decorations

Quick Christmas Candle Lantern

November 30, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Leftover wrapping paper from last year, a simple ribbon and some live mistletoe.

I love burning candles. Especially at Christmas. I needed a quick way to make a plain looking candle fit in with the festive décor. I just grabbed what I had at hand to make a simple paper sleeve for candles around the home. I was partly inspired by the live mistletoe that I bought from some very resourceful boy scouts outside of the local Lowe’s. They picked it from a local park and were selling small bunches to support their troop. Smart thinking and well done.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Paper, ribbon, a way to create a decorative edge and some live or artificial embellishments. Simple as that. My one tip would be to make sure the paper you use has some transparency to it in order to diffuse the light and create a warm glow.

A simple lunch sack worked for this sleeve. The seaming inadvertently became part of the design, highlighting the scalloped edges.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: candle, christmas, craft, decorations, festive, holiday, kraft, paper, ribbon, velvet

Because Christmas is here again…

November 29, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Sprigs of fresh greens, vintage glass ornaments in a simple ironstone bowl.

All my decorating is done. I started earlier than normal this year and now that I am done, it mostly means I can coast for the rest of the year and devote my weekends to baking. Indeed.

Here are a few snippets of the inside of the house. You may notice there aren’t a lot of long shots. It’s mostly because I am holding back on wide shots so when the feature in Country Living comes out, you won’t already be bored with it. 😉

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

A simple fresh green wreath flanked by antique mercury glass beaded garland. The bed is simply dressed with vintage linens and ruby red washed velvet pillows and a quilted velvet blanket at the end of the bed in a subdued neutral color. It all makes for a cozy place to be.

An old sap bucket is a terrific alternative to more expensive vessels to house a holiday arrangement.

A papier mache Santa boot that I painted then adorned with German Glitter Glass and a holiday embellishment, topped off with a fresh sprig of greens.

A stair landing arrangement.

Trying to tuck in a little Christmas in each room, both great and small.

A simple Home Goods pom pom wreath hung with sweet cotton red and white striped ribbon.

Who says wreaths are only for doors?

Another Sulphur Springs, Texas find. This lovely blue antique cupboard is a great way to store and display my vintage textile collection and ironstone pitcher collection.

My antique chandelier with a crown of fresh Christmas greens.

An old print befitting of such attention.

Sprigs of fresh greens, vintage glass ornaments in a simple ironstone bowl.

Etched footed bowls found on walmart.com

Simple fresh greens, footed mercury glass bowls and my vintage, hand blown ornaments.

The use of NOEL is apropos of the French farmhouse window above the kitchen sink.

Beautiful old silver footed bowl I found I an antique shop in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Beautiful old silver footed bowl I found in an antique shop in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, christmas, cottage, country, decorations, greens, historic, holiday, home, house, mckinney, merry, santa, texas

I needed a little Christmas…

December 15, 2014 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Glittery little wreath ornaments on an old, mottled mirror.

Getting in the Christmas spirit has been a little hard this year. I am firmly ensconced in what I affectionately refer to as the size 7 shoe box apartment while the renovation is going on.

About the only thing I could think of to make me feel a little better about it was to do some nominal decorating for the holidays. Something that was enough to make me smile, but didn’t require a lot of effort and could be accomplished on a small budget.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,
Cindy

A pensive looking Samantha curls up on the bed for a nap.

Little Annie in her favorite spot.

Simple ironstone basin set on top of a fresh greenery wreath.

Vintage, hand blown ornaments in a wire basket, setting softly on a wreath on my coffee table.

A lovely mid century lamp on an antique textile with a lovely holiday candle for aroma and ambiance.

Keeping it simple with a wreath hung above the bed.

A little nook in my apartment with a simple wreath, some candles and a lovely quilt with lovely festive colors for some contrast.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, christmas, cottage, country, decorations, fresh, greens, holiday, white, wreath

Discovery: Wire and Linen Lanterns from Lunabazaar

January 27, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Wire and Linen Lantern

I am forever perusing the Internet for fun and interesting websites with products that inspire me. Lunabazaar.com is just one of those sites.

Particularly this Wire and Linen lantern. I am already thinking towards spring when there is this transitional time between spring and summer when the weather is quite glorious. It isn’t cold like winter or hot like summer, but rather just right. I love it when I can throw open the windows and doors and really enjoy my little old cottage in the way it was intended.

Being able to light candles and lanterns and enjoy some sitting time on the porch is one of my favorite things.

