Showing posts with label Christmas tree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas tree. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2016

Hard Candy Christmas in the Kitchen

Hi sweet friends!  Yes, this is really happening!  I actually decorated the kitchen for Christmas today.  If you follow my FB page you know that I have been struggling with getting in the mood.  Today I was touch by the spirit, and decided it was time.


So without a lot of chit chat because honestly, I'm a bit tired now.  Let's just jump right in and let me share my "Hard Candy" kitchen with you.


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I'm calling it a Hard Candy Christmas because my kitchen is always decorated with a candy theme.  I love the candy and gingerbread look for kitchens.  It's just so warm and inviting as all kitchens usually are.


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I started with my very thin pencil style Christmas tree and moved right on to the chandelier.  Did I mention I also have a thing for elves in the kitchen?


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Next, I worked on my shelves.  They are so fun and I am enjoying changing them out regularly.  I've got it set up pretty good but I've got a bit of tweaking to do.  I need to paint the wood block for the background of my embroidered sign (it's going to be black) and I want to find a cute little mini candy type Christmas tree to replace the plain little tree beside Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  I think they need their own miniature Candy tree as well!


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Next I worked on spreading out a few of festive servicing pieces and positioning my baking Santa's around as well.


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I had to set up an area to display more dishtowels.  Oh mercy, do I ever have so many embroidered decorative dishtowels!  I don't have my newest ones down from the sewing room yet, but don't worry they will make their  way in the kitchen soon.


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My newest addition to the kitchen is the adorable shabby framed chalkboard.  I actually just picked this up recently on clearance at Kirklands and new exactly where I wanted to use it.  I did'nt want to do the chalky scene for Christmas though I really wanted to just use it to hang a wreath on.  I already had this wreath and was quite pleased to see it actually is sized just right.  I was trying to figure out what to do with my adorable measuring spoons to display them when it hit me they would look so cute here on the wreath.  Love it!  I may add a few gingerbreads or other baking items to the wreath, or maybe not, still debating that one.


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After it was all done, I vacumed and mopped the floors.  What an enjoyable day to listening to Christmas music on Pandora, smelling my melted candles and now wrapping up the evening with homecooked Chili from the hubby.  Whew!  I'm tired, but my kitchen is all decorated now and it's all clean too.  Now that's not really the true meaning of a hard candy Christmas is it?  I know, so maybe I'll rename it my Sweets for my Sweets Christmas kitchen.  LOL!


Thanks so much for stopping by, and wishing you the spirit of Christmas soon!


Hugs and Waves!


Mary

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Silver and Gold Christmas Dining Room

Were in full celebration mode here at The Decorative Dreamers house, how about you?  We've already started the celebrations at our house last Saturday after hosting Christmas for my husbands side of the family.  It was so nice to be able to see everyone and to have been able to do so without being stressed from work this year.   I love working retail and I do miss working, but I have to say that it has really been a blessing time of year.   I have been able to slow it down and focus on the little things and that has meant quite a lot to me and to my husband as well.  He always takes the week before Christmas off and is thrilled to have me home with him this year.  He also has always been one of my most treasured blessings!



My dining room is one of my favorite rooms in this house.  I love it for so many reasons.  One reason is because of the location of the room in this house.  It is to the left when you enter our home as most dining rooms are but because our house sits so much higher then the street when you look out of the windows it overlooks the whole yard and just feels so open.  I also love that it has another door that leads into the kitchen.  Because the view is so enjoyable I have never put blinds in this room.  I do finally have curtains but since this room is so rarely used they always stay open


I also love that this room is large enough to accommodate a big table which I now finally have.  It has enough space for additional pieces of furniture for serving as well as a Christmas tree too.  When I started this tree it was primarily to showcase my collected Lenox ornaments.  I started collecting one of them each year starting when my husband and I first married.  That was in 1988 and we now have quite a full set.  I decided they would be best complimented with silver and gold and so the dining room tree came to be.

This year I added the gold angel wings that I got from after Christmas sales last year.  I actually had forgotten I had them until last week when I came across them while organizing my Christmas decor storage.  They are quite large and really pretty but I think they would have been better if I had put them on first so they would be more in the background.  I do love them though!


