alittle more yule

I think some more yule decorated Vinnord photos are in order... dont you?

I dont actually have a picture of my massive tree this year. Maybe I'll snap a few shots yet... I am also missing one of my walnut string decor for the doorway...

 My yule was very quiet, with family and friends... and SO much food... serioulsy >.<

 Tomorrow we hope one of our "sisters" from Germany will arrive to celebrate new years with us here in Norway. I can't wait to see her again. I miss her terribly when she is away. Libby is the fourth exchange student from Germany our family took in. It is a brilliant experience, both as a student (I went to live with my beloved Lucas family in Nebraska for a year) and as host family (our 4 students)

I am allready thinking about decorating the table, this is ALWAYS my task... I wonder why?! :)

 Remember my quest for fake snow? Well since then I found some, but by then I had allready made my own, much nicer version. Flaky salt, irrdecent glitter flakes and some glass pebbles... It's PERFECT! I am planning on scooping it back up and reuse it!

the tealight cottage, same as my mum's... childhood memories and a flea market santa. ALL my favorite santas are from fleamarkets!

My Hallmark Santas From Around the World. Love them. The german one, and Norwegian one were gifts from the Lucas family. The english one I bought a few years back. I really REALLY want an american one too... and if there is a Scottish one.... 

 My stairway decor in the mudroom. The stone horse bust was a birthday pressie to me, from me :) And the pidestal was a buy from a fleamarket shop. The lanterns were adorned with greens and fake snow, as well as a santa painted by me, when I was wee....

A little gnome from my mum last year.... I have a set... my favorite NEW ones :D LOVE them....

So there you are, Yule at Vinnord. I still have some decorations not shown, I shall see what I can do about that... now it's bedtime for me, actually should have been there long ago... work tomorrow... sigh.

Have a peaceful holiday season still. And peek back in soon!

So this is Christmas.... and what have you done, another year over.... 

I am such a softie when it comes to Christmas, or Yule as I prefer to call it... I am just popping in to wish you all a grand and magical season! With some shots from around the cottage, just in case you didnt have that xmas feeling within you yet... 

The kitties all have their stockings hung... and they all got cat-candy this morning...

I have watched all the christmas specials on tv, that I need to see EVERY year...

my favorite being these two guys...

Chip'n'Dale.... I love these little rascals... and need to watch two cartoons every xmas... 

"Toy Tinkers" with Donald

and "Pluto's Christmas Tree" with Mickey

Can't get enough of them :)

Candles in the ladles...

old gnome in my kitchen :)

I will show you more later on... ;)

But now I am off to clean the stables, brush my ponies and enjoy this Christmas Eve with my lovely family!

Busy Busy

So far December has been so busy... and it sure didnt help when my dad was put in hospital for a heart attack. He is back home now, safe and sound. Thank goodness for that!!! It was scary!

I will post some pictures of my holiday decor... soon, I hope!

I hope you all have a great holiday season!

inspirations on a friday

it's the weekend, I am curled up on the couch with my kittens, a cup of good hot java and I am enjoying some serious yule inspiration from Pinterest.... lets be inspired shall we?

I love, love these!!! I just wish I had some bottlebrush trees and I would be so happy. However, I am gonna try to make my own version of this somehow.... 

Vintage baulbs, I want some for my bedroom. I really really do... too bad my yule-spending spree is over for now :p Maybe I can catch some one sale in january at etsy?

feather trees... I adore them!!! Maybe I should make some, next year. My project this year is ornaments and "snow globes" in jars.

Well, tomorrow I'll be going at some projects, and trying to keep my boys from peeing on the floor. They were doing so well!!! Now they miss alot... sigh. I just hope they get it soon :)

all images can be found on my "Yule Love" pinboard, with links to the original sites.

I got my wish!

So my white fluffy snow finally arrived! Just a little dusting of it here at the cottage, but at my parents home (where my horses are) there is a few inches of snow! I was so delighted when it started snowing while I was taking the horses in for the evening. I serioulsy jumped around squeeling and dreaming of a winter wonderland.

And the next morning when I woke up, it truly WAS a winter wonderland. Pixie and Glenys thrived in the snow, jumping and bucking and rolling about. They were such a hoot to watch!

My boys are fun to watch now as well. They are really bouncing about the place. And they are so sweet. I have no idea how I am ever gonna part with one of them. But I should give one away... but I know I will not give him to just anyone! No way!!! Someone is comming at sunday to have a look at him. My wee heart is breaking!

 I have decorated Vinnord for the season too. I can't wait for my tree though! It'll be up around the 20th!

some decorations are inspired from last year. Like my evergreen in the cloche... I loved that last year, and doing it again this year :)I am not happy with it *yet* though, so I might change it around some.

I dont have a mantle, something I really wish I had. But I do have a nift shelved buffet unit, that I decorate instead. I also loved collecting vintage santas. And I have quite a few. I have newer ones as well, but the vintage ones are my favorites. This red cottage is a perfect copy of the one my mum has, the one that I grew up with. It may look tacky to some, but to me it was ABSOLUTE bliss to find one exactly like the one of my childhood memories. It was always one of my favorites! I had looked for years and years before finding one this November.

