Christmas Tree 2010

Caution: this is photo heavy! But I can make my jpgs very small in pixels so it should not take long to load for anyone, but I'm just warning you that there are about 40 photos, which is not my regular amount. I only do it for special parties on the blogs.

As most of you who read me regularly know, we're empty nesters. We usually stay home for the Christmas season unless we can be absolutely sure we can get over the Sierra mountains to go back to California to visit kids or head off to Seattle to visit our granddaughter and her family. This year we're staying put! But we don't decorate the house like most people with little children do. It's just too hard on me, not HIM, to do it anymore. So he puts up lights and decorates outside and I just do a tree in the house.

I've been feeling unmotivated for a couple of months. Yeah, that's a good word—unmotivated. It took me a long time to decide if I would participate in Sherry's Share the Decor Party. So yesterday I had Love Bunny put up the tree. Let me deviate here for a minute.

Last year we had a green tree that we got 2 years ago so we wouldn't have to keep putting money out for something we were going to throw out. I dreamed about a white tree but didn't think Mr. Scrooge (hubs/love bunny) would spring for it since he's a traditionalist. Lo and behold, 2 weeks ago he suggested we get a white tree because he knew I was lusting after one! I demurred but he would have none of that. What a sweetheart he was when he put the white tree in the cart at WM! I guess he's a keeper. Anyway, it is now decorated and I'm going to just comment on a few of the photos for those of you like me who love the romantic, shabby chic, froufrou decor.

I don't do a traditional type of tree. For the most part I add things friends have given me or what I make. I have a few bulbs here and there but for the most part...well, you'll see what I mean.

I start with putting the lights on the tree and then using yards and yards and yards of netting and then yards and yards of pink and white organza ribbon to wrap it, I tuck and pouf for the most part.

I made these little faux cupcakes and put a few on the tree.

I added pine cones I've painted pink and added roses to.

I added 40 snow flakes to which I've added pretty papers and ribbon roses.

I add as much bling as I can and then put little faux candies in the netting.

Little paper flowers I crafted and stuck in the netting.

I made this tree topper with a wreath, paper roses, bling and faux pearls and just wrapped and tucked it also.

Very few balls on the tree, but I couldn't pass up these polka dot ones.

More faux candies tucked into the netting.

More scrunchy flowers I made from paper.

A little beaded angel sent to me from Pat at the Urban Chic.

One of the very few bulbs I've added this year.

Another cupcake I made a few years ago and tucked into the netting also.

Little birds I've tucked into the tree.

A little silk embroidery give to me by a member of my eBay group I've had for about 4 or 5 years now.

As I said, being unmotivated lately, I simply added a ruffle to this felt tree skirt. I wanted to buy one but I can't find a single shabby roses one now! About 3 or 4 years ago you could find them all over eBay but none now. I wanted to make one but I just got lazy and didn't. So I simply stuff yards and yards and yards of pink netting under there to tone down the red.

A little faux cake tucked in the netting nice and tight.

Almost finished here.

Wrap around and tuck.

And pouf and pouf and pouf.

After adding the lights and netting.

And the finished tree. I tried my best to get good pix in this room but it was an overcast day so this is the best I could do.

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Last Year's Christmas

If you've followed or read me since last Christmas, you've seen my first froufrou tree. We don't do Christmas anymore because there isn't one thing in this world I need and I have very few wants. Well, to be perfectly honest, I have a lot of wants; it's just that I've learned to bridle my wants and desires. Nothing in this world or out of this world compares to my hubby, kids or grandchildren or great grandchildren. They are what life is all about.

