Christmas staples: Buds, twigs, branches and berries

There's nothing like the real thing for Christmas decorating.  You get to go for a little adventure in the woods with your trusty snippers, and come away with a red nose and a trunk full of inspiration.

Sometimes you just have to go to your backyard, but there's a limit to happy cutting in a small space. That's where I got the materials for my front porch planters, if you don't count the leftovers from my summer planter and feathers I've recycled several times.   

 Hubby made me a trough box for my trunk/ottoman.  I knew what I wanted to put in it, but I couldn't hack away anything else in my yard. My sister came to the rescue.  Remember last year when I posted about her nature inspire Christmas?  She  had already made her yearly trip for bough and twig cutting to complete her planters and agreed to take me to her spot. Bonanza.

Here's her efforts ...

Don't you love that hit of yellow with the red?

Now on to my family affair project..

My son sprayed the box for me with  Krylon Colormaster  in nickel.  Then I taped it off and used gold to create two stripes around the box.  I figured I may as well get with the mixed metal trend.

  I had three LED candles (so safe and they actually flicker- daughter tip from Costco) I wanted to use and went to the dollar store and bought seven square glasses  to put oasis in to keep the boughs fresh. The alder twigs looked a little boring so they got the spray treatment too in a mix of nickel and gold.
Then I began the arrangement.

Fresh flowers are a must anytime of year.

A favourite vase, fluted and textured makes a stunning centerpiece on my coffee table. Nothing else is needed.

And my favourite berry wreath that has been in every room in the house over the years surrounds a vase of baby's breath and white carnations.  You can tell I like my flowers simple and usually white because they work anywhere with anything, especially with red.  


I was very lazy with the  dining room  additions....

I'm not a theme driven decorator, but  nature is always a staple in whatever I do.  My new purchase for 2014 was two white carved reindeer.  I always buy a green plant;  this year it is a Norfolk pine in a faux burlap container.  May it live for awhile.

For my dining table  centrepiece I simply added some fresh cranberries to my Boblen vase, and used it as a candle holder, added a string of red wooden beads  (at least 30 years old) and fake red berries  to the well used  vase of twigs.  In honour of the season I changed my tray to my favourite white one with the silver leaf birds and leaves.

And wise silver bird  looks on knowingly because he's seen it all before.

MAYAT BERUSIA 500 TAHUN DIJUMPAI SEMPURNA DI PUNCAK GUNUNG

Penemuan ajaib ini terjadi sekitar tahun 1999 di mana beberapa orang penyelidik telah menjumpai mumia seorang gadis yang dianggarkan berumur 15 tahun ketika dia dikorbankan untuk dijadikan persembahan bagi dewa dewa kuno.

Gadis ini tidak dibunuh, bahkan ia diletakkan di sebuah puncak gunung untuk mengawasi kawasan, seperti malaikat pelindung . Ritual itu dinamakan Capacocha .

Berbanding penemuan mumia - mumia pada umumnya , mungkin inilah mumia dengan bentuk tubuh yang paling sempurna. Ia seperti baru meninggal seminggu sebelumnya, bukan seperti sudah bertahun -tahun. Setelah diteliti , gadis ini meninggal kerana ada jangkitan bakteria , rambut dan organnya utuh , darah juga masih mengalir pada paru- paru dan jantung. Ia juga mempunyai kulit yang halus dan wajah yang masih sempurna .

Para saintis sedang memeriksa keadaan mayat..

5 Hal Tentang Suku Jawa yang Paling Dikenal Dunia

Suku Jawa adalah suku terbesar yang ada di Indonesia. Tidak heran ketika anda berpergian ke seluruh daerah di Indonesia, pasti anda akan menemukan yang namanya suku jawa. Di kalimantan sendiri, sangat banyak sekali orang jawa, sehingga akan sangat mudah menemukan orang jawa tanpa kesulitan , walaupun kita semua tahu bahwa kalimantan adalah tempat dimana suku dayak berada. Tapi hubungan yang

Keji, Nenek Ini Diperlakukan Seperti Binatang

Sudah sewajarnya orang yang sudah lanjut usia , yang sudah sangat renta dan lemah patut untuk di beri kasih sayang yang seharusnya. Tapi bagaimana jika seorang nenek-nenek diperlakukan seperti binatang. Yang pasti jika itu terjadi di Indonesia akan sangat membuat banyak orang sangat murka dan kesal. Memang konyol dan seperti tidak mungkin terjadi hal yang seperti itu, tapi ini benar-benar

Kursi Kutukan Pembawa Kematian

Masih ada yang percaya dengan sebuah kutukan ? Jika anda percaya , mungkin kursi kutukan ini dapat menjadi refrenasi tambahan bagi anda sebagai kumpulan-kumpulan kutukan yang ada namun jika anda tidak percaya kututkan, jadikan tulisan ini sebagai sumber pengetahuan tentang sejarah di masa lalu tentang kursi pembawa kematian ini.




Busby's Chair (c) takashi1016.com


Kursi kutukan pembawa

roti kaya yang senang dan sedap

senang buat resepi ni..

- mula-mula sapukan jem kaya kat roti 

lepas tu celupkan dengan telur..

goreng dan siap....

10 reasons to love Olive Green for 2015

Many shades of olive green 

You may have lived through the avocado phase many years ago, but don't nix olive green automatically because of that.  I am talking about a new updated olive green look.  One that can be both traditional or contemporary.  One that takes on many faces depending on its pairing.  Just think about it this way. It....

1. is more of a neutral, so the combinations you can come up with are almost limitless;
2. can easily push a hint of it into any decor you already have;
3. sits there and lets you manipulate it;
4. references nature, how can it be a bad thing? (mossy rocks, under side of a leaf);
5. mixes with all the warm metals that are now in vogue; 
6. is warm and organic and will make a space look that way;
7. can be mixed with fresh or muddy colours;
8. works well with Pantone's 2014 colour of the year - marsala;
9. won't be a one hit wonder because of its special qualities listed above;
10. just because.

How much of it you want to add to your decor is up to you.  Personally I won't be going out and getting a new green kitchen, but it could be pretty spectacular.... 

Source

I love olive green with white and black as you can see from my style board.  This green is more vibrant, approaching apple green. Some people refer to it as olive green, but it needs to be "dirtier" to fit my definition of olive green. 

source 

Yes!  My two favourites with olive green - black and white.  So fresh.   What happens when you start to muddy up olive?  Check out below.  Still an interesting look. 

source 

Spicing it up with pattern always helps.  A range of greens that have been popular over the last several years are mixed with the olive. in the chairs and pillow .  Note the connection of the brownish green wall with the scheme in the next photo.

source

 This is a very different olive green that is approaching greenish brown. If you've mixed paint you know how easily that can happen.   It certainly helps  you see how the colours relate when they are separated out . 

source

This room is built around variations on the lightest colour in the photo above.
Now we're talking my idea of a serene olive green.  Everything in this space is understated with just the the merest hint of olive. Love the textures.


Perhaps olive is the answer to my ongoing love hate relationship with the accent colour in my living room.  I'm not living well with my rusty red. It has never sat well in the space. Something to think about.

Stay tuned for other pairings for this interesting colour.  Do you think olive green will feature in any way in your home in 2015?