Happy New Year

Wishing all a Happy New Year !!!

New Year's Eve Celebration

Toasting Table

Toast for good cheer and resolutions for a happy New Year.
Gather flowers loosely, and drop into a cylinder vase. Surround it with wide green pillars and an array of flowered balls to bring an intoxicating display of fun. Sparkling green champagne flutes with mercury glass candlesticks set the stage for a bubbly bash.

Ringing In the New

The fundamentals of a formal, yet fantastically fun, dinner party setting include color, texture, and style. Take an artistic approach when planning this memorable evening. When developing your palette, do not be afraid to mix bright combinations of old treasures and new-found additions.
A stark arrangement of agapanthus flowers mixed with lush flower balls on pedestals and an assortment of candles creates a harmonious glow. Guests will enjoy the added comforts of velvet accent pillows that add a punch of elegance and bright color to seating. The soft yet spirited ambiance is sure to capture all for the long evening ahead.

Setting the Mood

Add dimension to your display by using old and new pieces and bright colors mixed with complementary patterns. Here, fresh galax leaf chargers anchored by simple oversized ivory plates set the foundation for the strong mixture of pistachio green and purple curvy dinnerware.
To make the chargers: Start with 12-inch round pizza cardboard trays (found at restaurant supply stores). Cut stems from galax leaves, and, using a low-temp glue gun, attach leaves to the perimeter of the cardboard, filling the entire outside edge. Repeat the process, covering the bottom portions of the first row of leaves. Continue until cardboard is covered. Chargers may be made a few days before and stored in plastic bags in the refrigerator.

By the Fire

Off with the garland and holly berries. Balls of moss and fresh flowers mixed with fresh green candles atop mercury glass candlesticks present a fresh visual surprise.

Absolutely No Regrets

Handmade invitations let guests know the evening will be special. Use assorted paper that can be found in stationary shops. There are so many options today. Let your design inspiration blend with your evening’s color theme.
Here, green and purple were used mixing a creamy cardstock with a transparent overlay. For the computer savvy, these may be printed at home. For a special touch, we threaded a small ribbon through the top of each invitation. And for a final refinement, a small silver sticker seals the envelope.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Personalize the evening with glass tags and monogrammed napkins. Include a menu card to entice guests’ appetites. And as a new twist to a traditional place card, use ring tags that can be found at a crafts or office-supply store.
Script each guest's name with a colored, thin-tip marker. Holiday metallic silver napkins are monogrammed with the hosts’ last initial by a local specialty embroidery shop. And menu card material can be quickly assembled using the wide array of cardstock.

Midnight Toast

Liam's Midnight Toast

A flavorful, colorful and classy cocktail for Christmas or New Year's Eve

4 oz. champagne (reasonably priced non-vintage champagne is fine)
1/2 oz. cognac
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
dash of Campari
orange wheel (garnish)
crushed ice
Preparation:

1. Fill a large chilled wineglass with crushed ice.
2. Add the following in exactly this order:

• Champagne
• Cognac
• Grand Marnier
• Campari

   3.  Garnish with an orange wheel.

New Year's Eve Table Settings

Dinner Time

Set small clocks around the table as a festive way to celebrate on New Year's Eve. A palette of pale green is a fresh way to end the year, and the rustic shape of this china provides a welcome respite from the glitz of Christmas decor.

Seafood Feast

For this sea-themed table, an oyster plate layered over a shagreen charger brings the motifs and textures of the sea to the table. Flowers arranged in a conch shell serve as a beachy centerpiece.

Silver Service

A silvery theme adds elegance to the table. To keep things from becoming too staid, a platinum-striped charger and a beautifully embroidered napkin add texture and refinement.
A silver-painted branch and a centerpiece in a frosty palette introduce natural elements without disrupting the theme. Lamb's ear, a silvery-green perennial, forms the basis of the arrangement.

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New Years Eve Ideas

New Year's Eve is a time to celebrate new beginnings. We've got plenty of New Year's Eve ideas to help you plan the perfect New Year's Eve party and ring in the New Year in style. Be sure to also check out our budget New Year's Eve party ideas to ensure that your celebration will be friendly on your wallet yet fun for all of your guests.