 

These fake snowy trees are a new favorite of mine, and the white porcelain horse makes me think of winter wonderlands.

My window sill that looks upon the "barn" is decorated much the same as last year. With red berries, white birds and simple decor. I loved it last year, love it even more this year!

These are just a few of my yule decor this year. Some more shots to follow.

Hope you are all having a wonderful December!

Tonight we wait for a massive blizzard, and if I havent had to drive tonight, I would be excited!

oh let it snow...

let it snow... let it snow...

(pinterest)

Serioulsy, I have never been a winter person. Autumn was always my season, always! And it still is, don't get me wrong, but I am so sick and tired of it allready! It is december! My horses look like mud-beasts, it's SLUSHING when I walk out the door and more than once I have been drenched on my way to work. Please let us have winter allready! I want it just alittle cold, frosted trees are so beautiful. Dark and naked trees...not so much. I am a white-christmas kind of girl... so dear Mother Nature... let it snow!

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I have lost alittle of my yule spirit that I had just a few weeks ago. And I need it back, please!

(unknown sources)

So I plunder pinterest for some holiday inspiration and I listen to Bing Crosby, and I do dream of a white christmas yet!

So that my christmas may be merry and bright, and forever white...

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sigh... enjoy these warming inspirational photos from around pinterest.

and may YOUR christmas be white too, wherever you are.

oh and my boys are really growing! They are now zooming around the floor, they use the litterbox regulary. And I just fall more and more in love with them. Hokus even comes zooming when I call his name! Oh and they practise jumping and leaping, which is hysterically funny to watch!
Can't hardly wait to take some kitten-christmas photos!

30 years of madness!

I turned the big 3-0 on Nov. 27th. And well, I couldnt pass up a chance to invite over some friends, make a proper feast of a dinner, aaaand set a beautiful table... 

Remember I told you was in such yule-mode? Well now it's raining, and its warm outside... I am moping! I want frost and snow now! Well I couldnt pass up decorating my table in a winter wonderland theme....

And because all of my guests were horse related, most from NPA (Norwegain Pony Breeders Society), I simply had to have horses! 

These are old, worn and loved, plastic animals that I painted white before glittering them up. I really love how they sparkled on my table.

 Looks pretty doesnt it? And so wintery and cold. Just love how my cottage decor can go from beach-house chic in the summer, to freezing winter cottage in the colder seasons.

 Those trees, I just love them. Bought the large one last year and the small one I had to get this year.

All ready for my 8 guests pluss myself. I never thought I'd be able to fit them all around my table... But we all had breathing space!

I got some really cool gifts too. I will show you those, later ;)

And may I just say... this table did NOT look as clean and pretty at 8am, when we finally crawled back to bed.... Need I say the morning after was NOT a fresh one?! Giggle.... but one turns 30 only once!

Hokus and Pokus

My little furry boys are growing SO fast. They are now zooming around the room when I put them on the floor. And today was the first time they made it in, and out, of their drawer-home. I have now found a small litterbox for them, and I keep putting them into it. Food will arrive in a few days as well...

They are just so cute though. And when I call Hokus comes running. He loves his cuddles that one. They are both polydactyls, as I think I have mentioned before. Their paws are massive! 

Soon, I am sure, they will wreck total havoc in my livingroom... Yule will be interesting with two tree climbing nutters about..pluss my allready crazy cat, Huldra.

I just have to say though... kittens seem to fit nicely into my decor. Ha ha... I should have them around all the time. 

And who can resist something as cuddely as kittens?! Really???

so from all of us here at Vinnord... a very good night!!!

all photos by Eva Feldmann

soon it is...

Yule time all over again... I usually decorate early in december, so that I can enjoy the whole holiday month... 

My palette has always been reds, silver and white, with evergreens and lots of lights and glitter... 

 

For my first year at Vinnord I decorated alot darker, more glam. Last year I converted to a more country style, including alot more aqua and turqouise, as my house is dominated by these colours allready. 

I didnt swap too many things out. These birds are with me all year long. The first year I put them away, but last year they got to stay. 

Here is the table, my first year here. Everything seemed a bit more "grande", if you know what I mean.

and alot of silver!

Last years table, with the tree in the background. And this is where I am wondering what to do... I LOVE the full trees, styled in lots of glamour and glitter. A Disney tree!!!

my 2009 tree...

but this year I have been inspired by simple trees. Country cottage style trees....

oh what to do what to do....

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I know I'll probably end up with the full tree... even though a simpler one might suit my home better... 

I have also collected so many new ideas through pinterest! I can't WAIT to get started!

here is just a couple;

 

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Tomorrow is my big 30th birthday bash. I am having my ponyclub-friends over for dinner :) And lots of wine! I am sure my actual day, which is sunday, will be spent with a headache! But oh well...

And then on tuesday, I will start decorating!!! :)

More pictures to come, then.... oh and I am dying to show you my new office/atlier furniture from the 1930's and 40's... I am so in love with it. But my camera cant handle the light up there, so I am gonna ask my sister to take a few shots :)