More Christmas Decorations

I made a lot of fun decorations this year. I didn't want it to look like Christmas exploded in the house, but I do like having little touches (or even big touches) in different areas of the house. I really love surprise touches like the elf on the shelf idea.

I put our sled on top of the entertainment center with a bubble wreath that was given to us and some lighted garland. The sled doesn't get much use in our temperate climate so it has lasted a long time. It was my dad's when he was a little boy.

I hung ornaments in the large dining room window. There is a lighted glass box in the bottom of the window. As you can see the trim needs to be painted luckily that is a new year's present!

 The stockings get too hot on the fireplace (we aren't so temperate that we don't need heat :-)) so we often hang them on the stairs. This year instead of a large garland, I used ribbon and greenery clippings. I found some very lifelike artificial poinsettias at the pottery that I placed in my polka dot basket. I love the color combination.

 We try these gingerbread kits off and on but always have fallen walls. My family won't let me use hot glue so I decided to make the house over a period of several days. I did the walls one morning, then added the roof eaves that evening. The next day I decorated the house and yard additions. The last day I decorated the roof and finished the yard. So far nothing has collapsed!

 The dining room built-in made a nice place for those little decorations that need to be out of the way from little kitties and little kiddies. The santa and sleigh is from the 1960's and was something my mother grew up with. The ornaments on the green tray are made of cinnamon and applesauce. They are easy to make and make the house smell heavenly.

 In our town, the Ronald McDonald House sells luminarias as a fundraiser. Neighborhoods ask residents to buy them and everyone in town lights them at 6 on Christmas Eve (weather permitting).

 Santa will get an egg nog and a Christmas tree cake this year. We found this delicious egg nog made by Homestead Creamery and have bought nearly 10 bottles since Thanksgiving. Some of that went to parties, but a good portion has been just for our enjoyment. Santa will love it too! Santa's reindeer get some lovely carrots. Hopefully, they will remember that they always get a treat at our house and fly to us faster!

Wreaths, Wreaths, and more Wreaths

I made several wreaths for the house, for the office and for the church. It was a great stress reliever and holiday movie watching activity.

Christmas Mantlescape

One of the first Christmas decorating I like to do is the mantel. I decided on a white, silver, and gold theme this year. I bought these silver cone trees a few years ago at Pier One after Christmas. The silver reindeer are actually stocking holders.

Glitter, sparkle, oh my!

The monogram ornament really glows in the firelight.

Christmas Decorating Beginning

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in advent so my mother and I decorated the church on Black Friday. It was much more enjoyable than elbowing through crowds at 2 am. I made this urn wreath to go in front of the pulpit. I got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens.

I took a plain greenery wreath and wedged it in oasis that filled the urn. I also secured the wreath with dowels and tape. I added the sprig of berries and pinecones. I covered the oasis with moss. It turned out beautiful and I was sorely tempted to keep it for myself. 

I also decided to make "peppermint tea" with my "Cup of Christmas Tea" china. If you have never read the story, it is a sweet holiday short story that I first read in middle school. Warning, it will make you tear up. The china in the background was a dollar store find.

My sister, sister-in-law, and I made this wreath for my sister's house. I love the jingle bell holly picks! If she forgets this in her packing, I won't mind using it at all.

Thanksgiving

I added a little bit to the tablescape. I decided that the centerpiece needed some oomph so I some branches.

I attempted to be artsy :-P. I was attempting for a woodsy theme.

The buffet with the iron squirrels holding tea lights and delicious desserts from my talented sister. We had pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and a cheesecake.

I used a golden cornucopia to hold the rolls. It was a delicious meal of turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cinnamon red hot pickles, broccoli, and rolls. Yes we have two types of potatoes, we have a family war those who prefer yams and those who prefer white on the holiday. We don't let it become a brawl we just make both!

Thanksgiving Tablescape

In our family, my sister and sister-in-law cook the sides and dessert, my mom makes the turkey, my brother and brother-in-law watch tv and I make the decorations. I have a sweet gig if you ask me, though the men may argue me down. I finished up the tablescape tonight (yes I am a little excited). As you will remember I had some burlap leftover from the hoedown. I decided to use a square of it over a white tablecloth. On top of that is some yellow crinkle tulle. In the center is one of the hurricanes with miniature pumpkins from the hoedown as well. I like to recycle and reuse in case you haven't noticed.