Hubby and I don't exchange gifts anymore. We buy for our youngest grandkids and will now buy for Caroline, our great granddaughter, but we've talked with our son and daughter and told them not to buy us anything. We don't need it! But once in a while when our daughter comes to visit I'll buy her a box of Good and Plenty and that's her gift. You have no idea how freeing it is. Being Christian, we celebrate it in church and during the day on Christmas but there isn't the need for us to buy gifts. We don't have the hustle and bustle others go through and at our age that's very important to us. So the season is very easy for us. We do have a Christmas dinner however. Love Bunny won't let me get around that. ;-)

So last year's photos are below for you to see. I just had a little Canon point and shoot back then so the pix aren't very good. But this year I hope to be able to do better photos with the Canon Rebel I got in February of this year. And when I do get it up, I'll photograph it for all to see. Our artificial tree is green and I don't know if I can talk hubby into a white one, but I'm gonna try! Again, we'll see. [Update! Since I wrote this blog post the very end of November, hubby insisted I buy a white tree. Squeeeeeal, I couldn't believe it. The other night we were at WM and he actually mentioned buying it. I am just thrilled. Now we have 2 choices each Christmas—white or green.] And since we downsized we have to move furniture in the living room around since hubby wants it by the front window. Sigh...

If you'll recall, I spent several weeks making, painting and buying pink and white things for this tree. Yards and yards and yards of tulle went into it. Flowers galore were purchased and hung on it. Gifts people have sent me went on it.

I later put some pretty boxes under it to look like presents, but they were all for show. There were NO real presents under it.

And I ended up making this little topper for it. It will go back on the tree again.

Merry Christmas and may your holiday season be wonderful and filled with love and the Spirit of Christmas. Ooooh, and since I'm feeling a lot better, I'll be posting more now. Aren't you just thrilled?! :-)
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Saving Photos and a Ribbon Tree for Froufrou Friday #6

Isn't this adorable? Well, read on.

Recently a blogger was lamenting that her photos on Photobucket were deleted because she had reached her limit. I mentioned that she could upgrade to PB's paid account. I did several years ago because I believe nobody does it better than Photobucket. She asked why should she pay for something that is free. The answer was pretty obvious to me: you have unlimited photos for a $25 a year upgrade and they don't get deleted. You also have no ads, which is very important to me. I'm extremely visual and ads vie for my attention, and I like to stay focused on the task at hand. So I pay for the service of not seeing my photos deleted when I've reached the "free limit" of photos and not being distracted by ads.

But the biggest reason is something that happened to me about 5 or 6 years ago.

I joined an image hosting site recommended to me by a man who was making a template for me. It was Image Link or something like that. (It's been so long I've forgotten their name and I see one on the internet now, but it doesn't sound like the one I used unless it's been bought.) I really liked that site and entrusted my photos and icons for the template to them.

But one day my photos and icons wouldn't upload to my template for eBay. I was so ignorant about those kinds of things then, but have since diligently educated myself in the workings of computers and websites and HTML, etc. I contacted the owner who was doing this as a sideline and just happened to spend most of his time playing baseball! We emailed several times and he found out that the money he was paying to his server was not being paid to the place it should have been going. In other words, they went belly-up overnight. That cost thousands of us to lose our photos and icons overnight and to not be able to retrieve them. (I had deleted them from my Mac—stupidly, of course—so they were gone forever). The server was somewhere in Australia and there was nothing to be done about it here in the U.S. So I lost some valuable things, valuable to me anyway.

I then found Photobucket. I've been with them ever since. They've been extremely helpful to me and very reliable. Of course, I now save them on an external HD and on CDs so I doubt I'll ever have that problem again. Friends and others have recommended other sites: Picasa, Picnik, Picturetrail, Free Image Hosting, Webshots and a few others but I'll stay with PB. I like them and I don't think anyone does it better than they do. And I certainly should know.

So what's it worth to you to never lose your photos? For me, the $25.00 a year is one heck of a deal. I have nearly 7,000 photos on PB. That's not much by some standards but it sure is enough that I'd hate to lose them!

And I don't get paid one penny for saying these things! That's how much I love them.
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I just couldn't resist! I had to make another ribbon tree. This one is smaller as I had to cut a branch off our dead pear tree. I love it, and it's for sale here.

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