Sweet and Simple Christmas Dining Room

Happy Monday, all! 

I don't know about you, but I have been blown away by all the gorgeous Christmas decor and home tours in blogland this past week! 
I have barely scratched the surface of all the lovely homes being shared, but I'm steadily working my way through all I can get to. I don't want to miss anything!

In my last post, I showed you how I put together the world's quickest "cheater chalkboard". You can see the details of how I did it here.

I promised to show you which space I used this is in, and here we are.

 Welcome to our sweet and simple Christmas dining room!

 

If you've been following for awhile, you know that we are going to be away from our Colorado home for Christmas for the very first time ever this year! 

We don't want to miss out on all the magic of making our own home a little Christmas-y before we head off to California for the holidays, so we are adding some festive touches here and there throughout the house. 
It will be cheerful, but not overwhelming, to come home to after a long trip ;)

I really appreciate you coming by to visit our sweet and simple Christmas dining room today! 

I'll have a few more holiday details to share with you this week, so I hope you'll come back soon!

Blessings-

Jeanette 

Sharing this week over at
Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House 
Between Naps on the Porch 
Knick of Time Tuesday 
The Scoop 
Creating Christmas at Junk Chic Cottage 
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style 
What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants 
Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours
Be Inspired at Common Ground 
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home 
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage 

Handmade Nativity Set

Can you believe it is December??

Oh, how I want to slow down the time and fully experience these last days of 2013!

We will be heading to California in about three weeks, and I know the time is just going to fly by. 

One of the things that helps me slow down and feel more connected to the season is to make some handmade items with {and for} the kids. 

This week we put together a rustic and whimsical handmade nativity scene. 

Last March,  my oldest daughter gave me a chippy wooden chair that had been on her deck for quite some time. It was falling apart from being in the elements for so long. 

With some of the pieces of the chair I made some crosses. 

I still had some of the chair parts left in my 'junk stash', and decided I would use some of them to frame a rustic creche.

I used four pieces to create a frame attached to a small wooden box. I didn't do anything to the finish of the wood pieces. I left them in their original chippy state. No cutting either, I just overlapped them to fit the size of the box.

I hung an old glittered star Christmas ornament from the top of the inside of the box using hot glue.

I added a little "O Holy Night" banner, hand stamped on a strip of cotton scrap fabric.

I actually created the whimsical Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus wooden figures last Christmas as a gift for my daughter.

This year, my 16 year old made a wooden angel figure to add to the set. She has a vintage button for a halo, and wings cut out of cardboard and painted gold : )

The cute little baby Jesus figure is a blank wooden peg doll
 wrapped in white cotton, glued on. Super easy!

The 'hay' is crinkled brown packing paper.

I made bases for some bottle brush trees out of the wall brackets from an old towel rack a friend was throwing out. I placed one on each side of the nativity scene.

Here is our rustic, whimsical, handmade nativity creche.

It just makes me smile to see something created for our family for Christmas out of junk pieces that might have ended up in the trash. 

It takes such little time to make a lasting memory of creating something fun together! 

Tonight our family marked the beginning of Advent. I do pray that we all will find ways of slowing down and savoring what's most meaningful to our families this Christmas. 

Blessings of the season to you, my friends!

Jeanette  


Joining in the fun over here this week: 

Christmas Junkers United
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
The Scoop at White Lace Cottage  
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life 
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House 
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style 
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters 
Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours 
Share Your Cup Thursday at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Be Inspired at Common Ground 
Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors 
Creating Christmas at Must Love Junk 

Little Rosemary Wreath

As I mentioned in my last post {here}, we are going to be away from our Colorado home this Christmas for the first time ever. Yikes!
But, we are super excited to be spending the holidays with our family and friends in California this year. Waking up in my childhood home on Christmas morning, with all of my kids (even the grown ones!) will be a special time, indeed.

Because we'll be gone over Christmas, I'm doing some simple crafting and decorating now so we can feel like we've had a little Christmas magic in our own home before we leave!

 Simple Rosemary Wreath

A few months ago, my daughter and I were cleaning and organizing all the kitchen cabinets. (You'd never know it, now. Just sayin' )
I'm a little embarrassed to say how many containers of dried spices were way way past being usable for cooking. But when I came to a container of Rosemary, I thought it looked too pretty to throw out! Kinda silly, I know. 
I decided to keep it with the craft supplies until I decided what to do with it.

Today's "simple Christmas" project is really the happy result of not cleaning out my kitchen spice cabinet often enough : )

 This isn't a complete tutorial, because I got distracted and forgot to take photos of the last couple of steps! But it's so super easy, you'll get the idea. 