I read a blog this morning that talked about focusing on details this Christmas.  Not necessarily with regards to decor but with regards to special visions that create wonderful memories.  I loved this bit of advice.  I really want to do this not just for the holidays but for everyday!



I couldn't believe my luck when I went out just last week to find a new tablecloth to fit my larger table.  I found exactly the color and size I wanted at the first place I went to.  It is an off white color with silver metallic threads throughout.  I love TJ Maxx!  I thought for sure they would have been sold out already but I guess since it's larger in size I was still in luck.


Speaking of silver, this year I even made time to polish the silver.  Now mind you we will not be using this silver tea set but since I was polishing my silver serving pieces I decided to polish this set up as well.  I love how shiny and sparkly it is!



Our marble buffet table also sparkles as well this year.  It's the perfect place to display my Fitz and Floyd. I love unwrapping these pieces every year!   





 I actually have used this tray several Christmas's to serve ham.  I think I may have to retire it from serving duty though because I noticed it is starting to loose some of it's coloring around the edges.  I just can't bare the thought of seeing it all worn and rubbed off, but gosh the ham sure does look good served on this pretty platter!  



I purchased this manger scene from the Atlanta market this year.  It was from a vendor who sold handmade ornaments from Peru.  They are just spectacular.  Can you imagine making this by hand?







Okay, I just have to share this little tidbit tip I used this year.  Early in the season even before I set out any trees or Christmas decor.  I pulled several pieces of my silver serveware and displayed them in a utensil dish.  I did this so I would see them and remember to get them polished before company came.  I am so glad I did this.  I had them in another utensil caddy then switched them over to this one since I needed the caddy for silverware.  I already had this metal container and then I found a glass container I already had as well that fit perfectly.  I love this look and it matches a larger metal piece that I usually use on the dining table for floral displays year round.  I think I will now keep my serveware out and handy all the time now.  That way it gets used as well as serving a decorative look appropriately in the dining room.   



  I hope you have enjoyed the tours of Christmas this season.  I hope to do more blogging again now that I more time to do so. 

QUESTION:  I have a bit of a dilemma that I hope someone will help me with.  My son has restored one of my older more expensive laptops that crashed many years ago.  It is now totally restored and free of any old pictures and virus's too.  I could use it again to blog but am very concerned to do so since I have been through several laptops that mysteriously developed virus's that caused them to crash totally.  I have also recently deleted several blogs I followed because they were causing my blog feed to be filled with strange blogs that were not only phishing but some that were x-rated.   I currently use a chromebook but am unable to use photoshops (Picasa) on this without a great deal of hassle.  I have been using my phone for photos and my blogger app to post them, then editing the words on the blog with my chromebook.  If I go back to my laptop I can use my camera for better photos and be able to edit them and tag them as my property which is important to me.  The question I guess I have is how can I prevent these virus's from creeping in again.  I am hoping some of you will take the time to share what measures you use to prevent this from happening.  I am interested in hearing what you do not just with malware but with anything you can do on blogger to prevent this as well.  

As always, thanks so much for stopping in again today. I really appreciate it and hope you'll come back again sometime if you'd like.

  Most importantly,
 I want to wish each of you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Jesus loves you!


Monday, December 14, 2015

Mermaids in the Christmas tree

Good Monday morning!  All my Christmas decorating is finished.  Woohoo!  So, now it's time to share.  I've got so much to show and will try to keep sharing more as much as time permits.  Already we have celebrations coming up to prepare for...so...you know how that goes, and know what I mean right?


One thing you may not know about me is that I absolutely LOVE mermaids!  I am not sure when this actually started but I just adore them!  There is something so fun about the thought of them for me.  I like them so much I started a playful Mermaid theme on my screen porch that all started with a sign I found call The Mermaid Lounge.  That's where the idea began and it's grown ever since.



Let's start off with the topper!  Because my Christmas tree is on the screened porch (aka The Mermaid Lounge) I went with a nautical theme.  Since we are a nautical family this tree makes us really happy!  I found these blue balls on stems at Michaels a few years ago and knew they would make a perfect topper.  They look like bubbles to me.  I also found the silver and teal leafy stems that reminded me of seaweed and it all came together very easily after that.  



