Christmas 2010 Favorites

Glittery Starfish ornament -- souvenir from the Bahamas

Happy New Year! 

Best Wishes to you for a happy, healthy & prosperous 2011!

Since we are so sad the holiday season is over, we made a scrapbook of some our favorites from Christmas 2010.  Hope you enjoy seeing how we celebrate & decorate.  

We love needlepoint and especially at Christmas.  This angel tree topper was made by my Aunt Cath who taught me how to needlepoint....I made the star angel ornament and love how cute they are together.  This was the first year we put them side by side and it made me think of her everytime I looked at the tree. Our dogs get VIP treatment with their personalized stockings.  Santa holds them up with the help of some flat stocking hangers we found at Walmart. They were perfect to tuck under our needlepoint Santa.

Pink Poinsettia from Palmers

Antique mercury glass reindeer posed on a breakfront while white pine cone ornaments were nestled in a silver dish.  The glow of mercury glass is perfect all year but especially during the holidays. Our reindeer are basking in the warm light from the tree lights. 

Poinsettia's are a holiday must...this year we went all pink and put three in porcelain and gold trim cache pots we found at the Georgetown Flea Market.

Thanks for the cards! We keep them up all year....

My sister made this fabric covered memo board for me and I love using it for photo holiday cards. So fun for friends and family to see their cards displayed when they come over.

We spray painted these walnuts silver and gold...every year we find a new way to use them and we always get lots of compliments!

Santa brought me a Kindle...fortunately he also brought a monogrammed case for it! You can check out the cases on the Monogram Merchant.com

We love our small letter box for holiday invitations and cards! We gave one away like this on Facebook in our 12 holiday GIVE AWAYS!  If you want to see all the styles and patterns, go to the For the Home section on the Monogram Merchant.com

 

Hate seeing someone dig into a bowl with a germy hand? We LOVE this Amuse-Bouche spoon for candy, nuts or sauce and it easily takes care of the problem.  You can hang it from the edge or the side making it crystal clear to guests they should use it! Just $3.95 from Sur la Table  

  



1+1=3: Try a new style this holiday season

After spending 6 weeks working in the 'Elf Factory' on the Festival of Trees, I have had my quota of inspiration for holiday decorating. One of the best designer tips I heard over and over again was a very simple one...use what you already have in a new way this year.

Sounds easy enough but I needed some visual aids to get my creativity in gear. Late Thanksgiving afternoon, I had some quality time with my mother's extensive magazine collection....after an hour or so with Veranda, Southern Accents and Architectural Digest, I was ready to roll. I hit my mother's silver closet and then took my treasures home for experimenting.

Recently, I've been hooked on the concept of the no.3 which appears repeatedly in Christmas traditions...the wise men, for example. This obsession came from a conversation with the Captain (the professional groomsman) about the philosophy of 1+1=3, otherwise known as 'the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.' This idea is one that can be applied to many areas of life, but it seems particularly appropriate to holiday decorating...after all, tinsel without a tree is just shredded up foil....but add it to lights & ornaments and you've got something.

So back to the project...embracing the advice of using things in a new way and having the no. 3 as a guiding force, I took ornaments, silver containers and a mirror to create a very cool, anthropologie-like centerpiece. My mom declared it 'avant-garde' when she came by to see it the next day. My 3 elements (ornaments, silver pieces & mirror) came together as a stylish holiday decoration. Oddly enough (pardon the pun), I used 3 types of ornaments (balls, birds & pinecones) and 3 types of silver containers (compotes, egg cups & a vase).

The Captain's point of 1+1=3 was fully supported by my new centerpiece. None of those items would have been out this holiday on their own. Together, however, they compose something very interesting and perhaps a bit beautiful. This project is a great example of a thought we can all take with us throughout the Christmas season...how can we become a part of something bigger or better than ourselves? What can we use that we already have to create something beautiful, meaningful or helpful?