My Christmas Pictures

[Mistress Muffy]

Well here they are......I know it seems like its a bit overdone but we have so much stuff. A lot of the extra is from the days of the Diner when we decorated at home & also at the business. And yes I keep seeing things I think I have to buy! Oh well....I enjoy it so thats really all that is important. Hope you enjoy!




http://www.picturetrail.com/muffy7


Muffy

[Sickie Ickie]

I'm proud to know you Mummy! Let's me know I'm not the only horder! LOL

[putrid]

Totally cool Mistress Muffy! An inspiration to a collector. Your home must glow at night with all the lights! The vampire ROCKS! I'll difinitely go back and give your pics a third, fifth look LOL OK now I have to ask some questions. Did you flock that tree or did it come that way. If you flocked it than with what and how well does it stay on? In the dining room, do you have material over the lights on the wall around the Hawaiian tree?

Thank you Mistress Muffy. Some of those shots have given me ideas. Things I can make ( or attempt to LOL ) with stuff I have on hand.

[Mistress Muffy]

Thank You Putrid...it is quite magical at night! There is nothing more wonderful than sitting in the living room w/ all the lights & a blazing fire going in the fireplace! Its very serene.

Ok now to address your questions.....That tree is about 23 or yrs. old. It was the tree I had in my Diner. As for flocking....my family always had real trees & we always got cans of snow & flocked the tips of the branches. So I just kept doing that when I bought this artificial one. Its hard to find good quality canned snow anymore that stays on your tree thru-out the season. Still I always liked that look. It does play havic w/ your decorations but if you are careful you can flock the tips real heavy & it gives the tree a beautiful finish. Some cans of snow are real wet & that makes a mess. I pick up a can of snow everytime I see a different one in different stores, I spray it on & I go back & buy 3-4 cans of the one I like the best. And yes the better snows do stay on but only thru one season, once it dries and you disassemble your tree the snow comes off. SO I spray them every season. This year with how sick I was I did not get a lot of extras done so most of the trees did not get sprayed.

No there is no material over the lights that are in the dining room on the wall. That string of lights is one of those icicle lights that you hang on your gutters outside. The only other thing behind the village is a snowman scene setter.

Last night I was looking at some web site links off of Planet Christmas & I found some great ideas for doing the village a new way & also a stary backdrop. I also printed out some photos of that house in Cal. of the guy that has made a gingerbread house using his house. I'm already trying to make a schedule for Jerry so we can stay ontrack w/ building this year for Halloween & Christmas.

Glad you enjoyed the pictures & please if you have any questions about anything just holler!

The Merry Muffster

[Frosty]

Looks Great!

[Elvira]

Absolutely breathtaking! I can't even begin to comment on each thing, everything looks so magical and beautiful. Hats off to you for all the time and hard work you put into it to make it so festive.

[bethene]

everything looks so beautiful Muffy, you did such a great job of decorating, I will have to go back and spend time looking at everything in more detail, with dial up it takes so long, I am going to go somewhere I can look at it with better internet service, I love everything I see though!

[Mummy deer-est]

Wow, Muffy! Everything is so great! You and your men did an outstanding job!

I just love your garland -- how do you do that?! I tried to make some fresh garland, but I just couldn't make it look right. I love your Santa on the pot! haha! Great job with the villages too! I could go on and on and on!

[putrid]

Thanks for answering Mistress Muffy. Totally cool. Wouldn't want to flock every year though. Got me thinking, I have one tree I've ruined some branches on anyway, wonder if there's a more permanent solution? And would it store well with out turning into that 'yellow' snow. LOL Corn starch? Baking Soda? Talk? Adding lots of 'sand' to an oil base primer? Guess I could go for that good o'l in the gutter slush look and use wood ash. LOL
Your home is sweet! Going to give em a second look agian today some time.

[Sickie Ickie]

"'sand' to an oil base primer" sounds like a plan. I wonder if it would be too heavy, though.

real flocking perhaps?

[Sandy Claws]

WOW! Muffy thats a lot of dedication on your end, but it looks like it's worth it. Thanks for posting all your pics.

[Mistress Muffy]

Thank You Everybody...glad you enjoyed them! Its a lot of stuff and in the pictures it looks cluttered but in person its really not that bad.

Mummy.....as for the garland.....At the diner I use to wire the pieces together. I usually cut about 25 boxes of branches. I use fuller branches for the garland and straighter ones for the wreaths. I made small wreaths & large ones. Actually I use to ship my family & friends wreaths I made at Christmastime. They ship beautifully in a large box & we stabbed the box & made some gashes so air would flow thru nicely.

My stuff from Nebraska also had a lot of adornments in it. We had cedar trees & they had tiny blue balls on them. I would just walk thru the fields cutting different types of weeds and such & put it into the wreath. They came out so nice ...oh yes and lots of pinecones too!

Next year for sure I will take the time to do that with my garland. Also I hope to make a large wreath for my garage door like the one I use to have in front of the diner. It was just huge and very full. Customers use to ask if I would sell them!lol

Now I figured out a way to make the garland faster. I buy those wired garlands from Walmart. For the columns on my front porch I use the flimsy garland, 1 strand & just wire it at the top & twirl it around the column & securely wire at the bottom. Next you cut your branches. These branches have to be kind of short maybe 13-18 inches so that you can maneuver them when attaching to the wire garland. You have to start at the bottom and use the wired garland to wrap each branch in place. When I get all of them on I stick in more branches to make the garland fuller.

The garlands around the door & window are done the same with one exception.....the wired garlands are fuller, those are the ones Walmart sells every year for about $6.97.
I wire that garland about every 12-15 inches to the house, you could also wire it to the window frame. Wire it tight because you will have a lot of branches on it & if the wind comes up you don't want them to blow off. Then once again you start on the bottom & work your way up. Just get the 1st set of branches in place & then fill in more if you want the real bushy look.I cut these braches a lot fuller than the ones for the wreaths. I add lights to mine & its beautiful when you wire in the pinecones. I would be happy next season to take step by step pictures so you had some better instructions. Altho....I do put my garland up later here since I moved to the south because it is just so warm here. I mist mine everyday with some water because it so warm here & the sun hits my porch.If you are somewhere where it snows & is cold, your garland will hold up beautifully.

Hope this helps
Muffy

[Mistress Muffy]

Mummy if you look at Elvira's picture of her mailbox (which is really darling Elvira) that is exactly how I put the wired garland around my door before I add the real branches. You just wire the real branches with the branches from the artificial garland.

Her photo is under Homemade Christmas Props then Christmas Mailbox.

muf

[Mummy deer-est]

Thanks Muf! All that info will be put to good use next year! What kind of trees do you use, mostly? I also have juniper and holly bushes....do you use those?
I would love a step by step, no matter what the timeframe you have!
Thanks again!

[Mistress Muffy]

Mummy you can use any kind of greenery you have available. Its realy beautiful if you have different types of evergreens. And you can stick anything in there that is available in your area in the way of weeds or berries. When the holidays roll around this year I will be sure to get it on my calendar to do the garland early. I'll do a step by step for you guys & if Sickie wants it I'll post it on the project board.

Muf

[Sickie Ickie]

You really think I'd say no? :D

[bethene]

I'd love a step by step, Muffy. Even though I don't know where I would put it on my house, I would love to see how you did it, for the option of putting it up!