10 Gifts For The Hard To Buy for Guy!!

One of the things that we can all use each others help with is gift giving. 

I love to give a special gift chosen for the people in my life, however sometimes I come up with a blank, and many times I have found the perfect gift by reading a blog that had a gift list of ideas.

So in the spirit of giving I am going to show you some ideas that might help you out in your Christmas shopping.

Lets start with gifts for men, that seems to be the hardest for most women to find since when we ask our men what they would like, we always get the reply, “ I don’t know!”  I don’t need anything!”

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In this day and age every family has multiple devices of communication and this station can keep them all in one spot and looking neat and tidy!! Yay!!!

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This is a gift of a lifetime because a Pendleton wool blanket will literally last a lifetime. I love the masculine presentation with the leather belt strap holder.

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If your man loves GOOD sound then these Bose ear buds are for him!

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This electronic meat temp. monitor will allow your man to leave the grill and continue watching his favorite game on tv. The remote will tell him when the meat on the grill is done!

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Once he gets the meat all ready he can carve it with his own personal carving set. This is on sale right now too!!

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For the guy that likes to take his lady on a picnic how about this fun grass is greener blanket and then add two of these, one for her and one for him…….

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Handy, and complimentary to and for your man!!

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How about a special metal card he can carry in his wallet with a personal note from you. Or if you want a reminder of how much his family loves and appreciates him, include one with a personal photo…..

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Since this blog post is all about sharing please leave any ideas you might have that you think we all might like for the men in our lives!!!

Happy Gift Shopping!!

My 2015 Christmas Decor: The Whole Picture

   

The Christmas planning continues! If you read my last post you all know I am going for a natural-slightly elegant look for Christmas in our new home.

I always suggest choosing 3-4 main areas to concentrate your decorating efforts. Such as your entrance to your home, dining area, mantel, and of course the tree. 

If you do this you will get a lot more Wow factor than if you have Christmas sprinkled throughout your home. Another thing to think of is, everything you put out, you also get to put away. Just trying to be a little helpful here!

Here is my design inspiration board for this year…..

Green and white are my main colors that will be added to my base of black and white.

The reason I am calling my look  a Natural-Elegant look is you will notice I plan on using the natural elements of pinecones, boxwood wreaths, greenery, and paper whites. 

The draped sheer fabric over the main entrance into the Great room will give the feel of elegance.

I always seem to have just a touch of elegance in my designs, but always trying to keep in mind a welcoming open armed type elegance, never too precious or stated, that is just not me, or how I want my guest to feel in my home. I like to call it understated elegance.

Under our family memory tree I will be wrapping my gifts in coordinated paper and ribbons of black and white with green.

You will notice the black and white awning stripe is always in my wrappings, it is a signature wrap for me. 

I purchase it at Nashville wraps, the other papers are from Spoonflower.(links are below) They are a bit more expensive, at Spoonflower, but just a few gifts wrapped in these papers will give a dramatic look under the tree. I might also be using some plain white with colored ribbons to break up the color and patterns.

Remember your packages under the tree are a big part of the overall look, and feel of your room at Christmas time. I like to use soft double faced satin ribbon or grosgrain ribbons tied in a simple bow.

The other element that I like to use as part of my Christmas décor are pillows on my sofa and chairs. This year I am adding a couple of green and white patterns to my black and white pillows that I used last year.

When selecting pillows for a room, first decide where you will be placing pillows, and then decide which pillows will look the best in those areas, and it will also help determine what sizes you will need. If one pillow is going behind another the back pillow should be a bit larger than the front pillow.

As an example I will have three pillows on my sofa. A solid green with the black and white in the front and then on the other side of the sofa I will use the malachite pillow. The striped green  or a solid green pillow will go on my black spindle chair.  

I also have a pillow that says JOY that I might use on the spindle chair with the solid green velvet pillow.

How I will achieve this look:

Elegance……..draped sheer fabric….. candles….. paper whites.

Natural elements……Texture……pine cones, greenery, boxwood, birch logs

Sources:  Just click on image to go to the links.

 

Wrapping paper:

 

Spoonflower and Nashville Wraps

                       

Pillows

Etsy (click on image to go to link)

Customed made Etsy shop no longer open.

Now you all know the in’s and out’s of my Christmas décor. One thing to always keep in mind you also need to be flexible once you start actually decorating.

Things might not look the same as they did on paper, or they just might not be doable. No worries, you then will have another opportunity to become even more creative!! 

Remember it is all about be able to……

 

 

My 2015 Christmas Decor Inspiration!

 

Before we know it Christmas will be here, so it seems to me it is time to start the planning, gift buying and my favorite, Falalaing! ♪♪♪

Each year I like to add. or change up my Christmas décor a bit. 

Our family memory tree will always stay the same since it is full of sweet memories, however I will change out my ribbon selections and maybe a new gift wrap each year.

Over the years I have discovered I have somewhat of a method that has developed.

I know it can be difficult to get motivated during this busy season so I have found a few things that will jump start my decorating mojo.

The very first thing I will start doing is looking on Pinterest. I will randomly start pinning ideas that are appealing to me. 

After awhile I start to see some puzzle pieces that emerge, and some consistent design elements, or colors that will come to the forefront. 

During this process I also always keep in mind the colors and feel of my home as well as what decorations I already have for Christmas.

When considering my décor I try to focus on a few key areas, such as….

Entry/Porch

Dining table

Mantel

These are the areas I will concentrate as my main focal points. I have found in years past that it is a good idea to do a few key areas over bits and pieces of Christmas décor everywhere in your home. 

