Buffalo Check Table Settings

I am excited to share today’s blog post! Hobby Lobby has some really cute black and white buffalo check decor for fall. However, I want to show you that it’s not just for fall! The table runner and napkins that I picked up can actually be used for a lot of different themes and seasons. Here is a picture of how I used the black and white buffalo check decor for Halloween, but it can also be used with September Sunflowers, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now here’s the really exciting part: I am giving away a table runner, set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. Find out how to enter at the bottom of this post!

Buffalo Check decor at Halloween

Here are my black and white buffalo check table runner and napkins on our table for Halloween. The black and white are easy to mix with Halloween decorations. If Halloween is a busy night for you with trick-or-treaters, just pick up some basic orange paper plates to go with these, and clean up will be a snap.

Several other people have done a fantastic job of setting their tables with black and white buffalo check decor. I want to share a few of theirs with you so that you can see how versatile this pattern is.

First up is this sunflower table setting with buffalo checks from Driven by Decor. To me, this table setting is perfect for that time at the end of summer/beginning of fall when it’s still hot, but summer is over. Kris over on Driven by Decor did a beautiful job showing that fall decor can be more than just pumpkins!

Here’s an example from My Creative Happy on how you can use black and white buffalo check for Thanksgiving. She paired it with touches of brass, which brings up a great point. You can pair it with golden or silver tones, wood or metal. This pattern is very versatile to your tastes.

And for the fourth look today, here is a Christmas table setting using black and white buffalo check. This one is from Make a Joyful Home, and Tammy uses red accents with hers. But you could totally add green, or just silver, and it would still look Christmas-y.

Now for the exciting part! Here is a picture of what you can win: a table runner, a set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. To enter, simply hop on over to my Instagram, follow me on Instagram, like the contest post with the same picture as below, and tag a friend in the comments. Contest ends on Friday, September 13, 2019. You must live in the continental US to win.

Good luck!

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Natural Christmas Decorations

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Christmas decorations inspired by nature can be very beautiful! Whether simple or extravagant, using natural elements is something easily done. Some materials that you may want to consider are fruit, pine cones, acorns, nuts, raw cotton, twine, jute, burlap, wood, berries, branches, feathers, and dried or fresh flowers. Here are just a few examples to inspire your holiday decorating. Tip: You can link back to all of the sources by clicking on the names.

This one from Better Homes & Gardens (click for link) looks very doable! Apples, pine cones, and evergreen branches. Did you know that most Christmas tree retailers will give you the cuttings for free? If you wanted to add a little something extra to those apples, try spraying them with a sheer glitter spray paint. Red apples would create a completely different feel, too.

There are so many ways to use pine cones in Christmas decorating.

One of ours:

 From Make It & Love It:

Over on the The Lettered Cottage you can see how a poinsettia gets updated in a metal bin and the raw cotton looks marvelous nestled into Layla’s Christmas tree:

Another example of using raw cotton from Sophia’s Decor. Her whole post is a great example of using natural elements such as pine cones, branches, birds, and cotton.

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Classic and beautiful, check out this garland of dried oranges from Buckets of Burlap:

Here’s an example of a more detailed and sophisticated use of natural elements from Southern Living. 

Look around at what’s available outdoors (for free!) in your area. Simply filling a large clear vase with pecans, acorns, cranberries, or even evergreen stems will make a big impact.

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Milk Glass Christmas Decorations

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I love Christmas, but I love simple, too!

If you’ve read any of my past posts regarding Christmas, you know that I love to keep it simple. There’s so much pulling us in different directions at Christmas that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The last place I want chaos is my home.

You should also know that I love vintage milk glass! White, to me, is the most serene and peaceful color. Simple, classic, and easy – this makes milk glass the perfect canvas for Christmas decorations. So, today I have a round-up of Christmas decor using white milk glass!

Just a few ideas to get your creativity flowing:

From Jennifer Rizzo (love her!! click for link.)

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsFrom Tara Anderson Flickr

From Your Home Based Mom

From Shabby Sweet Cottage

From Home Joy Blog

From The Goodwill Gal

From an Etsy listing (no longer available at time of post)

From ideasforho.me (no longer an active website)

I hope you have found this post inspiring! Merry fa la la to you!

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Happy New Year: A Thrill of Hope

2013 was a struggle. (This is the part of blogging that is hard for me. I’m private, and being transparent doesn’t come naturally.)

So it was a struggle. In many areas. But wasn’t it for everyone? Didn’t we all struggle with something? Mama said there’d be days like this, so I know you had at least one day this year you struggled with. I personally had quite a few.

It means a lot to me that New Year’s comes directly after we celebrated the birth of our Savior. A child born to save us. He came to Earth as a child to live a perfect life that we might follow his example. He came to save us. At the end of 2013, is there anything you need to be saved from? At the end of the year I can reflect and see that I need to be saved from fear of finances, insecurity of my abilities, judgment of others.

Wonderful Counselor. THE mighty God. The everlasting Father. The Prince of Peace. PRINCE OF PEACE shouts to me. Not the kind of peace of “love not war,” but inner peace. Peace within that calms anxiety and fear, prejudice and judgment, resentment and anger. Peace that will flow from me in such a way that others can’t help but see deep joy, love, and true acceptance. At the end of my year and at the cusp of my new beginning I can see that Jesus was sent to bring a new beginning. One filled with peace.

A thrill of HOPE. 2014 brings me a thrill of hope. Without hope there is no “Jesus take the wheel.” Jesus is my hope that 2014 will bring things that are better. I’m weary. Aren’t you? Because I put my hope in Jesus I can REJOICE! I can take all of the things that don’t give me peace, and I can say, “Here, Lord, you take them. You direct me in my new year. I trust you in my new year.”

There are some people close to me that are adamantly opposed to any belief in God. They struggle with addiction, illness, chaos. I love these people dearly. But I see the lack of hope. When you don’t Believe, you are taking all of the responsibility on your shoulders to change your life on your own. How can someone possibly have hope to heal mental illness themselves? Or alcoholism? When we believe in God we can truly rejoice in the thrill of hope that He is in control, our Prince of Peace, THE MIGHTY GOD.

XOXO,
Abby

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Christmas Scenes in Glass Canister Jars

Hi All!

I wanted to share an easy Christmas decoration idea with you — Glass canister jars with Christmas scenes inside of them. These were simple and affordable to put together.


I bought all of my supplies at Walmart. Walmart zaps the life out of me, but it is the absolute cheapest place to buy everything you need for this project. I bought three glass canisters. The largest 2 gallon size is $9.97 and the smallest is $4.97. If you bought these at a big box craft store they would be twice as expensive, even with a coupon.

You’ll also need:

  • some Epsom salts, which you can find in the pharmacy or garden department.
  • Bottle brush Christmas trees, which you can find in the Christmas department with the village stuff. Trust me — the best price was at Walmart. $7 or $8 for a large pack, I think. Hobby Lobby & Michaels both scalped me for a lot more when I bought some there.
  • Toy cars or trucks
  • twine


Pour some Epsom salts into the bottom. Settle some trees wherever you like them. Take some of the smaller trees and attach them to the trucks with some twine. I didn’t glue anything down so that I could reuse it. If you don’t have any trees that are small enough, use some wire cutters to cut the tops off of some bigger trees to the size that you need.


My kids love looking at this!

Merry Christmas!
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Vintage Paper Mache Christmas Angels

My collection of paper mache angels is growing! (I posted about this last year.) Not only do I sell on Etsy, but I also love to shop there. Thanks to Etsy, this year I was able to score one playing the violin. My son and I both play the violin, so I especially love that one.

I discovered that these were also made with colorful robes, which I did not know. I’m sticking with the gold color for my heavenly hosts.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Luke 2:8-12
 

XOXO,
Abby

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How to Fill-In the Gaps on Your Christmas Tree

 

I’ve had years when we had 4 live trees in the house. One year we had a tree that was 12 feet tall. We’ve had themed trees decorated only in peppermint ornaments. Once we even had a white and blue police themed tree with flashing blue running lights. We’ve gone to tree farms and cut them down. We’ve had artificial, table top, large real, and just plain ridiculous. All in the same year.

But the past few years when we get out all of the bins of Christmas decorations, all I can think about is how long it’s going to take me to put it all away when the Christmas season is over. Lame, yes. Maybe even a bit on the scrooge-y side. Hey, don’t judge.

This year we picked up a tree from Home Depot. It took less than 2 minutes to pick it out. Here was my check list: Tree? Yes. Green? Yes. Will it fit in our tree stand? (Oh, honey, that is another story for another time.) Yes. Perfect.

However, you know when you go some big box store to get a tree, the branches are all tied up in mesh. They cut open the mesh, and you can all “ooooh” when the branches spring down. But in reality it takes a few hours for the branches to “fall.” As it turns out, our tree is a little uneven this year with some gaps in it. But you know, no one is actually driving their Christmas tree back up to Home Depot and asking to exchange it. Wait a minute, are you? :-/

Should I have taken more than 2 minutes to pick it out? Yes, probably. Is it a big deal? Not for me. Can I fix it? Yep.

Should you find yourself in a similar situation, head on over to your local craft store. In the floral department you will find all kinds of floral stems. You are going to want to look in the section with long stems. Stay away from the short floral picks for this project.

Find something that will make your tree wonderful and fabulous. Don’t try to match the branches. Find something feathery or glittery or totally unexpected. I went with gold because I have mostly gold ornaments. I also wanted something with texture similar to pine needles.

You can fill in the holes by simply poking the stems into the tree. I also evened out our tree (it was a bit lopsided as well) by pulling some of the stems further out on one side, and pushing them further in on the other side.

And just because I love my new Shiny Brite by Christopher Radko ornaments from Home Goods:

 
Our tree isn’t perfect. It isn’t huge. But once you put lights and ornaments on it, any tree becomes magical.
 
 

XOXO,
Abby

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It’s All Fun & Games Until…

Confession: I’m not good at giving gifts. I mean, I’m a giver. I am. I’ll give you the shirt off my back. It’s just that I’m not very good at picking out the right thing. When I give a gift there is always a gift receipt with it. Chances are, it’s either returned or regifted.

If it’s not the right thing, then I either end up going overboard or underboard, if that’s a word. (Pretty sure it’s not.) When someone says, “Let’s not get each other anything,” I don’t. But then they do. Or, then there’s the situation when I repeatedly see things people might like. My kids’ teachers. My bff. The mail lady. And it quickly becomes a little bit awkward when there’s too many “just because” gifts in a row.

Christmas or birthdays? Please tell me exactly what you want. Because otherwise I’m going to wait until the last minute because I can’t think of the *perfect* gift to get you. And then, because it’s the last minute and I never could think of that perfect thing, you get stuck with something say, coffee filters, because at least I’ll know they’ll get used.

Anywho, at Christmas when my family suggested a White Elephant gift exchange my initial reaction was negative. I lump White Elephant exchanges up there with Red Rover and dodgeball. I always got clothes lined in Red Rover. I always got hit smack in the face in dodge ball. In the White Elephant you get, well, junk.

But, then, oh then, I realized…The White Elephant gets you off the hook. Nobody likes what you brought? Well that’s the point isn’t it?? Everybody wants what you brought? Even better. And so I went where all good people go when they’re in search of a good White Elephant gift. Goodwill.

Usually when I hit up Goodwill I’m looking for things I can repurpose or sell. So this time I had to put on my blinders and search out the ugly. First up? Vintage Tupperware. This is high quality stuff y’all. A set of 4 square containers, with lids. In shades of burnt pumpkin and avocado, it was definitely a score. That stuff was made in America. It was made to last.

Next up? A vintage Budweiser beer can lamp. I didn’t know if it worked. It didn’t matter. White Elephant, remember? Now, this wasn’t a lamp made from an actual beer can. This was a lamp that was manufactured that way in the 1970’s for the Budweiser company. I looked this bad boy up and he was actually worth some loot. Added bonus? It turns out that it worked. 😉

Both got wrapped up in the ugliest gift bags I could find: an acid washed denim looking one and a Carebears Christmas one. And dare I say, these were actually some of the more popular gifts in the exchange. And, as I’m sure you can imagine (*sarcasm*) the beer lamp was “stolen” quite a few times throughout the game.

Red Rover and dodgeball may have me beat, but the White Elephant? All me, all the time.

XOXO,
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Can’t I have ANYTHING nice?

I’m surprised that after having four children, that my mom had anything nice and special to show for it. I remember playing with balls in the house (and being told to go outside). I remember roller skating in the house. I remember throwing spaghetti noodles on the kitchen ceiling while on KP duty. And alas, my mother somehow kept safe some beautiful treasures.

That can’t be said for everything, though. There were casualties. There were cries of “Can’t I have ANYTHING nice?” There were blank stares loaded with “why did I even bother?” when we came hanging our heads that something special had been broken.

My kids and I were doing some holiday baking with my mom yesterday. And, God love her, I think Christmas threw up in her house. I mean, the Spirit of Christmas Present had some bad egg nog and hurled Christmas. Everywhere.In.The.House. I’m surprised there is no Christmas toilet paper. But it really is a magical place for the kids to visit during the holidays. And my mother adores showing them all of her moving and electric Christmas decorations. You can literally see the memories being made in their minds as they awe in wonder at the tiny dancing Nutcracker ballerinas.

Three generations of cookie bakers: Me, my sweet S, and my Momma.

 Mixed in with the borderline coo-coo wonderful Christmas decor are things from my childhood. There are ornaments on the tree that I remember staring at as a child. Not valuable in monetary terms, just invaluable in nostalgia. There’s the nativity set with the most gentle expressions on Mary and Joseph’s faces. And there’s the retro, golden, angel playing the accordion. …..What?!?!

Yep: retro, golden, angel playing the accordion. She began as a set of three, and, you guessed it. Two fell victim to tragic deaths at the hands of four rambunctious children. I can’t pinpoint which of us children, exactly. But after so many years have passed, can’t we just lump it up to all four of us together? (Says the one who most likely broke it.)

I was commenting to my mom how sad it was that only one survived, and she is battered and chipped at that. Suddenly a light bulb! Um, hello! Why have I not researched these?! My mom purchased the set from a church tag sale and there was no marking on the bottom of the remaining angel. So into my search engine went: 1960s gold angel playing the accordion. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A Christmas miracle.

A complete set of THREE retro golden angels playing their instruments. This lovely set of ladies is on their way to my house. I won’t get them in time for Christmas this year, but they will probably be the first things I put up next year. Again, not necessarily valuable in monetary terms, but the memories they bring for me….priceless.

XOXO,
Abby

P.S. LOVE YOU MOMMA, and your Christmas decorations!!//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js

UPDATE: These vintage Christmas angels were made by Hapco Japan in the 1960s. They are made of paper mache (papier mache). My collection has grown over the past couple of years. Here are more pictures:

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3, 2, 1…….CHRISTMAS!!!

I remember being excited beyond belief that Christmas was coming. So excited that every waking thought was consumed with the fantasy of opening presents on Christmas morning. Sadly, though, I was a sneaker and a peeker. Being the youngest of four, the belief in the magic of Santa and the North Pole didn’t stick around too long before I caught onto older brother and sister talking about where everything might be hidden. So we looked, dug, and scoured until we found the “magic” of Christmas, which happened to be in a Toys R Us bag at the back of Mom’s closet. I look back and wonder, “Didn’t Mom and Dad ever think it was strange that they never got the right reaction?” I mean, the fake surprised looks or lack of surprise on all four of our faces must’ve given something away.

I’m trying to create some Christmas magic of my own now that I’m all grown up (boo!) with kids who are just as consumed with the thought Christmas morning, slightly out of their reach. There are two things I’m big on at Christmas all year long: Memory making and kindness. I want to give my kids rich, meaningful memories that will carry them through life. And I want to impress upon them the utmost important of kindness to every human being.

One way I combine kindness and family at Christmas is through our advent calendar. Every year it has evolved a little bit more, and next year it will probably change a little bit again. I have been inspired in the past by the blog Lil Light O’ Mine which encourages a campaign of random acts of Christmas kindness during the holiday season called Light ‘Em Up. Using this blog as a basis for my inspiration, last year I created an advent calendar with a different random act of kindness activity each day. This year I have decided to change it up a little bit and integrate my desire to intentionally create Christmas memories within our family. So this year I have divided our advent activities, with half being random acts of kindness and half being family activities. For our family, it’s best for us to find a balance in everything we do, which creates peace and also those pleasant memories I’m after for my kids.

This year I made a new calendar to use. Starting with some (free!) book pockets that my daughter’s teacher gave me when she was going through one of her storage closets, I spray painted them with Krylon chalkboard paint. Krylon 227037 Low Odor Clear Finish Aerosol Spray-Gloss-11 Ounces (Google Affiliate Ad)

I only sprayed the front of the pockets. The backs have a backing that you can peel off and use to stick them onto something. I wanted to leave the peeling on in case I decided to use them for something different in the future. After they were dry, I hot glued them onto some black and white baker’s twine.

Next I took an old window frame and turned it into the backdrop for my advent calendar. You can get one from my Etsy (click here) shop and use it for something else when it’s not being used as an advent calendar. (More on these in another upcoming post.)

Finally, I created some “tags” to fit inside of our advent pockets. I printed some labels that either listed a family activity or “Random Act of Christmas Kindness” on them. Of course, these needed some baker’s twine, too. Red, this time.

Hopefully no “sneakers” or “peekers” will be looking ahead to see what’s coming ahead in our advent calendar…


The magic of Santa and the North Pole, along with sweet baby Jesus is strong at our house. Don’t you go looking in the back of my closet for any Toys R Us bags!
Happy Ho Ho Ho to you!
XOXO,
Abby

P.S.
Here’s a list of what’s in our calendar:
(12) cards read: Random Act of Christmas Kindness
Make Christmas Cookies
Drive Around After Dark (And Look at Christmas Lights)
Outdoor Fire with S’mores
Decorate a Gingerbread House
Hot Chocolate Bar (With All the Fixings)
Make Christmas Ornaments
Nights of Lights (at Lake Lanier)
Christmas Movies (with Popcorn and Sodas)
Find the Pickle on the Tree
Call a Friend (Invite them to a Holiday Themed Sleepover)
Email from Santa is Waiting for You
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