Tuesday, November 28, 2017

This Years 2017 Christmas Decor Plan!

With Christmas quickly approaching I thought I would share with you all what I am planning on doing this year.

This plan actually started last year with ONE pillow, a pillow I had spied a few years back that just happen to go on sale....

Isn't he kind of goofy and fun? Every single time I would see him in cyber space I would pause and smile and kind of giggle, he just made me happy. So what is a girl to do? Well, when he was on sale after Christmas this gal bought him and then the planning started off and running.

I usually start with a color scheme, but this guy was going to be my jumping off point so I started looking around to see what I could pull together.

Then I saw ANOTHER PILLOW on sale........

The zebra stripes are a dark almost navy based charcoal so the gray went perfectly. Now I have a theme and my color scheme....


I will be using pinks and reds this year with touches of green and of course my signature black and white stripes.

They are such happy colors together and then add a little green and it becomes Christmas colors!!

I haven't used this combination since 2008 so it will be fun for me to put together. Here is the center piece for our Christmas dining room in 2008....



I might duplicate this look again for our dining room. We shall see.

Now back to the rest of the elements I am going to use.......

I always have fun coordinating my wrapping papers!!








I had to get a little Falala in there too, after all it is my signature Christmas saying!!!


And this my dear friends will become our Christmas decor for 2017!!

To be continued!



 
 

Friday, November 24, 2017

Project Design Holiday Wrap!!

   
Welcome to Project Design
 Holiday Wrap!!

For those of you who happen to be visiting my blog for the very first time, WELCOME!! I am so glad you are here and I hope you are enjoying all the wonderfully talented bloggers and their helpful tips on Holiday wrapping!!

Shall we get started?.........



MAKING THE TASK OF GIFT WRAPPING FUN!

  
Do you feel over whelmed when it comes to gift wrapping?

I am going to share with you my approach and how it helps me stay organized and happily wrapping….

First, I have to admit that I  am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to wrapping paper and ribbons.


When you think about it, choosing your paper and ribbons is like choosing fabrics for a room in your home.

Make it fun and coordinate them and organize them in a way that they look pretty and are easily accessible. 

When I purchase my papers I usually start with a color scheme or sometimes a particular theme. 

Of course you will notice my signature black and white striped wrapping paper is always in the mix in our home.

Choose A Signature Wrap!
The very first time I ever heard of someone using a signature wrapping paper was Colin Cowey, his paper was a dark chocolate brown. 

That made me start thinking about what would I choose, and it was a very simple choice for me since I am a lover of black and white and stripes.

I put my papers together just like I do for pillow fabrics on my sofa. It's all about coordination and if you have trouble doing that you can often find groupings of papers that are already put together for you. I noticed that Target had a few fun patterns put together for your choosing this year...

 These were my paper choices for 2016 Christmas....

Here are the packages lined up waiting for their ribbons and bows.......

I actually place my packages under the tree and get them in an arrangement I like before adding the ribbons, then I can tell which package need a certain color ribbon. I am all about coordinating things, plus I really enjoy this whole process.


Nothing terribly fancy or complicated, just pretty coordinating papers and lovely soft double faced satin ribbon that drapes nicely. You won't see stiff wired ribbon on my packages, I like the ribbons to fall naturally.

In 2015 I chose an all green black and white color scheme and here are the line-up of papers that I used. You will notice that my papers are not always what you might use at Christmas time, but once the ribbons are added and they are under the tree the say CHRISTMAS big time!! 

Don't limit your creativity by only shopping in the Christmas aisles for your papers.


This was our very first Christmas in our new home in 2015.

All wrapped up and tied up with ribbons and bows.

The other thing I like to do with my wrapping and ribbons is to keep them in baskets and organized so that when I need to do my wrapping they are ready at hand. 
I actually keep my wrapping papers in a French Market basket and sometimes I keep it by the tree and it just adds to the Christmas decor. 


Let me show you how I did it one year.....
Tools needed for wrapping……..

