In the spirit of spreading a little holiday cheer, congratulations to Shanon! The winner of Candice’s online class is Shanon Gibson of Dornberg, Germany! Shanon, e-mail me and I’ll hook you up (bhiggins@ckmedia.com).

Speaking of holiday cheer, my new favorite Christmas decorations are these frames scattered throughout our Christmas tree.

Got them on clearance after Christmas last year, at Pier 1 Imports. I put some favorite pictures in them and just love how it totally adds personality to the tree. You could do this with ANY type of picture frame! Just tie some ribbon or invisible thread or something to the back so you can hang them from tree branches.

The “floating” ornaments above our kitchen bar has changed a little bit this year. Same concept (see Dec. 7, 2007 post) but new ornaments. Again, took advantage of the after-Christmas sales last year and scored awesome deals on these, all from various stores.

Added note: I believe these are called eyelet screws and you can find them at your local hardware store.

We just screwed these into the ceiling, tied a piece of invisible thread to it (found at your local craft or sewing store) and hung the ornaments from there. When I change the “floating ornaments” for each season, I simply snip the thread right at the ornament, leaving the thread in place and then tie the new ornament to that existing thread. Make sense?