wallpaper emo

Linking up with Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch,
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home,
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground,
Potpourri Friday at 2805,
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk.

I have, over the years, loved the look of red and white together, particularly at Christmas, but after loving the whites and the pastels and the neutrals, I thought I had kind of fallen out of love with good old red and white.  Low and behold, when I started pulling out things to decorate for Christmas this year (remember use what you have simple?), I decided to use my white ironstone more prominently than I usually do.  What better to punch up white ironstone than greens and candy canes?  Well, nothing, says I!  So I went out to the yard for some greenery and to my neighborhood KMart for some candy canes and ribbon candy and...voila!

Instant Christmas cute-ness on the cheap!  Pay no attention to the cord running across the wall.  Old house, inadequate electric plugs, extension cords are our reality...


I had a ball with this sideboard vignette and red seemed to enter into it as well, although in a much more subtle way.  The little stool is an old red and one of my favorite things from my New England days.  A touch of red berries add a little pop to the greenery in a new thrift store galvanized vase given my old zinc paint trick.


Fun chance to pull out my Christmas books and my adorable drawer I won in Mitzi's giveaway along with the awesome little black alarm clock, among other awesome treasures.  Thank you, Mitzi!


One of my favorite little doodads, a very cool flower frog topped this month with a bird Christmas ornament and some greenery.



My friend down the street is a talented calligraphy and watercolor artist.  She had an open house for Christmas and gave us all a pretty card of our choosing and I loved this quote from Rudyard Kipling, beseeching us to delight in simple things.  Obviously, meant for me.  I gave it a decorative clip around the edges and then put it in the center of the greenery with an old band instrument music holder.


OK, pure randomness...does anyone else decorate their necessary room?  Toilet, potty, bathroom, water closet, whatever you call it.  I do, I must admit.  I have the great blue and white dishes in there all the time (you mean everyone doesn't have dishes in their potty?  Hmmmmm, what's wrong with them????), so I thought a little touch of Christmas was in order in there as well.




Moving on to the dining room, I pulled out my Victorian red flash glass souvenir pieces for a little red love.


These fun little glass items were keepsakes from various tourist destinations.  Often, people would have them personalized like this glass with the initials E.S.H.  How can you not be charmed?


So, anyway, I also changed out the pastel quilts I display in my entryway (didn't photograph that) with my red and white and red, blue, and white ones for the first time in years and it is so nice to see my old friends.  I think red and white and I are going to be spending a little more time together this year.  How about you?  What did you think you were over that it turned out you still loved?

Linking up with Joy at Thrift'n on a Thursday

Until next time,

They have filmed the process and have produced a half-hour documentary, plus 3 short introductory films about different aspects of the scheme. The short films are on YouTube:

The main web site for Attingham Park, which is a property of the National Trust, is HERE.

Hello Friends, I hope you are all well and happy and enjoying this beautiful season.  I was so behind in my decorating I really was feeling a need to keep it simple yet appropriate to the season.  I went out shopping a little before Thanksgiving and just the sheer volume of  "stuff" on the shelves and the tinsel-y shininess and the hustle and bustle made me want to run out of the stores and take a shower to wash off the dirt of the conspicious consumerism.  I don't know if it's my age or what, but it really bothered me this year.  SO, I decided to do a revisit of my last year's mantel and tweek it a bit taking a cue from some favorite things that put the emphasis on the reason for the season.


I had coveted admired the amazing Jeanne d'Arc angel wings, but the $95 price tag was not even remotely in my budget. I happened to be looking at Oriental Trading Company's catalog and came across their angel wings for a whopping $14.99 with shipping. Now, I have to say, they compared in no way to the JDL wings, but with a little help from a bag of white mirabou feathers from Michael's (another $2.99 I think), they are good enough for me. I clipped the elastic things that hold them on your arms because I couldn't see a way to get them out of my way to hang them, then wrapped them in wide double faced satin ribbon that I washed to remove the sizing so the bow would hang nicer (floppier). All in all, I'm happy with the result although if anyone has a giveaway on those spendy JDL wings, let me know cause I'm in! :-)

As I was working on my wings, I had Christmas music on and heard one of my favorite songs, "Mary, Did You Know?".  I was inspired to take some of my favorite lines from that song and put them on simple hang tags.  I added a little glitter around the edges since the tags just needed a little more "somethin, somethin".  Of course, my JDL madonna had to come out to say hello as well.


A relatively simple white poinsettia garland that I had on hand made a nice addition when paired with the fairy light string I made last year out of little coffee dyed tiny muffin baking cups. 




My JDL inspired candles returned this year and couldn't have been a nicer addition given the theme.


Antique mercury glass also back for a repeat performance...looks perfect with the Pottery Barn votives that were very reasonable at I think $3.50.


I recently purchased a couple of gorgeous, very old prayer cards that featured the baby Jesus.  I wanted to feature them on my big pillar candle but couldn't chance ruining the original, so I made a copy of it on a nice cardstock and went over the gilt scrolls with my gold paint pen.  I've done this on other reproductions of old pieces and it gives it that authentic look that I love.  I don't think anyone would be the wiser.  I punched a couple of holes in my card for my jute twine to go through so it would stay relatively flat and tied it up over a layer of old crocheted lace for a nice layered effect.


Lastly, one of my favorite mirrors that usually sits on the mantel was moved to the wall and I added the heart cut from a German book topped with one of my faux zinc crosses and some greenery.  I love the simplicity of it.


There are still some crosses available in my Etsy shop, Elegant Farmhouse.


More fun with copies of pages from the German book...


One of my nativity sets that my husband got me soon after we married.  I love it.  It is a great visual of the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus.


I'll show you more of my decor soon, but for now, I think that's enough photo overload. I'm sharing the goods this week with Kathleen at Faded Charm and her wonderful White Wednesday Party, Kim at her Wow Us Wednesday Party, Debra at Vintage Inspiration Friday, Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday, and Bev at Pink Saturday.  Go over and show the other participants some blogger love, won't ya?

Until next time,

There are three things that I love to do. Watch football, play with photoshop and Relay. So why not combine all three. Relay For Life is event designed to celebrate survivors and raise money for research and programs for the American Cancer Society. I relay for a grandfather, a gradmother, two aunts, an uncle, and my mother-in-law that I've lost to cancer. This year instead of bake sales I am making desktop wallpapers as my fundraiser. The wallpapers are 1920x1200 but I can resize them to fit your screen. If you like the wallpapers you can donate to my page at

Aaron Rodgers



Clay Matthews



Ryan Grant



Jordy Nelson

Kellen Moore



Doug Martin