SHOWING OFF THOSE BEST WISHES!

I love receiving Christmas cards! Personally I prefer the good ol' fashioned ones instead of the now popular "photo" family cards. Don't get me wrong, I love to see all the families and friends, but receiving a pretty card with a beautiful saying just makes me smile! AND they don't go to waste. I re-use them to make my Christmas cards...that's another blog!....I also love to display them. Growing up my parents always strung the Christmas cards on ribbons and strings across certain walls in our home. 

So here is my first card display area....

Having seen this idea all over blog land I was dying to try it, so I grabbed this old frame from the basement. I took the poster out of it. I had previously painted it (very quickly) and it got scuffed up over time but love that now! Attached some ribbon and cording to the back and pegged up some of my Christmas cards! It is on the wall above the small desk...

Easy peasy but oh so fashionable!!!

In the living room I strung a long ribbon from either end of the mantle and just pegged them up. 

I did select the more muted cards for here.

Hugs to you all and hoping you all receive many wishes from your friends and families.

Mandy

Linking to:

Mandy

commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/

romantichome.blogspot.com/

www.remodelaholic.com

charmbraceletdiva.blogspot.com

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART OF THE HOME.....

Here's the Kitchen/Hearth/Family dining room!

Lots of red, white and green in here this year. And here again I simplified everything. 

On the fireplace side, 

Replaced pumpkins with baubles in the glass containers and fall greenery for snowy and green greenery on the mantle. 

Set up all my little trees and various 
Santa, snowmen ornaments (that I made last year for the boot tray) on the shelf above the TV.

Then got inspired and placed a bunch of them inside glass jars...

In the family dining area ...

I set my tall old "nosey" Santa on the table.  The tree and straw reindeer and antique angel and snowman I added. 

 The hutch has my large Guy Buffet green plate with some fun red Christmas mugs and I reused the vases that usually sit on the TV shelf.

On the island I still have my birthday carnations on display.

 I added greenery to the pot rack lamp and a few brass bells.

Hugs

Mandy
Linking to:

bratina.blogspot.com/
nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/
www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/2011/12/treasure-hunt-thursday-35-highlights.html
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/p/tablescape-thursday.html

ORANGES AND CLOVES

What better scent at Christmas time than the sweet aroma of oranges mixed with cloves?!!!!

I love to do this to oranges that might be a little past their prime...it's actually a fun little activity for most family members to do. Leave a bowl of cloves & some tooth picks (to make holes so as not to break cloves) next to a few oranges and let the fun begin. 

Here they are a few weeks later...sort of brown and shriveled but they still smell awesome!

Will be continuing with the dining room tomorrow!

Hugs,

Mandy

linking up to:

mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

verymerryvintagestyle.blogspot.com/

mommahenscoop.com

theshadyporch.blogspot.com/

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS...

My living room this year is decorated in a monochromatic decor which surprised even me! But I do love it. I just stayed with the teal, turquoise, green and cream theme that was already there and added in my Christmas decos around that.

Here's the mantle and a couple of end table vignettes.

The mantle is decked with frames, a photo of my parents on their wedding day, ivy, soft furry garlands, and green, bronze and turquoise ornaments. On two of the side tables I created little vignettes featuring my older children with their significant others.

Here is the large square tray decked out with ornaments, decorative balls and votive candles. The large cream ornaments were originally plastic and colored. I simply painted and stained them...so much better!

No large Christmas tree for us. I have loved our tall skinny log trees for some years now. Easy to move around, transport and decorate! And, I love and admire all those gorgeous large trees I see in blogland too! This year, each boy has his own tree. I placed the twins trees on the stairwell. Alan's the oldest, has a slightly taller tree in the kitchen. Every year they receive tree ornaments from me and from our dear friends who play the surrogate grandparent role to them. I also divided up my parent in laws old fifties glass baubles. I added bows and orange baubles to create a cohesive look. I wish l.e.d. white lights didn't give off the blueish hue...but determined to stay green I went with the multi colored l.e.d. lights instead. Kids love them! 

Well hope you liked the tour!

Tomorrow the dining room.

Hugs,

Mandy

Linking to:

http://projectqueen.org/

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

http://athomewithk.blogspot.com/

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-projects-1220/

HALLWAYS WELCOME CHRISTMAS...

Hallways and entrances are, after all, the first space guests see when they come into our homes. So we make them as welcoming as possible within the confines of the space available. At Christmastime especially, with all the guests and visitors entering my home, these spaces get  special attention.

I am blessed with a large front hall and a nice wide back hallway and corridor. 

In my front entrance way sits the desk I recently updated with paint. 

You can see that post here. Above it I hung a picture that had belonged to my parents in law. I painted and aged the frame.

 There is a little brass plaque on the frame.

Placing my old nativity here seemed like a natural choice

This "creche" was part of my childhood including the little angel ornament hanging from the little roof to the left on the picture below

Immediately beyond the entrance way is the large stairwell and hallways leading to the other areas of the house. 

In the nook of the stairwell sits a darling little cherry desk I picked up in an antique shop in England years ago. It is the perfect size for the space. 

For Christmas, I placed one of my favorite father Christmas's my Russian Father Christmas   on it. 

Next to him sits a lovely little lidded pot I picked up at GW. 

On the book lamp I placed a little Christmas book open to a Christmas tree page. 

On the wall above the desk are hung my three open frames. I replaced the family pics with bisque shell angels and an old transfer ware plate.

Down the end of the hallway, heading to the back door, there is a recessed archway where I have a wrought iron mirror hanging and where  a small hall tree bench sits below it. Here, I hung a simple branch of greenery with a burlap bow and some simple but pretty cream glass ornaments. 

Finally, on the little old hall tree by the back door I hung a favorite Peace Sign wreath adorned with a simple wooden dove and burlap bow. 

Thanks for stopping by, and please come visit tomorrow to see the dining room and living room !

Hugs for now,

Mandy

linking to

www.thegirlcreative.com

becolorful.typepad.com

boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/
dittledattle.blogspot.com
debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com

A TONED DOWN CHRISTMAS

A toned down Christmas....

Now I know, a toned down Christmas sounds sort of wrong somehow... but this year after spending a lot of time and effort toning down our entire house decor in order to help depersonalize and create a "cleaner look" to help sell it, the last thing I wanted to do was overload everything with Christmas decor. 

I also wanted to dig through all the Christmas decorations and sort out what I wanted to keep and what I did not. This process actually slowed me down quite a bit.... but I finally got done and really like the new look.

"I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas...." is the song that plays in the living room:

The dining room is soft and sentimental

The kitchen is simple in red, green and white.

The hallways brings peace on earth.

And the outside sports fresh evergreens!

I will highlight each room over the next couple of weeks if you can bare to see another decorated space!

Hugs,

Mandy

Linking to:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

A NEW TABLE TOPPER FOR LIZ!

A  NEW TABLE TOPPER FOR LIZ!

I made this table topper for Liz' s dining room table to tie in with the chair covers that I had made earlier (see those here). Liz had already purchased the fabric which looks a little like burlap. I added a band of brown cotton ribbon and a band made out of some of the leftover drop cloth material to the outside edge. 

I made it reversible too. 

One side has a brown wooden bead in each corner,  these are the same beads I used on the chair covers.

The other side I added a rosette made out of left over scraps from the old napkins and drop cloth. 

And here how the table topper looks with the chairs!

Hope you like it!

Hugs,

Mandy

http://charmbraceletdiva.blogspot.com/
http://www.504main.com/
http://www.remodelaholic.com/
http://frugalfabulousdesign.com/
http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.thepicketfence.com/