i’m not one for a lot of fuss and muss when it comes to getting gussied up for the holiday parties. i like to keep it pretty simple — a black dress, tights, some killer shoes and a bit of bauble. but this year, i thought it might be fun to add a bit of glam to my party ensembles. mind you, i still want to keep it simple, so i think that’s what i fancy about ban.do. their accessories add sparkle, but just enough without sending me into girlie-girl oblivion. i picked up the sequin scarf (below), and the magenta corsage – i’ve had my eye on that one for a while. here’s a look at what else ban.do has up their holiday sleeves.

fluxus.

oh yay it’s almost valentines day. my enthusiasm for this day knows no bounds. it never fails to remind me of the time my ex-boyfriend sent me roses to the office and added the note “eat these if you get hungry”. way to shine, passive-aggressive nut job and completely diss the gift (at a whopping 110 lbs., he always wanted me to diet). so yay, valentines day is coming. here’s about as enthused as i’m going to get. woop fab friday.

this card is super romantic, from those crazy kids at old tom foolery.

maybe i’ll write myself a love poem, via design milk; or just be lazy and get one written for me at the poetry store.

these pink organza shopping bags by artist lauren dicioccio are just the kind of roses i’d like to receive, as seen on the jealous curator.

this is just so sentimental – via reform school; maybe i’ll just stick to mixed tapes, via ferm living. i don’t mind leaving those behind – after the break-up you never wanna hear those songs again, anyway.

this cute pin is dedicated to one of my ex’s, by michelle kaffko from renegade handmade.

none of that hallmark stuff for me (they’re the folks behind this bloody holiday!). if i really cared, i might attend the Valentine’s Day Card Making Party, hosted by The Bold Italic, Of Hearty Stock and Anthem Screen Printing .

i’m going to go all out and paint my toes bright red, via the candy shop. even if nobody does see ‘em.

Greetings! Welcome back to the dudley pages! It’s Erin here, from the blog dudley. I’ve been thinking of different ways to reinvent holiday decoration, and how to incorporate a modern edge with a mid century aesthetic. To my surprise, I found so much great inspiration. Here are a few that caught my eye.

If I could have just one Christmas cookie it would be a delicate, lacy rosette dusted with powdered sugar that someone else fried up for me. Someday I’ll make them again, but probably not this year, at least not in time to benefit anyone here. If no one is going to make me rosettes, and I don’t think anyone is, I’ll turn to what I grew up calling Swedish Tea Cakes. You may know them as Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes or Snowballs. If you have yet another name for these cookies of a nut-flour-butter dough rolled into balls, baked, and rolled in powdered sugar, please let me know – it seems everyone wants to claim these beauties.

A few other delights I baked up recently — Bizcochitos – traditional New Mexican anise and cinnamon sugar cookies:

Chocolate Ginger Cookies – two great things now even better together:

Classic Gingerbread People (to hang on the tree or eat with coffee):

If I were someplace where Christmas shopping didn’t take place in the rain, I’d make these Forgotten Cookies, too, but I’ll have to wait until things dry out around here:

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Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. Molly also writes The Dinner Files and posts tasty recipes at Local Foods. You can follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

*photos courtesy of Molly Watson.

i have finally gotten round to adding some decorations to my christmas tree. it sat there, lonely for a few days, albeit smelling so great, but lonesome for some holiday lights and festive ornaments. i went with a sort of vintage-inspired woodland theme this year.

and, you know what? a tree really does help you get into the spirit of the holidays. thanks so much to green valley christmas trees for sending me such a beautiful tree!

west elm’s mercury acorn ornaments.

so it’s finally fab friday (whew, huh, what a week!?), and i thought i’d round up some holiday decor ideas. ’tis the season, and i’ve got a christmas tree here that needs some decorating! i’m on the hunt for some diy inspiration, and a few new (or old) ornaments and decorations. i’m in the mood this year for sort of a rustic-scandinavian meets homemade-vintage looking tree. if that makes any sense at all!

antique german snow flocked ornaments, from heirloom linens; Recycled Hymnal Confetti Garland, from Kristina Marie via Gifted; set of vintage gold ornaments, from alice’s looking glass; and i think these standing animals would look swell on the mantel, from kate’s paperie.

