holiday decor — pleasure in simple things

Tag: holiday decor

christmas is in the air

December

Holiday decorating comes in a close second to holiday wrapping for me.

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving is a day for retreating to my ‘wrapping room’ for a full day of creating wrapping for gifts I plan on giving. Sometimes, like this year, I am not able to fit in my favorite creative activity of the season.

But something I always have time for is to incorporate new items I have found or made during the year to my holiday decor. Today I am sharing a few.

You know I have a great new bathroom this year (click here to see) and, of course, I needed to find a few decor items to add to it for the holiday season! I found these swoon-worthy chandelier ornaments at an after Christmas sale last year – aren’t they perfect?

And, I love these sparkly guest towels I found at T.J. Maxx.

A special ornament always looks best displayed on its own. This one is just propped on top of a rattan covered drinking glass.

And, I made this mini wreath specifically to use in the new bathroom. (At the end of last holiday season I made tons of 6″ wreaths using many of my collected ribbons and bottle brush trees – so fun to make!)

New incorporated items popped up in other parts of the house as well. I picked up this pretty white pedestal dish at a thrift shop and it is so perfect for displaying a single decor item.

And, my favorite new ornament is this stack of books!

Have you incorporated any new items into your decor this year? It is fun to find things throughout the year that may work during the holidays.

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

P.S. If you are interested in ordering your own 4 favorite things tote, like the one I’ve shown on the start of this post, check out The Shop Forward.

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sweater weather decor

December

One of the great things about spending some time visiting favorite stores at the holidays is picking up some decor inspiration.

I have a quick DIY to share with you from a visit to one of my fave gift shops.

Out and about on a recent shopping excursion, I saw these vases at Grace in Niantic, Connecticut all wrapped up in ‘sweaters.’ So cute, right?

What a great way to turn any old, boring clear vases (the ones that come from the delivered floral arrangements) into fun seasonal elements!

And even if you don’t have any old sweaters or clear vases laying around – they are the perfect items to thrift!

Love this! Use sweaters that best match your decor. Check out my creations in upcoming Instagram stories!

Happy crafting! Thanks for stopping by!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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mini cloche diy

November

This is one of those super easy, super satisfying DIYs! I happen to see these great mini cloches in the Target bargain section. And, they weren’t made of plastic – they were ceramic with glass domes! I was so in love with them, but, of course, not in love with the color!

I knew it would be super easy to fix them up by simply painting them with chalk paint! What an easy transformation!

And, they will be super for Christmas! Since I don’t yet have my Christmas decorations out, I purchased an ornament at Walmart for $1.98 just so I could use the ‘guts’ of it to give you an example of a Christmas themed mini dome!

There you go! And they will look super displaying some of my little bottle brush trees! Everything looks better in a cloche!

Thanks for stopping by! Here’s to some great finds in the Target bargain bin!

Have a fabulous weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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diy holiday cloche

December

There are so many simple ways to change up your décor for the holidays without buying anything new!

One great way to change up some existing items is with a paint pen. Using a white, silver, or gold paint pen on anything glass creates an instant holiday boost! This means any glass container, mirror, or window is fair game!

You can use a holiday word (joy), saying (let it snow), or drawing (stars) to make a glass item more seasonal.

If you don’t want to permanently change an item, don’t worry – you can take anything you create right off again! Just use a cloth with nail polish remover (acetone) and you can create a clean slate instantly! So, if you’d like a redo – just wipe! When the holidays are over, you can remove anything you’ve added to any glass pieces with a simple wipe-off.

As an example, I have written peace on earth on a cloche. I love cloches. They make any single item instantly seem special so they are especially fun to use at the holidays! I could have displayed it simply with the writing but chose to add greens inside the cloche to make my paint pen message stand out. There is plenty of greenery to cut outdoors, but pinecones or any type of vase filler would also work inside the cloche. Small twinkling lights are also a nice embellishment.

For my cloche, I just handwrote the message – nothing fussy – I like the organic look. If you don’t like your own handwriting, a message can be printed out from your computer and placed under the glass to easily trace. Of course, if a mistake is made, it can be wiped off with nail polish remover and rewritten!

I hope you are inspired to create a holiday message on a piece of your glass or on a mirror or window this holiday season!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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easy holiday tree diy

December

It is funny how sometimes the very simplest DIY can have the most satisfying result!

Such is the case with this simple bottle brush tree décor made from a few simple materials!

