A Weekend Full of Christmas Cheer

The first weekend in December has more than its share of fun Christmas things to choose to do.  For me, no surprise, I was away from home doing stuff all day on both days.

Saturday ... Culpeper Christmas Tour of Homes.
Culpeper is about 45 minutes from here.  It's where my parents and my sister live.  Its downtown area and surrounding residential neighborhoods are VERY historic.  Saturday morning, Mom and I toured this year's homes, all decorated for Christmas by local garden clubs.  Saturday afternoon, we worked a shift as hostesses at one of the homes.  The day was sunny and warm ... it was a perfect day to snoop through tour some beautiful homes.

Here are a few representative photos from the day.  (We were allowed to photograph inside the homes, which is unusual in my experience.  I took photos of decorations, and steered clear of any of the homeowners' personal things.)

Crowds were steady all day, but the wait time for each home was short.

Magnolia, greens, and pomegranates on this mantle.

Holiday arrangement, with a beautifully set table.

Christmas tree in the dining room bay window.

Model log cabin displayed in one of the kitchens, decorated for Christmas.

Primitive cupboard, and Home Sweet Home.

Nothing more classic than a wreath on a bright red door!

This was my favorite mantle of the day.

Red lights on the porch and greens in the window boxes of this Victorian.

Skinny tree in the living room of the home where I was a hostess.

Sunday ... Wreath-making workshop at Monticello.
Every year, Monticello hosts workshops that teach folks how to make a boxwood wreath and decorate it with natural materials gathered from the gardens.  Last year, my first year doing this, Mom and I made wreaths.  This year, I brought along my friends Kim and Gale.  We had so much fun, and our wreaths turned out beautifully ... how can they not, with such wonderful things to choose from to decorate them.

Boxwood and other greens were washed and prepared ahead of time, and available in plastic bags.  Floral picks and tape in those little baskets were for preparing the decorative things.

Tables stretched the whole length of one wall of the room, full of so many things to choose from.

Hydrangea, apples, Lunaria, Pine cones, Miscanthus, Tansy, okra pods ...

This was my favorite of the display wreaths, and I used it as inspiration for the design of my wreath.

This is my wreath ...

... and here is a group shot of all three of our completed wreaths.

I used American Boxwood as the base for my wreath, and I decorated it with Magnolia leaves, pine cones, Miscanthus, Lady Apples, dried orange slices, Tansy, Juniper berries, Okra pods, and, of course, rose hips.

This is what it looks like on our front door.

My wreath is fluffy, busy, going every direction, and borderline out of control ... a lot like me, now that I think of it.  :)

All That Glitters ...

I've been feeling crafty.  The only one of this past weekend's sales that held any appeal for me was the one at Michael's (craft store).  I have an idea for a really unique decoration for our front porch, and I needed to get the components for some of the ornaments.  I left Michael's with a basket full of clear plastic Christmas balls, and a sixteen papier mache stars ... all half price!

I will show you the balls later, once I'm finished with them.  For now, this is what I did to the stars.

 

 

And here is a step-by-step of how I did it.   Normally, I wouldn't do a tutorial about how to paint and glitter some papier mache stars, assuming that everyone knows how how this is done.  I discovered while helping Janet at her shop last week, though, that there are folks out there who have never used glitter and needed to be shown what to do with it. 

 

It seems like most projects around here involve Chalk Paint in some way.  In this case, I used Old White to put a quick base coat onto my stars.

 

 

 

 

 

After the paint dried (which didn't take any time at all), it was time for glitter.  I used Diamond Dust, which is a clear glass glitter that's available in just about any craft store.  It looks like coarse sugar and was exactly what I needed to make my stars sparkle.

 

 

 

Brush a generous coat of glue (I used Elmer's) onto one side of the star. 

 

 

 

Use a spoon to sprinkle glitter all over the glue.  The excess falls into the pan.  Keep scooping and sprinkling till no more glitter will stick to the star, then gently shake any loose glitter into the pan.  Glass glitter is great because it's heavier than synthetic glitter and it doesn't get all over the place.

 

 

 

All done.

 

 

 

I applied glue and glitter to one side of each of my stars, and I laid them out on the counter to dry.  By the time I did the last star, the first one was dry enough for me to carefully do the reverse side.

 

The transformation from brown papier mache star to sparkly ornament is simple and perfect for what I'm planning.  (No hints ... I don't want to spoil the surprise.)

 

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Sending a special Thank You for those of you who have sent your Kitchen Window photos.  I am so excited to share these next week!  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Click HERE for details.