I have a very inexpensive holiday gift you can make for less than $1.50 and give this to neighbors, teachers, coaches, family and friends.  I love this gift and it is so easy peasy and very thoughtful for the price.

Here is the German legend that this gift is derived from:

Legend of the Bird Nest

According to an old German legend, if you find a bird nest in the tree you harvest for Christmas, you will have an entire year of health and happiness.
We hope you will tuck this nest in one of the branches of your tree with all the best wishes of the old legend.





All you need is three items

plastic small gift or treat bag
ribbon
bird nest ( I got these bird nests from the dollar store and I have to tell you they are fab for a buck)


The little bird nest from the dollar store and the plastic treat bags from Walmart and the ribbon from ribbon I had on hand.

Add the little bird nest to the bag and tie it off with the ribbon and then you can do up a tag or print off the legend onto pretty card stock and tie or tuck this onto your bag.

These are so easy peasy!!!! My neighbors loved these little nests when I gave each of them one for their Christmas tree.  I think the special wish and legend of the story told  make them a very special gift.

You will not find anything cuter or thoughtful like this to give as a gift to family and friends at the Malls!!!! For the price you cannot go wrong . 

Hope you will think about doing these for family and friends this Christmas.  It will be a special and thoughtful gift that they will have to treasure for a long time.

Sharing this idea at

http://www.foxhollowcottage.com/
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/
 http://www.thevintagefarmhouse.com/2012/12/creative-things-thursday-features.html
I want to thank Debbie over at her beautiful blog for picking my home to tour today on her blog.  If you have a chance please hop over to her blog and check it out.
 http://debbie-debbiedoos.com/  I am so new to "blog world" and  Debbie has a great group of bloggers that are so sweet that follow her.  She has great homes on her tours so please check her out.
Thank you so much Debbie for featuring my blog and home on your tour today.
I got the outside of the house done and thought I would share some of the pictures.  Unfortunately the outside pictures at night with the lights is hard to capture but it does look pretty.







My beautiful vintage angel that hangs on a chippy old door that I actually put on my front door.



An old vintage sled that I hung old skates with bling.


It is so easy to bling up the skates with a bottle brush tree and greenery and a dollar store ornament.

My old vintage white chippy garden chair with an old chippy angel plus my garden birdbath.

Lite up at night.

My garden bike with some bling and lights.

My old watering can with a tree in it and the bike basket in the front with burlap liner and a small christmas tree with lights.  Our weather here in Chicago has been pretty mild of late to get the lights on the house without freezing!!!!! So glad for the mild weather.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

I normally like to keep my blog to decorating and junk treasures but today with it being Thanksgiving I decided to do a more personal post.

First let me say I am so thankful for all the wonderful new blog friends I have met and come to know over these past few months.  Your beautiful blogs inspire me and your wonderful feedback and comments on my blog are so appreciated.  May you, your family and friends all have a blessed and wonderful day today.

My post is about what I truly feel blessed to have in my life and that is my family.  We will all be together today to celebrate this wonderful holiday .  That is a miracle in itself.  We are a family of firefighters and nurses so getting everyone on the same schedule for a holiday is a blessing itself.  So I am truly grateful today to have my family all together.

I wanted to share some pictures of my beautiful family.


Oh My who are these "young" people!!!! My hubby and I married 32 years ago.  Where does the time go.

Here we are 32 years later after a fun vacation where we went  back to our Honeymoon spot.  Ohhhh look at the tans!!!!!!

My beautiful daughter Jennifer and her little daughter Abby.

My beautiful other daughter Kimmie.

My son in law Tim and daughter Jen and little Abby.

Just when you think you could not love anything more than your children they give you a grandchild.  Love of my life.

She's my little angel.

Sorry to indulge but I love this picture of her. Captures her sweet personality.

As I think about all things I am thankful for today I feel so blessed for my family.
My little Angel I got from my husband for an early Christmas present has moved.  I think she is going to be the moving angel!!! I know I showed you pictures of her on my theater seats in my front entry and on the old shabby chippy barn door in my family room.  Well now she has found her way into my vintage Christmas tree.  I have a lot of angel ornaments on my Christmas tree so now she is sitting with all the angel ornaments in the tree.




I think she looks pretty content and happy here in the Christmas Tree.





