DIY White Woodland Christmas

Last Christmas, our living room walls were dark paneled wood. I tried my best to decorate for the holiday and lighten up the mood in the room, but I just couldn't get over how dark and cavernous the dark wood panels made everything feel. It was right after the holiday that we decided to paint the paneling white. And this year, I couldn't wait to decorate our space. Everything came together quite nicely and I went with a white woodland theme. Some of my favorite details include our tiny gingerbread woodland animals on the mantel, cinnamon scented pinecones in the tablescape, and the amazing DIY customizable wall plate from adorne by Legrand on our wall.

To create our tablescape, I used live garland from Trader Joes (cut down to about 5-6 feet), cinnamon scented pinecones from our local grocery store, clementines for color, and a mixture of candlesticks and ivory candles.

 

To create the mantel display, I used more of the live garland as a swag and made a gingerbread woodland forest with IKEA DRÖMMAR and Vinter cookie cutters. 

This is the custom wall plate from adorne by Legrand that I decorated using metallic cardstock, boxwood twine, a tiny plastic deer head, and thin red ribbon. It's the perfect addition to our decorations and provides a lot of visual interest to an otherwise empty wall. The coolest thing about it was how easy it was to decorate. Almost all the DIYs I tackle end up taking more time than I anticipate, but designing this wall plate took about a half hour start to finish. Decorating the plate (not the electrical set-up, clearly) would be a great project to do with kids. 

Click through to see the full DIY and more details! 

DIY Felt Stockings with Tassels & Poms

When I was a child, decorating for Christmas was a sport. My Grandma (on my dad's side) and my mom would go ALL OUT and transformed both of their homes into seriously magical worlds. My Grandma chose a theme each year and would buy all new decorations to match. One year was a gilded gold with a white tree and my 12-year-old self thought I had walked into Buckingham Palace. My mom's place is always on point, as well. She has serious decorating chops all year round, but Christmas is when she really shines. I always try to sucker her into helping me decorate my place around the holidays. And now that we have Emerson, I'm so looking forward to the magic of holiday decor.

One of my favorite decorating moments was when the Christmas stockings went up on the mantle. They would hang there in eager anticipation waiting to be filled and all throughout December I would check mine to see if anything had arrived early.

So this year, I wanted to make personalized stockings for Emerson, Rich and I. Inspired by the ever-lovely Anthropologie stockings, I decided to go with a yarn tassel and pom-pom look on wool felt. Not only are the results pretty darn cute, but it was much more affordable than anything store-bought.

Click through to see the full DIY after the jump!

DIY Holiday Sparkle Glass Dome

Last year, our holiday involved a kitchen renovation and traveling in and out of town, so I opted out of decorating for the holidays. I assured myself it didn't matter and kept saying how I had saved myself the work of cleaning up come January. But not having my own sparkly pine-scented green and red retreat was such a bummer. So this year I went all out. And I started early so we can enjoy the frivolity as long as possible. And I know many people have a strict "don't decorate until after Thanksgiving" rule, but I think you should just do what feels right.

So here is a super simple holiday DIY that you can do in less than an hour that will yield adorable sparkly winter wonderland results.

 

What You'll Need: 

12" Glass Bell Jar Dome

*Mine is Martha Stewart Collection's dome found here.

Anthropologie Aurora String Lights, 15ft. 

8"-10" Miniature Pine Tree 

*We got our tree from West Elm. They don't have it listed online, but you may be able to find it in-store this season. I suggest calling ahead and asking.  

Double-sided tape (something like this will do)

Cut a piece of double-sided tape and firmly stick it on the base of your glass dome. Place the miniature pine tree on the taped base until it's nice and sturdy. Take the tall glass dome and flip it upside down. Gently place the string lights in the top. While still holding the glass dome upside down, place the base (with the attached tree) on the top. Flip the entire piece right side up again. Carefully and gently use your hand to drape the lights strategically around the tree until you're happy with the distribution. And voila! Plug it in and let the holiday wonder take over. 

happy valentine's day

I hope you are extra sweet to the people you love and appreciate today...regardless of whether they are a partner, spouse, child, friend, coworker, sibling, neighbor, or even pet. Have a lovely day, everyone!

Looming Large

It was 11AM when our trusty Lincoln Towncar pulled in to the Family Heirloom Textile Factory in Red Lion, PA. The factory is housed right besides the old farm and creek where Granny (Rich's grandmother), used to hunt muskrats with her cousins who were well-versed in the art of trapping.

As with many of life's great things, it was not much of a sight from the outside. But as we stepped inside, owner David Kline, sitting at an antique desk with his fingers clasped, started to talk and offered to give us a tour through his looming factory. And the rest was, is, and will continue to be amazing history.

A late December birthday

Celebrating a birthday near Christmas always gets a bad rap...but having a late-December birthday myself, I can attest to its greatness.

Starting to Deck the Halls

Each year around the holidays, my mom transforms our home in Pittsburgh into a warm, rustic, ribbon-and-raffia-flowing wonderland. It feels warm and all-encompassing in the most welcoming and festive way.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Dried Cherries, Apples and Pistachios