The kitchen, family room, and dining area are the focal point for our Christmas decorations every year and, if time is of the essence, is the only room I decorate every year.
I had spent the summer making all sort of mixed media Christmas decorations for our house this year and was anxious to see how they would look around the house. In particular, I wanted to see how my mixed media Santa and Mrs. Claus trees, mixed media bottle vase with handmade paper poinsettia flowers, and mixed media Christmas trees would look on my dining table.
I had also been working on adding custom products to my Linda Walsh originals Designs Gallery this year and had added several Christmas themed custom product designs. One of those designs was my
gingerbread-man design shown below:
Christmas Holiday Collections - Linda Walsh Originals Designs Gallery
After creating the custom gingerbread-man design products I decided to purchase a long table cloth for my dining table, gingerbread-man cloth place-mats for decorating purposes on the coffee tables and end tables in the family room and sun-room, gingerbread-man laminated place-mats for the dining table, gingerbread-man coasters, gingerbread-man Christmas stockings, gingerbread-man bath towels, gingerbread-man kitchen towels, gingerbread-man coffee mugs, a large gingerbread-man throw pillow. a gingerbread-man magnet, and a gingerbread-man wrapped canvas picture.
I placed the large gingerbread-man cloth tablecloth on the dining table and then added a clear vinyl tablecloth over it. I wanted to protect the cloth tablecloth from getting dirty without hiding it and the vinyl tablecloth was perfect for those purposes.
When making the mixed media Santa and Mrs. Claus Trees, mixed media bottle vase with handmade paper poinsettia flowers, and mixed media Christmas trees I envisioned putting them straight down the middle of the dining table. It's a big table but is much longer than it is wide so only tall skinny decorations would fit straight down the center.
I added my decorations and stood back to see if they fit. They did so I was thrilled and so pleased with how they looked. They are a wonderful focal point for the dining area table.
The dining table is directly across from the sun-room and pencil tree and directly across from the kitchen/family room fireplace area.
As is usually the case, the nutcrackers reside on the left and right hand sides of the fireplace. This year the "Blue To You Santa" is to the right hand side of the fireplace next to our colonial style desk that is in the kitchen.
Two of the pine-cone baskets I made back in 1990 reside on the left and right hand sides of the pellet stove. Behind the pine-cone baskets as two wood sleds leaning up against the sides of the Rumsfeld fireplace that were handmade and painted by friends of ours from 26 years ago.
In the center of the fireplace mantle I hung my gingerbread-man custom designed Christmas stocking.
After hanging the gingerbread-man stocking in the center of the fireplace below the mantle I decided two red metallic and glittery bows would make great decorations just below the mantle on the left and right sides of the fireplace. So, I placed them there and stood back. Perfect.
So, I started placing my new mixed media decorations on the mantle. The picture above (from left to right) shows:
1) One of the mixed media Santa's I made this past summer - Santa Joe. Next to him I placed a green spiral metal glitter tree I had bought several years ago at Michaels.
2) Three of my mixed media Christmas elves - Pam, Lila and Betty
3) Next to the elves is the three mixed media "Deerly Yours" art dolls from the "Beyond The Imaginarium" Class I took this summer.
4) Next to the mixed media "Deerly Yours" art dolls is the smallest of my mixed media elves - Twinkle.
My New Handmade Mixed Media Christmas Elves - Meet Pam
My Mixed Media "Deerly Yours" Art Dolls From The "Beyond The Imaginarium" Class
My Mixed Media "Deerly Yours" Art Dolls From The "Beyond The Imaginarium" Class
Just below the wreath are the mixed media Xmas village decorations I made. Three years ago I made a snowy mixed media winter and Christmas village set of houses that I placed on two rectangle wood blocks that I had in my wood stash. After making them I created a free e-book so all of you could make some of your own if you wanted to.
The mixed media Xmas villages fit perfectly underneath the Christmas pins wreath so I placed them there.
On the right hand side of the mantle I placed the following handmade decorations that I had made (from L to R):
1) The needle felted Santa doll I had made at the start of my needle felting art dolls adventure - Walter Loves To Decorate.
2) Next to the needle felted Santa, Walter, are the mixed media deer and miniature tree decorations I made this past summer.
3) Next to the mixed media deer and miniature tree decorations I made this past summer are the mixed media Santa and elf from the "Beyond The Imaginarium" class I took this past summer at Artful Gathering.
I was pleased with the way the fireplace and mantle turned out. It's a wonderful focal point for the room.
On the colonial desk next to the fireplace I placed one of my pine-cone trees, 4 of the cross-stitch Christmas pictures I have made, and two of the Gold Collection cross-stitch shadowbox decorations I made with the help of my younger brother in 2009.
Hanging on the knobs of the colonial desk are two of the primitive caroler ornaments that I made and designed for an e-pattern.
The Dolls Product Lines Series - “Caroling Gertie and Bah! Carols! Harpo” Country Caroling Ornaments
At the far end of the kitchen counter I placed one of the Christmas silk floral arrangements I made.
As with everything I made there is a story associated with it. Back in 2014 hubby surprised me with a beautiful Christmas arrangement in the most adorable container - a Christmas bulb with top included. The arrangement was filled with red roses, red carnations, white mums, ribbons and greenery.
I loved the arrangement and the container so much that I decided that once the natural flowers died I would re-create it with silk floral. I thought it would be a lovely Christmas floral decoration that we could take out year after year. That's the beauty of silk floral - it doesn't die off and can be used again, and again, and again.
This year I placed this arrangement at the far end of the kitchen counter.
For the past decade we have been placing our decorated Christmas present boxes above the cupboards in the kitchen. In between we would put some of the miniature artificial trees I made made years before.
This year I wanted to do something a little different. So, Instead of placing some of the miniature trees in between the boxes I placed some of the Christmas cross-stitch pictures I had made, the ceramic Santa and wood sleigh my brother had made me, and the two mixed media Victorian collage trees I had made this past summer.
To the left of one of the cross-stitch pictures and under one of the recessed lights I placed the new "Joy" Christmas decoration I had bought at the Paperstore this year.
There are three small bookshelves under the center counter that my brother made for us.
One year I decided the beautiful wood primitive swan that hubby and I had bought should be decorated for the holidays as well. So, I added a large green mesh bow. When it came to putting the Christmas decorations away that year I forgot to take the bow off the swan. So, I left it there and it has been decorating the swan every day since then. Oh, well!
Like many of the Christmas decorations in my house the mouse boy and girl Christmas dolls in the picture above have a story. They are actually piggy banks that I got back in 1975 when I was 21 years old. For some reason I decided to take them out this year and place them on the bottom shelf in the kitchen. They look adorable there.
On the right side of the kitchen we have a small freezer. I usually decorate the top of the freezer for the holiday season and decided to add one of my larger cross-stitch pictures this year as well as one of silk floral arrangements.
Since the right hand side of the freezer faces the rest of the room I usually hang the wool felt penny rug Christmas candle and poinsettia I had made years ago.
I'm very pleased with the way the kitchen and dining area turned out this year. I hope you enjoyed seeing my decorations as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment