christmas decorations Archives - Darling Darleen

A New England Christmas

A New England Christmas with Simple DIY

Christmas this year almost didn’t come! Pulling out Christmas decorations among moving boxes (yes, we are still getting settled in to this new house) gave me a feeling of bah humbug. But the kids negotiated with me, and said Santa wouldn’t come to an undecorated house, so we came to an agreement. Keep. it. simple. So, I didn’t pull out all of my Christmas decorations and instead pulled out only a few this year. The ones that add the Christmas glitter and cheer! Our New England Christmas is accented with simple DIY projects that add the perfect detail.

For my New England Christmas, I wanted to have a white flock Christmas tree. Real flocked trees are easily found in Georgia, but you do have to pay a hefty price. We had flocked trees the last couple of Christmas’s, and they just add a level of elegance to your Christmas decorating.

Well we had a hard time trying to find real, flocked trees here in Connecticut. So, to save money and time I decided to buy two cans of white flock snow spray for just a few bucks and spray our real balsam fir Christmas tree. It was a great idea, and so easy to do! I actually sprayed it right in my living room. I did cover the floors with a disposable paint cover, and I did pull the tree away from the walls. But it was very easy to do and to clean up I just wiped it away. Also, you need to let your tree dry for about 12 hours before putting on ornaments. I wanted to keep the trees with a light dusting. I did have enough spray to add more fake snow but liked the look of it with just the dusting.

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Candles are such a great way to bring a the holiday ambiance to a room. Love Anecdote Candles. They are a favorite.

Another easy, simple DIY project to create a New England Christmas is buy a can of copper spray paint and white pine fir garland or green clippings and seeded eucalyptus and spray them copper! I saw this easy and budget friendly idea while shopping at Terrain, and loved it! They spray painted most of their real garland around the store. I love the results and add the metallic accent real greenery all around the house–in my wreath, garland, Christmas tree and vase arrangements.

I love my thick wool cream throw from Mutze hats. It is hand knitted and one of my favorite winter home decorations. I linked a similar version from Serena and Lily.

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Magnolias for Christmas

Magnolias for Christmas

The stockings were hung and the garland was hung by the chimney with care! Indeed it was after making this gorgeous magnolia garland. Bring me all the magnolias for Christmas, and I will make the most beautiful magnolia garland. I loved how my Southern Christmas came out last year that I wanted to incorporate magnolias again in this year’s decorations for the look of Magnolias for Christmas. This year I did a full magnolia garland, instead of scattered magnolias through out the garland. I love the look and how it came out! So elegant. I hung the stockings from the garland instead of the mantle so they can be seen and not hidden from the large magnolia leaves. To hang the garland with the swag located in the front of the mantle, I used the Command hanger strips. It was perfect and can handle the weight.

I decided to shake it up with this year’s color scheme. Last year I used a lot of teal ornaments and silver and golds with the white flock tree. But this year, I incorporated dark navy and emerald greens. The colors are beautiful against the cedar leaves. The style has more of a masculine, organic look but still so elegant and feminine when you add a little silver and gold.

Well, I hope you have had a wonderful Holiday! This month has been a month of the flu virus, so we’ve been hunkering down. Thank goodness for online shopping! It is saving me this year!

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Advent Christmas Calendar Ladder

Advent Christmas Calendar Ladder

We started the advent Christmas calendar tradition when my babies were, well, babies. A tradition that began in my own family for as long as I can remember. So, this is a Christmas tradition that my children love to do every year. I always try and switch the advent calendar designs around every year to create excitement and newness, but we usually keep the activities the same since many of the activities are traditions! Last year, I did add Christlike service activities to the daily mix to make the season more selfless and more meaningful. It was wonderful, and I’m doing it again. So this year I thought it would be perfect to make an advent Christmas calendar ladder. And you can do the same! Wait. You don’t have a super, cute modern copper ladder? No problem. Here is the DIY for it , and it will take you 30 minutes to put it together, and you will be so happy you made it!

Here are the supplies you need for the Advent Christmas Calendar Ladder

—modern copper ladder

—24 small Kraft bags

—wide ribbon (about 4″)

—paper clips or tiny clothes pins

–fun little ornaments or greenery clippings

—number stamp set and stamp

–Christmas candy or chocolate

–stapler

—24 advent calendar activities

After making your modern ladder, the first thing you want to do for your Advent Christmas Calendar ladder is stamp out the numbers on your tiny Kraft bags up to 24. Then write your Christmas activities on a little piece of paper or search for a download printable. Then fill your little bag with candy and decorate the outside with an ornament and greenery. Secure everything with a clothes pin. To attach the bags to the ladder, I used a wide ribbon that is stapled to the top crossbar. Then I took paper clips and attached the little bags to the ribbon. It’s that easy!

Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

Christmas memories are tied so closely to our senses like a freshly cut pine tree, the feel of cold snow, the sound of jingle bells, the smell of homemade gingerbread cookies. I love recreating those memories every year. Bringing the smell of Christmas into our home is one of the many ways I hold onto those memories. I love the smell of Christmas stovetop potpourri simmering and the aroma from cinnamon, clove and orange filling the room. It’s one of my favorite potpourris and so easy to put together. If I know we will be at home most of the day, I keep it simmering on low and the house smells so warm and festive. If we are planning on having company, I also love to throw the items in a pretty pot and let the Christmas stovetop potpourri fill the house with sweet aroma.

All of the items used to make Christmas stovetop potpourri are found in your kitchen and the recipe can easily be altered to accommodate items currently in your spice cabinet or around your house. I love to add lemon slices or ginger or fresh pine sprigs or rosemary. You can get really creative adding and opting ingredients. If you don’t feel comfortable having your stovetop on all day, then using a crockpot works just as beautifully and will deliver the same sweet smell. When using a stovetop, make sure to check periodically the water level and add to it if the water is low.

Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

1/2 orange sliced

1/2 apple sliced

1 cup of cranberries

3 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon of whole cloves

Water

Instructions: Fill a pot with water about an inch from the brim. Put all the ingredients in the pot and simmer it on low all day.

Enjoy the warm, spicy scent that will fill your whole house. Make orange pomanders with some of the remaining cloves and oranges.

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A Southern Christmas

A Southern Christmas

This Christmas I wanted to brace the Southern style of the holidays. We have lived in the South for a while and are coming up on our fifth year. It’s about time to accept all the great things that the south has to offer. A Southern Christmas with my own personal styling is my first attempt. I would say that I’m not planning on a traditional Southern Christmas with red and green plaid and big red bows. But I somehow wanted to bring in elements of the south into the home. So, Christmas decorating this year was focus on magnolia leaves. Magnolia trees are everywhere around the South. They have huge beautiful thick evergreen leaves with a contrast of brown on the underside. In the spring, huge fragrant white flowers grow. They are such a beautiful flower and really don’t last that long once picked. We planted two dwarf magnolia trees in our backyard, and I pulled some of the leaves from there to make my wreath, but I cut leaves from my neighbor’s 30 foot magnolia tree for my garland. If I had my own huge magnolia tree on my property, I would made my wreaths and garland entirely out of the beautiful leaves. But instead I compromised by using it as a filler to make my southern Christmas come alive.

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So, I bought basic cedar garland and using floral wire, I added magnolia leaves along with boxwood leaves and a few eucalyptus. Adding additional leaves as fillers for your cedar garland really brings it to life and adds character. I used the garland for my mantle and stair rail and also on as part of my dining room table centerpiece. Our Christmas tree is also southern style Christmas tree–cut down right here in Georgia! The leaves are softer and floppier than the traditional balsam pine tree. But I did sneak in a white flocked tree in our entry way. Here are a few other southern styling and holiday decorating tips to make A Southern Christmas:

Potted Paperwhites–I love using paperwhites as decoration during the holidays. If you plan ahead you can plant the bulb in a pretty pot and then as you closer to Christmas, white blooms pop up. They are so festive and pretty. But if you are like me and don’t remember, you can usually buy them in a pretty pot and then by Christmas the tops will all be white. I love decorating paperwhites in my kitchen or as centerpieces on my dining room table. Line the bottom of the pot with shiny, little ornaments. These look great paired with potted tiny rosemary or cypress tress.
Fresh Garland–I love the smell of fresh greenery in the house during the holidays. I have quite a few artificial garland pieces, but I always sway for the real garland. To keep it fresh all month long, make sure to take a squirt bottle and spray the garland with water every couple days. That way it will still look fresh and alive come Christmas morning.
Choose a color scheme and stick with it. Don’t feel obligated to use all your decorations every year. There were many ornaments I didn’t pull out these year because it didn’t got with my color scheme. I have these brightly colored, adorable stockings that I use every year, but last year I wanted the winter white stockings. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on new stockings, I sewed these out of painter canvas sheets that I picked up from Home Depot and then sewed faux fur on the top. Used my cricut to cut initials out with silver glitter vinyl. I made all six stockings under $15. I’m sure I will be changing it up in the future so I wanted to keep it cheap.
Put a wreath on it. If all you did was add a wreath to your door for the holidays, that is a sign of “welcome”. The look of wreath hung with ribbon is one of my favorite Christmas decorations–on doors, or windows. I invested a few years ago on live freeze dried, preserved boxwood wreaths and topiaries and it is well worth the money. I have used them year after year and they still look brand new and real.
Add small Ornaments. A simple Christmas decoration is adding ornaments to the bottom of plant pots or scattered around the top of garland. I love the look of glass jar filled with ornaments or bowls. Fill the top of your stocking with ornaments peeking out for a touch of fun.

Hope these decorating tips might help you when decorating for the Holidays and for decorating A Southern Christmas. If you want to the look with magnolia leaves and don’t live near the tree, most floral shops carry the magnolia leaf branches.

