So many of you loved the birdhouse that was in my last post, I knew I had to share a little more about it with you. Here is a refresher as to what it looked like.
My Grandpa Kenny made this. He is my dad's dad. He was a produce man at Safeway for many years, as much as he loved that job, he also loved to work with wood. I have so many memories of Grandpa whittling away at a piece of wood when we were camping, or at a picnic-anywhere he could find something to whittle, he would!
He's very creative when it comes to his birdhouses. He would use knots as porch posts or chimneys. Then he always made sure to add lots of tiny details. This birdhouse has a pile of wood, a chopping block and an axe, all handmade by Grandpa.
Some of his birdhouses had little sets of skis or snowshoes. Mine has a tiny little rifle. Can you see the cute little edging along the roofline? Now that Grandpa Kenny is almost 84 years old, it is hard for him to build birdhouses like he used to. My dad decided that he would take over this very important duty. Grandpa gave dad all of the wood and carvings he had. Every year on Christmas Eve, there is a birdhouse that gets raffled off. Every one's name goes into a hat and the lucky winner gets a birdhouse made by Grandpa. This was this years birdhouse, made my by dad with Grandpa's special extras.
Guess whose name was drawn? MINE! For the first time ever I won! This is extra special to me because it was created by my dad and my Grandpa! Here you can see the knot used as a porch post, the chopping block and axe is there too!
Another knot on the porch as well as a tiny little rifle. My dad's special touch is the river rocks on the porch and the roof.
This is my favorite part-tiny little elk antlers (that my mom cut off a plastic toy) and a sign that says "Christmas 2011"
My dad even put in a real glass window on the backside of the house!
And no house is complete for Christmas until it has Chrismas lights hanging on the eaves! I am so lucky to have both of these birdhouses! They don't go outside-they are way too special for that! They have a special place inside the house where we can preserve their beauty forever!
Here is a picture of my Grandpa Kenny on Christmas Eve with my Grandma Carmene behind him. They have been married for almost 58 years! They are a great example of true love. Thank you Grandpa for the lovely birdhouses you have given to me. I will treasure them always!
I hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far!
Let me tell you, I didn't follow the directions to a T, I am like that-I just kind of wing it and do my own thing. I started out with the tiniest of ruffles and it took me FOREVER to get just the first row. I got smart and made bigger ruffles with bigger pieces of muslin. I also just used a red felt skirt as the base so there may be a little red peaking through. This was definitely a trial and error sort of project. I love the way it turned out and I think it looks perfect around my little tree. This won't be the last time I try my hand at this project. I found making all those ruffles quite therapeutic! 
I didn't glue anything onto the skates, so I can change them around any time I want. I definitely like to use ice skates for decorating purposes instead of ice skating!
Two weeks until Christmas...are you ready? I am getting there, slowly but surely!
I kept the decorations simple. The two smaller trees have a sweet little string of white pearls wrapped around them. The big tree has pearlescent bubbles, white and silver balls, tiny pastel candy canes and a silver glittered star on the top. 
The winner is:
