Winter Vignettes or “How I beat the post-Christmas decorating blues.”

It is a well-documented fact that many of us dread the post-Christmas “blah” that is our home décor.  For many folks, it is the dread of the process of preparing our Christmas decorations for another 11 months of storage—that is part of my issue.  The larger dread, however, is due to the seemingly stark appearance of my house once I’ve stowed all of the greenery, lights and ornaments.

I guess that’s why my post-holiday decorations have begun multiplying and taking on a life force of their own.  I have started using many of the items I would normally display or store in our china hutch and making them a focal point.

I have also started collecting pictures with winter scenes—anything with snow will do.  This includes my every growing collection of vintage photos of children dressed in their snowsuits or finest winter coats.  (Credit for this idea goes solely to Auntie Bliss!)

My winter Santos fairy takes center stage on our living room mantel.

This year I’ve added a frosty bird’s nest or two, some pinecone candles and faux bare braches with hints of frost, as well.  as I’ve mentioned before, my velvet pumpkins are always on display, as evidenced here on the mantel . . .

. . . and here on a side table . . .

I am not a big fan of using hearts in my decorating.  {I blame this on the fact that I had started setting-up our first household  when country-style decorating was at the height of popularity, thus explaining my aversion to ducks and geese, as well.} I will, however, make the exception for vintage hearts and any hearts embellished with real glass glitter!

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I am making a concerted effort to carve out a little time in my schedule to nurture my creativity.  I’m finally acknowledging creativity takes many forms (more on that later), but the form I am referring to at the moment is that which requires the use of scissors, glue, ephemera and other bits and bots; thus, the decorative bottles seen in this vignette.

I used these great bottles, which formerly contained a very nice bourbon, and decorated them with pages of a very old music book, vintage Valentines and ribbon.  My dining room table has been a wreck for two weeks as I disassembled Christmas, sorted through end-of-year papers and periodically applied Mod Podge  and tied ribbon to these bottles.

For my final winter offering, I will leave you with this . . .

I hope you are enjoying your winter décor as much as I am enjoying mine.  I’d love to hear about the ways you beat the doldrums, so please share.

Again and always, I thank you for your indulgence.