Welcome To Christmas At The Little Yellow Cottage

Oh you better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why..........Christmas is coming and waaaaaay too soon.  Do you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?  Personally, we like to celebrate on both.  Why not?

This last week has seen Grandma and the Elves (minus the Elves) busily decorating for Christmas.  Dan put up the outside lights on a beautiful sunny Saturday right after Thanksgiving and my part of the bargain began last Monday and I am STILL tweaking things.  Hopefully everything will be done tomorrow, because I have to get on the gift making train immediately.

I promised my friend Debra that I would post pictures of the house so here we go.  I will begin as if you were walking to the front door and this is what you will see.  Frosty (who has been in the family for almost 20 years) sits on the front porch in his dapper top hat surrounded by beautiful white lights and snowflakes made by yours truly.  The snowflakes were spotted on Pinterest last Christmas season and I knew I would make them this year for the front porch.  They are super simple, inexpensive (my favorite word) and made from craft sticks - what we called popsicle sticks back in the day - then spray painted white.  They are hanging from monofilament line (better known as fishing line) and they look absolutely adorable.  I will give you a quick tutorial tomorrow night.

Here is Frosty in the daytime.

He's such a happy guy, I love to look at his smiling face and he never has to worry about melting.  ♥

On our front and back door, there are wreaths that I made from snowflakes found at my favorite Dollar Tree.  Talk about easy and inexpensive!  I wish the pictures showed how they sparkle in the light  (they probably would if I was a photographer, but alas I'm not).

This is the front door and the next picture is the back door.  The main difference is the color of the door which makes them look slightly different.

Here is a close up so you can see the detail better.

Here is how I made these wreaths.  I just happened to be at  the Dollar Tree (my home away from home) and they had a really nice display of all kinds of snowflakes.  I couldn't choose a particular one I liked so I got some of all of them.  For the base,  I used one of the biggest snowflakes which is about 12 inches across and is clear and icy looking.  They were $1.00 each.  There are 2 large acrylic flakes on each wreath, one of which you can see on the bottom right side in the picture above, the other is at the top left.  They were 2 for $1.00.  The rest of the snowflakes came in packages of 3 - 6 per package for $1.00 per package.  The really white glittered foam snowflakes were 12 in a package for just $1.00

I laid the largest flake on the bottom and placed the others around until I got a look I liked.  Then I went back and hot glued them all in place which is what took the longest.  I made both wreaths in under an hour.  Now, how easy is that?  The finished wreath is 20 inches in diameter and is great because it's flat and fits between the door and the storm door.  It is so hard to find things that will fit between the doors.  I can use these winter wonderland wreaths all the way until Valentine's day.  Yippeee!  I also tied a long piece of sheer white ribbon to each wreath and looped it over the hanger on the door.  That was just for effect, but not necessary.

The total cost for both wreaths was $12.00 making them $6.00 each.  That is a great price for two beautiful wreaths.  These would also work nicely indoors because they are so lightweight and have a crystalline, frosty, winter look which can work after the holidays in that blah time of year before Valentine's Day.  You know that time - when everything is grey and yucky.  Yeah, that time.

It's that time of year when you need decorations and gifts for all kinds of people.  This wreath is a beauty and takes little time and little money and you can put your own spin on it.  Our budget is limited, so I am always trying to come up with things that look great and cost little.  I hope you will give this project a try.

Tomorrow, we will continue our house tour.  Come back and join me.  Who knows?  By tomorrow I may have changed a dozen things or made something new and interesting.    See you then.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” 
― Bob Hope

Thanksgiving Mantel

Happy Hump Day one and all.  It is countdown to Thanksgiving and it is one week from tomorrow.  One week, 7 days.  Are you ready?  I am working on all preparations since my mom and sister will be here this weekend from our home town and we will celebrate Thanksgiving with them on Saturday.  Next week will be just Nashville family.

This is such a tricky time of year because not only do we have Thanksgiving to celebrate, but I am also mid Christmas preparation - making gifts and decorations which sort of takes over the entire house.  There is glitter everywhere, glue, paper, ornaments, and the kitchen table is piled high with every manner of crafting equipment.  I do have a craft desk in the back bedroom, but there is not enough room to do everything in there, so the kitchen table makes up the additional space I need.  Do you have that issue?  Not enough space?  It really gets perplexing at times.  I hate cleaning off the table every night when it's dinner time, but that's just the way it has to be.  Everyone finishes dinner with glitter on their face.  The guys love me for that.

For our mantel this year, I reused the banner I made last fall and the beautiful glittered trees that I bought.  To make it look different, I added 6" burlap ribbon, white lights, lots of small white pumpkins and colorful gourds and candles.  It looks so inviting and warm and it makes me happy.  Needless to say, the day after Thanksgiving, it all comes down and Christmas replaces these decorations.  Although, I am considering keeping some of it for Christmas and changing out the gourds and the banner.  I especially love the burlap ribbon.  What to do, what to do?  Every day at this point, I change my mind.  Nothing is written in stone until the fat lady sings as they say.

The picture above was taken at night so you can see how lovely the lights look.  Here is the same picture in daytime.

Our living room tends to be dark this time of year because of the covered porch that shades the light coming in the windows.  So, I have been leaving the lights on all day and through the evening.  I really like the ambiance it gives the room.

The center of the mantel is anchored by this lovely mercury glass candle holder that is round and beautiful and reflects the light in an awesome way.  You can see the burlap ribbon snaking across the mantel and it helps diffuse the glow of the lights.  The beautiful little copper candle holders came from TJ Maxx and they hold tea lights.  Don't  you love the little gourds which their crazy stems?  They add a lot of texture and color to the vignette.

Here, you can see the lights in the bottom of the "tree" and more of the gourds and candle holders on the mantle.  I made the candles by stamping tissue paper with a stamp that looks like French handwriting.  Then, you wrap the tissue paper around the candle and heat it with a blow dryer (or heat gun if you have one) until the tissue paper adheres to the candle.  They are really beautiful.

There are also several more mercury glass candle holders on the mantel.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE mercury glass and TJ Maxx has lots to choose from for a very reasonable price this time of year.   The clear candle holder also came from TJ Maxx and I paid $2.00 for it in the clearance section.  ALWAYS look in the clearance sections for bargains!  The tall clear candle holder in the picture above also came from the clearance section for $3.50.  My kind of price.

I had already taken all the pictures above when I added my Harvest angel candle that I made.  It looks so lovely on the mantel right at the left tip of my big white star.   Have I told you how much I love stars?  Yes, I know - about a thousand times, but I do love them so.

Here is the mantel from further back which shows some of the other decorations at this end of the living room.  It sort of makes me sad when things look just the way I want, and know that next week, it will all change.  But then again, there is the challenge of rearranging and making everything look different.  It is my decorating A.D.D. I guess.  I like changes.  Really, I do.  Do you like making changes or do you like things to stay the same?

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

I approach decorating like life, it's all about changes and accepting them when they happen.  Nothing ever stays the same.