Vintage Inspired Wreath

Our local Arts Council hosts a fabulous fundraiser every year called The Festival of Wreaths. The event is a week long wreath auction that really kicks off the holiday season in our community. You saw the Country Christmas wreath over my mantle. I purchased that several years ago at the auction. All the wreaths are donated by members of the community. This year the girls at Elizabeth & Co. decided to create and donate a wreath. Of course, it was going to have to be a vintage inspired wreath!

We started with a totally plain, simple wreath that we knew we could enhance just the way we wanted. First up, we added some grapevine for texture.







Then we attached the wreath to a wooden window frame with a cute little window box. We knew from the beginning that we wanted the wreath to be attached to a window or maybe even a door. Karla had this frame hiding in her basement and we girls are all about using what we already have, so that was easy. Plus, we really loved the blue.







Then we cut up a variety of greens and berries to add more texture.







And since we all love burlap, that's what we used to line the window box.

Then we filled the window box with some darling vintage toys, again using what we had. Karla collects Christmas boxes and was willing to part with a few of those too. I think her exact words were, "Oh, ok." And shhh, don't tell her husband where we got some of the toys.

We all collect vintage ornaments, so we played with a varierty of options until we found a look we all liked. We ultimately decided to keep the color scheme really simple and only use silver ornaments and some silver bead garland from Susan's stash. Then Susan took the whole thing outside, sprayed it with adhesive and sprinked on lots of snow.

We loved how the snow made everything shimmer!

At this point we were imagining that it was a snowy Christmas Eve and Santa had just made his delivery. Yes, we have vivid imaginations!

I made the a big bow from red plaid ribbon and more burlap. And at the last minute Karla pulled out a sweet little vintage Santa ornament. Perfect!

And here is our finished wreath hanging on my front door. Oh, that looks pretty good! It can also sit on a table, which makes it versatile too.

We had so much fun working together on this project! Have I mentioned that I really love these girls?

Now, we just hope that someone likes our wreath enough to actually bid on it. I'll keep you posted!

An update... You can read all about how the wreath auction went right here!

I'm linking to...

Winter Holidays Link Party at Somewhat Simple

Life Made Lovely at Blessed Little Nest

Not "Baaad" Sundays with Lamb Around

Poppies At Play Christmas Craft Contest

Polly Want A Crafter

Holiday Home Link Party at Centsational Girl

Add a little pink!

I love to collect old ornaments.

But did you ever notice how many of them are pink?

Not exactly the easiest color to work with at Christmas.

This is the buffet in my dining room. It's a dresser I found at a barn sale. I searched a long time for the perfect piece. I knew the moment I saw it that this was the one! It holds all my linens and is the ideal size for serving dessert. And the perfect spot for a little pink!

I found that by adding some chartreuse green into the mix, the pink works really well. Chartreuse Santas to the rescue!

Ornaments are gathered in a bowl and scattered on the buffet.

And a little candlelight and mercury glass add a nice glow!

I'll have a fabulous recipe for this later.

Dangling keys started with a wedding.
Now they're a sentimental favorite!









So, are you ready to add a little pink to your holiday?

I'm linking to...

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Karla's Before and After

It was such fun to share a project with you from one of the other girls at Elizabeth & Co. I have the pleasure of working with some really sweet and talented girls! I've been asking them to take pictures for the last few months. I finally just went to Karla's house and took pictures of the fabulous server that she transformed here. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a before picture. Well guess what, the picture just turned up, so I thought you might want to take another look.

You've already seen the after.

Now, here's the before.

Just makes you appreciate the transformation even more! And Karla's server was featured by Maryann at Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party and Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Sassy Sites. Pretty impressive for Karla's first shared project!

I'm looking forward to sharing more projects from the talented girls at Elizabeth & Co. in the coming months. Believe me, we all spend way too much time in our garages. They promise to take pictures!

And these lovely ladies also have a great eye for cool vintage finds and their homes are lovely. I think maybe we need a tour! I'll work on that, as soon as I finish my Christmas decorating!