Country Christmas Decorating
December 12, 2005
Contributing Writer: Colleen Moulding
Add a little country charm to your Christmas decorating this year. Forego the glitz and glam for natural materials, check fabrics and homemade country style. The beauty of this type of decorating is that it doesn't have to look perfect. The odd crooked stitch or slightly askew angel wing just shows that it is homemade and adds to the charm. Lots of these projects are perfect for children to help with too.
Handmade Cards
The easy way to do this is to buy blank cards and add your own decoration or make your own by simply making a sharp crease in thin card. Do this by scoring lightly along a ruler edge with a craft knife on the inside of the card before folding.Imagine a 3" square of red and white gingham with frayed or pinked edges stuck on to the card, topped with a little paper or felt heart or star, and a red hand written Happy Christmas underneath. Very easy. Very country. Very, very nice to receive. Or try a scrap of green fabric or felt cut into a triangle shape to suggest a Christmas tree with a gold star on the top, or an embroidered or cross stitched initial or Merry Christmas.
Country Tree Decorations
Why not make some simple felt ornaments for the tree? Use cookie cutters, patterns in children's coloring books or whatever you can find to make a template, then cut out felt hearts, stars, angels, stockings, whatever takes your fancy. Cut two identical pieces out of the felt and one slightly smaller out of wadding/batting to go between the two and give a slightly padded look. Blanket stitch all the way around the edge in a contrasting color and add a ribbon for hanging.If you are handy with a jig saw cut out hearts and stars from thin wood, then paint and hang with raffia for a homespun look, or even easier make your ornaments from saltdough. Don't forget to make a hole for hanging before baking in a very low oven or leaving in a very warm place for a few days before painting to match your scheme.
If your baubles don't fit in with this new look, pick one color and get some textured fabric in a bright red perhaps, and cover them, tying with a bow at the top, or if you want to stick to a natural look try covering your old baubles with calico and tying with raffia.
More Ideas For The Tree
Make some imitation or real mini parcels by covering matchboxes with hessian or gingham and tie with a bow.Use natural or painted wooden beads, or strings of cranberries or popcorn to drape the tree instead of tinsel.
Paint and wire on pine cones or real red glossy apples.
Tie on bundles of cinnamon sticks for a fabulous fragrance.
Push cloves into oranges to make aromatic pomanders to place in bowls or hang from the tree. Make the holes with a nail or small skewer first to make it easier and much quicker. You don't have to cover the whole orange, I usually start by tying on a narrow ribbon and then arrange the cloves in lines two or three deep around the orange in whatever design takes my fancy.
A batch of gingerbread men probably wouldn't last until Christmas Day but they would look great for as long as you could keep little (or big!) hands off them!
Table Toppers
There is a trend towards using a runner down the middle of the table to take your decorations and candles. This an ideal spot to add a country air with a red or plaid runner, bowls and platters piled high with fruit and mince pies, and red or cream candles swirled with ivy. You can then use plain red place mats underneath your plates, with a napkin on top of the plate and on top of the napkin the cutlery for that place setting tied together with a narrow check or tartan ribbon and slightly fanned out on the napkin. Add natural pine cones holding hand written name place cards.Dress up your dining chairs with simple chair back covers, just a hemmed runner of fabric to drape over the front and back of the dining chair secured at the sides with ribbon ties. These are perfect for decorating with ribbons, flowers and fresh foliage on Christmas Day.
Around the house
Make a welcoming display in your hallway with bowls of fresh fruit, candles, sweets and wreaths. Add huge jugs of rosehips or berries making a feast for the eyes when visitors arrive.If you don't have a real fire, use a bank of candles, especially scented candles, of all different sizes, but the same color, to add a warm glow to your room. Never leave candles unattended.
Make a herb wreath for the kitchen by wiring on fresh herbs to a grapevine wreath and adding chillies, bouquet garni, tiny terracotta pots and a big gingham bow.
Trim your kitchen shelves with red or green felt cut into triangle shapes and held in place with sticky tack.
For an elegant mantelpiece decoration use green foliage, cream flowers, cream pillar candles and fresh green grapes.
Add red, green, or tartan wool throws or quilts to the sofa to snuggle under.
Sprinkle essential oils, orange and cinnamon perhaps, to a bowl of fir cones, Christmas tree cuttings and dried orange slices for a wonderful Christmas potpourri.
Decorate a tree in the kitchen with edible delights, cookies, cookie cutters, candy canes, strings of marshmallows etc.
Bring in the beauty of nature. Line the tops of cupboards and furniture with evergreen leaves and bright berries. Wind twinkling white lights around a branch and suspend above a doorway or use as the basis of a hallway for porch display.
Display candles of different heights in terracotta pots topped with moss.
Add check ribbon bows to dresser drawers and cupboard handles.
Outside Decorating
Gather together any greenery you can find, Christmas tree cuttings, evergreens from the garden etc. and wire them on to lengths of rope. These can then be draped around porches, window boxes, or fences. Add splashes of color with berries, bows, red apples or painted pine cones.Candles look lovely outside as long as they are in some kind of container to protect them from the wind. This is a good way to use up all those jam jars or baby food jars that collect in your cupboards, left as they are, or painted with glass paint from a craft store. You can also turn them into candle lanterns by twisting wire around the top of the jar and then fashioning a hanging loop from the same piece of wire.
You can make lanterns from tin cans too by filling them with water and freezing them, then punching holes in a pattern with a hammer and nail. Wear gloves and secure the can to the table with a lump of sticky tack to do this safely. Thread wire through two of the holes and hang with a tea light or votive candle inside.
Make large twig stars by wiring or tying together six straight twigs of the same length into two triangles, then wiring one on top of the other to make a six pointed star. Mini versions of these look good lining a mantle too, natural or sprayed silver or gold.
Well I hope that these ideas will help you add a little bit of country to your decorating this year.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
(c) Colleen Moulding 2002/2003
============================
Colleen Moulding is owner/editor of www.allthatwomenwant.com a magazine and Web guide for women everywhere. Visit our Christmas pages at www.allthatwomenwant.com/xmasindex.htm where you can check out Colleen's new Christmas ebook full of decorating and gift ideas, foodie treats and printable wish lists, place cards and a printable letter from Santa.
============================
Recently in Looking Good, Feeling Good:
Six Valentine's Day Wedding Favor Ideas
Valentine's Day is synonymous with romance and is a natural choice for your wedding as you celebrate the greatest romance of your life. Hearts, roses, chocolate – even love itself - are all associated with Valentine's Day, and the choice for Valentine's wedding favors is almost limitless...
Fun Valentines Day Sweet Treats
Children love to decorate for all holidays and they love to help out in the kitchen and make crafts. The following cover all three of these areas for some special family fun...
The Right Way to Eat for Better Health and Weight Loss
For most of your life, you probably have eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now depending on your eating habits, this may be okay...but many people skip breakfast because they don't have the time, they have a semi-normal lunch and then a large dinner. Avoid this at all costs...
How To Naturally Lose Weight Fast - 5 Secrets
Losing weight naturally is the best way to go. As you lose weight, you will feel better and you will look better to those to whom you are attracted. By understanding the connection between caloric intake and calorie burning, you have the right foundation in place for see significant weight loss...
A Primer of Popular Traditional Furniture Styles
...a primer on furniture types that will help you appear to be an expert whatever your neighbor buys next...
A St. Pat's Day Feast!
You don't have to be Irish to have fun on St. Patrick's Day. Why not surprise your family with a meal all made of green foods...
Proper Placement of Music for Your Wedding Ceremony and Reception
When planning a wedding ceremony, one of the most common questions wedding planners receive is, "How many songs do I need and where should they go?" The answer to that question varies simply because there is no wrong way to go. There are some guidelines to follow when placing music within a wedding ceremony. One sample program is included below...
Ten Creative Headboard Ideas for Frugal Decorators
Need a new headboard, but don't have a fortune to spend? How about using things you already have or things that others may want to discard to make a custom headboard that is not only stylish and creative, but inexpensive as well...