What really makes a party? The guests! Plan activities leading up to the New Years Eve countdown where guests can interact with each other by playing fun games.
"On Time" Charades
Play charades with titles, songs, and books that feature the word "time" in honor of the New Year's Eve countdown. Search the word "time" at online book and movie retailers to get some ideas or try these suggestions:
"Time" Title Ideas for Charades

• Lost in Time (movie)
• Time in a Bottle (song)
• A Stitch in Time Saves Nine (rhyme)
• Time is On My Side (song)
• A Wrinkle in Time (book)

Guess My Resolution
When guests enter the party, ask them to write their resolution on a slip on paper.

• Fold up the slips of paper and place all resolutions in a bowl.
• The party host reads the resolutions aloud and the guests guess who wrote each resolution.

New Year's revelers will inevitably end up singing this classic song after the ball drops. But who really knows the lyrics, and who is mumbling along to the song?
1. Print out the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne on a full sheet of paper.
2. Use whiteout to strategically blank out one word on every second or third line of the printed out song.
3. Photocopy as many copies as you will have guests at your party. Hand out the copies and plenty of pens, and ask guests to fill in the lyrics for the song.
4. At the end of the night, award guests with a small trinket for the Most Creative Lyrics, the Most Incorrect Lyrics, and the Most Correct lyrics.

Auld Lang Syne Lyrics:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup !
And surely I'll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we've wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there's a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o' thine !
And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas 2010

Wishing everyone a very Merry and Safe Christmas Holiday!!! I look forward to more exciting posts in 2011, which will be my 4th year of posting interior design challenges and fun decorating ideas.

Christmas Cheer

White cranberry juice is made with young cranberries before they develop their tart flavor and red color—it's milder and sweeter than regular cranberry juice. Garnish with mint sprigs and whole fresh cranberries, if you like. Prepare the rosemary-infused juice mixture up to one day ahead, and chill.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup)

Ingredients

• 2 3/4  cups  white cranberry juice drink (such as Ocean Spray)
• 2  tablespoons  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  chopped fresh rosemary
• 12  mint leaves
• 1/4  cup  fresh lime juice
• 3  cups  club soda, chilled
• 1 1/2  cups  white rum
• Crushed ice

Preparation

1. Combine cranberry juice, sugar, rosemary, and 12 mint leaves in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. Strain juice mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Stir in lime juice; cover and refrigerate.
2. Combine juice mixture, club soda, and rum in a large pitcher; stir well to combine. Serve mixture over crushed ice. Serve immediately.

Ingredients

• 2  cups  vanilla ice cream
• 2/3  cup  milk
• 1/3  cup  crème de cacao
• 9  miniature or 3 (1.4-oz.) chocolate-covered peppermint patties, chopped

Preparation

Process ice cream, milk, crème de cacao, and chopped peppermint patties, in a blender until smooth.
Note: We tested with York Peppermint Patties.

Ingredients

• 3  cups  blueberry-blackberry juice blend
• 2  (12-oz.) cans frozen mojito mix
• 2  (1-liter) bottles club soda, chilled
• 1 1/2  cups  white rum
• 3  limes, sliced
• 1  (12-oz.) package frozen blackberries
• Garnish: fresh mint sprigs

Preparation

Stir together blueberry-blackberry juice blend, mojito mix, chilled club soda, white rum, sliced limes, and frozen blackberries. Serve over ice. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Ingredients

• 1  cup  bourbon
• 1/2  cup  sorghum
• 2  qt. refrigerated eggnog
• 3  cups  milk
• Crushed gingersnaps

Preparation

Whisk together bourbon and sorghum. Stir in eggnog and milk. Chill until ready to serve. Sprinkle individual servings with crushed gingersnaps.

Happy Holiday's

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Leavenworth, Wash.

Spectacular light displays are a hallmark of the holiday season in many locations around the globe.

