Christmas decor

Only in blogland does December 7th feel too late to post a picture of your Christmas mantle.  Oh well.  I always did march to the beat of my own drum.  Are there any mantle parties still going on?

I played around with this for a couple hours.  Yup.  I usually keep candles in my sconces but I wanted to give it more height, so I stuck in a fresh branch, grapevine ball and silver snowflake ornament instead.

You've all noticed the mercury glass trend, I'm sure.  Loving that!  So I pulled together what I had... some little bird figurines, a gumdrop tree, a couple candle holders, silver magnolia leaves (did you know you can spray paint leaves???), and stars.   To top things off I tucked in several fresh tree trimmings, a paper chain made with kraft paper and scrapbook paper, and my Ballard Design knock off ornaments from last year.  The stars presented a bit of a challenge, but I think it works.  I really didn't have any other place for them in the house and I really REALLY love them.

I really love how this whole area turned out, actually.  I usually hang every ornament I've ever gotten.  Kind of a sentimental gesture.  Plus I really do love all my ornaments.  But this year I really wanted to do more of a theme.  And I love white (you wouldn't think it looking at my house, there is color EVRYWHERE!).  Since I have 4 messy kids, I just use it where I can for now.  So I went through the ornaments and used only white and neutral colors this year, and I kind of ran with the star theme.  Some of those big stars are usually used in my outdoor decor, but I love the bold statement they make on my trees.

I also added long trailing ribbons.  I've seen Martha Stewart do this and ribbon is huge at Pottery Barn this year.  Love how it looks... 2 of the trees have a goldish ribbon coming straight down the sides, and one has a brown with white polka dots wound around in a spiral.

It all blends in so much more nicely with the rest of my decor this year.  Plus I'ms till on an organic high from Thanksgiving.  Although I have reds and greens already in this room, I didn't want my trees to look gaudy.  I wanted elegant and natural at the same time.  And unlike years past, I didn't have to undecorate any other parts of the room to keep things from looking too cluttered with the addition of 3 Christmas trees.

What's your style going to be this year?