Walking in a Winter Wonderland…

December 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Winter’s Blanket.

Do you think it is possible to have a Winter Wonderland without snow?  I hope so.  Christmas this year is a Winter Wonderland with simple touches.

Let’s start with outdoor seating.  On a limited budget, working with what he had on hand, designer, Vince Maggio made the simple decision to move my summer wicker seating from the porch to the the front lawn.  The crisp white is the perfect foil for the abundant greens and reds we used for the decor.

Seating group, vintage side table painted shiny red for contrast, vintage water can with fresh holiday greens and a sparkly ribbon were the starting points.  We then took an odd urn, added a small table top tree from Lowe’s (at a meager $12.50) randomly adding fresh winter red pepper berries (artificial natural decor works just as well) and a vintage camp blanket along with a  french grain sack pillow completes the picture.

Take a seat. Any time. Enjoy friends, family and neighbors.  Cold weather or mild temperatures…gathering together will keep you warm.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Merry Christmas.

Cindy

Decorated or Unadorned…appreciate the simplicity.

Add fresh pepper berries and it’s not too fussy.

An invitation to relax and enjoy the day.

A blanket for warmth, surrounded by loads of vintage and the natural.

Thank our sponsors by giving them a visit.  They have made these Christmas ideas possible.

GOOD LOOK, Inc.

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Great Tidings of Joy

November 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

What is the holiday without going off into the twinkly lit night bundled up for a visit with family and friends, or having holiday guests for a short stay?

Here is a sweet, thoughtful idea that has an element of easy handmade to it.  Easy enough of a craft to fit in amongst all the other hustle and bustle of the Holidays, but involved enough so that your gift recipients appreciate the effort.

Hand made holiday match boxes gifted with a candle for hostess gifts to say thank you or left on a bedside table for an overnite visitor to say welcome.  Use your favorite scented candle; something that will remind them of you.  My personal favorite is Trapp Candle Scent No. 04, Orange Vanilla.  It is a fragrance that oddly works in the breezy days of summer or the cozy, cold nights of winter.  If you order one online, or pick one up…I think you will be glad you did.

 

Orange Vanilla Trapp Candle.

 

The matchbox steps:

Simple designs using clip art printed on copy paper.

Use your sticker machine or use traditional glue.

The finished product:

Different designs limited only by your imagination.

 

Craft store embelishments to add a little Holiday sparkle.

Packaged for gifting:

The home made match box paired with a favorite candle, in festive packaging.

Welcome your Holiday Guest with something to fall asleep by.

Coupled with Holiday treats as a Hostess gift.

 

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Shooting Rubber Bands at the Paper Christmas Stars.

November 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Christmas is on it’s way!

Several years ago, I was particularly industrious and decided I wanted mostly a paper, handmade Christmas.  I had some really pretty Christmas paper and my brand new Sizzix machine with a star shaped die cut.

I had a fleeting thought that it would be interesting to sew paper with my sewing machine and as the idea evolved in my head, I decided to sew two like shaped pieces together, add a ribbon for hanging and stuff a little cotton between the two sheets of paper to give it some dimension.

A fairly quick and easy idea that can translate to many ideas and projects.  If I do them this year, I will probably use simple Kraft paper and use a more decorative stitch.  The idea is only limited by your imagination!

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Tinsel and Paper

Damask Paper Pattern

Pretty Pastels

Florals at Christmas

Christmas Inspiration

 

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Floating Holiday Centerpiece

October 21, 2012 by 2 Comments

A recurring theme in my blog is always about making things easier.  Around the holidays, I try to work with what I have so I got the idea to hang mercury glass ornaments of varying sizes from my dining room chandelier with vintage seam binding.  Cut at different lengths, the vintage seam binding helps hold the ornaments at different heights and gives the “floating” centerpiece great visual interest.

The light itself is an oversized single burlap drum shade from Potter Barn.  It has this great fabric ledge on the inside that turned out to be a great place to tuck twinkling string lights that show through the burlap to give this great softened twinkling holiday light effect.  To make this happen, I found a screw in lightbulb socket with a plug and just screwed it into the extisting bulb socket, added the normal lightbulb and plugged in the twinkle lights.

The result is this great floating centerpiece with a soft, holiday lighting effect.  A simple project that has maximum impact to the entire room.

I hope you find some inspirtation for your house for the holidays!

Always,

xoxo

Cindy

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German Glass Glitter and Mercury Ornaments.

Pretty Twinkling Lights tucked on the fabric ledge.

Lightbulb Socket found at any home store.

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Fallready

October 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

 

Black urn and white pumpkin dressed with gauze for an ethereal look.

My last fall post for the year…I’ll be starting on Christmas posts next week.  Can’t wait!  I took down the Halloween decorations on my mantle and simplified with a fall theme to bring me into the Thanksgiving Holidays.

I tend to fill the visual space in a plentiful way; showing restraint is not always easy for me with regard to design.  But I started with more and played and edited the props until I got to the final, simplifed version.  It was kind of liberating to keep it as simple as it ended up.

I also included some other pictures of my outdoor decor, but I am “fallready” and ready to coast for a few weeks and then start Christmas decorating.

I hope you find some inspiration!

xoxo.

Cindy

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Spicing It Up With Old and New Lab Jars

September 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Lovely kraft paper labels to add some vintage style.

