Thank you all so much for your prayers! Our Uncle Bob, was able to return home from the hospital today after getting a pacemaker put in yesterday, and I got the okay to be up and about again – yay! Thank you all for your sweet notes of encouragement. I am going to be extra careful from here on out and have to cut back on some things (mainly we won’t be offering as many new items in our Etsy shop as I had planned on this spring, but hopefully will be able to by this fall!) I need to keep my little munchkin cooking for as long as possible and don’t need any more scares like these past two weeks! We will be reopening our shop on Friday with all of our current items and hopefully will be slowly offering a few more new things over the next few weeks but definitely not as many as originally planned.
Also, I wanted to say thank you to René over at Cottage and Vine for featuring Dana’s apartment that we did a post on back in August. You should check out her fabulous blog that is full of decorating ideas on a budget! I especially have enjoyed her recent drop-cloth posts. There are a few ideas I really want to try!
We finally got all of our Christmas decorations down and everything put away. I always have such mixed feelings when we take down all of the Christmas stuff. At first is seems so depressing and our house starts to look so barren and cold. Then once everything is put away I always get a huge urge to clean (and it was even worse this year thanks to my already being in major nesting mode – haha). Because I am not supposed to be doing a whole lot still, Jon did most of the scrubbing and heavy-duty cleaning and I got to work on cleaning out drawers and organizing. Once the cleaning is done I always get excited again and don’t miss the Christmas decorations at all. It feel so good to have everything organized and have a fresh clean slate to start playing around with. I always struggle the most with decorating this time of year, though, because by January I am starting to get sick of the darker, warmer colors that I start using in September, but it is too early to do anything too spring-like. I generally end up sticking with the same green and white palette I use for Christmas but try to lighten and brighten it up a bit more.
Today I worked on a few projects. First Lillie and I added some fresh green apples to a wreath. She thought poking holes in the apples was great fun! Several years ago I covered a grapevine wreath left over from our wedding with a mix of greenery from Hobby Lobby and every year after Christmas I pull it out and add either fresh granny smith apples or pears to it. I think it looks better when I do a full circle of apples (filling in the gaps between the apples with more apples) but that makes the wreath sooooo heavy. When I use it for our front door I do that because I think it looks prettier and our wreath hanger can handle the weight, but indoors on this mirror I was afraid it would be too heavy.
The apples generally last around 2 to 3 weeks depending on the weather and then I normally replace them once or twice and then after that it is on to a new project and I put this away or use it somewhere else until the following January. Obviously I could use faux apples and glue them on the wreath but I like using fresh, natural items as much as possible!
We removed the Silent Night and The First Noel prints from the frames and put back in photos of Miss Lillabel. I kept the burlap pillows and stack of books with the boxwood as is for now because they still work with the green of the wreath. Then I switched out the little rosemary tree (which had died while we were away) for some oversized twine balls.
I took down all of the greenery, lights and stockings from the mantel but left the paperwhites. I have a few projects planned for sprucing the mantel back up – it looks so bare and boring now!
I also have some projects planned for this little corner of the living room too that I hope to get to in the next week or so.
Although I have always enjoyed making cards and candy and little things like that I have never done any decorating for Valentine’s Day before. This year though I have a few projects I am planning on doing starting with a few pillows. I have four that I am working on. I got two of them finished today and they are sitting on our sofa. The other two I am still working on. Here is the script from one of the finished ones. Hopefully I will have time to photograph them tomorrow in natural light. I didn’t finish them until tonight so there wasn’t any point in trying to take any photos.
Well, I hope you all are having a wonderful week! If I have time tomorrow I will post some pictures of the pillows!
Hi Jennifer, I am new to your blog. I found you on Cottage and Vine. Your photos are just wonderful! I am in the process of starting my own blog and I have really been trying to learn about photography. Are you professionally trained? Did you learn on your own? I would love any helpful hints that you might give.
Take care of yourself and I look forward to more blog posts!
Lori
Lorimayinteriors.com
Hi Jennifer,
Your blog is delightful and your images just beautiful… after all, you have a precious little subject to work with!
I am a wreath lover and the apple wreath is exceptional. Color and form… fairytale!
I am a new follower, I will keep my creative eye on you. What a delightful visit!
Yvonne
Looks beautiful as usual. So glad to hear you are feeling better and have the okay to move around again!
That wreath is gorgeous! I totally know what you mean about taking down the decorations…mixed emotions, but soooo glad when it's all done!
Your decor is breathtaking! I felt the same way about taking down my decorations, but I did like the clean palette afterwards. I love the wreath! So creative!
Found you from cottage and vine…wonderful stuff!!
I was wondering if there was a tutorial on the rosette pillows/balls from your sisters apartment post? Those are just brilliant!!!
also, i love this fan-fleur de lis thing you have in the above picture…where is that from???
