Last Minute Holiday Table Decorations

Running out of Time? Feeling the stress of pulling together a holiday table? No need to worry, here are a few quick ideas to instantly transform a table into Holiday Joy!
Ballard Design's Snowflake Chandelier Shade is perfect. The quickest way to change the look of a room is to switch out shades on a lamp or chandelier. The snowflake above is on sale for under $10 and would be perfect to use throughout the winter! Or these Argyle Tole Shades, a bit more at almost $20 but still a great quick addition to any holiday decor! Sweet!



Let's be honest, we all know there are naughty and nice people around the holiday table. Why not hop over to Delight and purchase a few of these name tag tiles, they even have a small bud vase attached to the back! Love it!





P.O.S.H. is a really fun and unique store in Chicago. You never know what you will discover in there as many items are flea market finds. The buyers have a great eye!
I am loving these retro napkins, how perfect would they be to dress up the table?





I saw these Crate and Barrel Copper Reindeers at the start of the season and just fell in love, I am not sure what it is about them but they are just adorable. It could be that they are just so simple and the antique copper finish just adds enough shine to make it feel even more festive. Now that they are on sale, I might just have to scoop them up. They would look so sweet on my dining table, mix in some greens and berries and I will be all set!




If time is really of the essence open the cabinets and pull out all of your clear vases. As seen above, filling them with left over ornaments can be quick and festive. The middle picture shows peppermint candies filling a tall vase. There is a small bud vase in the middle to keep the flowers in water than just surround with candy canes or whatever you have on hand!! No Stress!




If you completely run out of time a doormat like this one to greet guests is festive and they will feel the holiday spirit as soon as they step up to the door!!
Hope these tips have helped!


(images from Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Ballard Design, Delight, BHG, Home Ideas)

It was bound to happen...

...the "winter cold"! You know the one where the sniffles and that little cough turn into an all out attack on your body, which than tells you there is no place to be except bed? Well it happened to me over the last few days! Canceled plans and time on the sofa with large cups of warm tea and o.j were my only plans. Now I am on the mend and will be back with a few great last minute gift ideas for tomorrow. Here's hoping all of you outrun the "winter cold"
JUL

Creative Boston Events this Weekend!!

This weekend is a great time to be living in Boston or hopefully coming to the city for a visit. The Sowa Holiday Market is taking place on Saturday and Sunday. It is a fantastic display of local creative artists. Last year I was invited to a preview of this event and purchased many great gifts. There's everything from jewelry, tablewares, stationary, cute little handmade onesies, custom hats and to die for brownies! Another fabulous event is on Friday, the Buon Natale Holiday Stroll, you guessed it, in the North End. This section of the city has seen a transformation in the last few years. Meaghan Agnew wrote a great article for the Boston Globe on the latest store openings. This area is now filled with unique clothing and home good boutiques, most owned by local designers! So get out there and enjoy some of the local goods for sale, I know I will be doing some holiday shopping of my own.

Twilight - one of my favorite North End boutiques!

(images from Sowa and the Boston Globe)

How to Thursday - Decorating Holiday Mantels

I really like how these are grouped tightly together on the mantel. It's a simple, clean arrangement but one with a great impact!

While working as a visual at Ethan Allen one of my favorite areas to design was a mantel. Even to this day I absolutely love decorating a mantel. Maybe it is the small space and the challenge to make it all it can be or because it is usually the focal point of a room, you have the opportunity to WOW people. Regardless I love it! As it is "How to Thursday" I thought I might share some of my recent favorite mantels and give a few tips on making yours great! With a little twist, knowing this time of year can be expensive I put a "budget friendly" design to it!

The idea is to create a mantel scape that flows with the style of your room. It can be overflowing with pieces or be minimal, as long as it is grouped together in a cohesive way with a little balance it will turn out perfect.

To get started, look around your home for pieces you might already have frames, vases, candles preferably items of varying heights. First clear off the entire mantel except for the wall decor piece you will keep. Next look for the largest piece in your collection of items, where would you like to place this? The picture above starts from the left and works to the right. My first trick is to "connect" your biggest piece with the wall decor. See how the tallest cone is just about touching the mirror? This creates flow and a "unit" between the 2 pieces. Next our "story" continues with the smaller cone, across with the "NOEL" sign and than up again with the gold frame which connects you back to the wall decor and over again to the tall cone. Can you see how you easily move in a circular flow from one side of the mantel to the other? Your eye just breezes right over taking into account each piece. Lastly add your gold leaf garland. This pulls together all the mantel pieces into one cohesive unit. Remembering a few simple tricks like varying heights, grouping, connecting and flow will make the set up very easy. When I was a visual we used the term "Heaven, Man and Earth". Heaven is your highest point (the mirror), man is the middle point (cones/frames) and earth is the lowest point (the garland).

A romantic setting to the mantel. Again, notice the different heights of the candles. The twigs in little bud vases create height and add a new texture to the grouping.

