing hanging on the walls. I don’t know why. I love interior design, but when it comes to our own home, it’s been so much harder to get things done. I think it’s the perfectionist in me that is nervous things won’t turn out perfectly. But recently I made a goal to stop putting things off. So this weekend, I bit the bullet and put up the frames that had been sitting on my desk for over a year. I still haven’t decided just what photos to put in them (we hardly ever print any out) so in the meantime, I’ve made this Christmas gallery wall. It turned out to be a lot easier than I’d expected.

framing

Step 1: I cut a piece of butcher paper to the size of the space where I wanted to hang the pictures.

Step 2: I laid out all the frames out in a random way and moved them around until they were just right. Then, I used a ruler to make sure things lined up correctly.

*Tip: Get 2 different sizes of frames to mix it up a bit. I had 6 5×7 frames and 8 4×6 frames. 

Step 3: I traced the frames onto the butcher paper and then made a dot 1/4 inch into the box where the nail would need to be.

Step 4: Hang the butcher paper in place with masking or painter’s tape. Then, place the nails where you put the dots. After that, you can just gently remove the paper and leave the nails behind.

scraps collage frame

Step 5: I gathered a bunch of Christmas-y images from magazines, cards, wrapping paper, and old books. Then, I cut them to size using the glass of the frame and the XActo. I used a single image for some and for a few I made collages.

Step 6: Finally, I put the frames back together with the artwork inside and hung them on the wall.

picture collage display

What do you think? Do you ever hang seasonal artwork in your home?

Google “Vintage Thanksgiving”

Go ahead; I’ll wait. If you do, you’ll come up with several weird/wonderful gems including but not limited to…

When I first read this one, I wasn’t sure if it was the girl speaking or the turkey. I’m not even going to mention the phallic shape that a friend pointed out to me. Nope, not going to mention it.

Come on, kids! Let’s play with Plucky one more time before he goes into the oven. Side of salmonella, anyone?

“Quite a dish herself.” Ummm, wow.