2016 Christmas Decor

It's starting to look and feel a lot like Christmas ... the presents are wrapped, the mantel is aglow, and our home is an explosion of glittery gold, bold red and deep green.




This year's mantel is decked out in three layers of garlands ... a base of vertically strung pinecones, and a lighted spruce garland, topped off with a gilded cascading garland.  Instructions for the DIY pinecone garland are HERE.



Above the mantel, a traditional spruce wreath with gold and red ball ornaments is surrounded by a gold open picture frame and a symmetrical arrangement of glittery cutout gold stars and red trees, red felt cone trees, and copper lanterns filled with gold wrapped candles.

A splash of red also warms the hearth area - this darling wood step stool painted with shiny red enamel was built by hubby's grandfather many years ago and is the perfect perch for the vintage red truck and tree.  Surprisingly, our gold painted Thanksgiving pumpkin appears to be alive and well to shine on through Christmas.



On our coffee table, a large clear glass cloche filled with red glass ball ornaments is resting on a gold framed mirror tray.  In reality, it's not a tray at all - it's a wall mirror found at Target.  Nice when items can do double duty.  

Accompanying the cloche is a little red lighted vehicle with Christmas tree.  It was originally green and received a festive makeover with red paint.  Read more about that HERE.



The two slipper chairs in the living room are adorned with red rosette pillows, and my thrifty find of the season ... a dark grey plush throw with super large fluffy pom poms.  I was thrilled to find it at Tuesday Morning for only $14.99!!!  If you're searching for these, they also had them in ivory and a light tan.



In a break from tradition, this year's large living room tree is decorated all in gold, with burlap garland and gold raffia.  It rests in a burlap filled galvanized container.  To see how we set up the tree container, click HERE.



The topper is a gold star with white lights, and glittery gold cascading sprays.  The sprays were found at Lowe's and the star topper at Target.  Tree ornaments were all items we had on hand.


Instructions for making the burlap and book page stocking ornaments can be found HERE.




The foyer decor (adjacent to the large tree) is simple and consists of a lighted tabletop urn centerpiece on the foyer table, and a simple  door wreath.

Our gift wrapping color theme this year is a combination of metallic gold, white and black.  I created and cut the gift tags from black card stock using my Silhouette Cameo, and shiny gold paper fills cutout tree openings in the tags. 




Names were written on the tags with a metallic gold Sharpie (from Lowe's).



In the dining room, a new addition this season is the hot beverage bar on the small antique chest.  The chest is just the right size for all the goodies needed to enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea, spiced cider or cocoa.  In addition to the Keurig and K-cups, add-ins are ready to go - chocolate chips, marshmallows, flavored coffee creamer, sprinkles, candy cane stirrers and cinnamon.




The dining room table centerpiece is another large glass cloche, filled with red and gold glass ornaments and surrounded by gold and red beaded garland.  This cloche is displayed on a farmhouse style carved round wood tray with metal handles.  The tray was from Decor Steals and came in a set of two.    



A counter height bar separates our kitchen from our dining room and it's a great place for two lighted 4' counter trees in urns.  They're decorated with the handmade cinnamon ornaments from last year (instructions found HERE and HERE). 



 Next to each lighted counter tree are small gold metal ornament stands loaded with red and gold ornaments and "skirted" with red berry candle rings.  The gold metal stands were Goodwill finds this summer.



If you're still with me, have you noticed that pillows move around a lot in our home?  :)

In the kitchen, we continue the explosion of festive red.  Our kitchen is typically very neutral and at Christmas the red really makes it come alive.  



 The light fixture above the island is dressed up a bit with green garland and red and gold tinsel wreaths.  A similar wreath is also centered on the garland at the kitchen sink window.  

 Our framed Christmas countdown is in full swing on the kitchen counter, along with a mug of hot cinnamon flavored candy canes in a holiday mug perched on a white and gold dotted cupcake pedestal.  A trio of glittery gold cone trees add a little sparkle to the top of the fridge.

 The trio of cracked glass lighted orbs on the counter remain year-round because we enjoy them so much.

A white ceramic soup tureen is great for displaying Christmas crackers/poppers (which do you call them?) until Christmas day and a chubby little Santa is keeping them company.



