heppie holidees ! & little Christmaslantern-makeover

hi everyone! On the threshold of Christmas I'd like to show you a little holidayambiance, but hey, what's that? You've got mail!

and because I've been able to print it with superhigh resolution it is actually readable (with magnifying glasses that is, but that means it's photographable to be read), but I can't seem to get it on camera right, so here's the card how I made it on my laptop so you can read it well:

also the Christmaslantern has had a supersimple but a bit of a transformational makeover. When last week I decided to use the lantern for the miniature christmascard, I was annoyed the colourscheme just didn't work. Especially because the angel on the mantle didn't stick out, it just blended into the wallpaper as did other things. Meaning: that wall needed some paint. A quick paintjob of grey did the trick. And although I still like the wallpaper, I think this is much better!

the floor looks less nice on the right, but is still the same as on the left photo, in my new home I can't get daylight to be as it was on the leftphoto, I guess that's why

how about those clothespins? They're from the (mini)worldfamous Dieter Dorsch, and as with all he makes the real deal, the cards are all attached to the ribbon just by the clothespin and are removable. They are the smallest of the two sizes he makes

I will paint it a more beautiful grey someday, a warm grey I have on a cupboard that I think will be even better, see the photo below of the mantle agains that cupboard, but the grey in the lantern is what I had on hand (in reallife quite a blueish grey) and I'm very happy with for now :D.

the warm grey that I will paint it sometime later

the accessories I already had for the lantern, but the new look does them more justice. And some things I've borrowed from my stash for this 'photoshoot' to bring it all together. The star I did make this week because I really wanted to make something christmassy and the star was very doable. I made it of layers veneer, because I can't saw and this is my solution to that because veneer cuts supereasy. What made it a little less easy is that the veneer is so fragile and the stars small, it chipped layers quite a bit while cutting the new layer glued to the next. But some extra glue fixed that. And luckily it's a rustic star so the remaining imperfections are no big deal. I have it in 1:1 and it's a nice addition to this scene I think.

I changed veneers, because the light one topleft turned out to be extra fragile. The cherrytype veneer however (or pear, I have no clue what this is, I once ordered it as part of a cheap batch with different types of leftover veneers) is fine-grained and therefore sturdier, but still nice and soft, making it easy to work with (minus the chipping as this is inevitable with veneer, but hey: you can't have it all :D )

well, that's it for this year, I really hope next year will be the year of some real projects and finishing a certain something, that of which we don't speak anymore :D. Meaning we'll have to leave Murphy and his crazy law in 2014 so he can't mess with it again ;) And a lot more looking around and commenting on your wonderful blogs, I always enjoy that!

merry Christmas & the best New Year to you all, that it may be what you hope it to be and more!