Hosting for the Holidays

Every year for the past 20 years my high school friends and I have gathered together for the holiday season. I have know these ladies for over 20 years. We have been there for each other through just about everything you can think of, and I am really blessed to have these girls in my life. These girls are like sisters to me, and I love them dearly. So it is really fun to be able to host our holiday get together, and make these girls feel special.

Here is a break down of my holiday table setting. I get asked all the time about my polka dot burlap table runner. I got the material at Joann Fabric. Not sure if they still have it, but you could make your own by purchasing burlap and adding the polka dots to it. Just a thought. ;) I used my milk glass to add some height to the bottle brush trees. Those are the trees I bleached and dyed myself. You can find the tutorial here.

I made this little bell jars and filled them with white chocolate peppermint bark that my son Noah made. I got the idea from my friend Melissa's blog you can find the tutorial here.

I also get asked a lot about these lovely deer plates. I bought them last year at a local boutique, but you can find them online here  They are by Rosanna, and they are called Walk in the Woods. I found the paper placemats at Target. I got 10 for $5.00. I love the layering effect. I used my velvet ribbon from Anthropologie to tie up the napkins.

This is my vintage tinsel tree that sits in my dining room. 

My collection of vintage inspired houses sit on my buffet. I used a pair of old shutters as back drops, and make a garland.

Christmas isn't just about presents, it's about gathering with the people you love. I am so happy I have the opportunity to host these girls for our Christmas get together.

Happy holidays to you, and I hope you feel inspired to host a little holiday get together at your nest.

XO~Gretchen

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

Bottle Brush Trees

So a friend of mine, Leslie, posted a photo of her bleached bottle brush trees on Instagram. I had heard of doing this, and had done a little research myself, but seeing it in person convinced me that I could try it. I am so glad that I did! I love the results, and wanted to share them with you, and how I did it. I found a big bag of the dark green bottle brush trees at Michael's. They are near the tiny town displays. Be sure to print off your Michael's coupon if they are not on sale. The big bag of them is $21.99, not on sale. I think they have a 50% coupon this week. :)
Here are the steps I used. I poured a bottle of household bleach in our utility sink in the garage. I did it out there, one to keep the mess out there, and the smell is pretty strong. I added about 1 cup of water to the mixture. The stronger the mixture the faster the results. Put some gloves on, then put the trees in the mixture, and work them around, getting all the color off them. It goes pretty quickly. Once I got out all the color, and they were a creamy white, I rinsed them all in the sink with soapy water. I then brought them in the house, and dried them off. Once they are dry, then you can dye them. I mixed my Wilton food coloring with water in large bowls. A little goes a long way. If you want more pastel colors then I wouldn't use a lot. If you want more vibrant colors, then add some more food coloring. The colors I used were Pink Rose, and then I mixed Leaf Green and Sky Blue to get the aqua color. I also added about 2 tsp. of salt to the water mixture. I found that the pink took really quickly. Just a quick dip in the water and it was changed. I had to let the aqua soak a little longer. I decided to keep some of the trees the bleached white. And there you have it! Really easy, and I was happy to have my son Noah helping me with the coloring process. You could also add some glitter, which I think would be pretty. I think I may glitter the bases. Good luck with your project and if you are on Instagram I'd love for you to tag me in a photo of the trees you make. :)
XO~Gretchen