10 Fabulous Finds at Bluesky Browsing #17

This week’s 10 fabulous finds at Bluesky Browsing #17 is all about Christmas ideas for your home and resources to inspire, entertain or inform you.

This past week was the week that I kicked off Christmas at our house.

We are in all~out Christmas decorating mode here. Have you finished decorating? I wish I could say that we have.

Christmas time is such a fun time of year. The lights, the tree, the ornaments, and decorations ~ our homes and surroundings are never prettier and festive than in December.

I made three brand new Christmas craft projects this week. One I already shared. I’m on the lookout for pretty home tours, end~of~year ideas, and recipes at 10 Fabulous Finds.

I’m constantly discovering fabulous finds to inspire us. My goal is to help you find ideas for your home decor, your crafting, your home organization, and anything about home. I’ll throw in some good blogging information that I think will be beneficial to you.

Ready to see this week’s fab finds?

10 Fabulous Finds at Bluesky Browsing #17

This post contains affiliate links to products and resources you may love to have. If you should purchase anything from this site, I may be compensated, but you don’t pay a penny more.

In case you missed last week’s 10 Fabulous Finds, here is Bluesky Browsing #16.

ON THE BLOG FRONT

Although I posted quite a bit this week, most of my time was spend decorating the house.

Do you remember back in September when I was trying to update my blog theme? I was switching from one Restored 316 theme on Genesis to a new theme using Kadence. Setting up a staging site and installing Kadene was as far as I got.
Realizing I didn’t have the time or the expertise to finish the transition and customization of the site, I decided to let the experts at Restored 316 do the job for me. Hopefully by this time next week, Bluesky at Home will have a new look and a better user experience for you. Keep your fingers crossed.
I started listening to Cindy Bidar’s Podcast Tiny Course Empire. I absoutely love it. Cindy is easy to underand, consise, and straightforward. I highly recommend it.
I had a wonderful lunch with a dear friend on Friday. We hadn’t seen each other in a couple of months so it was so good to catch up. I feel I don’t make enough time to visit in person with good friends. That needs to change.
Last week at Bluesky at Home was all about Christmas: How to Make Christmas Marshmallow Pops Your Home, Dollar Tree Christmas Candles, Delicous Christmas Sangria, 10 Fabulous Finds #16

ON THE HOME FRONT

As I mentioned, I completed four new DIY Christmas projects: the Christmas candles, which I shared on the blog this week, two new super cute garland which are up on the mantel, a decoupage project, and a Christmas tree DIY. I’ll be sharing them all this coming week.
So far, the living room mantel is decorated, the garland is on the banister with a new look. The garland and wreaths are up in the dining room. The wreath and ceramic tiles on are the stove hood. That’s maybe 20% of our decorating. Needless to say this weekend will be frantic to finish everything.
We sent out invitations to a dinner party for next Saturday. Everyone we invited can come, which is great. I’ll be planning the menu and setting the table (as soon as I get all the Christmas boxes off of it).

This post contains affiliate links to products recommended here. If you should order anything from this site, I may receive compensation, but you don’t pay a penny more.

Here we go with Bluesky Browsing #17. This is a really great list for everyone.

These ideas for decorating your Christmas tree from Home with Holly J. You will drool over her beautiful tree.

2. What’s popular for Christmas this year? Real World shared the most popular trends for Christmas 2021.

3. We are going to be spending Christmas in Atlanta with our daughters, grandson, and granddaughters. I’ve been searching for some fun Christmas gifts for them. Here are some fun items and games I like:

4. You make a beautiful wreath and then you have to hang it ~ so it doesn’t fall off the door! What are the best ways to hang a wreath? Here’s the scoop.

5. For years, Sweet Shark and I have been collecting china and glassware from the Lenox Holiday Collection. We have white wine glasses, tall water glasses, highball glasses, stemless wine glasses, red wine glasses, and we just ordered martini glasses. I love this pattern and wanted to share it with you.

6. Do you love pom~poms? There are so many ways to make them. I have made them with pom~pom makers. But here is a way to make them with nothing more than a fork and yarn. I thought this pom~pom DIY tutorial was worth sharing.

7. Have you thought about giving a gift basket for Christmas? How about making your own gift baskets for Christmas presents? Here are several ideas, like this one with gifts for ice cream sundaes in an apothecary jar.

8. Want one more beautiful Christmas home tour? Take a look at this beautiful home in Atlanta designed by local interior designer Patricia McLean.

9. For years, I have followed David Lebovitz, American baker who has lived and worked in Paris, for years. He just shared a not~so~sweet Graham Cracker Cake that sounds delicious ~ especially if you don’t want something too sweet or too chocolatey.

10. BOOK OF THE WEEK: As I shared, I am an avid reader. I’m never without a book. I keep a running list of books I read. I checked and I now have 799 on the list.

Before I share this week’s book, I wanted to tell you where all my most recent books are coming from.

Back in July, one of our local Barnes & Nobles was closing ~ so sad. I went on the very last day it was opened; everything was 50% off. Well, as you can imagine, this book lover went a little crazy. I filled up two huge bags of books. Even with the 50% off, I spent almost $200.

Since then, I’ve been working my way through those two bags. I haven’t been disappointed in any selection. I’m almost halfway through the bags ~ so I have plenty of books to share for quite a while.

This week’s recommended book is another one by Susan Meissner who is known for her historical fiction. This story starts off a little differently ~ with a young woman who has the gift of Sight ~ she can see ghosts. It’s a gift that runs in the women in her family. It’s also a gift that she doesn’t want.

You may think A Bridge Across the Ocean is a ghost story until Brette visits the Queen Mary docked in Los Angeles at the request of an old friend. Here the story takes a turn. The experiences of two WWII war brides who crossed the Atlantic in 1946 on the Queen Mary become the focus of the novel.

Meissner tells the story of Simone, the daughter of a French Resistance fighter who has to hide in a cellar for months to escape the Gestapo. While there, she nurses an American flyer who is shot down.

The second war bride is Annaliese, a young German ballerina. She is forced to marry a Nazi official who is abusive and controlling.

For both these young women, survival and escape is paramount.

How their lives become entangled with Brette’s and how Brette tries to solve a 50~year~old mystery is the gripping focus of the story. It got better and better as the story progressed. Halfway through, I was definitely hooked until the very end. I loved it.

That wraps up the 17th edition of Bluesky Browsing. What was your favorite from this collection of 10 Fabulous Finds?

What are your favorite topics? I’d love to know what topics you are curious about. Let me know in the comments and I’ll ~~search~~ browse for them. Be sure to PIN to keep these ideas handy.

In between decorating for Christmas, writing posts, listening to podcasts, reading, and doing various blogging tasks, walking Nola, and playing tennis, I’ll be browsing away.