Vintage inspired Christmas mantel

Do you ever decorate on a wing and a prayer? Well that's what I did this year for my mantel. I had all these ideas swimming around in my head, but how in the world was I going to make it work? Originally I was going to go with creams, golds, silvers, and of course a little aqua, but I had been eyeing these stockings from Anthropologie, so I was inspired to add a little more color. I thought about making something similar myself, but since the entire store was 20% on Black Friday, I opted to purchase them. I am so glad that I did. They are made really well, and I love the wool and pom poms they used to make them. So I started by hanging the stockings. Luckily, I had just made a pom pom garland for a christmas card photo shoot, in the color scheme of aqua, cream, and red. I added the garland, but felt like I wanted another layer. I dug through my Christmas decor and found this cute tinsel garland with snowmen, and snowballs on it. I had found it at TJ Maxx a few years back. Never underestimate reusing decorations you might already have on hand. The only "new" purchases for my mantel this year were the stockings, and the amazing vintage pipe cleaner wreath. I found the wreath antiquing with my mom, and I love how it looks against the frame. Everything else I already had. :)

The chalk art sign took some time, and some "do-overs" I looked for inspiration on Pinterest for the lettering. There is some really amazing chalk art out there. I wanted to chose something fairly easy, and simple. JOY to the WORLD is one of my favorite Christmas songs, it is the reason we celebrate the season. I usually keep this chalkboard in my studio, and keep an inspirational phrase written on it, but brought it out for my holiday mantel this year. All the "fluff" on the side is stuff I have collected over the years. I am definitely one of those people that if something really speaks to me, than I purchase it. I may not have a place in mind for it, but I will eventually find a spot. I love my little vintage plastic Santa. The silver trees I had purchased a few years back at Hobby Lobby, I'm sure they have something similar again this year. The bottle brush trees, I have been collecting for years. You can make your own version, just check out this blog post I wrote about it. I have also been collecting the open frames while out antiquing, and I just painted them all aqua, of course. The vintage globe I found this summer, and I adore it. I thought it was appropriate since my sign said "JOY to the WORLD." So as you can see, things just started to naturally come together. I like to get all my decorations out, so that I can see what I have to work with. I suggest, coming up with a color scheme, and just running with it. Think outside the box, and have fun with it. I really love our mantel so much this year, I find myself sitting in our family room at night, enjoying every element of it. Hope you feel inspired to create a mantel or book shelve in your nest this year. I'll be back soon, with other Christmas decorating ideas, until then...

XO~Gretchen 

Shadow box ornaments

I wanted to share with you an easy shadow box ornament that you can make. Tis' the season for ornament exchanges, and I thought it would be nice to have one that is handcrafted. This one is really easy to make, and took less than 30 mins.

What you will need:
A shadow box ornament. I found mine at Michaels
Some paper for the background
A bottle brush tree, you can see my previous post about how to bleach and dye them here.
Paint, to paint the shadow box, and a paint brush.
Glitter
Some type of Holiday clip art
Tinsel for the outer edge of the box. This is optional
A glue gun and scissors

I also found these mini trees and the mini wreaths at Michaels.

The first thing that I did was paint the shadow box a minty bright green.

While it was drying I cut out the circle to go in the back of the box. I used the template that the box came with as my guide.

Once the shadow box was dried, I glued my scrapbook paper to the back of it. I used my glue gun for this.

Next I glittered my bottle brush tree. I just dabbed Elmer's glue on it, then sprinkled glitter on it over a plate.

I then glued the tinsel around the perimeter of the shadow box, and glued the banner "Merry Christmas" to the top. The last step was to glue the tree in the center. You could put whatever your creative mind comes up with! I would love to find some vintage reindeer and put one in the center. Still on the hunt for some small enough :) 

If you are going to make these for an ornament exchange, I think it would be nice to write your name and the date on the back, for a personal touch. I also think these would be fun to make with the kids over the holiday break.

Hoping to post some more Christmas DIY's, so be sure to check back.

XO~Gretchen

Holiday Dinner Party

For almost 20 years now, my girlfriends from high school and I have gathered together during the holiday season. And for most of those years I have had the pleasure of hosting the dinner party. This year was extra special because it was our first year in our new home. I wanted to share with you some of the photos from the evening, and where I purchased some of the beautiful things I used to make a glittery tablescape.

We have a large farmhouse table, which works out well to accommodate a larger dinner party. I also have an eclectic grouping of chairs that I use. The table came Arhaus Furniture, some of the chairs also came from there, and some came from Overstock

These are my new plates that I got at a local boutique called Rabbit and the Moon. The plates are by the company Rosanna. The name of the plates are "A Walk in the Woods" I really adore these plates. They come in a set of four.

At the center of my table I placed a silver tinsel tree with a collation of vintage ornaments. I decided to use the pink ornaments since it was a gathering of my girlfriends.

On my buffet I put my collection of Cody Foster glittery Christmas houses. I adore these houses and all the little details on them. They truly make a magical scene. 

This was a banner I hung on the window using washi tape, just a remainder about the season.

I made each of my girlfriends a personalized ornament with their initial, and used these as place cards.

I placed a little birdie paper clip on each of the napkins for some added whimsy.

Friendships should be treasured, especially those that have lasted decades. Hope that you feel inspired to host a dinner party for your friends, and may you have a wonderful new year! Looking forward to blogging more in 2013!

XO~Gretchen