2011 Christmas Mantle

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

In hopes that all family and friends soon would be there!

My Christmas mantle has taken on a rustic and wintry mix this year.

It all started with the purchase of these beautiful reindeer that I bought from work at Stein Mart.

 I kept my eye on these for several weeks before finally talking myself into buying them.  I love how they have a subtle sparkle to them!

Then after laying out layers of garlands I added my pine cone candles.  I've had these for quite some time but rarely ever pull them out.

Then the search was on for just the right ribbon.

I was quite pleased when I finally found what I was looking for.

The final addition was to hang my winter wreath purchased from Walmart, during last years after Christmas sales.  Thanks to a great tip from Liz at Savvy Seasons to use those adhesive hooks with easy removable tabs, I was able to center it right on the middle of the mirror.

 I'm really enjoying the deeper richer colors I used on the mantle this season instead of so much bright red and green.  It's much more soothing to me!

 I thought I'd also share a few pictures of the finished living room with you as well.  I didn't put out all of my Christmas decor this year.  I am purposely trying to keep it more simple in this room.

  I have collected Santa's for years but only put out a few of my Santa's scattered over the house this year.  I also put out only a few of all my other Christmas accessories too.  Even with keeping it simple there is still quite a bit out, especially with Christmas trees in most of my rooms.  It's been a simple decorating year for me here at The Decorative Dreamer, but one I am enjoying quite a bit.  I may be a "decorative dreamer" but I guess I will always be "sailing simply" at heart.

Thank you so much for taking a look and I hope you enjoyed your visit too!

I am thrilled to be able to link this post to the following parties;

Holiday Mantle Party at From My Front Porch To Yours

Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on The Porch

Be sure and visit any of the above links to see so many more wonderful posts from some incredibly talented bloggers. 

Thanksgiving/Fall Wreath Part Three

Hi Ladies!  How are you?  I am doing great!  I am so excited to finally be able to show you part three of my fall wreath.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about let me fill you in.   I decided to create an interchangeable fall wreath this year.  It's quite simple really and includes a base,shown here, and two additional wreaths that simply hang over the base.  There is one for Halloween, shown here, and the one I made for Thanksgiving.

I actually created this Thanksgiving wreath long before I made the Halloween wreath.  It's been hanging around in my kitchen ever since.

It all started when I found the little checked wooden sign at Michael's earlier in August.  It was in the $1.00 bin and I just knew I had to make something with it.  Then after deciding to make 3 wreaths in one I knew this would be part of my Thanksgiving wreath. 

I already had this small straw wreath in my crafts box and the plaid fabric as well.  First I cut the fabric into long strips and wrapped it around the wreath securing them with pins.  Then I hot glued the Family sign on the wreath. 

Next, I added the fabric bow by simply wrapping it around the wreath and tying into a bow.  I did the same thing for the loop to hang it with using the plaid fabric to match and wedged in a small touch of fall greenery.

And now, I am ready to add it to my fall wreath on the door.

I love how well it fits right into the middle of the fall wreath!

There you have it!  The third and final part of my interchangeable fall wreath.  I am joining 

BNOTP for Metamorphosis Monday today

to share my project.

Thank you all so much for stopping by!

Have a great Monday and I hope each of you has a wonderful week too!

Fall/Halloween Wreath Part Two

Hey Everybody!  Thank you all so much for all the sweet birthday wishes!  I really appreciated each and everyone of them.  It has been a busy week working to help get the store (Stein Mart) up and running.  I've never opened up so many boxes at one time in my life!  At first it was like Christmas then the novelty began to wear off and the realization that it is work has settled in quickly.  Whew!   Anyway, I am very happy to finally have a day off again after working 8 and 10 hours a day.  I'm still trying to adjust to that long of a day and am just plain tired by the end of the day.  

One thing that seems to be adjusting already is waking up early.  After several mornings of having to be at work at 6:00am to unload the truck, I woke up early again today!  I was up and ready to get some things done around the house.  The laundry has been humming along all morning while I went about setting out a few things for Halloween.  I can't wait to show you my Halloween wreath but I've got a few other things to show you first.

Look what I found when I opened up my Halloween box from the attic.

I forgot all about buying her last year.  

I bought her after the season on clearance somewhere but can't remember where for the life of me.  Isn't she something?  I was so excited!  She fit's in with my fall mantle beautifully too!

Then, look what I found when I went outside!

Looks like someone made a dinner out of my fall display!  I just can't believe this.  I've had this old Indian corn forever and never had any problems like this before.  Oh well, I was going to move it anyway to set up for Halloween, so in the trash it went.  Bye, bye old corn!

Then out came all my Halloween decor.

