A Look Back At Our Christmas

It’s now January and Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone.  Most of you have taken down everything and don’t want to think about it again for another 11 months.  I’m right there with you!  All our decorations have been taken down and put into storage and won’t come out again until next December.  It’s exciting to put it all for the celebration but it sure is nice to have your old house back again.

There were several things I wanted to share but simply ran out of time.  The first being our Christmas tree.  I waited until the very last moment and I mean last moment to take these pictures.  I took these Christmas Eve morning when the house was decorated and all our presents were wrapped.  My thought was that I could crank out a blog post after lunch that day.  I don’t know what I was thinking!  With hosting a dinner that night and getting 3 children and myself ready for church in the afternoon, writing a blog post was the least of my thoughts that day. 

So here I am.  Kids have returned back to school and children are napping.  This is the perfect time for me to share pictures of our living room with our Christmas tree and kitchen area.

My color palette for this year was white, gold and silver.  I threw in some black clustered ornaments on the tree and in patterned wrapping paper. 

When we were setting up the tree this season some of the strands of lights were out.  So I call my husband, who was already at Menards, to pick up a few boxes of lights.  He came home with LED lights. 

Now….!  If you don’t know me you will soon will know that I have a thing for LEDs. 

I don’t like them!  I don’t like the bright white light they give off.  I guess it’s more of a selfish reason why I don’t like them.  No one looks good in the bright white light and it somewhat gives off a greenish color.  Gosh!t  This is MY house I want to be able to look good in it!  Plus it also makes rooms seem too much like a warehouse.  I realize that incandescent lights are on the way out, but I’m going to ride that train for as long as it’s available. 

That being said, I thought I would give the LEDs a try on my tree which would be taken down in a month.

Nope!  No way!  Once they were strung around the tree and the room lights went off, it looked too much like we needed to be packing up boxes in a warehouse. 

Here’s where my husband really thinks I’m crazy!

I packed up all the lights and returned them and purchased just some plain inexpensive old-time Christmas lights.  So long story short our tree has brand new white twinkling lights and I love it!

My cone trees were super easy to make; no tutorial necessary!  Plus they can be customized to what ever color scheme you have.  Just wrap fabric around a cardboard cone.  I made my own cones using cereal box cardboard.  I looked into buying cones at the craft store and thought twice about it after I realized what it was going to cost me. 

All my greenery is faux including the tree in case you wondering.  Again I thought about adding some real stuff here and there for the scent but I just figured why?  I can buy a candle and it will be just as good and a lot less of an expense.

Years ago I cut out initials for my kiddos and tied them to their packages.  Just adds a extra touch of sparkle.  I’ve kept them for year to year and reused. 

I didn’t forget about my 2 starburst mirrors.  I added snowflakes in my coordinating colors to the rays.

Also my Dad’s deer antlers didn’t go untouched.  I dangled more snowflakes from one side.

I clustered ornaments together and then tied them to the light chain.  I also draped greenery around the light fixture and finished it off with white satin ribbon bows.

I just had to get a picture of my new favorite dessert…peanut butter chocolate balls!  They are sooo yummy!  Family members really couldn’t believe I made them or so they say!

An ornament wreath in shades of white, gold and silver is flanked by 2 simple evergreen wreaths.  A black satin ribbon is draped in between and connects everything together.

And one more look with the lights off.

And finally the happy kiddos right before church.  With excited faces and anxious hearts they couldn’t wait for Christmas to come!

We all had a wonderful day spending time together with family and opening up gifts.  Thank you for all the wonderful memories that I will always hold to dear of this Christmas season.

I will be back this week to show what I did for my little guy’s room.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.

my winter wreath

Seeing that it will be nearly 70 degrees today, I figured I better post about my winter wreath.  Spring is right around the corner and I am already thinking of what to do for spring.

This was my Christmas wreath that never was written about.

 

I got the idea from Martha Stewart found here.  It took me a looooooong while!  I started with an 18" straw wreath.  I have never used this size: I wanted something bigger for the holidays.

