Warm Winter Welcome. . .

 Hello my friends,

 

Can you believe that it is December?  Snuck right up on me.  :)

 

Although Christmas is a ways away, I am busy decking our home in holiday cheer.

 

Today I am sharing a simple winter welcome.

 

 

 

 

Two of My Favorite Little Christmas Things. . .

 

Hello my friends,

 

I absolutely love everything about this time of year. . .the hustle, the bustle, the decorations, and sparkle!

 

Although I seem to be moving a lot slower than usual, I am doing my best to keep up and enjoy the magic of this season.  :)

 

Many of you know that I love collecting vintage items.  I corralled  two of my favorite little Christmas things together in my tiered tray.

 

 

Ho Ho Holiday Greetings!

 

Hello my friends, and welcome December!!

 

It's that wonderful time of year where there is a chill in the air and every now and then sparkles of beautiful white snow drift through the sky and make the ground shimmer with magic!

 

I absolutely love it!

 

Sweet Christmas Snippets Mantle

 

Hello my dear friends!

 

I am healing more each day and slow but surely getting Christmas décor out.  My oldest daughter, Nichole helped me decorate our family room mantle.

 

As long as I can remember I have had a sweet tooth.  I decided to embrace it with the gifts of this holiday season.

 

A Little Scandinavian flair. . .. .

Hello my friends and welcome to the final day of our

'Creating Christmas' link party.

Katie from Let's Add Sprinkles will be taking us on a visual trip where we will be experiencing the Nordic style of decorating.

Hop on over and link up anything with a Nordic feel.

I admit that when Katie suggested this for her title I thought it was a fabulous idea.  However, I didn't think I would have anything that I could share.

Well I'll be darned if I wasn't wrong. . .that doesn't happen very often!  (wink)

Before I begin, just what is considered Nordic?

Here's what I found on the web.

A Little Bit Rustic. . .A Little bit Romantic Santa Mantle

>Hello my friends,

welcome to Day 3 of 'Creating Christmas' link party.

 

 

Today Cecilia

My Thrift Store Addiction

will show us how rustic and romantic go hand in hand.

 

Hop over and link your rustic and romantic posts on her blog.

 

 I looked around to see what I might share that had a bit of a rustic feel, with a touch of romance.  I decided that my Santa mantle filled the bill.

 

The $5 scale I scored at a thrift shop in CA. . .rustic.

The glitter houses from T.J. Maxx. . .romantic.

 

 

I can't decide whether this sweet deer frolicking in the forest is rustic or romantic.  Maybe a little bit of both?

 

 

 

Shiny Brites strung on a piece of jute as a garland. . .definitely romantic!  :)

 



 

 

My chippy red and aqua stool is a little rustic, but somehow the colors and chippiness carry it over into romantic for me.

 



 

This photo has a touch of mystical romance, if you ask me.

My giant ever so glittery Santa definitely leans towards the romantic side.

 

It's hard to tell just how glittery he is in photos.

 

Whether it's rustic or romantic, it makes our Christmas home feel warm and cozy.

 

Especially when the fire is blazing!

 

Here's a closer look at my sweet pinecone elves on the hearth.  They are one of my favorite vintage Christmas collections.  I just love their sweet faces! Buried under that sprinkling of snow, is another rustic scale.

 

 

My cute deer with her fabulous fur collar leaves us with a touch of romance.

 

 

Rustic and Romantic a match made in heaven!

 

Remember that the linky party will remain open until Dec. 24th.

 

Continue to link up your 'Shabby Christmas' over at

Debby Goes Shabby

 

and your 'Handmade Christmas' at

Art and Sand

 

Tomorrow I will be sharing my love for dishes in

'A Dish Addicts Christmas'

 

Hope you will link up and share.  I know there are plenty of dish addicts out there, like me!

 

Merry Christmas,

Jann

 

 

 

Naked Greenery

>Hello my friends,

last night I was in my car driving to a wedding reception when the radio announcer mentioned that this years trend was that of

'Naked Greenery'.

She said that the Pinterest search was up more than 400%

What is naked greenery?  Garlands, wreaths, and trees with no ornaments.  Nothing to distract from the beauties that they are in their natural state.

Who knew that this old gal was right on trend when she had a vision late one night as to what she wanted to do on her porch?  (tee-hee)

Yup, I imagined a tree farm with lots of (you guessed it), naked greenery.  :)

I added it to my chandelier.  I may have cheated just a little by hanging the shiny bulbs.  However, that greenery is entirely naked.

Hubby and I, and our youngest daughter got permits and cut 4 trees to make my 'tree farm' vision come to life.  It was from an area where they allow cutting a small amount of trees each year in order to clear the area.

Two trees were placed on the right end of the porch.

I placed them in buckets to keep them fresh.  Our daughter had a

Tree Farm sign created using a lazer machine and hubby

 added an arrow point. 

