Celebrating Advent

It seems that Christmas is starting earlier and earlier in the stores.  However, if you are part of a church that follows the liturgical seasons, Christmas is a 12 day season that starts on Christmas Day.  For us, this is the season of Advent--the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

I wanted our home decorations to be reminders of the season that we are celebrating.  The waiting, hoping and longing for that Advent represent.

The four candles are dark purple, dark blue, blue and pink.  They represent the coming of the dawn, the new day, that the birth of Jesus represents.  If you are up early, you can see the horizon turning these colors as the sun breaks forth!

A simple candle set atop a mason jar that I filled with cedar sprigs from the bushes in my front yard.







 I picked up these trees at a garage sale or thrift shop years ago!

One of my Isabel Bloom angels.  The mother of my college roommate was the manager of  Isabel Bloom 
in the Quad Cities.  I love her work, and these angels always come out as part of our winter decorations.


Blessings to you as you prepare for the new day coming!

From blah to Ba-Bam!

I want to be a seamstress.  I want to make my own curtains, pillowcases, and slipcovers.  I have a sewing machine, and I even got it out.  Unfortunately, I just don't know how to use it.

But, that did not stop me!

I've been searching the internet for the perfect curtains for my kitchen.  My kitchen is currently a blank slate just waiting for some beautiful curtains to turn it from blah to Ba-Bam.  I've looked at all the usual culprits (Ikea, JC Penney, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohls, Target, Etsy).  I just can't find what I'm looking for.



I realized that I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.


So, I went to Joann Fabrics, found a beautiful fabric from Waverly, talked to a awesome young woman who looked at my window measurements and figured out how much fabric I would need.  She also helped me find the Stitchery Glue that made this whole thing possible.  Ready.....?

Isn't it fun?  I love it so much.  It has the oranges and reds that I love, but also has bits of turquoise and pink.  Ok, so my husband thinks I'm crazy.  But I just love it.









I think you should be drooling by now it's so gorgeous!

I even made a valance for the kitchen window...

The whole project took me about an afternoon (with loads of laundry, phone calls and checking facebook in between).  I laid out the fabric on our ping pong table, used the stitchery glue to make an inch hem all around and then hung them with curtain clips.

Simple enough for me means you can do it too!