i love wood & wool stool’s christmas trees; wonderful newsprint tassel ornaments from west elm; and cute twig trees from west elm.

shanna murray gift cards are so sweet!

diy snowflakes by jutta, as found in gifted; cute clothespins for pinning ornaments to the tree, from quotes and notes; and paloma’s nest custom wooden ornaments.

love this thrifted pattern gift wrap by chakra pennywhistle, which i found on creature comforts amazing and free diy tutorial downloads.

a really lovely holiday peace banner, from alice’s looking glass.

i just thought i’d check in and see how y’all are proceeding with your pinterest gift guides! are you creating some? would you like to share? i’d love to see them, so if you’ve made a gift guide, and would like us all to take a gander, comment with a link to your gift guides below, and we’ll drop by and check ‘em out. i’m going to be sharing some of my favorites from pinterest here next week.

*photos via the beautiful broste copenhagen holiday catalog.

as i posted last week before thanksgiving, pinterest and sfgirlbybay are teaming up to help you with your holiday gift ideas this year! so often when shopping for loved ones, we draw a complete blank, zip, nada, no idea what the heck to get them. so, we thought we’d try and make gift giving a little easier, and much more fun this year with pinterest gift guides.

so with the help of pinterest we can create our own gift guides, as well as peruse other members’ gift guide pinboards. that way, should we need some gift ideas, we can pop on over to pinterest’s gift guide page for inspiration! i even made a gift wrapping guide that includes these pins (above) for giving my gifts the personal, handcrafted touch.

want to join us, and start creating your own gift guides on pinterest? here’s all you need to do:

1. Don’t have a Pinterest account? Sign up — it’s free.
Anyone who wants to participate who doesn’t yet have a pinterest account can sign up on this sign-up form. Just head over here and sign-up, and Pinterest will get your account going.

2. Create a Gift Guide Pinboard.
Create a new pinboard and be sure to categorize it as ‘Gift Guide‘. You can name your pinboard anything you want or even have a theme – for example, Gifts for girlfriends, gifts for the designer dude, etc. you get the idea. here’s one of my pinboards — for my teenage nieces (below).

3. add Gift Pins
Pinning is a lot easier on your pocket book that shopping. Visit any website and pin your favorite gifts. Try to add the price — pinterest will let everyone filter and peruse the gifts by price, to help people like me whose wallets are a little thinner than usual this year!

4. Follow your Favorites!
They’ve created a special section on Pinterest to share everyone’s gift guides. They’re also going to highlight a few of their favorites on the Pinterest blog, and I’ll be sharing some of my favorite gift guides here on sfgirlbybay. so you can follow your favorites, or simply repin something you might like to give.

5. Share the Love!
Lots of you have blogs or twitter accounts. You can share your favorite finds and favorite gift guides on your blog — and you can even add this badge (created by our good friend Steven McGaughey) to your blog and link it to your own gift guide. You can also share on twitter with the hastag #giftpins.

That’s it — pretty simple! Just a nice way to share the holidays, the gift of Pinterest and the gift of inspiration and giving. Have fun, and have the happiest of holidays!

*for links to any of my gift ideas above, click on the photograph to take you directly to my pinterest gift guide.

happy thanksgiving everyone! i’ll be taking thursday and friday off to spend time with my family. i hope you enjoy doing the same. today, i am most thankful for you, my friends and readers, my family and miss lucy. i wouldn’t be the same without you. see you back here on monday!

*photos courtesy of tartelette; alicia bock; mister sullivan; and olivia bell.

chalk it up christmas tree diy, via poppytalk.

this week, wanted is a little different. because what i want is not for me, but for all the friends and loved ones in my life. starting monday, november 29th, i’ll be co-sponsoring a holiday gift guide project with pinterest!

Finding the perfect gift can be tricky, but lucky for you, there are thousands of people with great taste Pinning things they love every day – so gift inspiration abounds!

vík Prjónsdóttir twosome blanket.

ben at pinterest and i thought it would be fun to help everyone out this year, by having all of us create holiday gift guides of our own, and sharing them as pinboards on pinterest.

so check in on monday to find out how you can participate. and if you’re not a pinterest member yet, not to worry! ben will be inviting everyone to join up! this year, the plan is for all of us to help each other out with the gift of giving via pinterest, so stay tuned!