Wrapping up this holiday tour, our master bedroom has a touch of glitz in the form of tinsel trees and matching gold wreath.


How is your holiday decor coming along?  Are you just beginning to decorate, shop for gifts and plan your menu?  Or, have you finished and are now breathing a sigh of relief?

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Customized Inspiration Jars

Looking for a personalized gift that shows you care?  These inspiration jars can be customized for any occasion and are sure to bring a smile to any recipient.


Thank you to Sherry at The Charm of Home for graciously featuring this project!


These inspiration jars were made with 1 quart wide mouthed canning jars.  

For the version above, I created a round jar label in Picmonkey, printed them, cut them out, covered them with clear Contact paper, and inserted them in the jar lids.  

The cross gift tags were cut from black cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo, backed with contrasting paper, and tied to the jar with string.

For the inspirational verses and quotes, I searched for those that I felt would be especially meaningful to the recipient, typed them into Word, printed and cut them into strips, folded them, and filled the jar.

I really like that these can be totally customized for any occasion - motivational, get well, encouragement, etc.  

Just do a Google search for quotes or verses by subject and you'll find an endless supply to use.  And, you're not limited to just text - photos and drawings can also be used. 


For another version of the inspiration jar (above), I painted the jar lid with aqua craft paint.  The gift tag is an unfinished wood tag (found at any craft store and even Walmart) painted aqua, tied to a small sparkly white cross with white ribbon.  The cross was found in the miniature Christmas decor section at Hobby Lobby. 

For yet another version, for a family member with Alzheimer's, I filled a jar with slips of paper containing photos of family (labeled with names), photos of former homes (labeled with locations) and funny cartoons and jokes, along with inspirational quotes and verses.  

It's fun to fill the jar with items that are hand picked for each individual and those that are sure to make them smile. 

Wouldn't these also be neat to give to kids - using a plastic jar, with a colorful monogram label, and filled with positive messages and fun pictures?

Have you given or received an inspiration jar? 

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Christmas Tree Skirt or Container?

The last couple years, I've gradually replaced all of our traditional fabric Christmas tree skirts with various containers and have found several advantages to doing so.


In our home filled with furbabies, pet hair is a constant.  And having a feline with a fondness for curling up under the tree, I was never able to keep our tree skirts fur free.  

Once we had gifts under the tree, removing the skirt to clean it, run a lint roller over it, or straighten it became quite a chore.  And seriously, how do you launder most store bought tree skirts without damaging them?  Some even state that dry cleaning and laundering are not recommended - spot clean only.  

My quest to find low maintenance options was on and that's when I decided to just "contain" our trees.

Containers are not only basically maintenance free, they are super easy to clean around - just vacuum or mop around the container - no fabric to get caught in your vacuum's rollers and no wet fabric from mopping too close to the skirt.

An added fun element is that practically any container can be used - just use your imagination!

The tree in our living room is contained in a large galvanized bucket.  You can buy a brand new, shiny galvanized bucket at home decor stores, but the most cost effective source is a feed store or tractor supply store. 

Ours came from our storage building and we'd used it for years for mixing concrete for setting fence posts.  It's weathered with rust and has holes in the bottom ... there's not a shiny spot on it.  Perfect!


To convert it to a Christmas tree container, we simply placed two pieces of 4"x4" square posts in the bottom of the bucket to elevate the tree stand.  

If you don't have square posts, use anything you have on hand that is sturdy and provides a flat base on which to place the tree stand - such as bricks, pavers or stacked flat boards.  Or, you can place the tree stand directly in the bottom of the bucket if you choose not to elevate it. 


(Yes, I labeled them - so we wouldn't accidentally use them for other projects! LOL)

We found that a round tree stand provided the best base and bought it at Home Depot.  You can find it HERE.



A few yards of burlap fabric tucked in and around the tree base hides the square posts and the tree base.

Other containers we're using include a square planter and a lampshade that I spray painted gold.  Will share those with you soon when I have the trees set up.

If we had heirloom tree skirts or those that had sentimental value, I would probably continue to use them and put up with the fuzzy mess, but as we didn't, these containers are the perfect solution for our home.  

