Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Designer Day One ~ lauren's extreme home makeover: christmas edition!

can you resist a garage sale? i can't! just the thought of tables piled with funky vintage things, being sold at bargain prices, never fails to make me smile--or to stop my car and have a quick look at what's on offer. last summer i found two cool house-shaped, divided, wall-hanging...ummmmm....frames? knick-knack holders? ok, i confess, i have NO IDEA what their original purpose would've been, but i decided to fill mine with christmas photos... and the deliciously rich & varied papers from december's pixie dust paperie kit!

i gave the whole house a few coats of brown craft paint, and then set about decorating the outside with paper panels and a fancy "shingled" roof, made by alternating rows of punched circles in two different patterned papers. i found it easier to work on strips of cardstock that i then trimmed and adhered to the house with hot glue.

i "wallpapered" each room with a different patterned paper. the great thing about every pixie dust kit is that *ALL* the papers and embellies coordinate perfectly, so you never have to worry about matching; miss kirsty's already done the hard work for us! :)

once all the rooms were complete, i added embellishments to the front of the house. one of my favorite items in this month's kit is the wonderful glittery banner alphabet, and i knew i wanted to use it prominently here. i trimmed some words from echo park's "merry border stripe" paper to make a festive greeting.

another bit of the same echo park paper had the terrific presents, which i placed at the bottom edge of the house. i love how the frame of the house gives depths to the items "inside" and "outside"!

using clipart as templates, i cut out a couple of sweet birds and a christmas tree. finally i added dymo-labels with holiday song titles to the photos and my house was complete!

the hardest part was choosing only *FOUR* photos of my adorable nieces and nephews, but somehow i did it!


you may remember i said i bought TWO of these cute vintage houses: i'd like to offer the other to a lucky pixie dust blog reader, so you can make your own christmas (or hanukkah or eid or kwanzaa) house! just leave a comment on this post telling me one of your favorite holiday traditions by 11 PM on Dec 6 (EST) and we'll pick a random winner.



Kirsty's note -

To enter the GIVEAWAY, simply leave a comment on this post!
To double your chances - grab the pixie badge (below) and link it on your blog by either post or sidebar and leave a comment letting me know.


Winner will be announced Tuesday, Dec 7th!
Good luck, share this GIVEAWAY with your blog friends and help me to invite others to play along!

Early Bird Special
Reserve your December Kit before release day and get a 10% discount on this fabulous kit
Simply send an email to info@pixiedustpaperie.com before Dec 5th!

Pixie November Challenge
"Oh Christmas Tree"
create a card/project that includes an image of a christmas tree(s), or better still, make a christmas tree home decor item, you'll stand a chance to win $15 gift certificate to The Pixie Shop
Click HERE for details or to link your entry
(challenge ends Dec 5th)

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36 comments:

  1. I so love all of the amazing detail you put into every project ... I just want to keep looking to see those tiny bits I might have missed ... the shingled roof is very fun and I love those banners.

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  2. ohmy miss lauren, i looove your altered house! beautiful details. i especially the fancy fancy shingles and the beautiful banner. oo and that cute birdie. wonderful pix! thanks for sharing!
    oo, i have the PDP badge on my bloggie sidebar :). hope you are having a great week so far! *hugs* steph :)

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  3. Wow..what a beautful xmas house creation you made.

    Hugs,Willy

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  4. Fantastic again .... worried about showing my things now ...ooo...err

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  5. Beautiful project, Lauren. I can't wait to see this kit! Favorite Tradition for Christmas at my house is to sing Carols Christmas eve and hang the stockings!

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  6. wow.. Such a gorgeous project. Such a keepsake. Love all the work put in.. all the embellishments makes it a perfect piece for Christmas! :)

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  7. yummi yummi Kirstie,..lovely idea !! I am sharing !!

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  8. lauren, your project is the ultimate in altering garage sale goodness!!!

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  9. This is adorable. I love it. I can't wait to start my decorating this weekend. A bit late this year. Oops.
    It wouldn't be Christmas without a Gingerbread house. How cute would one of these houses be all dolled up in gingerbread style?????

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  10. FABULOUS! I love how you did the roof and that banner is gorgeous!

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  11. okie dokie..your sweet blog button is now on my sidebar:)

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  12. wow!!! Gorgeous!!!
    You are amazing!

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  13. This is ART and I'm smitten...GORGEOUS!!!

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  14. You are good with what you are doing!! Such a fun altered project and so sweet of you to offer one of them :) Afterall, Dec is the month of giving!

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  15. Really beautiful house Lauren. Love the roof. My fav. xmas tradition is to wrap all the xmas presents.... !!

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  16. This is absolutely astounding!!!! Wow!!! I love it and I can't even imagine the work involved...stellar!!!
    XO

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  17. Love your site and the house! I love decorating my house for Christmas. What fun it would be to decorate a little house as well!

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  18. I added your blinkie to my blog. Thanks for the double chance to win!

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  19. so pretty, thanks for the chance to win your giveaway

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  20. What a gorgeous house. I love how you included photographs :) I'd love to alter a house! I'm big on home decor right now.

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  21. I posted about your fabulous giveway on my blog :)


    http://lalasworldblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/guess-im-new-go-to-person-to-post-blog.html

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  22. Hello!
    I really like your house full of pics :)

    I posted about: http://ardillatrabajadora.multiply.com/links/item/321/Pixie_Dust_Paperie_Designer_Day_One_laurens_extreme_home_makeover_christmas_edition

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  23. Wow -- what a wonderful project! Your Christmas house is just fun. :)

    Thanks for the chance to win such a house. Can you believe that I have already started to think how I would alter it?! Hah! :) Thanks for the inspiration.

    Greetings from Germany,
    Birgit

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  24. Beautiful house design! Thanks for the chance to win. My favorite Christmas tradition is for my family to all get together Christmas Eve to exchange cards and gifts for the children.

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  25. Love this little house! what a great idea for a giveaway!

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  26. I posted about your giveaway on my sidebar at http://madebykarla10.blogspot.com/
    :)

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  27. Thank you for such a darling give a way chance! :o)
    My favorite Christmas tradition is hanging the ornaments on the tree. As we unwrap each one, every year we are reminded of past Christmas's and it is so fun to reminese with each other. :o) Then when it is all done, the lights are turned on and we stand back and enjoy the beauty. :o)
    Sincerely - Trish

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  28. Love this house! Decorating it would be so much more fun than decorating a real one! LOL!

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  29. What an awesome project - I LOVE altered houses - thansk for the chance to win!

    Ramona
    http://create-with-joy.blogspot.com

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  30. I added your giveaway to my sidebar at Create With Joy! Note - I tried to add the Pixie badge as requested, but for some reason I could not get it to upload, so I used the pretty blue house instead!

    Ramona
    http://create-with-joy.blogspot.com

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  31. adorable! great job! thanks for letting me know. amypugmire@live.com

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  32. Love the way Lauren created the roof with circular elements and the eaves with borders. My fav tradition is Christmas day buffet with my whole extended family - 50+ uncles, aunts, cousins etc.

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  33. Hi!
    I thought I comented already at this giveaway. Have I not? What happend with my comments?

    Well... if they were lost in the voodoo space of the internet then here is my comment again:). I heard of this giveaway from Denise!

    The house is lovely! I wish I win it ;)
    Hugs

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  34. I also posted a link here in my blog's side bar. You can find it here: http://felicitarihandmade.blogspot.com/

    Hugs!

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  35. It is so nice !!!
    best wishes from Germany

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