Holiday Candles

What a busy, busy weekend!  I got so see my brother K play in his first hockey scrimmage, say goodbye to my sister who is off to Portland for a month (good luck!), hang out with boyfriend B, his parents, and mine, and go to the Packer game with two wonderful uncles and an equally wonderful cousin (Thanks Uncle B).  Looking forward to a long Thanksgiving break where I get to see the rest of my extended family.

In the mean time, I have discovered some wonderful ways to spruce up your candles for the quickly approaching holiday season.  As I showed you here, my lovely roommate bought some garland to add some holiday decor to our candles on the coffee table.  I had originally been thinking about working some glitter into the mix; however, luckily I had J to come up with this instead because I just don't think I would have been happy after dipping my candles in glitter.  One of those it seemed like a good idea at the time projects.  Usually I would try to do some of this on my own, but I just can't seem to find enough time for everything in my life right now.  So instead of making pretty things, I'm finding pretty things.  Here's what I would like to do if there were 30 hours in a day:

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Each of these could add some much needed texture to a mantle, coffee table, end table...you get the picture.  What do you do to spice up your candles for the holiday?

Currently Dreaming Of: Patterned Pillows

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Do you have a favorite place to buy pillows?  Any good Etsy shops I should check out?

Holiday Decorating

Now I realize I'm kind of skipping over a thing called Thanksgiving, but let's get serious, I'm in my 5th and final year of college, which means my aunt still makes the amazing Turkey dinner.  Thinking about it just makes me hungry.  And, well, it's no secret that my roommate and I love Christmas so we may have gotten ahead of ourselves on this one.  Our amazing Christmas tree is already up and lighting up our apartment.  I'll save that picture for later as it received mixed reviews on a thing called Facebook.

This morning, my decorating-loving-friend S and I went to Pottery Barn's class on How to Decorate for the Holidays.  Truth be told, I didn't learn anything too mind-blowing, but it was still fun to sit in all of their wonderful chairs and ottomans for an hour.  Things to highlight:

1. Mercury glass = staple piece

2. Repurpose items. Turn them upside down, on their sides, whatever it takes to make it different to you.

3. Mix elements of nature with some more refined elements.

4. Use what you have just reorganize.  This one is a bit more difficult for a college student, as I had no decorations.

5. This one I did love: hang an ornament from a lamp...

 I added a Christmas element to my bedroom because it was lacking the holiday spirit.

Before this class, I had some ideas of my own.  Here's what I decorated our table with: 

I filled a vase with scented pinecones and then twigs I got at Michaels.  Originally I was going to get my own twigs from outside my apartment and spray paint them, but then I realized time is just not something I have a lot of this semester.  After the Pottery Barn class, I picked up these new candle holders and candles.  I liked that the holders were the same size but that I could mess around with the candle sizes.  

My next project: redecorate the art we have about the couch.  I'll post a step-by-step post later this week!

Before

 After.   

My apologies that it's not at the same angle.  There is this large tree in the corner of our room now with really pretty lights and ornaments on it. 

Last project: cover the coffee table book.  Yes book. Solo. It's lonely, and I fully intend to find it some friends soon.  My roommate J found the wonderful garland to put around the candles, and I love it.  She is also the mother of four wonderful little birdies.  Just call her Mama J.

 What decorating tips do you have for the holiday season?

Linking up with A Thoughtful Place:

Anthropologie: Not Just Great Clothes

One day this summer, I was having a wonderful day in the Third Ward with miss RK.  We found ourselves to be a wonderful shopping duo (i.e. we were extremely successful; I'm only half serious dad and Mr. K).  Our mid-shopping break consisted of ginormous cookies from the Milwaukee Public Market--holy amazing.  I tried to save some for later, but who was I kidding?

We found our way into Anthropologie where I was originally only searching for clothes but stumbled upon some beautiful vases. One even came with a plant, which is great because all I need to do now is give it a little love...well water too.  As for the other one, I headed over to Michaels to buy some fake hydrangeas to fill the vase.  All and all, these gems cost me $30ish...yes ish because frankly I don't quite remember nor do I have any clue where the receipt is.  All I remember is that it was cheaper than expected, which is always a plus.

 

Each time I look at the vases, I wonder what else Anthropologie has up its sleeve.  Here are some of my most recent finds:

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From the pops of color on the first and last vases, to the incredible detail and texture to the ones in between, all would add such character to a room.

Do you have any Anthorpologie favorites??

Picture Perfect (Black and White Edition)

When it came time to start decorating our "big girl" apartment this year, J and I needed to cover A LOT of wall space (am I right J??) I ended up buying some framed canvases at a local store but then we still had a ton of space to deal with. 

I found two 11x14 frames I had put collages in my sophomore year.  Cute at the time, but sorry friends and family, you're just not making the cut on my living room wall this year.  I had stupidly brilliantly thrown out the mats in the frame so that my beautiful collage could take up all of the space.  So I took a little trek to Michael's and found some double layered mats like this:

I have recently rediscovered my love for black and white photos.  I went back through my pictures and found some amazing (if I do say so myself) shots in Japan and Australia and narrowed it down to two that would work well together.  I printed 8x10 copies and put those and the double layered mats in the frames and voila, white space filled.  For the record, the collages are still behind the pictures so that I can relive high school and my freshman year of college at a moment's notice.

 {Japan}

{Australia}

I did this for my mom's birthday with pictures myself and my twin sister took in Florida where we always go on Spring Break together.  She just loved them, and they're already hanging in our newly renovated laundry room.

I love the personal touch the black and white photos add to different rooms especially when you or someone you know took the pictures.  Often times, I think people forget that their own photographs can look great in their homes so go find your masterpieces and then tell me about them the next time I'm over!!

(Image via one)

ABC, Easy as 1, 2, 3

If you're like me and need closure from that song after reading the title, check it out here :) Do a little dance while you're getting ready this morning.

When decorating, pillows are some of my favorite pieces to add to a room.  I love the endless options of colors, textures and sizes.  We're still talking about pillows here so get your minds out of the gutter folks. 

Have you seen the Scrabble pillows yet?? I would love to have these somewhere around my apartment or even in my future classroom!  How fun could it be for the little nuggets to move the tiles pillows around on the carpet in the room to spell out new words.  I think these would be a great hands-on activity for them.  Heck I'd probably want them in my apartment and in my classroom.  Here are some different ways to incorporate these pillows in your home:

Each of these brings a new element into the room, and you could even make these as a DIY project.  I hope to get around that one day.

Until then, maybe if I get these pillows I can improve my Words with Friends games where I am seriously taking a beating from everyone I play except for my younger brother (thanks for the confidence booster K!)

What words would you want to spell with these pillows??


(Images via one, two, three)