Looks like the witch is back!  

I didn't even buy a thing for any of this.  I had all of it from last years tablescape.  You can go see that here.  

This jack-o-lantern is electric and I can't wait to try and photograph it at night.

The sign was a dollar tree find from last year and I've seen them there this year again.  I also got the sticker for the bottle there as well last year.

The spell book I made myself last year too.  I'm crafty that way...like a witch!  Cackle-cackle!

Seriously though, I got this graphic from the Graphics Fairy and added a the words then printed it all out,cut and burned the edges and glued to the top of black tissue paper.  Then wrapped it around a book like a book cover.  Easy and fun!

Here is another fun Graphics Fairy project.  I printed this "Poison" graphic out, cut and glued it on the bottle. 

 I got the idea to put my orange lights (that I already had but rarely use) into my pumpkin vine from another blogger.  I can't remember who she is, so sorry!  I just loved that idea.   When I unboxed my Halloween decor I knew exactly how I was going to use the orange lights this year.  I can't wait to photograph this as well!

Have you seen enough yet?

No? Wreath! What wreath?

Oh, that wreath!

I guess I did promise to show you my wreath didn't I?  

But wait now, it's not just any old Halloween wreath Y'all!  It's part two of my three in one wreath.  Do you remember in a previous post I showed you my fall wreath.

This was part one.

And Here is part two!

What do you think?  It's a wreath within a wreath!

I have had two old straw wreaths like forever!  I've never used them and they sat there in my craft supplies looking so pathetic and neglected.  But not anymore!  This is the largest one of the two.  When I saw this ribbon at Michael's this year, I knew I had to use it.  I also found these picks there as well.  

Talk about easy, all I did was wrap the ribbon around the straw wreath, add my picks, then pin the ribbon after covering the pick stems with it.  Then I added another ribbon to tie it on to the fall wreath and waalaah!

There you are!  I'm all ready now for any trick or treators who might venture our way.   In our rural area, we never have any because they all go somewhere else, like to a neighborhood or the church's for "trunk or treats".   That doesn't stop me from being prepared though, just in case!

I'll be linking up to the following parties today.

Seasonal Sunday

Metamorphosis Monday.

(check out the links above for more)

Thanks for visiting today!

The weather is beautiful and I hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend as well!

Fall Wreath Redo

Hey Again!  I'm going to be bombarding y'all with my fall decor this week.   I feel like I'm working blogging on borrowed time, so I hope you'll bare with me.  I explained why on yesterday's post if your interested you can read all about it here.

  Today I want to share my fall wreath redo along with a few photos of the front porch.

This was last years fall wreath.  It's one I've had for a while but had added a new bow.  

Well, this year I decided to stream line it, just like most of the other fall decor I've been doing this year.  I am very into simplicity this year!

And here's the new look!

I took everything off and kept my vine wreath to use again.  

Then I added all my fall leaves back on.  I stopped using glue on my wreaths years ago because I like to reuse them so much.  It's so much easier using wire!

And then, I simply added the new fall acorn picks I purchased recently from Michael's.

I know it's pretty simple and yes, I've seen similar ones available for purchase.  But I can assure you it cost me a lot less to redo this one then start all over.

  I love it, because I plan to use this as my base for my Halloween wreath addition and my Thanksgiving wreath addition.  I have an idea I am trying this year that will basically make this a three in one wreath with interchangeable parts for Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  But you'll have to come back to see that later closer to Halloween.

Before we get on to the rest of the porch decor, I want to show you a far out shot of our yard.  Do you see the grass?  Woohoo!  I have grass again!  Earlier this spring I showed a picture of our yard almost completely dead.  We previously had St. Augustine, which is a shade grass in our front yard. When we bought the house we had quite a bit of trees. We have since cut down many of the trees and the grass was dying off.

  Since we built the pool and knew we would be sodding, we decided to roll out the front and side yard with Centipede too.  I am so happy to have grass again, even if it is going to turn brown with winter soon.  Please excuse the  shots of our fancy sprinkler system, that's going to be next years project, another one I am really looking forward too.

My pumpkins are back out, see!

I picked up a few Mums from Walmart...

...and from Lowe's.

My potato vine is still hanging in there and I don't have the heart to pull them up yet.

This is as far as I've gotten with this area.  I need to get more ribbon to work on the topiary's?  I would love any ideas you have for these!

And on the other side a few repeats from last year.

Except, I changed it up a little bit!

Well, that's the end of today's fall front porch tour!

I am joining BNOTP for 

Metamorphosis Monday

And the 

It's Fall Y'all Party

because things are changing quick around here.

Hope you'll come back again to see more soon!

Have a great day!