I just assembled a few things from my craft supplies – 3 bottle brush trees in varying sizes, a slice of wood, a bit of moss, some glitter (glass glitter to make a sparkle in the night time), and my trusty glue gun!

And, because of my preference for neutral holiday décor, the supplies I assembled were all in neutral colors.

All I needed to do was use the glue gun to secure the moss and trees and then add a little glitter!

And just like that, a DIY that cost only pennies to make becomes a favorite!

Amazing how this little piece of décor can make a little random spot smile provoking! Such a simple, yet perfect, piece of holiday!

I hope you are enjoying filling your home with some holiday fun! This year it is especially great to have well-loved décor since we are all spending so much time in our homes! Excess isn’t needed – most times a single highlighted piece is the best!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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diamonds & furs christmas tree

December

In this part of the country, snow and Christmas just go together! As we prepare for our first significant snow storm of this winter, it is hard not to think of the holidays!

The short 3-week time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year has put everyone in a shopping frenzy! I did most of my holiday décor and shopping extra early this year so I could give my full attention to the holiday displays I needed to prepare at work.

One thing I did fit in was to create a themed tree for a local nonprofit. You know how much I love a good theme! I came up with a fun one for a tree to be raffled off by a private local high school.

My ‘luxury’ theme was inspired by Tiffany. Tiny mink coats, strings of pearls, diamonds, and Tiffany boxes came together in a really fun way on a lighted table top Christmas tree! I wanted to come up with a tree no one else would think to do – what better way to create some interest!

I plan to make my decorated tree donation an annual tradition and I am looking forward to coming up with a new theme each year as a way to inspire others to donate to the school!

I hope I have inspired you to combine fun and giving into your holiday routine!

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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terrain holiday 2019

November

If you follow this blog, you know one of my favorite places to shop is Terrain. I am super lucky to have a store location so close to me in Westport, CT. Each year, I feel an obligation to share some photos with you because I know many of you are not able to shop at this fabulous store!

Each holiday (actually, each season) Terrain has a really wonderful open house and it is one of the best places to visit for some real holiday inspiration.

This year, I am not able to squeeze in even a short trip to the open house next Saturday.

So I made a quick visit this past weekend to get a glimpse of the beginnings of this year’s preparations!

Today I am sharing a few photos with you and I will share some additional photos on Friday.

I hope you enjoyed this little photo trip to the Westport Terrain. Stop back on Friday when I share my favorite part of this year’s holiday decor at Terrain – the pink accents! Here is a little preview:

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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‘sprucing’ things up

November

After my outdoor mum arrangement died with the recent frost, my friend Wendy suggested I cut some greens from an outside tree to make something to replace it. So, that is what I did!

I collected a few items to create my arrangement – some white berries I had in with my gift wrapping supplies, a ribbon I had saved from an old wreath because the colors were so great – so neutral! I thought I needed a little something else so while I was at the craft store, I looked around and found these pod-like things in the natural element section and picked them up. They were the size I thought I needed to fill the space and they were a nice neutral shade.

With what I already had, my supplies cost me under $3. Actually, the worse part of the project was cutting the greens – not that it was hard to do, but it was so cold outside when I did it!

The small basket that contained the mums did not need many greens to fill it. I kept the dirt in the basket from when the flowers were planted in it and simply poked the greens in! Then, I shaped the ribbon the way I wanted it – securing it with a bent-up paperclip (I know – but I couldn’t find any wire so I had to MacGyver it!) and attached it to the basket.

I love the way it came out! Simple and natural looking! Thanks for the tip Wendy!

I hope today’s post will inspire you to create something of your own for your holiday décor, using materials from outdoors!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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more holiday neutrals

December

As promised…

A continuation of Tuesday’s post with a little more from a favorite gift shop…

Holiday neutrals…

Enjoy!

And, that’s a wrap on this year’s holiday inspiration! I am already thinking of colors and themes for holiday 2019! Am I the only one?

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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holiday seaside neutrals

December

Did I mention this year has been a little crazy? Many of my holiday traditions did not happen this year. One of these traditions was going on my annual ‘shop hop’ with the gals! We always have such a fabulous time! We plan it out so we can visit our favorite shops close to the official holiday reveal date.

I did make a quick stop to one my favorites, as you saw it a previous post. But I didn’t go close to the reveal date this year so the merchandise and décor was not at its true magnificence!

Nonetheless, in honor of the holiday week, I am sharing some photos from my quick holiday trip this year to Taken for Granite on this week’s posts. No matter what day the visit – it is always a pleasure and an inspiration to visit the store.