 I asked myself, "if you had a real tree farm what would you want it to consist of?"  I knew I would want a cocoa station to keep myself and my customers warm and toasty.

Two kinds of cocoa, candy canes for dipping, and cups and spoons for sippin.

I draped my drop leaf table with a plaid tablecloth and topped it with a small sled.  I sat my red toolbox on top hoping it would hold the cocoa bar supplies, but it just didn't work.  So instead I filled it with more 'naked greenery'.

Then I tucked in a star and some vintage red bells.

I filled a jar with marshmallows and a red Coleman cooler is on hand for holding hot water.

We have a tree stand ready to hold a tree picked from our tree farm.

Tree number three is a Juniper.  I tied my wooden star to the top and tucked the saw I painted a few years ago in amongst the branches

The live wreath on the door is plain and simple. . .more naked greenery.

And did you notice the beautiful new door color?  We had it restained a couple weeks ago.

I hung more greenery from the ladder on the left side of the porch.

I also tucked them into my two urns and added a couple of old lanterns.

The fourth tree is tied to a ladder to help keep it from falling over.  My chippy red step stool holds an old green heater to keep us warm if winter ever comes to Utah.  Seriously, it has felt like spring for quite some time now.  I am loving it, but we really need the snow!

I cut logs from my sons home and placed them here and there around the porch.

More naked greenery in my creamer and almost naked branches.

I am loving all of the 'naked greenery' at my tree farm!

Here's a couple of pictures of it lit up at night.

Oh, and I decided to search 'naked greenery' on Pinterest to see what came up.  I mainly got naked cakes, so I'm not sure what the radio announcer was talking about.  lol!

hugs,

Jann

Sharing with these fun parties:

Sundays at Home

I'm excited for the Cozy Christmas tour starting on Monday.

I will be sharing on Tuesday.

Also, I hope you are getting your posts ready to share for our Creating Christmas link party.

About 130 ornaments later. . .

Hello my friends,

today I am sharing with you a project that we made in Craft group.

About 130 ornaments later, I now have a fabulous ornament tree!

This photo is of three of the 5 trees created that night.  Mine is the back right one.

 This is how we began.

Last Christmas one of our craft friends, Joanne made the most amazing ornament tree.  We were all in awe of it. Right then and there we decided that we would make one next year.

That gave us a year to gather and collect.  We then chose a base.  I had this vintage hammered tray that I bought at an estate sale years ago.  It fit the look I was going for.  All of our cones are metal and varied in sizes.  We hot glued them to our base and then. . .

 the fun began!

It's a bit like piecing together a puzzle.  You start at the bottom and work your way up.  The key is to put the hot glue where there is contact and hold in place for a while.

This photo shows the variety of bases and cones.  I actually bought the crystal and gold one, but decided it was too fancy for me.  It was perfect for my friend, Jackie!

Karen put hers in an urn, which I loved!  Brenda used

 a wooden one.

I didn't want to spend a million bucks on this tree.  When I put my Christmas away last year I saved a few ornaments that I didn't mind using.  I have a collection of shiny brites, but I couldn't bring myself to use them.  I bought a couple of boxes on sale at Home Goods, and some individual ones at Hobby Lobby.  A large share of them I picked up at thrift shops.

  

Only Brenda finished her tree that night.  Most of us found we needed more ornaments. 

I finished mine a few days later and sat it on my living room coffee table for you to see.

I tried to count the ornaments to give you some idea of how many it takes.  I lost track at 120 something.  And who knows if I counted some more than once.  (wink)  Of course the number you need will depend on your size of cone.

The only thing I might do is add some gold or silver foliage in the tiny holes.

Now let's take a closer look at some of my favorite ornaments.

This little pixie, 1/2 price from Hobby Lobby is one of my favorites.

The little house and train were thrift finds.  The cute striped elf was one I bought after Christmas last year.  I've had the

glass mitten for years.

The candy ornaments were more thrift finds.  I added just a few shiny brites that I picked up on our recent trip to Colorado.

I love the lamppost!  It's one I just bought at Hobby Lobby.  Luckily they were half price.  You need lots of small

 ornies for filler.

Even after buying more ornaments I still couldn't quite make it to the top.  I started decorating my bedroom and found a few that I didn't mind using in one of my boxes.  I've had this snowman ornament for quite a few years.

The light bulbs came from a light set I bought from Avon eons ago.  When they quit working I saved the bulbs and tossed the

light set.

This silly gnome stole my heart!

Lots of memories from many of these ornaments.

How cute is this ruffly tree?

I debated about whether or not to use this long aqua ornament.  I like the whimsy that it brings.

Another friend, Natalie gave me this Santa tree finial for my topper.

I love him!

I am loving my ornament tree and it was very fun to make.  The only question is now, "how am I going to store it?"  :)

Have you created anything fun lately?

Hugs,

Jann

I will be sharing with these fun parties:

Cooking and Crafting with J and J

Snickerdoodle Party