Elegant, French Burlap Christmas Decor

       This Christmas I was shooting for a French Style Christmas Tree.  I had this ambitious idea of combining burlap and gold.  Little did I know when I originally started gathering supplies, that this would be a more ambitious task than I originally thought it would be.  But in the ened the two came together in a surprisingly cohesive way thanks to the ivory burlap, natural wraffia and magnolia flowers.   

    This year, my house was on the prgressive dinner tour for our school district.  And I got a couple comments from co-workers who said I needed to blog about my decor and/or share it on pinterest.  I will have more images from some of my other Chrismas decorations that follow this theme coming soon.  So, this post is for them.

    My mother created the tree skirt out of ivory and tan burlap.  She also put in some off white eyelet lace, which was just the perfect touch.  The stocking are sewn burlap with raw edges and the top is off white eyelet lace as well with a fabric ruffle flower.  So a giant thanks to my mom for the skirt.  I love it!!!

    The star was once silver but my husband spray painted it a dark red, along with our stocking holders.  I like them much better as they are just a bit different than our previous decorations.  Plus, it was a very inexpensive change.

 

DIY Arranging at Home

If I have company coming or I need a thoughful gift, think flowers.  I so often forget how easy it is to arrange at home even on a budget.  When there is no money in the budget for flowers my go to place is my families yard. My Daddy and Mama's home has a wonderful garden with various flowers and plants.  Landscaping it has been a family project for years.  I gathered up lots of greens and a few blooming flowers (what there is blooming, it's February in Ca).  If you do this at home the key is to look for various colors and texures in your choices.  That variation makes all of the difference and really makes the viewer study the arrangement. I also wanted to use an unusual container for my home grown arrangement.  I went with a vintage flour sifter my husband and I found at a yard sale.  The lady gave it to us for free (whoo hoo).

The sifter is open at the bottom so I used a sandwich sized ziplock bag and 4 paper clips the secure the bag to the top. I hooked the paper clips just underneath the seal of the bag so that is would hold stroger with out ripping to the top of the bag.  I did the with 4 paperclips separating them along the bag evenly.  I then attached each paper clip to the top rim of the sifter (see image above)  As you can see the paper clips serve a dual purpose.  I also used them to hold down the vine greenery I wanted to flow down the outside of the arrangement container. But that step comes after all of the greenery has been placed in the next step.
                                            
Once the ziplock bag was secure I placed a piece of wet floral foam inside to help keep the greenery and flowers in place.  If you dont have floral foam you can place the flowers without.  Floral foam just makes it easier.  Whenever I am at a Craft store I will pick up a block or to and store them away for days like this when I need a piece of a block. I then placed the greens in no particular order or pattern.  I looped some smooth long narrow leaves to give it an extra texture.












Finally, I put all of the flowers in.  The only rule I used here was height.  I wanted the daffodils to really stand out so I cut the taller and plces them in the center.  Then in various smaller lengths cut the other flowers and plced them,

Incorporating Burlap into Centerpieces



            Burlap is in these days; weddings, homedecor, art.  So I incorporated it into the bottom of one of my new silk arrangements at home. I used a square of it to cover up the foam at the base of the piece and left enough to peep out the top.  I was so happy with the look I wanted to share. This could be used for wedding centerpieces with clear or see through bases.  It can also be used to wrap around the outside of a jar with a ribbon or string of lace near the top to fasten to the jar. I hope the idea inspires!!

Sugar, Spice & Snowballs: A Winter Baby Shower Table Arrangement

Light Pink and White flowers mixed with silver touches and glittery snowballs.  I decided to include snowballs because it provided a  lovely touch of winter and something unexpeted in the arrangement.  All table arrangements were displayed in various vintage white class pedestal dishes.  

Flowers on a Red Velvet Cake

A Tropical Spring Theme Wedding

Bridal Bouquet

Head Table Arrangement

Bridesmaid Bouquet

Centerpieces

(some of the rocks on top dried as this pic was taken the morning after the wedding)

These flowers were from my sister, Kari's wedding in June 2011.  She has always loved bright cheery colors so when she said she wanted bright pink, orange and lime green as her flower colors, I knew I was going to have fun.  She also wanted a tropical twist and various textures. 

California Coast Themed Wedding Flowers

   

My sister, Malia, was married to the love of her life in August, 2011.  Her wedding theme was centered around the Northern California Coast.  She wanted only green and white flowers so I went with some flora and fauna found near the beach including Eucalyptus and Queen Anne's lace found wildly near the California Coast.