I used to store my spices in small round tins with vintage labels.  That worked for a while, but at some point I decided I wanted glass jars.  Searching high and low in the Internet, I finally found the ones I wanted at a lab supply warehouse.  As I was jumping around their website, I came across amber etched stopper bottles and decided they would be great as vessels to hold and preserve my extracts.

Using a mixture of old apothecary jars, vintage squat jelly jars, new amber jars, larger tins and clear, straight sided jars, I was able to store each kind of item conveniently along with adding visual interest that variety brings.

I built the shelves for these items to fit the space.  The spice shelf was built to be inset in a window that is permanently sealed shut that is in exactly the right spot to be able to grab and go anywhere in the kitchen.

I hope you find some inspiration.

xoxo.

Cindy

Old and new jars to hold each kind of item.

Inset in a sealed window that is easy to display and convenient to access.

 

Old apothecary jars to hold larger quantities.

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Using the Vintage for Storage

September 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

A variety of vintage and antique containers.

For a long time, I used to collect vintage aluminium measuring spoons that came in a set, held together with a small ring.  The problem, however, was that aluminum does not come through a wash cycle in the dishwasher very well and keeping them on a ring was necessary to keep them from getting lost…but kind of inconvenient for practical use.  It seemed that being able to grab them and use them individually made more sense…but I wanted to find spoons that were more substantial and had some style to them.

I was perusing an import store and found a set of white china measuring spoons for a very reasonable $2.99 a set and decided on the spot that I wanted several sets to break apart and use a variety of little vintage containers that I already had in my collection.

Even the most functional storage can be beautiful and useful.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

 

Stored by measurement, as a group.

Organization that Works!

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Boo!

August 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Vintage Mirror from GOOD LOOK, Inc. reminiscent of a tombstone.

 

Call me naive or hopeful, but I really long for the old kind of Halloween that was innocent and fun and full of simple, sweet frolic.  During the holidays, paper crafting was common in the Victorian era.  Taking my cues from them, I used lovely Victorian Halloween clip art that has a wonderful graphic quality and design that endures today, over 100 years later.

For my Halloween mantle, I challenged myself to use paper to make crafts and stay away from store bought, ready-made pieces.  I tend to be more creative when there are greater limitations place on me.  To that end, here are some of the projects from the mantle:

  • Paper lanterns
  • Paper flag banner
  • Accordion pleated Holiday medallions
  • Paper Flags
  • German Glass Glitter Star “scepter”
  • Black & White bean jack-o-lantern face in a vintage vase (vintage vase used previously in this post)
  • Antique pie crust mirror (from GOOD LOOK, Inc.)
  • End of season hydrangeas (with pretty raspberry and green variegated buds)  in a lab beaker
  • Hurricane candle holders with black and white bean stripes, reminiscent of vintage ticking strips topped with vintage french ribbon

I hope that you find something that inspires you!

Until next time,

xoxo

Cindy

Halloween Mantle.

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Not Everything is Brilliant

August 16, 2012 by 1 Comment

Random Stack of Starfish.

A simple centerpiece.  Not brilliant, but easy.  Sometimes that is all that I have time for.

Not quite ready to pull out the Halloween decorations, however, I am starting to change out my vase fillers which are filled with an abundance of pencil starfish from the summer season.  I kept a few aside and got the idea to use them as a centerpiece for my dining table for the next couple of weeks as we transition into fall.

The dining table, which is now in the window nook has become the best place for me to get comfortable and cozy and do some computer work.  A lovely scented candle, a hurricane globe for some height and German Glass Glitter starfish and easy, peasy…it’s done.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Cindy

 

Easy Centerpiece.

Quaint little glass glittered starfish.

 

Rustic and the Refined.

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Fall-i-de-scope.

July 30, 2012 by 4 Comments

Hand made jute tassel against the vibrant orange velvet.

Oranges, greens, browns and purples.  All the colors of fall emerge and act as a signal to a great time of year full of fun and frolic and the holidays.  As part two of my three part series on seasonal tables, I have created a table that celebrates the wonderful, vibrant colors of the fall season.

I challenged myself to create a table that references the fall season through color and texture, rather than using established icons like pumpkins, leaves and gourds.  There is a certain balance between the rustic and the refined in this table scape.  The birch bark that sheaths the zinc pots to the toile that was used for the napkins and window seat pillow covers.  The chippy white painted columns used as centerpiece bases to the DIY mercury glass candle holders.  The beautiful vintage amethyst cut glass plates against the home made jute tassels.  The elegant orange velvet bands as a counterpoint to the vintage grain sacks used as chair slipcovers.  All in all, a sweet way to welcome family and friends.

Credit where it is due, thank you to Vince at Good Look, Inc for collaborating with me on this table design…you continue to be a great resource to find the items for all my zany ideas, along with your great ideas and suggestions!

Here is what you will see:

  • Old porch post cut down in sections for the centerpiece, holding candles and flower arrangements
  • Zinc pot covered with birch bark for the flower arrangements
  • Chair caning used for a table runner
  • Hand made jute tassels
  • Hand made coasters using chipboard with embossed pattern
  • DIY Mercury glass candle holders using a pattern transfer method (how-to Click Here)
  • Fall inspired pillow and cushion slipcovers
  • Updated vintage napkins
  • Vintage grain sacks used as a dining chair slip cover for a quick and simple update
  • Simple grocery store flowers and fruits for affordable centerpieces

Pictures below.  I hope you find some inspiration!

Always,

Cindy

Remember to click twice to bigify!

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