Outdoor Decor for the Holidays

I love to decorate the outdoors for the holidays, especially now that I have a porch! Love my porch. :)  Here are a few ideas I used this year that might inspire some of you who are trying to think of fun new ways to spiff up the outside of your houses this holiday season!

This is a horse trough - yes you read that right - turned over.  I got the idea years ago in some random magazine.  And I love it.  It's very Texas but also very funky.  Anywho, I used some free discarded tree boughs from my local grocer's Christmas tree section, added some large twine balls and a rustic looking bell (found at most craft stores) to the mix, and voila!  Christmas on a trough.

Here's another tree bough combined with a wire star I got from WalMart, perched in one of my chairs... originally the star was black, so I spray painted it silver.  And I hung a bell on the edge of one of the points of the star for a touch of whimsy.  

Here's the whole vignette put together.  I love these red chairs.  They are usually kept on my back porch, but I swung them around to the front this year because I love the red for the holidays.

Since I was tired of flowers and enjoy a few months off from watering, I repurposed this planter for the holidays to include (more) tree boughs, twine balls, and a red tin star I got from Target's Smith and Hawken line (love Smith and Hawken!!!).

On the other side of my porch I've got a lonely bench.  I kept with the same theme by adding tree boughs, twine balls and bells.  In addition is the cute sign I made from a scrap of wood (routed around the edges, painted, sanded and stained, and stencilled with the words "'Tis the Season").  I also got a fun gnome-like Santa Claus last year that looks super cute there.  And a galvanized pail with a bell tied to one of the handles and stuffed with (yet more) tree boughs and a Christmas tree shaped garden stake.  You can't see it as well in this top pic, but you can in the pic below.

Another view.  To include another big tin star I spray painted silver!!!  {As you all can see,  I love stars!}

We've got lights up, too... I always hang a fake evergreen swag along the edge of my roof wrapped in big white globe lights.  WalMart sells the swags for super cheap, and although I hate fake and always use real (silk ivy plants make my skin crawl), from that far away you cannot even tell it's fake.  

This year I also put out some big silver ball ornaments on our tree and looped a couple more strands of globe lights along the bottom branches.  You can't see it as well during the day so one of these nights I am going to have to go out and snap a picture for you all!

Happy porch decorating to all of you!

PS - I am redrawing a name for the Embellish Kids capelet tomorrow... I haven't heard from our original winner and it has been a week!  So, stay tuned. :)  

peace sign pillow

soft, lush pillow from Target for $8 + heat and bond + red felt = my new favorite holiday decoration

 

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?

Drumroll, please!!!

The winner of the capelet of their choice is...

#39, Cara F., who said "I love the knotted jumpers!"

Congrats Cara!  Email me your color preference, size and address please! 

If you didn't win, don't be sad!  Remember that My Many Colored Days readers get 20% off using the code LEI2010. 

Well it feels like December alright.  The one month of the year that is fun, crazy, exhausting and refreshing all at once.  I finished all my Christmas shopping, give or take a few small items.  That feels good.  But I still feel like every day is a mad dash.  To where who knows... I've got a daily goal of what I'd like to accomplish and don't get there most days.  *insert crazy laughter*

While the giveaway is going on (GO ENTER!!!) I've been editing photos like a mad woman.  For florists the most busy time of year is Valentine's Day, for photographers it's Christmas.  Wanna see what I've been shooting?  Here are just a few of my recent favorites:

Course, I need family pictures to put in my own Christmas cards, too!  So I hired the lovely Miss Kristen Duke.  Here's a few fun moments she captured:

I've got 6 more families to shoot in the next 2 weeks.  So I'm officially swamped.  Which is a good thing, I love my work!  But I also have so many fun things to make and share with you all.  It's going to be come and go around here for the next little while. :) But  I put some fun music on here for you all to enjoy in my rather sporadic (dis)appearances, so enjoy!