The days of bows and greenery everywhere are in the past for me personally.

This year my objective is to do a natural organic look with a touch of elegance. I will use faux greenery only to be practical, and it is less messy, however I like the addition of real for the textures and fragrance.

Often times I will find a piece of artwork, or a pillow that will become my jumping off point, but this year it was a little different since I am in a new home.

I actually became inspired by a picture that I have had for quite a long time and each year I think I will do it and never do.

This year is the year!!!

My jumping off point came in the form of this image………

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See the swag over the doorway? I have wanted to do this over a doorway for such a long time. 

I looked up from my computer the other day and there it was!! The perfect doorway!!

       

The opening is 9ft. high and 12 ft. wide!

So I need basically30 ft. of fabric just to cover the opening and then another 3ft for the drape. It needs to be soft, white and ethereal looking.

Since I am not a seamstress I asked a group of friends that do sew where would be the best place to get that many yards of fabric at a decent price point.

My friend Deb came to the rescue, she is very resourceful, and she found me the perfect fabric here.  A soft sheer voile.

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My next big decision is the wreaths that will hold the fabric at the corners. I am considering three possibilities, a pine wreath, boxwood, or grapevine. 

The decision on the wreath will be made once I choose a few more elements that will lead me into the over all direction I am going.

This fabric drape entrance is a touch of elegance and now I need the natural elements I was referring too. I have a few already chosen…..

PAPER WHITES

Paper whites will give me not only a green and white color element, but also a natural, fragrant element.

I find these flowers delicate and just down right pretty!! 

The next element I have chosen is my wreath for the front door. This was my inspiration picture…

Since I am going to use Green and White as my colors this year, I will be using a nice double faced satin ribbon and I will either have a floppy very loosely tied bow or just a knot. 

For those of you that have been following along for any length of time you will know I am not a big fan of overly fluffed up stiff bows.

My door arrangement will look a bit different but this is the feel I am going for.

I found the best deal for boxwood wreaths was at Target .

Let’s stop and take a little inventory to see what is evolving……..

So now I have  a look:
Natural/elegance

A color scheme:
Green and white

A couple of elements:

Boxwood wreath
Paper whites

Moving right along!

As I continue to look, and find inspiration I keep the above categories in mind, natural/elegance, green and white colors, boxwood wreaths and paper whites.

When using elements it makes a nice flow in your home if you repeat the elements in some shape or form from room to room.

This next picture gave me a bit more inspiration…….

Do you see what I see? Natural elements, green and white and a touch of brown in the form of grapevine orbs, there is white, and texture in the birch logs with is fulfilling my colors, and the natural aspect of my design.

I have birch logs that I used last year so that will work great, the brown in the grapevine is reminding of another natural element, pinecones. 

Pinecones will give me a nice texture and be a good contrast with the greenery.

I now have…
Birch logs
Pinecones
Paper whites
Boxwood wreaths
Grapevine orbs

This is plenty of elements to work with. I like to keep my color scheme tight and also I like the elements to be limited and repeated. I find it a bit more elegant and it has a gentler flow on the eye.

With all of this in mind I continue to look to see what evolves.

I have a fairly neutral backdrop, and I always keep this in mind when choosing a color scheme. My base is my blue and white ticking sofa and a black and white striped rug….



Since I am adding a green and white color scheme to my base look I will need to find a pillow and some wrapping paper to tie it all together. 

I have pinned some ideas, but nothing is in cement at this point. Let me show you some of the patterns I am thinking about using…

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I am really kind of in love with this take on malachite in the form of a pillow.

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Here is another one that has more black in it, which is appealing, however it does not feel as happy as the first pillow.

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I never met a stripe I did not like. I find this particular stripe fun and festive.

This black and white JOY pillow is from last years Christmas décor, and most likely will be used this year as well, so I need to keep this in mind when choosing coordinating pillows.

This woodland animal print was also used last year in my Christmas décor. I just might use this as well, but the jury is still out. 

I will make a collage of all possible combinations and that way I will be able to tell which ones will work best for this years décor.

With all the patterns there also needs to be a solid pillow which will probably be a green velvet….

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Another element to consider is the wrapping paper, because your gifts are part of your Christmas decorations. 

I have always coordinated my wrapping papers and I have one signature paper that is always in the mix…..

This is the year I had a black and white with red color scheme.

This is from 2013 do you see the one paper that seems to be in the mix each year?

If you said the black and white awning stripe you are correct. I chose this paper as my signature wrapping paper and it is at the base of my gift wrapping.

I found my paper at Nashville wraps, it is called Domino Alley. The prices are great and I highly recommend this company for wrapping paper.

Here are a few of the papers I am considering adding to my mix this year. I need some green and white so that became my focus….

This is a fun plaid that would incorporate black and white as well as the green and white.

So far I think this Is my favorite.

This is so classic and elegant it would make a good possibility as well.

Another thing I want to keep in mind is my dining area and I am using last years elements for my inspiration there, and they will tie in nicely with what I do in the Great room, since the two rooms are like one large room.

I just noticed something, the image of the draped fabric over the doorway was in my inspiration from last year. I am kind of consistent in what I like, don’t you think?

This is all I have so far, and my wheels are turning so stay tuned to see what all my final decisions are. 

I have to work out a few details in my head before taking the final plunge on some of the elements, so come back for more on this years Christmas decor, plus other inspiration for the season.