Notes from A Cottage Industry

Goodie two shoes.

"Since all great journeys start with a single step, you should probably have a cute pair of shoes."       Curly Girl Cards

I heart me some new shoes and I just had to share.('coz they are that stinkin' cute.) I think they are gonna be just fabulous with my white pencil skirt suit for work this spring.(Can't you just picture that?)

You could say that I'm putting my best foot forward, fashion wise.(har,har,har.) 

For me, happiness often comes in a size 8, (sometimes a 7.5 depending on the brand) thankyouverymuch, and I know I am not alone when I say I've never met a pair of peep-toe pumps I didn't like.

(Or closed toe pumps.)

(Or sling back pumps.)

Right?

I said..right?

In all seriousness, I'm afraid that I may be one step away from needing a twelve step program....and I am blaming it all on Pinterest.

How about you? Do you have a thing for shoes? (Or handbags? Or watches? Or something else?) Tell me about it!

Here comes good ol' Santa Claus....

I don't recall sharing anything about my co-worker friend Clarence. 

Clarence is 80 years young and proud of it. For most of the year, he's our sweet lil' mailroom guy, but come December things start to change. He grows his beard a bit longer and fuller, and he gets out his nice red suit.

Mmm hmmm, he's our very own in-house Santa! Last Thursday and Friday he and Mrs. Claus (another good sport-co-worker friend) sat and listened to countess wish lists from kids (and Grand-kids!) of employees...(Have I mentioned that I love where I work?)

Carter was a little shy this year, but managed to sit on Santa's lap and have a lil' chit-chat, but Coen wanted no part of Old St. Nick. Now, Mrs. Claus was another story....(I'm telling you, this little guy is totally a ladies man!)

 

...Hard to believe Christmas will be here in just one more week!

Winter Wonderland.

Nothing like a little snow to make things merry and bright for the holiday season....even if you don't live where there are real snowflakes falling outside! Mmmm hmmm, just use a few bags of fake snow, drizzled in handfuls over the twinkle-lit tree, and you're good to go.

Little details of mittens, and faux flocked boughs, old ice skates, and my personal favorites of the season, my little winter birds, complete the winter wonderland look. 

The giant cardboard letters (From JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts...available in three sizes!) painted a weathered red, and be-decked with more snow were a fun touch showcasing our company initials...

A coworker friend provided a roaring fire for my big screen behind the counter...how fun is that?! 

A thrifted fake wood (plastic!) mirror, reinvented with a coat of white primer and adorned with flocked boughs anda lil' sweet snowman...

...changed the alcove from all business to a warm and welcoming spot in the room.(Sorry for the sort of blurry-out-of-focus-odd-angled picture!) The thing going across the mirror is the Winter Wonderland Banner's reflection.

Oh yes, people, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The merriment continues...

Can you guess what I will be doing with these pieces today? I'll be sharing pictures in my next post!

The Christmas spirit hits the office....

So, I showed you the Peace on Earth banner while it was a work in progress. Well, now I'll show it to you it is in it's completed state hanging in the front lobby of my office building!

Two other gals from my work helped with the lobby decorations and we had a blast making things merry and bright...a nine foot fake tree on top of a round coffee table that was draped in a twin size sheet. 

White poinsettias and ooodles and toodles of purple glittery ornaments and silver-y snowflakes (Everything came from good ol' WalMart and the cost was surprisingly low!

My favorite part of our  decorating was the curtains we added. We used scrim (skrim?) fabric to fashion make shift drapes, hung with those awesome stik-um hooks that won't hurt your walls, and added our company initials(AG) in glitter as well...

...and I then swagged the glitter-y banner.

A little touch of glitzy adornment to the sign near the elevator and we were done. 

Well, nearly done. After I took these pictures we did add a three foot wreath that I did up to match the tree on the far right hand wall for balance....

It was a lot of fun and I think the office looks really festive and merry, with our signature purple making it unique.

Creating a better world with cookies and milk.

**Before I begin, let me say that my photos came out really poorly due to the lighting in my office....**

Christmas decorating isn't only reserved for your home, you know.

We are having so much fun at work this week! We're decking the halls...er....the main lobby areas on two floors, along with the reception area...for Christmas! To kick off the festivities on Monday afternoon we had Christmas music playing, and I decided to offer up a lil' buffet of milk and cookies.

I began by emailing everyone on my floor (we have three entire floors of employees..) the following quote:

(in case you can't read it in the photo: Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon...Robert Fulgum) and I invited them to help create a better world by stopping by the reception area for a treat.

I served the milk in old wine carafes I got a long time ago at a thrift store, tied with little gingham ribbons and placed in a bucket of ice....

The cookies were a nice combination of homemade (by me and a friend at work) and my good pal, Trader Joe. (I adore his dark chocolate star cookies!)

I am decorating the entire reception area (more pics in a post to follow later...)in traditional red, white...and non-traditional grey tones.....

A five dollar scarf from WalMart makes a fabulous winter-time runner, a jingle bell from a place setting a few years ago (remember it here? Wow. Was it really 2007?!Feels like it was last year...)

....and dollar mittens complete the look.(Oh! And, aren't you lovin' my stocking cap birdies from Camas Antiques?)

So, how's your work space looking this Christmas season? What do you do to add some cheer? I'd love to hear!