Well, I started with one bolt of yarn and did make it all the way around once.  But there were gaps and you could see through it.  So back to the fabric store I went.  I grabbed 2 more bolts, thinking I only needed one more but just in case I bought another one.  I probably didn't need the third but I wrapped it around as well.  The outcome is a nice fluffy non-see through yarn wreath. 

Now that the core wreath was done, it was time to embellish.

Making the flowers also took some more time!

Martha Stewart's wreath consisted of using different color ribbons with different textures.  I did price it if I were to do it exactly like she did using her source....mega expensive! 

I had bought a some velvet and satin fabric to re-do some Christmas ornaments.  I decided to give the fabric a try.  I made myself a template in 4 different sizes and traced away. 

I followed the directions online and put the flowers together. 

Instead of covering the entire wreath I decided to pin the flowers only on one side.

After this was all said and done it was only a few days before Christmas.  It was such a shame to take it down so hence the idea for my "winter wreath".

Here in Nebraska the ground is shades of brown and gold and often times covered with snow.  I wanted to incorporate those colors into my wreath.

At the fabric store I bought 1/2 yards of different colors and textures that I thought might work.

Some fabrics were easier to work with than others.  So beware.

Also I hung the wreath from a ribbon that I thumb tacked to the top of the door.  I didn't want to use my standard black hook.  I think I like it!

I used several different flowers stamens or "pips" in various coordinating colors and sizes.  I found most of what I used on Etsy.

I also ran the edges of the fabric petals through a candle to seal them.  I did this afterwards once I noticed the edges fraying after being on the wet-icy door.  If I were to make flowers again, I would do this before constructing the flowers.  It just gives it a more polished look.

Stay tuned for a spring wreath.  Hopefully it wouldn't be almost summer before I write about it.

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now. 

my summer wreath

 I needed to change out my wreath for my front door.  I loved the look of all the fabric flowers but I wanted something more summer-like.

So I headed to the goodwill.  To my surprise it was $1.00 shirt day!  Yeah!  I stocked up on vibrate summer colors that I could cut and sew together.  I could just feel the curiosity the lady who helped check me out on what I was planning on doing with these shirts.  I definitely was not going to be wearing these!

I also wanted to do something different than a yarn wreath.  I followed the tutorial from Jones Design Company found here.  I am so not a sewer!!!!  And with this tutorial you have to sew. 

I had bought a sewing machine shortly after I graduated from college.  My dreams of becoming a designer who could offer made-to-order sewn pillows and curtains for customers was short lived, or should I say never lived!  OH-well....I now have a machine that has come in handy. 

My machine did not come with a ruffling foot....(I don't even know if that's the correct name) nor did I know how to adjust the stitches to make it ruffle.  I did know how to pull the thread and gather the fabric.  And I did start to do that, but that was pain-staking to say the least.  Plus my thread kept breaking and all that I gathered before came undone. 

I had come across this awesome sewing blog that she had made a summer scarf found here.  She used elastic thread in the bobbin.  She also said that in some machines it doesn't work.  OH-gosh.....I had my fingers double crossed that it would work in my mine. 

I had some elastic thread left over from my little-girl-hair-making-days (another dream that really never took off and I have incredible amount of bows left over to show for it).  I wound it up on the bobbin, it was tricky, and put it down in the machine.  And it worked! 

I didn't have linen on hand to use as in the tutorial.  I used that Osnaburg fabric (don't know if that's the correct name or not) found cheaply at Walmart.  It ruffled great!  It was light weight and was perfect for my summer wreath.

I liked the ruffles going down the wreath versus the one coming up.  So I wanted to hide them and decided to put my flowers on that side.

I made a ton of flowers and I dont' know if it seems to much.  I really like the different colors it adds to my front door. 

I have flowers in planters on my front porch and this wreath mimics those colors.



Thanks for stopping by.

Bye for now!

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