Love: Not Only for Valentine's Day

Post-holiday blues getting you down?  Fill your house with love!  

Take a trip to bc Living for ideas on how to transition from holiday decor into Valentine's!

Read my tips on bcLiving.ca

Sewing into the Holidays

For the past few years my mother, sister-in-law and I try to spend as much time as possible doing family activities together during the holidays.  When feasible, we try to include the guys but they don't seem to get very excited about crafting or baking.

Each alternating weekend one of us girls chooses the activity we all partake in, and I always seem to make it either difficult for myself, or everyone!  A few years ago it was my stocking - that I quilted together, in different colour combos for each side.  Last year it was my chosen activity - quilted double-sided Christmas placemats that took way too long (see a "quilting pattern"?  No pun intended.  At first).

This year my mom's choice was to make holiday aprons so that we could bake in them the following week.  Great!  Only my apron design turned into another quilting-esque project...  The others' aprons turned out beautiful, but took quite a bit less time to make.

The irony is that due to the amount of work I created for myself, I was sewing my apron while mom and Fiona did all of the Christmas baking.  Eventually it got done, but at that point, so were all the cookies!

It's a good thing there's still Christmas dinner to prepare, so this thing will get some use after all.  Thanks for the Cookie Breaks, Fiona!

Top It!

Hello, I'm Vera.  You may have forgotten about me - I haven't blogged in a while.

I was hoping to lead a timely chronicle of my decorating for the holidays, but between the Christmas prepping, trimming, wrapping and a teething baby, somehow I haven't been able to keep up with blogging about it all.

Now, with the house clean and all of the prezzies wrapped, maybe I can catch up a little.

I am currently sitting across from the glowing Christmas tree which is very elegant this year.  Every year I create a different theme for the tree, and this year it was inspired by the beautiful topper I bought at the end of 2011 (which translates to 70% off).

In the past we usually topped off with a star or a santa (with a glowing candle.  He's very cute), but there are so many more options for toppers!  I went online to look for some inspiration for next year's tree and came across this one on Etsy:  

So good!  I of course went for the "Add to Cart" button, only to find that it had just been snatched from under my nose!  That's Christmas for you...  Luckily, I have a whole year ahead to find the perfect topper.

And here are some more ideas for next year:

Bordeaux Star via Horchow.com

Rustic Mirrored Star at Pottery Barn

Sweet Topper via Martha Stewart

Pom-Pom Topper via Design Sponge - see DIY tutorial!

Paper Topper via Sherimcculley.com

Wooden Topper via Woodcraft.com

Wreaths in a Row

Up above is my first decorating of the holiday season!  I thought I'd start early so that I can do a little bit each week before Christmas.  The star of this little display is my take on the traditional Christmas wreath; there's three of them, they're small, they're framed, and they couldn't be easier to make!

I was so charmed by these cute mini wreaths at the craft store, that I felt I needed to present them in a more special way than just hanging them on a door.  I had a vision of them in shadow boxes, and I must say, the result is as special as I expected!

I lined the frame backs with neutral striped wrapping paper to add some contrast and shine, and hot-glued the wreaths directly on the backs.  The wreaths really stand out against the white, and are perfectly festive.

I love them standing on the mantel as opposed to hanging on a wall - they take up enough surface area to create a full mantel, but maintain a streamlined clutter-free look.

The candle goblets and samovar reinforce the colours of the display, while the garland mimics the berries in the wreaths and adds a bit more festive glint!

Bring on the holiday spirit...