It’s time for Secret Santa: Revealed — which makes me smile because I can picture a deep-voiced announcer introducing the show after a late-night program. Since many of you asked for the Secret Santa details (and I couldn’t wait to share who I had and to learn who had me), here’s the recap:
I had… (drumroll, anyone?)… House Of Smiths! I loved packing two small surprise care packages for her. The first contained two decorative frames from Michael’s that I personalized with paint to give them some holiday cheer (they were both originally dark brown).
I thought red and green would be joyful for a Christmas gift. The round frame got a few thin coats of glossy red spray paint — the same red I used on my paper-mâché reindeer — while the rectangular frame had an interesting wood grain that I highlighted by painting it glossy white and dry-brushing a lime green over the raised grain, leaving the sides white. I sealed them with spray poly. At Michael’s I also grabbed a small ceramic container, doodled on it with permanent Sharpies, and filled it with toffee. Mmmm. I heard it was devoured pretty quickly over at House Of Smiths, which made me so happy.
Many readers guessed I had House Of Smiths right away — how’d you know? My second little package was more of a clue: a paint theme. I couldn’t resist tiny paint-can containers I found in the craft-food aisle at Michael’s, so I filled them with red and green M&Ms and wrote a holiday note on a paint stick.
I used paint chips from my leftover bin to cut out little homemade “tree” tags for the tops of the cans, and added another small dish of goodies — famous Ukrop’s cookies, my personal favorite. Also, yes, my scissors are labeled “no John cuts!” in Sharpie because John kept using my good scissors for sticky tape. Now he’s banned from them.
So that’s what I sent to my blog friend Shelley. Is it odd that I had so much fun assembling these small items? Sigh — I miss Christmas already.
Who had me? Tanya at Save The Date For Cupcakes! I was genuinely surprised. I thought someone else might have sent my gifts, but the package postmark narrowed things down and kept the mystery until the big reveal when everyone admitted who they had.
My first surprise from Tanya was a gorgeous little silver box with three glittery personalized ornaments, which I shared about here:
The second surprise was equally lovely: a box of vintage Vanity Fair postcards and another glittery ornament with feathery wings. I’ve been enjoying flipping through the postcards and already have a project in mind for them — I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out.
A huge thank you to Mrs. Limestone for organizing this whole Secret Santa and to all the participants who made it so much fun, including:
- Michelle at 4 Men 1 Lady
- Bryn at Bryn Alexandra
- Emily at Emily A. Clark
- Shelley at House of Smiths
- Melissa at The Inspired Room
- Janell at Isabella and Max Rooms
- Paloma at La Dolce Vita
- Jacin at Lovely Little Details
- Nicole at Making it Lovely
- Marian at Mustard Seed Interiors
- Lauren at Pure Style Home
- Tanya at Save the Date for Cupcakes
- Michelle at TenJune
- Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick
- Laura at You Stir Me
So much fun! Did any of you do Secret Santa this year? Were you surprised by who had you, or did you guess all along? And seriously — how did so many of you figure out that I had Shelley from her frame reveal? I thought it was too random to guess!
Psst — check out John’s quirky lighting obsession (and imagine him in a Snuggie) here.
Update: You can view our favorite holiday decor finds — many under $15 — here.