 Do you skirt or contain your Christmas trees?  If you contain them, what type of containers do you use? 




Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Our Fun Thanksgiving Table

There's nothing like waiting until the very last minute to plan your holiday tablescape.  I'm not quite sure why I procrastinated, but today I finally got it done.  And I only wish I'd started sooner because creating the personalized place setting decor for our little grandsons was so much fun!


It was quick and easy using a gold charger that I spray painted.  You can find more details HERE.




 I placed the colorful plate and matching napkin (disposable) in the center of the charger and wrapped the silverware in the napkin and tied with natural raffia.

 For the decorative dots, in Microsoft Publisher (you can also use Word), I created orange circles (using "Shapes") with centered white lettering, printed, and cut out using a circle punch.  For the small round turkeys on white background, I simply found a free printable that I liked, resized it and printed multiples on white paper.  Then, cut into circles using my circle punch.  I used a glue stick to attach the decorative circles to the chargers.

For added fun, I placed these cute tote bags on the back of the little ones' chairs - they're filled with puzzles, stickers and books.  I wish they were orange, but my choices were green and pink.  To continue the colorful turkey theme, I cut out the turkey from the paper napkins and decoupaged them to each tote.  We hope the little guys like them.  



 Kiddos really do make the holidays colorful and fun!  




 The adult place settings aren't nearly as fun and whimsical, but they're in keeping with the colors of the season. 



A simple setting with a Fall charger as a base, white dinner plate, amber toned stoneware salad plate, dinner napkin, and raffia tied silverware. Added water and wine stemware glasses and called it done!

Our centerpiece is a clear glass cloche on a weathered round tray, filled with pinecones, encircled in a Fall berry garland and Fall table scatter.  




I've probably broken every formal etiquette table setting rule, but this hodge podge style works well for us.  We're looking so forward to enjoying a bountiful meal with those we love!

If you'd like to see more of our Thanksgiving decor, you can find it HERE.



Wishing you and yours a happy and joyful Thanksgiving!

 




Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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2016 Fall Decor in Our Abode

This year, we were gifted with pinecones galore for our Fall decor.  


We don't have pine trees in our lawn, but my sweet sis-in-law, who lives in Maryland, has an abundance of beautiful long pinecones and she was so gracious to gather them, pack them in a box and send them to me in Texas.  

I've scattered them throughout our home.  They add the perfect touch for Fall and are a sweet reminder of her across the miles.

For the mantel, I created a glitzy pinecone garland using the pinecones and some awesome gold cascading garland.  I was smitten with this gold garland at Hobby Lobby last year but didn't buy it - so was thrilled when I found it again a few weeks ago.  It adds subtle shimmer and shine, don't you agree?


To make the pinecone garland, I securely tied (the pinecones can be heavy!) a length of jute twine to each corner of the fireplace mantel, meeting in the center.  Then, I looped a small length of the twine thru the top of each pinecone and tied them individually to the jute garland.  Super quick and easy to arrange each pinecone by sliding them along the garland.  

Here's a shot without the gold cascading garland added:


I'm honestly so excited about decorating for Christmas this year that most of the Fall decor I'm using are repeats from last year.  But, we're enjoying them just the same.  :)

 I'll stop (most of) the chatter now and let the pics speak for themselves:

 





The Fall printable above is available for purchase from Ann Drake and can be found at Life ... On Sutton Place.  




The above wreath printable is a free printable from Ann Drake at Life ...On Sutton Place.  I had been searching for a "Welcome Fall" wreath printable and loved Ann's and simply replaced her original "Gather" text in the center using Picmonkey.  Thanks to Ann for providing us with all the lovely printables - be sure to check them out on her site HERE.





Don't these cotton boll stems look realistic?  Well ... that's because they ARE!   When it comes to acquiring decor supplies, I am totally without shame and have no scruples whatsoever.  :)  While traveling a back country road recently, I had the good fortune of following a cotton trailer that was dropping cotton stems from its undercarriage.  Guess you can see where this is headed.  LOL!  One minute they're road kill and the next they're gracing our dining room for Fall.  





That wraps up our Fall decor tour.  Wishing you and yours a nice Thanksgiving Day abundant with good food, family and friends and many blessings!





Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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