Lunabazaar.com has many things to look at like mercury glass ornaments and candle holders, paper parasols, glass vases and many different colors, cut glass small decanters and string lights. They are a great source for accents for your home styling or items to support a color or a theme for a party or gathering. Take a look, this website has a lot to offer and I think you will enjoy it. I have embedded some of their wonderful merchandise below.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Pearl Opal Glass Vintage Candle Holder

Mercury Glass Candle Holder

Gilded Glass Candle Holder

Glass Votive Holder

Cotton Lace Parasol

Perfume Bottle

Paper Parasol

Filed Under: Discoveries, Favorite Shops 'n Blogs, Uncategorized Tagged With: candle, cottage, decorations, entertaining, gathering, glass, holder, linen. lantern, lunabazaar, mercury, outdoor, paper, parasol, party, patio, spring, vintage, votive, white, wire

The Winter Solstice

December 22, 2012 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Always wishing for a White Christmas and a Winter Wonderland.

I have posted several different projects and vignettes of our Christmas house for the 2012 season. Haven’t posted a full view, mostly because getting the right shot at the right time of day is not as easy as it may sound. Particularly for me, since I am not much more than an amateur’s amateur when it comes to photography.

Having taken hundreds of pictures, in four or five different sessions, I finally had to just pick one, darn it.

I want to single out and thank Brian Washburn, Manager of the local Lowe’s and Vince Maggio, local designer, merchandiser and antique dealer extraordinaire for their help. Each and every Christmas blog article was offered in earnest and has hopefully given you even the smallest bit of inspiration to do something extraordinary for your family and friends, in your lovely home.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Winter Wonderland.

Pretty lit garland remeniscent of a steeple.

Making good use of what nature leaves behind: lit bare hydrangea bushes.

Winter’s bare garden with some holiday twinkle.

These are our sponsors and they have made all of this creativity possible. Thank them by stopping by. Merry Christmas.

GOOD LOOK, Inc.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: christmas, cottage, country, decorations, holiday, light, night, outside, vintage

The Christmas Haus

October 29, 2012 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The Christmas Porch

Pictures from Christmas past at the little white cottage.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

A Chippy Christmas Urn.

A Vintage Watering Can dressed up for Christmas

Fresh Christmas Arrangement

Pepperberries and Fresh Christmas Greens

Home Made German Glass Glitter Santa Boot with dried Hydrangeas

The Attic Faux Fireplace

The Attic Bedroom.

Winter Quilts.

Ironstone Bowls full of Christmas.

The Sitting Room.

The Guest Room at Christmas

The Christmas Headboard.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, christmas, cottage, country, decorations, fresh, german, glass, glitter, greens, holiday, holidays, house, merry, ornaments, tree, white

Boo!

August 23, 2012 by Cynthia 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.

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: The collection of vintage and home made items for a fun design.

: Halloween Mantle

: Homemade Paper Lantern.

: An old and favorite vintage find fits right in with the holiday decorations.

: Adding color with ribbon around the edge of the mantle and some gauze for texture.

: Hurricane Globes filled with beans and topped with vintage striped ribbon.

: Mean Bean Jack-o-lantern Face.

: Old Fashioned Mercury Glass Pumpkin.

: Paper Flag.

: Papercraft Bunting.

: End of Season Hydrangeas.

: Hand Made Paper Medallion.

: Vintage Mirror from GOOD LOOK, Inc. reminiscent of a Tombstone.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, cottage, country, craft, decorations, halloween, holiday, old fashioned, paper, victorian, vintage

Falling into Fall.

July 27, 2012 by Cynthia 3 Comments

A Goulish Arrangement in a vintage orange pitcher.

This blogging thing is still relatively new to me. The idea that retailers and bloggers alike are thinking about Fall while we, here in Texas are just at the beginning of our mean season is a bit of a challenge.

The earlier the better, I suppose. It gives our wonderful and loyal followers enough lead time to start thinking about Fall design. It just might get here in the blink of an eye.

Some ideas for Halloween decor…maybe you will find something that inspires you!

Always,

Cindy

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: Halloween Wreath.

: Black Candles. Black Roses. Black Urn. Boo.

: Creepy.

: A Goulish Arrangement in a vintage orange pitcher.

: German Glass Glitter Stars and Black Rick Rack.

: Mercury Glass Pumkin and Vintage Reproduction Paperie.

: Kraft Paper. Old Book Pages. Scalloped Paper Punch.

: Decorations with Home Made Paperie.

As a footnote, this article is being submitted for consideration for Whisperwood Cottage’s “All Things Fall” link party:

[hana-code-insert name=’cottagesbungalos’ /]

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Projects Tagged With: cottage, country, decorations, fall, halloween, vintage

Pretty Porches

May 15, 2012 by Cynthia 2 Comments

Sit a spell, if you please.

I feel really lucky to live in such a great neighborhood. You sit on your front porch and people walk about and say hello, offer a compliment for your yard work or stop to pet your dog. Two years ago, after Christmas, one of my neighbors (whom I have never met) placed a photograph of my house taken during the holidays in my mailbox. We had a White Christmas that year and she thought that my house looked so lovely with the snow and holiday decorations that she took a picture and left it for me, in the event I was out of town that day and missed it. Now THAT’S what I am talking about. As I said, I feel really lucky to live in this lovely little Anytown, USA.