I have had so much fun creating this tree and continue to do so every year.  I started collecting more pieces on my summer vacations to add to this tree.  It's amazing how easy it is to come across nautical tree decor while on vacation.  Not to mention it's starting to be very enjoyable to look back at a few of the ornaments now and remember the vacation as well. 



I especially love that friends also enjoy my tree.   The sailboat in the bottle was given to me from a sweet friend last year.  Isn't it adorable, I just love it!!!



This ornament is new, added from our beach trip to Edisto this summer.  Edisto is one of those beaches we used to frequent quite a bit but haven't been back to in some time.  We had such a fun time there this year and I was tickled to death when I found this ornament with Mermaids no less.



This year I also added a few new items.  I came across these adorable fish from Carolina Pottery and added new jute ribbon that I got from Michaels at the after Christmas sales last year. It's a white jute with flecks of gold in it.  I felt like the ribbon had a ropey kind of look that fit the theme well.


As you can see I have lots of nautical ornaments I could highlight.  They are not always so easy to come by so when I do see them I tend to pick them right up.  For this post though, I decided to zoom in on the Mermaids for your enjoyment.  These are just a few more of my favorites also from previous beach trips to Pawleys Island and Litchfield.  



Last but not least, is my newest Mermaid purchased at the Atlanta Market this year while there with work.  She is a handmade ornament for Peru, complete with a precious pearl.  Isn't she beautiful!



I think she's delightful!

Thank you so much for popping in today!
 I still haven't shared the dining room with you yet.  
I'll try to get that one out real soon, okay?  Ok!
Have a great day friends!

Mary

Sunday, December 8, 2013

It's a Very Berry Christmas!

Hi Friends! Are you ready for Christmas yet? Hard to believe it's only in a few more weeks, isn't it?  We are nearly ready as far as the decorating goes this year, with the exception of a few final touches.  

This year I created a very berry look with using much of what I already had on hand, only using it in different ways.  Speaking of using things differently, once again I've created a whole new look on the mantle simply by swapping out a few things from the fall vignette and adding in a few new elements for Christmas.  To see the fall mantle, you may jump back by click HERE.    

And...Wallah!  Here's my Christmas mantle!  
What?  You want to see color?  Sorry!  I just couldn't resist playing around with Picasa's photo editing.  I just absolutely love seeing black and white photos this time of year.

For those of you who want to see a little color I've included a those as well.

Don't ask me how I did this, that's the first time I've seen this happen, but I love, love, love it!



Much of what I used here is a combination of what I already had on the mantle, like the wreath and the willow votive candle holders. I simply added berries to the wreath, changed out the garland and added the reindeer and additional candlesticks.

Also rather then having a large bow here in the center, I decided to bring back this clock to balance it all out.  I love that it is the perfect color too!


Before I show you the tree, I wanted to show you how I carried the berry theme a little more throughout the house.  In the guest half bath, I hung a berry candle ring on the small iron gate.  

The coffee table has a simple votive candle surrounded by berries on a tray.  I love all the layers here that keep it from looking puny on the table.

Okay, now on to the tree.  This year I am all about layers!

Although this is old school to many of you, I finally added a burlap ribbon to my tree this year.  I actually purchased the burlap last year but never got around to using it.  I brought back the willow garland that I used last year.  It looks great with the burlap and was the perfect addition with all the other garlands I used.

You heard me right friends, I said ALL the other garlands.  This year I added several strands of garland that I have never used on my tree before.  I had three long strands of berry garland shown here above that I have used on my stairway and mantle in years past.  I don't know why I have never thought of putting on the tree before, but I am so glad I thought of it this year.  I cannot tell you how much depth it gave the tree.  I guess this is just one of those tricks you learn over time, huh?  LOL!


The top of my tree got a new addition too.  I found this willow star at a thrift store this year and new it would be perfect on my tree.

I still wasn't ready to part with my copper star trio though, so I simply added them to the top as well.  Love the combination here!

More twigs and berries add to the overall effect for a very dramatic topper.



And that is how it all came together for a very berry Christmas!

I'll be back again to share my other trees with you soon.  I've made a few slight changes to the tree in the kitchen this year so you may want to pop back by again later, okay?

Thanks so much for stopping by! 
From our house to yours, 
Wishing all of you,
 a VERY BERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!