Here are some other decorating ideas:

Check out my other Holiday decorating tips:

Indoor Christmas Ideas + Holiday Baking

Christmas Table Decorations

White Winter Christmas

Advent Calendar

DIY Fresh Magnolia Mixed Branch Wreath

DIY Fresh Magnolia Mixed Branch Wreath

Fresh Christmas wreaths are my favorite! I try to make two fresh ones every year. So last spring I had my landscaper plant two magnolia trees in my backyard since we live in the south. Every southern home should have their own magnolia tree, right? Our house definitely needed one. But really the main reasons why was so I can make magnolia wreaths and garland during Christmas. A mature magnolia tree is huge, so we ended up planting two miniature magnolia trees because we didn’t have the yard space. Since the miniatures don’t get as big, they also don’t have as large of leaves. Our magnolia trees are still babies, so I didn’t have enough leaves for full magnolia wreath. Instead, I decided to DIY fresh magnolia mixed branch wreath, using clippings from my Christmas tree and my front yard boxwoods. If you have evergreen plants in your yard, they do great with mixing in with a wreath. Also, get thrifty and use your Christmas tree clippings by making either a wreath, garland, swag or put some in a vase for a simple centerpiece.

DIY Fresh Magnolia Mixed Branch Wreath Supplies

Magnolia leaves

Fir or Cedar clippings

Boxwood or Eucalyptus clippings

floral shears

floral wire

wreath wire

There’s not a lot of supplies to make a magnolia mixed branch wreath. I reuse my wreath wire every year. Make sure you have a good pair of floral shears, so its easy to cut branches off the tree.

Magnolia leaves have such an elegant, classy appeal with their contrasting sides. It’s no wonder that store-bought magnolia wreaths are quite expensive. If you live in an area with magnolia trees, most floral nurseries have magnolia leaves in the bundles. As you can see one stem has quite a few leaves so you can really use one branch and then wire the bundle to the wreath.

Take about 3 to 4 branches of your Christmas tree clippings. Trim so they all the same height. Cut a long piece of wire and wrap tightly around the base of the clippings leaving about 2 inches of wire on both sides.
Place the tree branches on the cross wire of the wreath wire and then wrap the floral wire tightly around the thick cross wire. Secure.
Then take one magnolia branch and place a few boxwood stems behind it, then tightly wrap the base with floral wire leaving about 2 inches of wire on both sides. Place slightly offset of the tree branches then secure to the wreath with wire.
Repeat with the tree branches and then the magnolia and boxwood leaves, placing offset a few inches down the wreath.
Continue to make mixed branch sets and work around the wreath until it is completed, placing one set from the other. I worked the wreath counter-clockwise.
Once the wreath is completed, take floral wire and wire wrap all the branches together to the wreath about every 3 inches until you complete the circle. This will make the branches more secured and from flopping around.

Then enjoy your DIY fresh magnolia mixed branch wreath. Add a bow or long ribbon to the wreath to complete the look.

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Here’s are other DIY wreaths:

Mini Wreaths

Evergreen Wreath

Indoor Christmas Decorations + Holiday Baking

Me: Sweater | Jeans | Necklace Stella: Shirt

Boys: Striped Shirt Chloe: Round Tee, Crown

Indoor Christmas Decorations: I was sick at the beginning of December, and it just about threw my whole Christmas spirit out the door. We had our tree, but the decorations were still packed away in the box. By the time I was healthy, I was ready to get back to a normal schedule and eating habits and completely skip over Christmas. But my kids were eager for the house to be decorated, Christmas music to be playing and the advent calendar activities to be in full swing (even though it was December 7th!) . Thankful for my babies! They are the ones who brought back the spirit of hope, faith, peace and love in our home. So this past weekend I made sure we’d do some of our Christmas traditions like baking sugar cookies, putting up indoor Christmas decorations, making homemade sibling gifts and dancing around the Christmas tree. How quickly this month is going by!

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Christmas Table Decorations: Just Add Garland

Christmas Table Decorations: Just Add Garland— Put your house in a festive Christmas spirit by adding green garland to just about any room, mantle, doorway or table setting. Swag the garland to give it a natural look. Embellish the garland with glittered pine cones or red berries. Eucalyptus leaves are a pretty touch. I switched around my Thanksgiving table but kept with the same color scheme of black and white and gold. I love the simplicity. Brown kraft paper for the table runner, and I used white chalk paint pen to draw one large row of branches. We have a thing for snow globes, and we get one every year, so I added those as decorations to the table.

The scripted glitter “Merry Christmas” I cut out on my Cricut and added it to the napkin setting. I just used a scripted font, formatted it so it was tight and each letter touching. Saved as a jpeg and then cut on on the Cricut. I love that machine! I also make little wreaths made from Christmas tree scraps that I picked up at home depot. I just hot glued the branches together to make the wreaths.

Now where’s the ham and cinnamon rolls?!

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