I really enjoy pulling greens from outside and using a few of my favorite ornaments on the mantel. It's easy to nestle them into the greens and the bright pop of sparkling colors is a nice surprise! You can also use clear tacks to scatter a few just above the green to create height. Just place it so they connect and don't look out of place.

We all have clear vases or even white vases in our homes. Why not group them together like they have above? You can even spray a few pine cones with white glitter or add tiny white lights to the grouping. If you want to go more traditional pick some red berries and tuck them in the greens.

Looking around your home and using items in a new way can lead to an inexpensive mantel design and one you could possibly keep up throughout the winter! I hope these tips have helped! Leave a comment if you have inexpensive mantel tips.

(images from Better Homes and Garden, Living Etc, Home Ideas and Southern Living)

Twinkle Rooms

Scouting the web I came across a few silver and white decorated rooms for the Holidays and I have to admit I really like it. They feel modern but still cozy. I might just enjoy decorating for the holidays if this was the theme!!

A unique and effective idea is to hang ornaments with silver ribbon in front of a mirror as above. Try it in a window too, just string them up on the curtain rod and voile you're set

In both images you can see they have taken twigs and spray painted them silver, I love that idea. Again budget friendly, simple and quick! At night they have a twinkle, glimmering feel!

(images from Ideal Home)

Dining by Benjamin Moore

To continue with Boston's Dining By Design, this is one room (....really house) which blew me away. David Stark, the designer of this Benjamin Moore table took color swatches and created a wave of blue walls. The table was so vibrant and used bold colors in such a way, you wanted to dive right in and have party there! In the most fantastic way, it felt like a box of crayola crayons exploding! The gradual changes in color were extraordinary and I can only imagine how many hours it took to get it just so. Patience would be something to come in handy with this project! Take a peak at the images below, it is like being in an Alice in Wonderland Chapter, at least for a design/paint lover! Truly remarkable and creative work! I can't wait for next years show now.







(images from my collection and Toast and Tables)

Dining By Design Boston

this was one of my favorite tables. I loved the combo of apples, twigs and flowers in the vases and how they mimicked the wallpaper. The thick wood top table had uplights built in which was one of our favorite features!
table by Beringer Vineyards, Marc Blackwell

Friday night I was invited to attend the DIFFA Cocktails by Design event at the Boston Design Center. This is an amazing event where designers, local artists and corporate sponsors create over the top dining tables. As you will see some of them lived up to the over the top description! It was great fun to view these Alice in Wonderland type designs, a few very practical and others incredibly fun to daydream about! The event travels around the country to many other cities so check out the website here to see if it will be local in your part of the country! In the meantime enjoy some of the photos I have below, it was a truly exciting and inspiring evening!

the "bubble chandelier" and photographed wall decor were fantastic


it's hard to tell in this photo but the benches were very deep and had a great lounge feel. The combo of the fuscia and silver was a nice elegant touch. Those are little butterflies tagged onto the branches, easy to duplicate on your own table!



table by Leslie Saul Interiors, she used an Eames like coffee table on top to create height



Hewlett Packard by Vivenne Tam



what else can I say, except I was in awe of this table. The workmanship to create the boat like feel of the ceiling was incredible. It was a very Zen like room



Dennis Duffy, a Boston Designer really had fun with this table! The words to describe this room were "happy and joyful "! The acrylic chairs played so well off the pink fabric



"the green table"
New York Times by Doug Wilson

You can see more pictures of the tables that travel around the country here.
Did you attend the event? If so what table was your favorite?
Tomorrow I will post about the most amazing room from one of our favorite paint companies!!

(all images from my own collection)

Monday Morning Happy!

Hi All! Hope you had a great weekend! This weekend I finally forced myself into a time out. Have you ever had to do that for yourself? Just say enough, you are moving to fast, take a break, slow down and give yourself time to recharge? Well that is what I did...at least on Sunday. I woke up to a dark day with snow falling and chilly temps, which is sometimes the best feeling when you have no where to go and can hang out on the sofa under some blankets! It's amazing what a little down time can do for you, today I feel energized and ready to get going! How do you give yourself a time out? Is it by pampering yourself with a spa day, turning off the phone and vegging out with movies or is it by cooking a big meal? Share some of your recharging tricks by commenting below!

The Cute Picture of the week is an adorable book I came across on the Urban Outfitters website. The first Charles Schulz book named, "Happiness is a warm puppy"! Could it be an cuter? It is filled with happy thoughts like "Happiness is a fuzzy sweater and Happiness is a pile of leaves". Just more evidence that sometimes the simple things make us the happiest. I think this would be a great stocking stuffer for the favorite people in your life. Yet another reason to take a "time out" and appreciate the little things, like that fuzzy sweater!
Enjoy the week!
JUL

Diary Entry - Review, Enter, Win!!