2013 Christmas gifts 006 (800x600)ribbit
You will notice the little basket on the right has my tools, scissors, tape, glue stick, markers all together. There is nothing that will slow down the process more than not being able to find the scissors or the tape so I have found that corralling them in a basket really helps me out.

Baskets to hold everything are so helpful……..

2013 Christmas gifts 008 (800x600)ribbit
All my ribbons are lined up in a basket ready to make a pretty bow. 

I have fun paper ribbon with stickers that have our family name on them. 

Jingle bells were the theme for this years Christmas so I have a bowl full to add to the packages.

2013 Christmas gifts 011 (600x800)ribbit
I don’t have a designated room to do my gift wrapping in, but I do have a large kitchen bar that works well. 

Ribbet collage Gift wrapping central

By getting pretty papers and ribbons it really helps in making your packages stand out. I just tie simple uncomplicated bows on my packages.

I have found that buying a good quality ribbon is so helpful in making a pretty bow. I have never been a big fan of wired ribbon. I love a beautiful velvet, or my favorite is a double sided satin ribbon. 

Here is a sneak peek of this years wrapping papers all lined up.  This years scheme actually started right after last years Christmas celebration when I found a pillow on sale that I had admired for a few years.

He is goofy, quirky and fun so that dictated the colors I am using this year......

You can't look at this fellow without smiling so my color scheme had to be cheerful and happy. This year it is all about red, pinks and green....




Stay tuned for more blog post on how I am going to use all of this and especially how I will wrap my gifts this year!!

I hope this will help make gift wrapping a little easier and more enjoyable for you. Below you will find the sources I use for my gift wrapping supplies.

Paper sources: The Container Store
                                                Nashville Wraps

Ribbons: Paper Mart
              Container Store
Paper: Minted
Paper: Spoonflower
Gift tags: Southern Hospitality Co.
Paper ribbon and round stickers: Paper Jacks on Etsy

Don't forget to visit the other bloggers that are participating in....
 "Project Design Holiday Wrap!"



 
 

Thursday, November 23, 2017

The Story Of My Thanksgiving Day Table!

   

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!

I have to admit that I waited until the very last minute to do my table this year. I had no idea what I was doing until I actually picked out my flowers at the grocery store.

The flowers were put in a big blue bucket until yesterday and then I began thinking about how to put this all together.


After looking at the flowers for awhile they told me they needed elegance and I knew I had the perfect piece to put them in. I just wasn't sure how I would make it work.


I have a beautiful antique silver bowl with my initial K engraved on it that my DIL gifted me!! It was perfect. I needed it to be a bit higher so I added one of my Revere bowls as a pedestal. It WORKED!!!

Now how the heck am I going to make the flowers stand up in this without a frog. Luckily my memory did not fail me and I remembered seeing someone do this with scotch tape....

 So I began to polish the silver.....

Not my favorite job, but so rewarding when it is all done!

The I put it together using my grocery store flowers and added some apples as well as some lemon and limes from our espaliers in the backyard to the arrangement........

Ready to be moved to the table, verrrrry carefully!!

I made some place cards using parchment paper and apples along with the Burgundy eucalyptus leaves with each guest name written on them.......

 Now for the fun part, putting it all together on the table.

I played with three different glasses, but the vintage ruby glasses won!!

You can see that I used a linen colored tablecloth with silver sparkles in it, that tied in my use of silver nicely, plus I love anything that sparkles, don't you?

Simple white napkins placed under each plate. By golly I think this is all going to work out just fine!!

I even had some soft red marbled candles in my stash that are the perfect color to go with this table. Who knew?

Next will be the truly best part, having my family sitting around this table!!!

After a little problem, the sink backed up!!! Hubby ran to Home Depot at 8:00 last night and by 10:00 my handy dandy guy had it fixed, not an easy fix but he did it!!

All was well with my world as I sat in the dark with the fireplace and Christmas pictures and music playing on the TV softly. Yes all is well.....


BLESSING TO YOU ALL!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!


SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO:

Tomorrows post is going to be a joint effort of 4 other very talented ladies. Stay tuned for another episode of Project Design....