This terrarium would make the best Valentine’s day bouquet, wouldn’t it? I’d love one of these on my desk right this second. From Terrain ($98) which sadly does not ship these lovelies.  However, you could make one yourself (or get your beau to make you one!) with this copper tray($38) and these glass cloches ($56) or these ($54).  You can have the terrarium plants shipped directly to you from Glass House Works for $25.  Moss and other terrarium fixings like rocks can be purchased here ($22) or here ($11).   Found over at Design*Sponge (check out Grace’s videos at Terrain!)

I woke up this morning in a great mood, which made me realize I’ve been in a bad mood recently.  Anyway, I caught up on a tiny percentile of my blog reading and saw this awesome nook and garland on The Purl Bee.  I love those garlands and they look really really easy to make.  Also, we went to Ikea over the weekend and bought those chairs in red… pictures to follow eventually.

I’m longing for a nap right about now.  It almost goes without saying, but hosting Christmas in NYC when you have a six month old baby = exhausting.  However, traveling with said child would have been murder, so, I think we came out ahead.

Due to a lost baggage nightmare, the stockings my mother had made for our Christmas went to Washington-Buffalo-Philadelphia-Tampa before finally landing in Laguadia, at midnight on Christmas.  This necessitated some quick sewing on my part; using some Josef Frank fabric ($5 at a Brunschwig and Fils sample sale) I had squirreled away in my fabric stash. I used this great (free! printable!) pattern from The Purl Bee. I really like how festive and modern they look.  Hope everyone is staying warm and dry.

I love glittered reindeer, but at $17 dollars each, they fall into the category of Christmas decorations I somehow never get around to actually buying. Thanks to a genius tip from my neighbor Stephanie,  I bought two toy reindeer at Michaels ($4) and with some Aleen’s Tacky Glue ($1.59) + a small sponge brush (.59 cents) + some Martha Stewart silver glitter ($5) + some dried moss, I created a mini winter wonderland in under 10 minutes.  The display case is vintage and a total ebay folly  — I got into a bidding war last year and spent much more than I had planned ($70 bucks!). I’m glad to finally have found a use for it. Anyway, I use the search term “antique glass front box” and you can find similar ones here. I particularly like this one (currently $62).

November is a hard slog for me with the eternal darkness and damp weather. December, on the other had, I look forward to all year.  The parties and lights, the food and gifts, the being-together-ness. I want to make some special ornaments this year to commemorate Alex’s first Christmas.  Stephanie made these beautiful salt dough ornaments and has a nice how-to posted.  I think these will be just the thing for our tree this year.