Christmas – Page 11 – HOME ON THE CORNER

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Only a few more weeks until Christmas! How is your decorating and shopping going? I got most of my decorating done this weekend after having a mess around the house for the past week. I kept it v-e-r-y simple this year. I used mostly silver and gold and natural items, like wood, greens and wire. I really like how it looks! It’s very calming and soothing. My trees are more colorful and really stand out. I have already shown you my Hot Chocolate Bar and my Silver and Gold Table, so today I am going to show you my Mantel of my Fauxplace.

I used many of the same types of items as I did on the table. Lots of gold, silver and wood.

I used many of Lauren’s books to fill in the space at the top and then placed a wooden tray with Shiny Brite ornaments in the center.

I have had this metal deer for years. He used to be kind of rusty, then turquoise and now he is silver! The magic of spray paint! I added a piece of burlap and a button that came from my grandma’s coat.

I love this little penguin! He is one of my favorite decorations to put out each year. I also love that he can stay out all winter!

I made these wreaths from small wood slices and added a green and white winter themed bow and a little silvery pom-pom to the center. I found the leather strap of bells at a thrift store several years ago.

The large wreath over the top has more wood slices with special Christmas words printed on them and some silver ornaments from Target.

Our stockings are hung on a ladder. I have added charms to each of our stockings that represent each of us. Some of the charms are from places we have been that year, or something special that has happened over the year. I have several Disney ones on mine.

Of course, I had to add my signature starfish to the mantel too!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour! I will be having more Christmas ideas in the weeks to come.

I can’t wait to see some of your decorations and ideas too! See you on Friday!

A long, long time ago, I wanted to be a princess-for Halloween. Isn’t that most little girls dreams? It was kindergarten. I wore a long purple dress and my shoes were covered in tin foil in order to make them shiny. There were no sparkly shoes at Target back then :). Such simple times.

My little, now 3 year old, niece, loves Minnie Mouse. She has loved her since she was one years old. So I created something special for all her Minnie Mouse dolls.

I had several of these clementine boxes. I have used some in my classroom, but still had a few left over. Who better to give them to, but my sweet little niece!

I first spray painted them, one white and one pink. I didn’t find Minnie Mouse print material that I liked, so I went with black with large white polka-dots and pink with little white polka-dots. I found some Minnie Mouse ribbon and some black/white polka dot ribbon to go around each bed.

My disclaimer: I am not a seamstress. Please don’t think I really knew what I was doing. Besides, I had help. Lauren. She is much better than I am. My directions will be very simple and I am sure, not very complete. Just try to play along :).

I cut a piece of foam for the mattress and cut my material to fit around plus a couple inches extra. I wanted to make it like a pillow sham pillow case, with the opening in the back. This was so it could be washed if needed. I folded over a bit of the edges of the fabric, ironed and pinned. Lauren sewed.

We also made a quilt for each bed. We used both fabrics so it could be reversible. After sewing up 3 sides, we filled it with quilt batting and then sewed up the fourth side. Lauren also sewed an ‘X’ across the top so it would wash up better, if needed.

I love the polka-dots!

We also sewed a pillow for each one using fabric that was left over. It is just a large rectangle, sewn all around the edges, leaving a little space open for stuffing. After we stuffed it, we stitched up the opening. I also added some ribbon around the outside of the box and a narrow black ribbon along the top edges.