THANKS
Love the wreath! I like that you used real apples. I think it makes the wreath look so fresh and inviting. I may try this!
The green apples really freshens the space. I really like them against the white and cream.
Mr. Goodwill Hunting
love the apple wreath! thecoolkidsblog.com
The apple wreath looks so fresh and pretty! Hope your pillow projects go really well!
Loving the wreath with the apples! It looks so fresh and clean! I wish I knew what to do with my home…it really needs some help but interior decorating is not my gift. I just have no clue how to make it look as nice as yours! I have my Christmas stuff down but now I'm kinda stuck thinking "ok…now what?" ha ha! Anyway…glad u are better…take it easy and don't overdo yourself with all your crafty ideas…although I love them!
It's gorgeous!!!!! I love the idea of fresh apples, so fresh!
I'm so glad everyone is much better 🙂
All my decorations are down and I'm struggling, the house is so bare.
Have a great rest of your week!
XO
Kristin
So glad to hear that everyone is on the mend…but don't you over do it!!!!! I don't know if you are familiar with Gasparilla, it is a big Pirate invasion in Tampa. Anyway, if you have any inspiration for how to decorate for a pirate invasion (in your spare time, ha ha ha!) please send my way 🙂 Currently I just drape beads from past years everywhere, chandeliers, candelabras etc.
We do lots of stuff for Gasparilla! http://www.saltysistersjunk.com and http://www.gasparillawreaths.com, a Gasparilla search brought me across this post!
Such a clever idea to use fresh apples. As I write this I see your back porch which is covered and screened and it makes me think we should screen our veranda this year.it looks so lovely! XO
So happy to have found your blog! As a new mom who enjoys crafting while my sweet baby naps, you provide so much inspiration here and your home is just beautiful! And several of the blogs on your sidebar are new to me as well, so I've been lost in design blog world today! I adore your Je t'aime pillows…I am going to decorate for Valentine's Day for the first time this year…and my husband is French and we speak only French with our baby so this pillow seems so fitting!
Just beautiful, Jennifer! All that green is a welcome sight. 🙂
And hooray for both you and Uncle Bob getting the thumb's up from the doctors!
Great news all around.
Have a wonderful day!
Hugs,
Anne
Jennifer, thank you for the sweet mention. I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better and it sounds like you are way ahead of me on holiday clean-up. Your wreath is such a nice post-holiday touch.
Enjoy your week.
XO,
Rene
i'm glad you are feeling better and It's good that you're slowing down. THe apple wreaths are so fresh! I clean like that after christmas too. (but everyone knows that since it's all I seem to talk about. ha!)
I LOVE this Jennifer!! The bright green with the white in your house goes wondefully! I should get more crafty and try this. Beautiful!!!
HUGS HUGS HUGS and PRAYERS! UUUGG! Did I miss something??????????????????? Take it easy! I thought you had been quiet meant to email and then didn't HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUGS HUGS!
Hi Jennifer~ I am so glad you are doing better!;) And love the wreath too! Dont over do it and just relax and take care of yourself the next few months! Hugs,Rachel
French Farmhouse 425
I was so depressed taking down the Christmas decorations the last few days–btw it took three times as long taking everything down because the greenery made a MESS–glad I did it while Josh was at work! haha…unfortunately the house now looks sad and barren and I need you to come work some magic!!!
-Jamie
What a pretty wreath…it's perfect for making a room feel fresh after the holidays.
I'm so glad you and Uncle Bob are doing better. Best wishes ♥ Tricia
Jamie – haha – yes, it does make a HUGE MESS! Between Jon and I we have vacuumed and swept like 4 times since I took our greenery down and I still keep finding it everywhere! Seeing how I am not allowed to travel for a while perhaps I can boss you around through ichat!
LChat – Thanks! Unfortunately, we don't have a tutorial for those rosette balls. I do plan on doing some tutorials for some things here on our blog in the future but probably not those. The fan-fleur de lis was a Christmas gift I got last year and I think was from Simple Joys Paperie on Etsy. She makes some beautiful items – you should definitely check it out. Also there are a bunch of tutorials out there in blogland on how to make them. I haven't ever made one before so I am not sure how difficult it would be.
Chloe Belle (Love your name!) – no ideas off the top of my head, but if I think of any I will let you know!
Lori – no I am not professionally trained. I did take two photography classes when I was in high school at a nearby college but that's about it. I do have a degree in graphic design, though which I think helps a little. Mostly I just play around and learn as I go. I definitely would recommend investing in a good camera and learning how to use it manually. I am always messing around with my depth of field and I feel like that really helps as far as making photos look good straight from the camera and then I get them into photoshop and mess around with contrast and some other things. I think the one main thing I would recommend is taking pictures in natural light.