Showing posts with label holiday planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday planning. Show all posts

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Show me your urns!!

Outdoor decorating has to be my favourite part of "decking the halls". I love that the outdoors offers up a veritable blank canvas that is less likely to get messed up on a daily basis, and the scheme can be tweaked quite readily each year. Something as simple as distributing your lights differently, taking a more natural approach with elements from nature, picking up a unique wreath from a local department store, and (my favourite approach) switching up what you place in your urns each Christmas, can provide just the originality that you may be seeking for your outdoor holiday setting. One of my favourite approaches to this was in my own snow ball mounds I crafted for my urns last year. A simple grapevine cone, some styrofoam balls dusted with some faux snow, and a hot glue gun was all that it took to create these fun additions.

Dressing up your urns can be as simple as using boughs and winter berries, dogwood branches, or winter kale. Grapevine balls like the one below, entwined in mini white lights have graced my urns more than once.

Evergreen topiaries and grapevine trees left au naturel, or festooned in twinkly lights, are an elegant addition to your outdoor decor.

If you want to add glamour and sparkle, you can also employ the sparkle of a gazing ball or two. Your urns will present with importance if only you let them. Look around at what you have in your decorating arsenal. View your urns as the perfect pedestal to showcase your holiday decorating style and they will serve as the perfect holiday sentries to your outdoor Christmas scene.
******all photos (except top photo): Better Homes and Gardens.com

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Sweet November...

Sweet November...for those of us who are Canadian, November is a time to sit back, take a quick breather, and recharge our batteries in preparation for the holiday season. Having celebrated our Thanksgiving in October, we can free our homes of the autumn decor if we choose, and enjoy the relative sparseness of our homes. Having already removed all traces of Halloween, I literally felt a sigh wash over me as I saw my home in its unembellished state. The return of the soothing, calm colours made my home seem more clean to me, and the removal of the excess clutter associated with the holiday soothed my overstimulated senses.

Although I am skipping ahead in my mind to Christmas, I vow to not decorate my home for the holidays too early. I pledge this every year, but somehow, our annual Santa Claus parade inspires me to poke around in my many boxes of Christmas decorations...Usually, by then, the frost is consistently in the air, despite the lack of real snow, and all the holiday music and decorations in the stores puts me even further into the holiday mindset. By the time my birthday rolls around in mid-November, I am not craving the serenity of an unadorned home as much. Slowly, ever so slowly, I bring out the snowy decor that seems perfectly acceptable to display before December 1st. My resolve then crumples, and Sophie is yet to have a birthday (Dec.3) where the house is not decked out for Christmas at least to some degree...

So, for now I will enjoy these calm photos that bear no committment to any holiday...and try to quiet the little voice in my head that whispers "Christmas, Christmas" in a slowly rising voice. November is a great month to start a book or read your favourite magazines...

Sleep in on a Saturday or take a long soak...























Enjoy your fireplace...

Get out your boots for those muddy, slushy days...

**All photos: www.landstil.com

Cheers!


 
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