I had in mind a tiny wreath and as I was gathering up supplies I spotted one of my kid's CD's on the counter and it was just the right size to use as a template. I traced around it on a scrap piece of cardboard. No, not a cereal box this time : )

A small jar was a good size for the center circle. Poke a hole in the center circle with a pencil or your scissors. Simply cut around the inside and outside circle with your scissors. 
It's not necessary to be perfect because the edges of the cardboard are pretty well covered when you're finished. Here's where I failed to document the rest of what I did- oops!





First, I coated the cardboard ring with Mod Podge. I think any craft glue would be fine, I just grabbed what was closest. I covered the glued cardboard with the Rosemary and let it dry. 
At this stage, the wreath was looking a little "flat" still. I decided to go over the top of the Rosemary with a thicker layer of hot glue and piled more Rosemary on. That gave me more of the look I was going for. 

As a fun little side note: I discovered today that the symbolic meaning of Rosemary is remembrance, love, loyalty and fidelity. Pretty sweet for Christmas! 
If you're interested in finding out the symbolic meaning of other herbs, I found the information HERE.

I made a tiny banner of brown paper with the word "Hope" printed on it and attached it with hot glue. 

For me, it's a favorite word all the time. 

But especially at Christmastime it symbolizes all that the birth of Jesus Christ means to me. 

Hope for love. Hope for redemption. Hope for guidance and purpose throughout my life. Hope for eternal life with Him when we leave this crazy place! 

Have you noticed how much I love using torn strips of white cotton fabric as ribbons? I don't know what it is. 
I do love a gorgeous velvet or silk ribbon, as well, but there's just something so pretty to me about a slightly shabby piece of white cotton fabric!

As you can see, I created a little hanging ribbon and bow from the torn strips of white cotton. I hung my little Rosemary wreath in front of a chalkboard slate in an old gold frame. I'll tell you a little more about that in my next post, okay? 


I'll be back soon to share a little vignette I created around the Rosemary wreath.

How about you? Have you created anything recently out of something you almost tossed out? 

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jeanette

Joining the fun over here this week:

Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House 
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 
The Scoop 
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House 
What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters
Share Your Cup at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson 
Be Inspired at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home 
Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors 
 

O Christmas Tree

Yep, I did it. I didn't mean to do it.  Not this early anyway....


It's not even Thanksgiving, and I'm sharing my first Christmas post. I have a good reason, though. Really!

We've had the crafty 'bug' over here for the last few weeks. My kids and I have been making things for the house, making things for gifts and making things for the shop. 

Making things. Just for the fun of it!

 



The other night, the "making" turned into a little impromptu Christmas crafting. A little forest of vintage inspired Christmas trees!




Sheets of vintage music form whimsical trees. I simply rolled them into a cone shape, secured them with a touch of hot glue, and snipped a bit of a decorative edge around the bottom. 
Some are topped with sparkly stars punched from an old glittered gift bag.

This one has a tiny flag topper of brown paper, wrapped around a toothpick and topped with a pearl bead.

They were set atop some unique bases which just happened to be in my giant, disastrous pile well-organized supplies ;)

I used an iron piece from an old light fixture, a weathered flower pot (I didn't even clean it -oops!). 

This one is an old cabinet handle with a really long screw. I knew I was saving these for something! : )

Turned over onto a bamboo skewer and tucked into a vintage iron piece, an old tin cone takes on the look of a snowy pine tree.

One little bottle brush tree was glued to a base of old, chippy white wood.

The other was glued to a vintage mold.

The star topper is actually an antique screw-back earring. My grandmother picked up a ton of vintage costume jewelry for craft projects, and this pair came from her collection. 

I placed the little forest of vintage inspired Christmas trees on my rustic board mantel.

I made a little "O Christmas Tree" brown paper banner, printed from my computer, and hung it on the wooden backdrop behind the trees.

And took some pictures for you, my friends : )

For the first time ever, we are not spending Christmas at home in Colorado, so I'm not going to feel bad about doing some Christmas things a little early around here. 

I want to enjoy a little Christmas creating and decorating before we leave home, but the plan is to keep it low-key and simple. 

Remember how crazy I was getting ready to drive 3 kids to California this summer? Yep. We're doing that again. {smile}

How about you? Are you embracing Christmas already, or holding off until after Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear what you're up to!

Jeanette 

Linking up at these fun parties-

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Inspiration Monday at twelveOeight 

The Scoop 

Knick of Time Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House 

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life 

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Share Your Cup Thursday at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson 

Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours 

Be Inspired at Common Ground

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors 

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage 

What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants   

Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters