Affordable Holiday Decorating

Affordable Holiday Decorating

The holidays bring the decorator out of all of us, and we can begin to prepare early to ease the stress it can bring. I have five affordable ideas to share with you today.

#1 Gift wrapped boxes

Wrap and decorate empty ones and they will stay as decorations, while the real ones will be gifted.      

#2 Table runners

Gift wrap is a good disposable table runner. The variety is greatest during the holiday season.  Purchase solid colors to use throughout the year. 

 

#3 Chargers

Create more interest to your table setting with charger plates. Their size can be a great substitution to placemats too.

#4 Candlesticks

Candlelight is always welcoming in a table setting.  Battery operated candles are a safe and inexpensive way to decorate your tables year after year.  Wrap them with festive ribbon for different themes or occasions.       

#5 Wreaths and Garland

Wreaths can do double duty as window or door decorations. They are also great used face down to accent serving dishes and platters. 

Watch the video for these holiday ideas.

 

Bee Yourself

Pollination is an essential part of plant reproduction. We often think of bees and flowers when we think of pollination.  Bees aren’t the only pollinators; other are moths, fliies, beetles, hummingbirds, butterflies and the wind pollinate. 

Many of the foods we eat depend on pollinators. Here are many of them: Apples, Almonds, Oranges, Avocados, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Cherries, Alfalfa, Blueberries, Vanilla, Cranberries, Tomatoes, Kiwi, Figs, Coffee, Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Lemons, Limes, Eggplants, Kumquats, Nectarines, Grapes, and Cacao.

Today I’ve made a fruit salad with some  of them including Apples, Strawberries, Blackberries and Raspberries. Here is my recipe:

2 cups Broccoli

1/2 cup Diced Apples

1/2 cup Blackberries

1/2 cup Strawberries

1/2 cup Raspberries

1/2 cup Pineapple Chunks

1/2 cup Pecans (Optional)

1/3 cup Honey Mustard Dressing 

Using fresh ingredients are always best for this salad. Fold all ingredients into each other and pour dressing. Toss again.  Serve chilled.  Enjoy!

Day Lilies Radiate Joy

Day Lilies Radiate Joy 

Day lilies are rugged, adaptable and bloom all summer. They put on a big show when planted in masses and  can spread quickly when planted in open spaces. Surprisingly, each day lily flower lasts just one day. 

  

I purchased these removable Radiate Joy decals and applied them to my white square chargers. You can do the same with any charger plate you have to provide a message of any kind.  This is especially a good idea for personalizing a wedding place setting and holidays. Many hobby and craft stores have adhesive lettering. If you have a die cutting machine you can be very creative.

Chargers are used mostly in formal table settings, I like using them to add color and dimension to my table setting. They also serve as a placemat for me, since we don't eat directly from them. 

Orange Day Lily Love

Orange Day Lily Love

The common daylily has striking flowers and  thrive in dense drifts in the shade or in the sun, in moist and dry locations. You can find them in community yards as well as on roadsides which is where I found them this day.

So, I transported a tray of breakfast bites to this area to start the day. I only needed something small to cover my tray. So, I used this beautiful floral and  plaid embroidered pillow sham to place the food on top.  

I believe everything has more than one purpose.  Pillow Shams are a beautiful as part of bedding, but I love to thrift and I find some of the some amazing shams.  I  find plenty of new and gently used Euro size are , likely because their fill is more expensive and less easy to find. After laundering they become table throws, seat covers , a valance for a small window or rolled to become bolster pillows.

Juneteeth Celebrate Freedom

Juneteenth Celebrate Freedom

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 but it wasn’t until June of 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger and Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas to tell the enslaved African-Americans living there that the Civil War had ended and that they were now free.

The year after emancipation, in 1866, formerly enslaved Black Texans began celebrating the event with annual "Jubilee Day" festivities. This commemoration is now known as Juneteenth, also called Emancipation Day and Freedom Day. 

Fall Praise Break

FALL PRAISE BREAK

As I look around me this fall, all I can say is Thank You Lord! This has been one of the most beautiful fall seasons that I can remember. Also one that has lasted the longest with beautiful colors revealing themselves into a second month. This is a celebration of God's glory provided in nature. ENJOY!

      

 

Abbey Hotel Curious Castle

Abbey Hotel Curious Castle

With it being so close to Halloween I thought it appropriate to share the most unsettling stay of the four castles we lodged in during my recent trip to Ireland.  Abbey Hotel is a 18th Century turreted mansion. It has the ruins of the 12th Century Dominican Abbey Church behind it.

This beautiful mansion had a few unexplained mysteries other than the swarm of birds resembling a scene out of  Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 movie "The Birds." They appeared both evenings of our stay.  The dressing room had a crack in the window which I assumed came from the birds, because of its location. It made that room cool.

 I took several photos that didn't show up. I never received a message that my storage was full, and it wasn't. I tried using my other phone camera and they wouldn't show either.  I've searched the internet and can only find photos of the few rooms I was able to take photos of.  

There were weird large stains on the carpet. They looked like shadows.  I wanted to attribute them to a leak in the ceiling, but it had no water stains.

My friends husband went for a walk in the ruins by himself and a strange man appeared starring him down. The birds re-appearing at the ruins was enough to make me leave. 

After saying all this I must admit, I enjoyed the mystery as much as I enjoyed checking out. As I mentioned in the video, we are all spirit beings. None of us will get out of this world alive, but I promise you I don't plan on coming back. I look for to residing eternally with my father in Heaven in peace.  How about you?