Christmas Decor: Living Room

This row of windows is my favorite piece of holiday decor. I love the wreaths hanging from tattered strips of fabric with jingle bells tied on. The wreaths are simple- no frills. Our denim love seat is warmed up with a pinwheel quilt recently purchased from Cracker Barrel. Here is a detailed shot of the wreaths and the fabric strips. No sew, very temporary and very inexpensive to do. I could hang wreaths from every window in my house!
This is our mantle decorated with garland, flannel ribbon, berry picks, a big furry Santa (Hobby Lobby), a Christmas photo of my daughter and husband, and our monogrammed plaid stockings (Old Navy) purchased when we were engaged more than 12 years ago!

I bought 2 stockings and my sister bought 2. Luckily she still had hers and gave them to me for our new addition this year. We have one more on hold, just in case :)

This is our photo from Picture People taken last weekend of my 11 month old and her father in their Santa suits.

Finally, our small, but very important nativity (Hobby Lobby). I love placing this out to remind me of why we even have a Christmas and to help me remember to keep Christ in Christmas.

About 5 years ago when we niece was much younger, she walked into my house and asked me where Jesus was? I hadn't expected to have "the" talk with her, but was ready to launch into heaven and He lives in our hearts. She then told me he was just in the dining room. Then, I was a little nervous and unsure of her question. Come to find out, she was asking about the baby Jesus nativity she had played with the last time she had come over. Whew!

Christmas Decor: Bedrooms

I usually don't decorate our bedrooms much during the holidays. They are not real open to the rest of our home when entertaining and I honestly don't have enough decor to go around. So, they get the leftovers. I did make a Ragamuffin Garland for Christmas this year. Here are the details and instructions. It is amazing how simple strips of fabric, ribbon and tulle come together to make something beautiful. So very applicable to life...
In our guest bedroom which will be used this holiday season includes a sweet little Santa and small stackable gift boxes. Both were gifts many years ago.

I also added a small "Charlie-Brown-like" tree and a Christmas bear.

If I make more purchases this post-holiday season, it will be with these rooms in mind.

Christmas Decor: Kitchen and Dining

I love all the display space a kitchen and a formal dining room allows. Move over toaster and hello Christmas plates! The "Jesus" plate and the Santa plate are new this year. I made the top middle platter a few months ago with a silver platter from eBay and easy chalkboard paint. It hangs in the kitchen year round. The jar of ornaments on the bottom left are vintage from my childhood. The penguin and snowman are half-price from Target. Santa on the cookbooks is Jim Shore and was a present from my mother. The jingle tree and wreath are also Target. I really spend too much time at Target and Hobby Lobby!

These apothecary jars were super easy to make. See the details here.

Here is the table in my formal dining room. I saw these tiny trees and candle on a display at a friend's house. I love the simplicity and organic feel it provides. Plus, these trees are super cheap and easy to store each year. You'll find them at any craft store. They typically have the a round brown plastic base. They are just dropped into Terra Cotta pots and come out for storage.On the buffet, I intertwined a green and red berry garland with ribbon and green pear picks. I would love to use more pear green in my decor. I am loving that color right now!
These two Santas are from a trip to Michigan a few years ago. I bought them at Bronner's- the world's largest Christmas store. It is massive and required a second suitcase on my second trip! I wish I could have you all over for cookies and milk this holiday season in my kitchen! I'll be posting my two favorite holidays sweets this week- Peppermint Snowballs and 3 ingredient Turtles. See you then!

Christmas Decor: Outdoors and Entry

Hello and welcome to my home in the Texas hill country. This is our second year in our home, but I was 40 weeks pregnant last Christmas, do the decor was minimal. This year with a baby has been challenging and fun to decorate. On the long covered front porch, you'll find a fresh pine wreath, given to me each season by a hotel I work with, a 4 foot cashmere pine (Target), a sleigh of pine cones (Pier One) and this wooden Merry Christmas sign given to me from a college girlfriend a few years ago (Ross).

Come on in! This is the view from the front door.

All of the decor you see if from Hobby Lobby or various craft shows. I love shopping church bazaars, convention center shows, and outdoor craft fairs. Here is a close-up of Mr. Santa (Hobby Lobby). He is a good sturdy piece that can be indoors or outdoors.This display is to the right of the front door. It houses a bucket for my Christmas cards and the clothespins for my green shutter. I detailed how to make it here.

On the left of the front door is a ledge that houses half of my snow globe collection. When first married, I faced the "How will I decorate?" dilemma. I narrowed it down to a village or snow globes. Since my Mother has a village, I opted to collect snow globes. I begin collecting in 1999 when first married and have over 20 now. Some are gifts, some are after-Christmas finds, and some I just couldn't walk away from.

This is my new 2009 snow globe in honor of my new baby girl.

Once you take a few steps into the hall, you can see into the long entryway. My husband's office is on the right and the dining and living room are at the cross wall in the distance. Our entry is huge with 10 foot ceilings and more than 5 feet wide. Lots of room to decorate!

On the Singer sewing table above is this vintage Santa purchased in Round Top in 2008.

My childhood piano also in the entry houses the remainder of the snow globes. They sparkle at night with the lights on reflecting on the glass.

With the piano is my music stand that I really want to paint red soon! It is from Hobby Lobby years ago. I hang the holiday trumpet from it this time of year and add a garland spring that fell off.

For the month of December, the hymnal is turned to Christmas music. I don't know how I got a church hymnal. When I took my piano from my parents house about 5 years ago, it was in the piano bench with other musical guides. I pray it wasn't accidentally taken and never returned!

Thanks for joining me in the holiday entryway decor! Coming up, living, dining, bedrooms and my trees!

1920's Grocery Store

When we were in Canton last week, we visited the Brookshire's Museum that included a replica 1920's grocery store. It was tiny, but full of such little treasures. I took so many pictures!

This collage includes the grocery items they had on display- the Kleenex boxes explains it use as a cold crea mremover, the batteries were a unique display, the lard came in the largest containers, Folgers was in a glass jar, and most items would be accessed by a store clerk on a rolling ladder. The store also had many vintage machines used in the 20's for slicing meat and cheese, making malts, pressing coffee, etc. I loved the old grocery cart with the tinies baby seat and the grocery list board shown on the bottom right. You would slide the red "button" if you needed the item. Today's basics are not on this list and some items listed are rarely purchased today. Very eye opening.

Merry Christmas, Love Kate

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Kate Spade

Is this not the cutest purse? I have eyed it since October and today it arrived in my mailbox. It is wool with real buttons and leather trim made to replicate a winter coat from past times. That Kate is clever and knows just what I want. Who needs Santa?

Favorite Candle Ever

Rarely do I buy the same candle twice, but I have found my scent and always have this candle in house. It smells divine and makes the whole house smell good even after you blow it out. My husband asks that I not burn food candles that will make him want birthday cake, shortbread cookies or vanilla icing, so I have to go clean or fruity. This one is a unqiue blend of currants and grapefruit.

What is your favorite candle scent?

Christmas Ragamuffin Garland

While on vacation I brought along a bag full of Christmas fabrics, ribbon, ric rac and tulle that I had been collecting for my Christmas ragamuffin. It was a perfect travel project. I tied knots each night after my daughter went to bed while watching TV with my husband. It would be easy to do in the car or on an airplane also!

Here is it as a garland for my headboard. A close up of my fabrics. This one cost me much less than the fall garland since I bought cheap seasonal fabric when it was 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby.
It was super easy to hang on the headboard- I just wrapped it around the slats in the middle and sat it on the outer columns. No tape needed- I pray it doesn't land on my husband in the middle of the night. He is liable to rip it to shreds and wake up the neighborhood!

When I put it up, he commented it was very "shabby chic". I don't know that I agree or where he learned that term, but I adore him for commenting!

The blue pillowcases you see peeking behind the white are my very favorite super soft Santa flannel sheets. I love pulling them out each year!

Canton Finds

My trip to Canton this week was wonderful, but really cold! Those metal barns with concrete floors don't handle 30 degrees well. My child was miserable and husband was as patient as could be, so I speed shopped while they waited in the car. Not what we had in mind, but I did find a few things I love. Many of my purchases were Christmas presents, so I can't share them just yet!

Here is a small plate I just love. This is my first Christmas with a child and I am trying to learn how to make it about Jesus more than Santa. I think a birthday cupcake on this plate will be fun!

Since my child doesn't read the blog, here are two of her presents. These shoes are soft and furry and were only $11.95! I have seen similar shoes for over $30 elsewhere. The toddler pillow will be great as she gets a little older.

I bought these necklace and the pendants at separate booths, but loved them all together! These pendants are huge and great quality. I won't tell you what I paid since I bought many of them as gifts, but there were a steal! These two are for me!

I love love this chandelier, but it didn't make it home with me. It is made of forks and would look great in a breakfast nook. I hope it found a lovely home!

On our way to Canton, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and I fell in love with some of their holiday decor. Seriously, a Christmas pinwheel quilt for less than $40 and chicken and dumplin's! If you haven't been to Canton, I highly recommend it. Just don't go in December!

Add A Little Sparkle

When I bought my glass apothecary jars at Ballard Designs earlier this year, I had this holiday decor in mind. They work great on the kitchen counter since the backside is still festive.

I looked at numerous stores and felt like the balls were boring or too big to really fill the jars. I came across these ornaments at Target and they were perfect- plastic to last me more than one year in storage, small and sparkly, and $12 for both the silver set and the turquoise.

I already had the jingle bell tree from past years. It helped me determine my color scheme. So, my only other purchase was the 3 blue snowflakes and the Peace ornament to hang on the outside of each item. In all, under $15 for my new sparkle!