Millions of lights, St. Nicholas, roasting chestnuts, and nonstop caroling — what’s not to love about Christmas in this Bavarian-themed village in the North Cascades? The buildings and trees in the village are lit each Saturday and Sunday afternoon throughout December in a special lighting ceremony that draws oohs and aahs every time. Skiing, snowshoeing, dog-sledding, Nordic skiing and sledding on the hill downtown are fun ways to kill time until the sun goes down.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Texas & Louisiana

Nothing says “happy holidays” like an illuminated oil derrick — and in Texas, it’s a sure sign that you’re on the Trail of Lights. In an hourlong drive along interstates 20 and 49, you can visit six cities decked out in their holiday finest: Natchitoches and Shreveport-Bossier City, La.; and Marshall, Jefferson and Kilgore, Texas. Revelers will find fireworks displays, candlelight tours of antebellum homes, skating rinks, steam-train rides and Christmas in the Oil Patch — 75 derricks lit with sparkling stars.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

The Winter Festival of Lights at Niagara Falls illuminates the powerful falls in a rainbow of colors in a ceremony that begins every evening at dusk, from early November through the end of February. The tradition dates back to 1860, when the falls were first lit to celebrate a visit by the Prince of Wales. The skies above the falls also light up with a weekly fireworks show in December.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Jerusalem

This nine-candle Hanukkah menorah (also called a hanukkiyah) stands high over the plaza at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Jewish festival of lights, held for eight days in late November or December depending on the Jewish calendar, commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Temple after it was recaptured from the Syrian Greeks in 165 B.C.E. A new candle is lit each night during the holidays.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Lego Tree, San Diego

What can you build with 245,000 green Lego Duplo bricks? A 30-foot Christmas tree, as it turns out. Decorated with 400 ornaments — also made of Legos, natch — and lots of lights, this Legoland California tree from a distance looks almost real. If only Lego would make pine-scented bricks, it’d smell like a real tree, too.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Tokyo

Pictured above, the Blue Ocean holiday display ripples across the Shiodome area of Tokyo, near Tokyo Bay and the famed Ginza shopping district. Occupying what was once marshy tideland, Shiodome is a modern section of Tokyo that’s home to high-power office complexes (including the headquarters of behemoth Nippon Television) that showcase the city’s stunning architecture.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Tree-Cycle, Sydney, Australia

Look closely and you can see this is no ordinary tree; it’s made of 100 old bicycles that were bound for the garbage heap. A little creativity, a lot of colored paint, and voilà! A festive tree standing 23 feet tall. You can see it on display this season at The Rocks shopping district in Sydney, which is famous for featuring a tree made of recycled items each year. 

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Branson, Mo.

The Branson Area Festival of Lights is a mile-long celebration of holiday illumination that can be viewed by visitors to Branson, Missouri. This drive-through exhibit features more than 175 lighted displays, representing well-known Christmas traditions as well as holiday celebrations of many cultures.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Rockefeller Center, New York City

There may be no more iconic Christmas tree in the world than the one that graces New York City's Rockefeller Center. This year, a reported 100,000 people witnessed the lighting of a 74-foot Norway spruce in late November. The first holiday tree lighting took place here in 1933, no doubt offering Depression-era shoppers some much-needed cheer.  Now, the annual star-studded televised event kicks off the crazy holiday shopping season in New York.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Las Noches de las Luminarias, Phoenix

During the festival Las Noches de las Luminarias, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix sparkles with the lights of thousands of luminarias, votive candles nestled in sand-filled paper bags. The meaning behind the tradition is disputed, but some say the festive lanterns light the way for the Christ child or the Three Wise Men. Others say they mimic early bonfires that led congregants to church on Christmas Eve. You can see luminarias in many Southwest towns, including Old Town Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia

The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, are illuminated each year during the gardens' Magic of Christmas event. Especially popular are the Twelve Days of Christmas light displays that are scattered about the 55-acre facility, which is in a former quarry and has been open to the public for more than 100 years.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Floating Christmas Tree, Rio de Janeiro

It takes 11 pontoons and seven biodiesel generators to keep the lights aglow on the floating Christmas tree in Rio de Janeiro. The 28-story-tall tree (made of 500-plus tons of steel) is adorned with nearly 3 million miniature light bulbs, 82 miles of regular lights and 1,600 ornaments. Fireworks and parties on the beach round out the holiday festivities.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Paris

The City of Light lives up to its name more than ever this month, when 400 trees illuminated with 1 million energy-saving lights add unparalleled sparkle to the Champs-Élysées. Paris during the holidays is especially wonderful for window shopping: spectacular designer-created displays at Printemps department store are an annual must-see for locals and visitors.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Christmas Ship Parade, Portland, Ore.

