The Goblet of Fire has spoken!

I know I said that I would do the Silver Bella giveaway drawing on Thursday, but time & sunlight got away from me (man, I hate this getting dark at 4:30 nonsense!) so it got postponed to this morning. I printed out & cut up everybody's comments and put them in the ol' Goblet of Fire, and had my trusty assistant draw the winning name:





And the winnner is...Dawn from Oh So Pretty! Dawn's blog title is a very accurate description of the things she posts--her thrifting finds, her original creations, her home decor--everything is a feast for the eyes! Do go check out her blog if you haven't visited before. And Miss Dawn, please email me at fraulein_h at hotmail dot com with your address so I can mail out your Silver Bella goodies! Thanks to everyone who read and commented--I love reading what you have to say and visiting your blogs!

You know, I've yet to be knocked off my feet by any of the ornament collections out there in the retail world this year. Last year Target had some super cute stuff--the red & aqua snowmen, the little houses, the glass glitter figures & ornaments. I went to Target to check out this year's collection and all I could think was "eh." The only thing I couldn't live without were a pair of these giant glass glitter snowflakes. They look very similar to the Wendy Addison snowflakes I bought last year at Tinsel Trading Co. on my trip to NYC--they are the same size as the smallest WA flake but the glitter is not as twinkly. You can kind of see the difference in this photo; the Wendy Addison is the one on top and the Target is the one on the bottom.

They're a little different, but I think the slight variation is a good thing--no two snowflakes are alike, right? Unless you buy them from Target! LOL The Target version are $5.99, while the same-sized Wendy Addison was almost double that, so they're a pretty good deal.

I also braved the drive to the ghetto to visit our only local but very skeevy KMart for the sole purpose of checking out the new Martha Stewart ornaments. It was the same thing there--I had high hopes but was soundly disappointed when I saw it all in person. I did end up buying the set of ornaments that look like vintage kitchen utensils with painted handles and a new red & aqua striped bow for my antique sled, but other than that, it was all "eh." I even felt that way about Martha's Craft line at Michael's--I had seen it online weeks before I saw it in person and it looked so cute, but when I got there with a 50% off coupon in hand, ready to BUY BUY BUY, I couldn't find a single thing I wanted.

I think part of the disappointment is that I see so much amazing stuff being created in the blogosphere and elsewhere online that there is just no way for the retail world to even come close (for example, check out the gorgeous red & blue color scheme over at Fredsworld). That's a great thing, though--I'm so inspired by what I see that I want to bring to life the visions in my head rather than wait for someone at Target to fulfill my creative leanings. So thank you all for what you do and what you share--you inspire me!

I'm hoping to start getting out the Christmas stuff this weekend and get started on the decorating. I'm really excited to open all the boxes and see the things I love and come up with a new design scheme for the year!

Have a lovely weekend!