Beachy Christmas in the Dining Room

November 29, 2017November 28, 20171 Comment

Good morning! I don’t usually show up on a Wednesday, but I wanted to finish the tour of my living room/dining room! You can see my entryway and living room here. I just love having these rooms to decorate! It was so much fun to put it all together.

*This post has affiliate links. To find more of Oriental Trading decor, click the link.* http://www.orientaltrading.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-decorations-a1-553184.fltr

I received several of my items from Oriental Trading. It felt like an early Christmas when I opened up the box! I knew everything would look great in my turquoise and white dining room!

I found these very cool ombre’ turquoise and white trees at Hobby Lobby and I knew they would be perfect for my table! I almost waited too long, but snagged the last two!

I used my white dishes and layered them on top of these silver placemats from Oriental Trading. They added the perfect touch! I just checked the website and I don’t see the silver ones, but they do have gold. I also added little silver and white candy boxes to each place-setting to give as little gifts to my guests.

I added dark goblets, white fabric napkins, and a silver bowl filled with tiny ornaments.

Down the middle of the table, I placed some silver faux leaves, candles, pointsettias, wooden beads and silver deer.

I almost forgot about the pretty feathers! I added these to each place-setting and also some to my tree. There are lots of different colors and they add the perfect touch.

I added a few Christmas touches to my white hutch too. I found the boxwood tree at a thrift store and added some tiny turquoise berries to the little pitcher. Here is one more of my cute little hedgehogs!

I have been collecting these Shiny Brite ornaments for a few years now. Anytime I see them at thrift store, I pick them up. I was able to fill this driftwood bowl with them.

My turquoise and gold bar cart holds a couple of lanterns and my last little hedgehog! I stored some of my extra candy boxes on the bottom shelf.

My shelves stayed pretty much the same, just added in some Christmas touches. By keeping the background neutral I can add any other colors and it still looks great! I also added some white Christmas lights to add a little more sparkle!

I found these turquoise glittery snowflakes at Oriental Trading too. They come apart so they are really easy to store.

I have a box of Shiny Brite ornaments that once belonged to my dad’s mom. I love having these little special heirlooms to add to my rooms. This Merry Christmas ball is just one of them, so I figured it needed a place of honor.

I really enjoyed giving you a little tour and so glad you came by! I will be back with more next week!

Beachy Christmas in the Living Room

November 27, 2017November 26, 20172 Comments

Good morning! Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? We had a relaxing day with my parents and niece and her family. Haley was home from school too. We took time to decorate our family Christmas tree too. It was a great way to spend some time together!

We can really start Christmas now, even though I have had my tree up for a couple of weeks already! I really love how my entryway, living room and dining room turned out! I love having a room that I can decorate and it pretty much stays that way. Today I am going to show you the entryway and living room. If I showed you the dining room too, it would definitely be picture overload!

*This post has affiliate links. To find more of Oriental Trading decor, click the link.* http://www.orientaltrading.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-decorations-a1-553184.fltr

I decorated my entryway with mostly neutrals. I received the ‘Have Yourself a Merry Christmas’ from Oriental Trading and it’s the perfect touch for this space. It even has little gold sparkles on it! I hung a couple of my sweater stockings, that I made a couple of years ago, underneath to hold little special trinkets in.

I used lots of gold and silver with one little touch of turquoise. I picked up the my different decor pieces from various pieces. I love the gold on the arrow and feather garland, along with the golden deer and the gold and silver Christmas Tree. Lauren bought me the tree last year right after we moved because we weren’t sure we would have time to put up our own tree. It seems I have been collecting bottle-brush trees these past 2 years, so I added a few of those to the table too.

I have been picking up these cute little birds from Target the past couple of years and he is perfect under the little dome of glass.

I had to add in my one little bit of turquoise!

On to the living room! I am so excited to finally get to decorate a room in coastal style! I even bought a new flocked tree to hang my beach ornaments on!

