Better Late?

Well, I fully intended to get these pictures posted prior to Christmas—they were taken well before..

This is the new wreath I put together.  It’s actually a blend of my old wreath with some new stuff.  First, I took off all of the red stuff—the berries and the poinsettias.   Then I started adding the new stuff . . .

I decided to use a bird theme—I love them and I had an ample supply of resources at the shop!

I recycled the grapevine form,the pine, the mistletoe branches and the bow.

I added the frost-speckled nest and the bird.

The had to work-in these frosted, green rosehips and pheasant feathers.  The feathers are faux and wired, therefore much easier to manipulate than the real thing.  They’re one of my favorite elements.

 

Here’s the pile of leftovers.  They’re now stored away for a resurrection in a future arrangement.

Sorry I didn’t get this posted in a more timely manner, but I hope it provides you with some inspiration for your own arrangements or wreaths.

Did you recycle any arrangements at your house this Christmas?   I’d love to see them—share a link in the comments forms!

Thanks for your indulgence!

some last minute table ideas

If you haven’t figured out what to you’ll use to set your holiday table, please allow me to offer the following suggestions:

These are great appetizer plates or they work well to set the table as a salad plate layer.

You can mix them with your everyday dishes—like these green dishes, made in Portugal (don’t you love the simple detail on the rim?) and/or the gold tone dishes.  The placemats and napkins are a great –Christmas-y in color, but they also have that bird theme we love so much.

The bundle of vintage flatware helps to capture the glimmer of the gold-toned plate.

Here I show my personal favorite black and cream winter theme plate on a square embossed dish—also trimmed in black.  A nice simple look which could carry you from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day.  The dinner plate has an embossed bird pattern—very subtle.

There are three others in this collection—I couldn’t possibly limit myself to just one!  You’ll also find an elk, wild hares and a squirrel.  The flatware offers enough elegance for your finest china, but can be used for casual settings as well.

Here I’ve started with a basic brown and cream transferware pattern from Mary Carol Garrity.  The dinner plate has a farm scene, while the salad plate has a gardeners scene—again, there are four different patterns.  The flatware has brown handles.   These are perfect for everyday, but I wanted to show how I would dress them up for the holidays.

I thought I’d go with a red charger, to really make things pop.  Don’t you love red with chocolate brown?

Then I added another layer using the gold toned plate I used in the earlier settings.  Notice how it really brings out the browns, though.  Instant elegance with your everyday dishes!

Then I took it one step further with this simple pine and berry wreath.  We’ve used these things everywhere in the the store—on the back of dining chairs and looped three together in a vertical row.  The ideas for this basic accessory are limitless!

Well, the ideas could go on and on, but I’ve got to get this posted and get on with my own preparations for Christmas.  I’m going to post this on Tablescape Thursday, so be sure to peruse the other posts there for more inspiration.

I wish you the Merriest Christmas and hope you spend it with those you love!

Thanks for your indulgence!

Our New Staircase Decor

I mentioned in my article for The Leaf Chronicle today that we had to throw-away all of the stuff I had accumulated and used to decorate the staircase in the past.  (It was smoke damaged after our fire last January.)

So, since I had to start from scratch again, I thought I’d share the process of putting together our new look.

First, it started with basic faux pine garland.  As you get ready to use it, you need to fluff it.  Then, once it’s in place—fluff it again!

I knew a single garland would not be enough, so I bought enough to double-up the entire length of the banister.  (I ended-up using a total of twelve garlands for this banister.)  You’ll note I worked a rather deep “swag” in the garland.  Don’t wrap tightly around the hand-rail—first, it looks  chinsy and this stuff is relatively cheap; second, it allows spaces where your guests can grab the much needed rail!

Then I added lights—this way the tulle and ribbon will help soften the look.  (I used 600 lights.)

Nest I added the tulle—it’s actually closer to “netting.”

I chose the netting over tulle because it was more substantial next to my burlap ribbon.  I ended-up cutting it lengthwise—I started with eight yards.

Here you see the addition of burlap.

The burlap ornaments I shared in an earlier blog post—as promised I brought them home for myself!  LOVE them!

See!  Wonderful!

Then I added the blue ornaments in groups of three.

Lights off . . .

A lose-up of the favored burlap ornaments . . .

So next year, I might add some natural elements—pinecones, maybe  some magnolia pods and leaves. . . ooh, and some berries—white ones.  Actually, I may have to do that this year . . .

Any suggestions?  I’m open—just leave them here.

Thanks for your indulgence!

The Glitter Tree

We’ve always had a “glitter tree” in Hodgepodge.  The ornaments from Wendy Addison for Midwest—Seasons of Canon Falls are my favorites (no big surprise), but every ornament on the tree was selected for the qualities it brought to the  tree. 

Love this pipe cleaner snowflake!

A pearl filled dream.

A Wendy Addison design.  “Nest.”

The glass glitter, mixed with real silver is so appealing!

A beautiful star.

“Peace on Earth”

My favorite glitter, glass Wendy Addison bird!  Isn’t she beautiful?

What can I say?  So simple and special.

A beautiful porcelain cross.

A classic church.

More Wendy Addison glitter—a peace dove.

A sphere of wire is the perfect accent to slide over the bulbs of your string lights—they come in a pack of nine.

Here’s a mercury glass finial with icy accents.

A snow-covered, silver pinecone.

A simple, inexpensive leaping reindeer . . .

More glitter, with a greeting!

A glitter crown to accent your tree or decorative vignette.

A silver and glitter pine-look pik adds a a lot of dimension to the tree.

A grouping of glitter snowballs. (do you see a theme developing here?)

A trio of mercury glass finials.

A Paris memory.

A snow fairy under a cloche.

Mercury glass pillars, a platinum hops garland surround the fairy on this mantel display.

This beautiful Santos-style fairy queen holds court on the mantel, as well.

I added one of these beautiful bottle brush wreaths to my own home décor last year.

This little beauty is actually about 2 1/2 feet tall—a wood cut-out with an easel support on the back—she would look lovely at your front door, next to your fireplace or along side of her Father Christmas counterpart, seen here in this post.

Beautiful vintage-style, mirrored ornaments.

Mercury glass ornaments are so classic and lovely.

These beautiful, hand-beaded mini candeliers look great on the the tree—use battery operated votive, please.

These appetizer plates from the Mary Carol Collection are perfect for your table from Thanksgiving through all of the winter months.  You’ll find snowy scenes including squirrels, pheasants, hares and a buck.  They’re displayed on our exclusive reproduction platter rack.

I think I have one more tree to show, but it’ll have to wait until after I show you my new stairwell décor.  After our fire last year, I had to throw-out all of my old stairwell decorations—so I want to show you what I put together to replace it.

So, until then, I thank you for your indulgence!

PS  I’m linking to Vintage Inspired Friday again—as there is no denying that most items I’ve shown here are inspired by vintage designs.  We can’t always find the vintage pieces we we’d like to have for our homes, but with talented designers like Wendy Addison and Mary Carol Garrity, we can have the next best thing . . . Vintage Inspired décor.