I used the sepia feature on my picture file to make her look even more vintage in this photo. 
Ohhhhh I need your help.  I love when the UPS man comes to the door.  That can be the highlight of my day sometimes!!!! Today he came with this large box and when I opened it OMG!!! inside was the most beautiful angel.  My hubby got me this angel as an early Christmas Gift from a beautiful artist Cathy at www.cheswickcompany.com.  I saw Cathy's angel she did for Paula a friend of Laura's at http://52flea.blogspot.com/2010/12/enchanting-winter-nest.html  and I just fell deeply in love with hers.  Her angel is on top of an old vintage birdhouse and is so beautiful.  Something about this little beauty grabbed a hold of me. Cathy custom makes these so they are unique and one of a kind.   Cathy personalized my angel with a heart in her hands since this was a gift from the heart of my hubby.  Now I need your input to let me know if she should hang or sit!!!! She does both.  I took some pictures of her sitting on my new theater seats in the entry way and also I hung her on the old chippy door in my family room over my sectional.  I am kind of leaning one way but I wanted to get some input from you guys on what you think.


Look at all the beautiful detail Cathy does.  I love her feathered wings and this real old vintage christening gown she used for her dress.  Love it all.  I love her vintage look.  I love the little pearl buttons on the heart and the beautiful embroidered stars.


Look at the old vintage rusty wire halo.  Love it and her face is so sweet all hand done by Cathy.

Here she is hanging on the old chippy barn door I have on my family room wall over my sectional.  She kind of goes with that old vintage door!! What do you think????

This is truly such a sweet gift from my husband and beautiful work of art from Cathy.  If you go to her site you can see some of the beautiful work she does.  Thank you Cathy for this beautiful angel.  I will cherish her for years to come.
I did a few changes to some of my Christmas decor to share with you.  I also found these amazing luminara candles that look just like a real flame.  Love them.  Enjoy.




I put a tree in one of my old vintage watering cans from the garden.  I love taking something so ordinary and making it into a unique tree stand for this pencil Christmas tree.  The chippy little garden bench is from my garden too.  A few white ornaments that have a garden theme and this made a cute garden Christmas tree for my entry way.


Took this believe sign and added some greenery with little white lights and it really makes this old chippy window look pretty for Christmas on my buffet.

These are those candles I mentioned.  I found them at Brookstones.  They smell wonderful and they flicker like a real candle.  The picture does not do these little beauties justice but trust me these are better than the real thing.

The actually flicker just like a real candle.  So pretty.


Just love how they give off a vanilla christmas cookie scent and they flicker like a real candle.  So ingenious these new "pretend" candles.
Yep I started already!!!! I decided to start my Christmas decorating early. My daughter does Thanksgiving so I usually can start the Christmas decor early. I also have a Charity Girlfriend Christmas Party at my house shortly after Thanksgiving so if I can get a jump on the decorating that helps alot. I just started so I am sure I will be changing some of this that you will see. I like to play around with things until I get them where I really like them. Here are some of the beginnings:)

My camera does not do this justice it really is so pretty at night lit up.  I used my old garden wagon this year to put my tree in.




I love angels and have them through out my Christmas decor.


A little bling for the door.

Can't have a farmhouse kitchen without a vintage little truck with a tree!!!!

Old theater seats from Jennifer Rizzo at the Flea Market last week end.  I am still looking for vintage throws to lay on the seats.

Love to add the cottage flowers with greenery on this old door in my entry way.

My dining room is coming together.  I still have to do the center piece for the table but I added some simple wreaths and tied ribbon on them to my chairs.  The two simple wreaths on the window are just that simple wreaths I got at Ikea and tired them with white ribbon.  I know it is kind of hard to see them with the way the light comes in that window.

A little bird nest Christmas bling.


I love this old window and it was fun to start to decorate it with Christmas.  The believe sign and greenery lights at night for a subtle glow.  You will have to take my word on this it really is pretty lite at night.


Old vintage skates with greenery


This is probably my favorite when I can just take a simple piece of greenery and make it cute with adding a little bird and some white ribbon to the chair.  Simple but makes a statement.

Again I need to take a professional photography class and get a better camera but I think you can get the idea.  These vintage angels are stuffed with white lights and at night they look really pretty.


This is the mantel during the day.  I love those vintage angels.
I have just begun and I will probably be switching some of this up but I thought I would share with you what I have started.  I hope this gets some of you in the mood to start to decorate early.

sponsor