Every December for more than 50 years, boaters in Seattle and Portland have strung lights on their masts, decorated their yachts and paraded en masse around Northwest waters. In Seattle, the flotilla visits 45 waterfront communities, and onboard carolers sing to people huddled around bonfires on shore. In Portland, there are two fleets, one on the Columbia River and one on the Willamette.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: Brussels

The magnificent Gothic Brussels Town Hall, built in the early 1400s, is aglow with lights each holiday season. The Grand Place — or town square — in front of the town hall fills with onlookers each evening for the sound-and-light show that illuminates the building.

Sparkling Holiday Lights: National Tree, Washington D.C.

President Calvin Coolidge presided over the first ever Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House in 1923, and today the President and First Family continue the honors. The Colorado blue spruce has been growing at the White House for 46 years, a donation from a family in York, Pa. It stands 42 feet tall and has become a treasured part of the nation's holiday celebration.

Budget Christmas Wrapping

Newspaper and Garden String

Turn yesterday's news into graphic wrapping paper. Pair it with green garden string for an eye-catching combo. I aslo use grocery paper bags and raffia for bows for a natual look, raffia can be purchased in many colors.

Make the Wrap Part of the Gift

Wrap a kitchen gift or present for the foodie on your list in a colorful dish towel.

Map It

For larger gifts, use a map of your hometown, favorite vacation destination or dream getaway — it's the perfect wrap for jet-setters or adventurers on your list.

Mix Textures

Put small pieces of interesting paper to work. Ridged cardboard adds textural interest when paired with brown Kraft paper. Pretty gingham ribbon adds color.

Recycle a Past-Its-Prime Shirt

Cut the back off an old shirt and wrap the shirt front around the gift. Simply secure the sleeves on top with string.

Brown Paper and Woven String

Brown Kraft paper is a great anytime gift-wrap. Keep some on hand for wrapping gifts throughout the year. Give it holiday appeal with red twine or ribbon and fragrant cinnamon sticks.

Tissue Paper and Leaves

Arrange leaves between sheets of recycled tissue paper and secure the wrapping with glue and twine.

Holiday Decor

Gold and Champagne for the Holidays

Sherri Shepherd's Gold and Champagne Holiday Motif

Designer Michael Russo's holiday theme pays homage to historic Harlem and this home's history as a former restaurant and speakeasy.

White and Silver Christmas

In this incarnation, Father Christmas is dressed all in white and holds silver beads and sprigs of green.

Sherri Shepherd's Gold and Champagne Holiday Motif

Designer Michael Russo decorates Sherri's Harlem brownstone drawing on a jazz-inspired theme. He relies on a color palette of gold, champagne and ivory to complement the home's already warm ambiance.

Trisha Yearwood's Simple Southern Christmas

A Southern-style Christmas is about fresh greenery, fresh fruit, fresh flowers and plenty of good food. Designer Brandon Branch draws on these for inspiration as he makes over Trisha's Nashville home for the holidays.

Trisha Yearwood's Simple Southern Christmas

Through a creative blend of evergreen wreaths, floral bouquets, garlands of magnolia and traditional Christmas ornaments, Brandon Branch transforms Trisha's home into a sea of flowers and holiday greenery.

Christmas Gift Toppers

Evergreen Foliage and String

Gather a few lengths of string, tie up the gift and tuck a couple of sprigs of foliage under the bow.

Cinnamon Sticks and Braided Raffia

Tie the gift with braided raffia, thread ribbon under it and add a bundle of cinnamon sticks.

Dried Fruits and Raffia

Glue three dried orange slices together in an overlapped row, tie the gift with raffia and glue on the orange slices.

Holly Sprig and Vintage Ribbon

Tie the gift with bright vintage ribbon and tuck a holly sprig with a few berries under the bow.

Pinecones and Raffia

Tie the gift with raffia, wrap a little thin wire around the base of each cone and tie them to the bow.

Ribbon and Buttons

Wrap recycled ribbon around the gift and glue different-sized buttons onto the ribbon.

Raffia and Dried Leaves

Gather a few lengths of raffia, tie the gift and glue a few dried, flattened leaves just under the bow.
This is one of my favorite, the leaves look like a flower!

Threaded Buttons

Thread odd buttons onto a very thin length of ribbon and tie the ribbon around the gift.