Pop over here to my blog post today at the Tastemaker Diaries and learn how you can win a $1000 gift card just by reviewing a product! Now who would turn down an opportunity like that?!

Calling all Boston Design Lovers!

This coming weekend will be for all Design lovers. The Boston Design Center will be open to the public, free of charge! I know, wow, that never happens right? Saturday December 6th will be a day to explore showrooms filled with luxurious fabrics, gorgeous wallpapers and to die for furniture (most not so budget friendly but still nice to dream about)!
Along with exploring the showrooms, Domino Magazine editor, Tori Mellott will be signing copies of the new and very user friendly Domino Book of Decorating. The first 100 visitors will even receive a free copy of the book, so get going early birds! If that was not enough fun, my friend Andrew Anderson from Ilex floral designs will inspire us all with his amazing holiday table settings! Don't get tired just yet because Alexis Contant will talk about the latest design trends and local celebrity chef Barbara Lynch will make our mouths water with her cooking demos. Phew!
Oh and did I mention Beringer will be providing the wine? Yup! Gather the friends, you are in for an unforgettable day at the BDC!







(images from BDC and the Dream Home)

Bite Me.

Here's another edition of "Guest Blogging with Betsy", take it away Bets!!

It’s probably because of the fall season, but I’ve totally been digging apples lately. Among all of the apples, this is the one I love the most: The other day I was at the “orchard” where these apples are sold. My husband and I were there on a mission to replace and upgrade, and sadly, the mission wasn’t my mission. I was along for the wagon ride, watching him bob for these lovely apples. So as not to waste time standing around, I thought I might look around, try a couple samples, and see which apple was the apple for me.

I found it.

Not only did I find it, I found friends for it… lots and lots of friends.

You’re probably not seeing how this relates to interiors or fashion, and you may think this is old news. After all, millions of people have already discovered the goodness of this apple. But really, don’t you think that gorgeousness like this deserves multiple mentions and all the props we can give it. Of course it does! Because my friends, you should know by now that good design is never old news.

Now, wouldn’t this apple look gorgeous in my… ahem, I mean, your office?

With this?

And this?

And how could you forget this?

Here’s to the Harvest!!
Bets

(images from Apple)

Photo blocks - A little slice of heaven

Susannah Tucker's Etsy shop is just as she describes, "a little piece of heaven"! She is a self proclaimed, self taught photographer. I love the way she explains her creative passion as dealing with the emotional side more than the technical side of taking pictures. You feel it right away when you peak in to her shop. To be honest it was hard to not highlight her entire collection but I took my time and picked 6 of my favorites. Some of her pictures have that wonderful vintage feel and others are crisp and clean. Most of the photos I chose took me back to a memory in my own life , don't you just love when someone can capture that feeling? Along with her gorgeous vision, what I was really drawn to is how she presents her photos. Not only are they offered in many sizes but they are also available in these sweet 4 x 4 photo blocks. Which can be grouped together on a wall or stand lovely alone on an end table! The perfect unexpected accent, so unique! With CreateGirl being all about "budget friendly finds" this is one of my favorites.



A 4 x 4 photo block sells for $22 and 5 x 7 photographs go for $12 (all produced on archival, acid free photographic paper with a matte finish). The perfect gift, I would think and I am sure there is one in her collection that will spark a great memory or emotion! Just let it take you away!

Monday Morning Happy

Welcome back! Hopefully everyone enjoyed a few days of relaxation away from work! I know I did! My long weekend was filled with lots of family time, watching the Celtics win again at the Garden, attending a FANTASTIC party my friend Nicole planned with old high school friends and than capping off a fun weekend with a leisurely Sunday dinner! I am not sure it could have been any more perfect. I have a few great posts planned for this week as I have been busy scouting for clients and have come across many great finds. Most of them budget friendly too, which is very helpful around the holidays so please check back in during the week!

The "cute picture of the week" is an adorable pup I came across on the Redbook website. Isn't he just the cutest? He appears to be loving his nap all snuggled up in his dog bed!
Enjoy the week!
JUL

(image from Redbook)

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Tree card image from Little Brown Pen)

A few more thankful accents

Some additional finds which would spruce up a Thanksgiving Table
* The fun leaf trivets are from notNeutral,
* This fantastic modern brown runner can be found at Plum Party
* I adore the simplicity of the twig plates also from notNeutral
* The orange bubble vases add a bit of whimsy and can be found at Hudson Boston

The most important is a stylish place to store the leftovers! The storage containers above are from, French Bull, very FUN!

It's nice to be part of the group!

Today is a very Thankful day here at CreateGirl! We were just added to the Boston.com blogroll, which will hopefully open the door to many new readers. I know, I am a bit biased but I love my city and where I live. So to now be on the website (which I visit about 3x a day....mostly to read the Celtics Blog and DISH the food blog) makes me very proud. It feels great to be part of such a creative local group! Yipppeee!