I wrapped the chandelier in the yellow crinkle tulle and secured it with a burnt orange ribbon. Don't worry the bulbs are not covered. Safety first!

 The plates and gravy boat were a find years ago from a Barron's catalog sale.

 I made place cards out of stationary paper, pipe cleaners and leaf garland bits. They are tucked in raffia tied around small votives. The little blob of color in the corner is a turkey. Gobble, gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Much Burlap

After the hoedown, I had a lot of burlap left. I hate to throw perfectly good things away so I found the perfect use for the fabric. Recently, we found the perfect table for the den. We had been using a glass table, but it didn't give quite the visual weight needed in the room. This table was perfect and it was on sale. The metal was gold and the chairs I had were black, so I spray painted them an antique gold and covered the black paisley seat cushions with the burlap. I still need to find a way to fix them to the chair. I don't really like the trailing ribbons usually used, I find they always need retying, but I might end up doing just that. Maybe a rougher fabric (the old ones were satin) will not untie itself so often.

I also reused the white pumpkins from Brittany and Jody's wedding, the orange pumpkins from the hoedown and the leaf garland and lights.

Church Hoedown

At the end of October, my church held its annual hoedown. The kids come dressed in their Halloween costumes and play games, while the adults have a square dance. Everybody enjoys delish BBQ and fixins all made by church members. My friend Amy and I volunteered to decorate. We had a blast and only wish we'd had more time and more lights!

 We hung overlapping burlap on the stage and had strings of lights behind it. I love the idea (it was Amy's) but unfortunately we thought of it last minute because we had extra burlap. We did not have loads of extra lights... If I could do it over, I would have had strings of lights hanging from the top. I would also line the floor of the stage in lights. These were taken with my phone which, though wonderful, is not an IPhone.

 The fall bucket arrangements with some of the most perfect pumpkins that I found at the Fresh Market (aka the greatest store ever!).

 I had these purple lights that I thought looked like fall. Again the picture doesn't do it justice. Unfortunately, the chairs could not be moved out but were stacked against the walls. We tried to improve them somewhat by running lights and leaf garlands as if they had taken over.

 Close up of the leaf/light garland with some pumpkins "growing" on the vine.

 The tables were very simple because there was not a lot of extra space due to the plentiful bounty of "fixins". No complaints there! Again we used a square of burlap with hurricanes filled with tiny pumpkins.

We used (a lot of) burlap as decoration for the fall/barn feel. Here is the view that greeted everyone. Again sorry for the picture quality. I think it turned out well for a last minute job. Thank you Amy!

Wanted to find a way to display these shimmery pumpkins in the house. I piled them in my silver shell dish and tucked some artificial hydrangea leaves for framing. Happy Autumn!

Brittany and Jody

Had a wedding at the King's Daughter's Inn in Durham this weekend. The inn is a beautiful bed and breakfast that was built in 1925 as a home for ladies. A few years ago it was renovated into a gorgeous bed and breakfast. The bride wanted flowers in varying shades of dark purple. The bride's bouquet was made of white roses, purple caspia, purple stock, matsumoto asters, thistle, and trachelium.

She wanted to acknowledge fall but didn't want a wedding screaming halloween so I used branches, thistle, asters, and white pumpkins. Below is a picture of one of the white pumpkin aisle markers. It is resting on a bed of moss.

There were two large arrangements on the back tables. They were placed in lavender ewers that the bride owned. The flowers were fuji mums, purple liatris, roses, caspia, thistle, white statice, and trachelium. 

Each table also had a small bouquet of rose, ruscus, thistle, caspia, lisanthus, and matsumoto asters. 

The front of the ceremony was marked by two tables with a candlescape. I used different sizes of glass cylinders holding candles, candles with pecans, and water dyed purple. I also had a central large cylinder with dyed water and curly willow branches. Hopefully, I will have some pictures from evening ceremony soon.

UPDATE: I was able to get some photos from the photographer Adam Wamsley. He did a much better job than I did of capturing the beautiful colors.

So happy for them! So happy everything turned out so well. Still loving the purple water!