My mom found this sled at a Salvation Army years ago. I gave it a white paint job. I’ts the perfect place to keep a few special presents in.

I finally get to use all the beach and coastal ornaments I have been collecting for years. I added some starfish ornaments I found at Hobby Lobby, a lot of Shiny Brite ornaments I have picked up at thrift stores, and a few special pieces I have made or received.

See the fur blanket in the corner? It originally came from Target for $34.99, but I snagged it up at Goodwill for $13.99! I definitely wasn’t passing that up! You can find it on sale here.

I added a few things to a tray on the coffee table too. A golden deer, a small tree and a present make a nice little arrangement.

On my mantle, I kept my chalkboard and added words from a Christmas hymn. I added a couple of burlap trees, a lantern filled with turquoise and silver balls, more bottle brush trees and a cute little hedgehog. Isn’t he adorable! He came in a pack of 3, so there are a few more scattered around.

I made the tassel garland with some really fat white yarn. It adds so much coziness to the room.

Here are a few of the special ornaments from the Ornament Exchange I take part in each year. You can see each one by clicking on them here; starfish, sea urchin, and friends..

This deer pillow cover is just the cutest thing! Look at that sweet little face!

My sisters and I each had a mirror ornament when we were kids. Each of them was a different shape. Mine is the diamond you see here at the top of the tree.

I hope you have enjoyed the Christmas tour! I am absolutely loving how this room turned out! I will be back this week with the dining room!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

November 23, 20171 Comment

We hope you all have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! Enjoy your day with family and friends!

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2017 ORNAMENT EXCHANGE-FROM URCHIN TO JELLY-FISH

November 16, 2017November 16, 201713 Comments

Welcome to the 2017 Ornament Exchange & Blog Hop! This year, there are 47 amazing bloggers participating in the exchange. The rules of the challenge were simple: be partnered with a fellow blogger, create a handmade ornament for $15 or under, create a tutorial, and ship the ornament off to a new home!

My partner this year is Terri Steffes. She has been married for 40 years! She has one daughter and two dogs (she would love to have a cat). I was excited to find out that she is a retired school principal who started out as a preschool teacher, just like me! She loves to read, write, decorate, travel, cook and entertain. We have a lot in common! She actually has 2 blogs, ChristmasTreeLane.blogspot.com and terristeffes.com. I can barely keep up with one! She also likes coastal decor for her Christmas tree like I do, so this was an easy one for me!

You can find all the participants and links to their blogs below. Also, if you would like to join the link-up, there is a button at the bottom to join in the fun!

Meet the 2017 Ornament Exchange Hosts

Erlene ⋅ My Pinterventures Kim · Made In A Day Amanda · Domestically Creative

Shirley · Intelligent Domesticatons Michelle · Our Crafty Mom

Beverly · Across the Blvd. Christene · Key to Inspiration Pili ⋅ My Sweet Things

Nicki · Sweet Parrish Place Megan · C’mon Get Crafty

Hilary · Raising Fairies and Knights Emily · Two Purple Couches

Tina · One Crafty Mess Marie · The Inspiration Vault Debra · Shoppe No. 5

Trisha · Rosewood and Grace Jeanie · Create and Babble Katrin ⋅ Kreativ K

Terri · Christmas Tree Lane Maureen · Red Cottage Chronicles

Toni ⋅ Small Home Soul Ula ⋅ Lulu & Celeste Sue ⋅ A Purdy Little House

Pamela · Home On The Corner Lorelai ⋅ Life with Lorelai Cindy ⋅ DIY Beautify

Debbie ⋅ Tweak and Style Stephanie ⋅ Swoodson Says Chelc ⋅ Inside the Fox Den

Susan ⋅ Super Mom – No Cape! Molly ⋅ Just a Little Creativity

Roseann ⋅ This Autoimmune Life Angela ⋅ Simply Beautiful by Angela

Vicki and Jenn ⋅ 2 Bees in a Pod Joanne ⋅ Our Unschooling Journey

Tylynn ⋅ Bitterroot DIY Sam ⋅ Raggedy Bits Mary ⋅ The Boondocks Blog

Cyn ⋅ Creative Cynchronicity Dione ⋅ Clever Chameleon Quilting

Erica ⋅ Erica Ever After Chelsea ⋅ Love Paper Crafts Evija ⋅ From Evija with Love

Samantha ⋅ Little Bits of Home Hope ⋅ Hopes Crafty Niche Anne ⋅ Orange Bettie

Pam · P.S. I Love You Crafts

When I found out that Terri liked coastal decorations like I do, I was very excited! I had an idea for some ornaments I wanted to make and now I could make them for someone else too! I love creating special gifts for others. I already had the sea urchins and I found the embellishments at Michaels. They were on clearance, so I was able to create these very reasonably. I did find sea urchin for sale on Amazon and Etsy and online at Jo-Ann’s. There were even some pink ones, which would look very cool too.

Since my sea urchins came from the California coast, I made sure they were clean before starting. 🙂

I took a small piece of white ribbon, folded it and hot glued it into the small hole on top of the urchin.

I put the ribbon on before the glitter, so that I would have something to hold onto while gluing and glittering. I brushed regular Elmer’s glue all over the urchin and sprinkled on the glitter. I used in iridescent glitter, but you could use other colors too. I made sure to rub it all over the shell. I had a hard time showing you how glittery they are, but they look so nice.

I love the purple one!

Here are the embellishments I found. I didn’t end up using everything, mainly just the different ribbons. I did add some small beads to some of them with some beads I already had on hand.

I cut each type of ribbon into small lengths and then hot-glued them, in the middle, on top of each other, one at a time. Now I had 6 ends hanging down. I made two sets for each urchin.

Once the pieces were glued together, I hot-glued them into the bottom of the urchin, pushing them way up inside using a pencil so I didn’t burn my fingers.

Ready to hang on the tree!

You can see some of the turquoise beads I used on this one.

I also glued some individual beads onto the white ribbon.

I love how the tails turned sea urchins into jelly-fish!

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to make these for my new blogger friend, Terri! Thanks to Erlene, from My Pinterventures, for hosting another year of Ornament Exchange! Remember to check out all the other ornaments below! Have fun creating!

FIND ALL 47 HANDMADE ORNAMENT TUTORIALS BELOW AND SHARE YOURS TOO! Use Hashtag #2017OrnamentExchange so we can see your creations on social media.

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Pumpkin and Magnolia Leaves Tablescape

November 13, 2017November 11, 2017Leave a comment

Good morning! Did you get to enjoy a holiday weekend? I did get to have 3 days off, which was so nice. And, I started my Christmas decorating!! I am starting in my ‘formal’ living room/dining room. Since it is somewhat separate from the other rooms in the house, it’s easiest to start there and then gradually decorate the rest. Plus I wanted to do it a little different than the rest of the house. The ideas are swirling in my head! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together. But for now, I have the last fall post for this year. Earlier in the fall, I had used green, white and black, here, and now I recreated it more for Thanksgiving.

I bought this great big fat pumpkin when I went to the pumpkin patch with my class and it has been waiting to be the star of the table! I love it!

I was able to cut a few small branches of magnolia leaves from my neighbors tree (shhh) to use on the table too. I added in a few pussy-willow branches and some golden acorns.

The candlelight glowing on the white hydrangeas and leaves look so pretty.

Adding in lots of textures gives the table a cozy and homey feel. Rattan place-mats and burlap pumpkins combined with the leaves and flowers add just the right touch.

I added just a little bit of orange and turquoise too.

I hope you all get to gather around the table with special people in your lives this Thanksgiving. All the decor and food mean nothing if we can’t share it with the people we love!

I’m so glad you stopped in today. Thank you so much for following along! The next time I am here, it will be with Christmas ideas! I can’t wait to share it with you all!