Blogger Day of Silence

Prayers

With the tragic events that took place in Connecticut on Friday,  we are completely lost for words and our hearts are aching for the innocent lives taken.  We cannot begin to describe the pain we feel for the families that have to face this horrific tragedy.  We want them to all know we are praying for them and will continue to pray.  We wish you all a blessed Christmas.  God Bless.

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
When 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
Then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
Those children all flew into the arms of their King!
And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
One small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
And as if He could read all the questions she had,
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
Then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"Come
Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

Christmas Mantel

Hi Everyone!  We hope everyone is having a great week! 

Today we wanted to share one of Denise's Christmas Mantels.   She came up with some great ideas this year.  She used some different picture frames to create a very different and unique look.

 

 

 

You can see that she put a wreath on one of the frames, a deer in one, and a swag on the last.  She added burlap bows to two of them and a green satin bow to break up the colors.

 

 

I love this swag.  She used different cedar and put a berry pic in the middle to add some color.

 

 

She tied a bow around a battery operated candle, and made a small center piece for the candle.  She started with a cedar candle ring and added some pine pics around it to make it fuller and cascade down the mantel.

 

 

I thought putting the deer in the picture frame was such a good idea!  I love how it turned out and I think I will steal this idea sometime soon! :)

 

 

I also love how the deer matches the picture frame! (she says this is just luck!)

 

 

Here she wrapped burlap ribbon around a small tree.

 

 

On the bottom of the mantel she added some tall sticks and wrapped it in a piece of burlap and added a bow.  She used a lot of natural cedar and pine.  She decorated the lantern simply by placing a piece of natural cedar on top.

 

 

 

 

  She used a moss sheet under the burlap baskets, deer, and lanterns to create a natural look.

 

 

 Putting a burlap bow with a piece of pine on the deer make them show up nicely.

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by!  We still have more to show.  Hopefully we will get most of it on before it is all over! :)

Audra & Denise

Link up to:

52 Mantels

 

Feathered Nest Friday

 

 

 

  Flaunt It Friday   Common Ground  

DIY Ornament Picture

Hi Everyone!  Today we wanted to share a great Dollar Tree project!  You will need a few different items.  First you will need the picture frames, and ornaments from the dollar store.  Next you will need a background for the pictures.  We used a glittery burlap that we cut and glued to the back of the picture frame.  You can be creative here.  You could use construction paper, a paper with a Christmas print, or even wrapping paper! 

 

 

 

You can use any ornaments you have as long as they are flat.  If they aren't flat they won't fit in the frames correctly.  I wanted to show the tutoral with the burlap but I forgot it at my moms!  So we will just use a cardstock paper.  If you choose to use burlap, every step will be the same!

 

 

You need to trace the picture around the burlap or paper.

 

 

Cut the burlap or paper around your trace.

 

 

Next you will glue with mod podge the ornaments onto the burlap or paper.  This will take some time to dry. Once dried you can place your picture into the frame!  It is this easy!  You can be really creative here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love the burlap in the pictures.  It makes the picture so different and cozy.  These would also make a great gift if you have a Christmas party to go to.  You could do a set of three!  We hope you all enjoy and if you make them we would really love to hear how they turned out!  We still have more to come!  :)

 

Audra & Denise

 

Sharing:

 

A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Treasure Hunt Thursday

Facebook Giveaway

Hi Everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  We are still decorating, and will be posting more this week.  We wanted to share a Facebook Giveaway we have going on!  Come on over and check it out.  :)

 

Our Facebook Page

Christmas Mantel

Hi Everyone!  We wanted to thank you all for all of your wonderful comments on Denise's Christmas Porch!  We are newer to blogging and are really enjoying everyone we are meeting.  We are so grateful for our followers and everyone who comments!  We love blogland!  Thanks to Mary and Dave from Front-Porch-Ideas-and-More for featuring our Christmas Porch,  you can check out the post here.

 

So today we want to share my living room Christmas Mantel.    When my husband and I moved into our house a little over 2 years ago I was so excited to have a mantel to decorate!   But you may not know, he won the battle of hanging the TV above that mantel!  Although, I do like the way it turned out and think it fits best for the room.   I was really excited when my mom had the idea to buy an electric fireplace for my living room!  This is the first year having it and I was so excited to decorate it, even though I stared at it for about two days before I figured out what to do with it! haha  Does this ever happen to you? 

 

 

In my living room I tried to stick with the copper, gold, and green colors.

 

I used rice lights on all of the pines.  I love these lights they give off a good amount of light, they are much lighter then regular lights, and you can hide the cord easier!

 

I tied a burlap bow around both deer.

I love these green magnolia wreaths!  They have a hint of gold in them.

 

 

These trees are so different they shimmer with glitter.

I made each mantel piece out of various pines.  I started with a swag as a base, which let me secure the rest of the pine. 

 

In the lanterns I used two different battery operated candles.  In the cream lantern is a Luminara candle.  Which we hope to get up on our website soon.  These are so neat!  You cannot tell it is a fake flame it is amazing, and it has a timer.  The gold lantern is a battery operated taper candle w/ a timer. 

I filled a rustic box with various pines and some more rice lights.

 



Thank you all for stopping by!  We still have a lot more to show, and we are working on some great Christmas Tutorials.  So stay tuned!

 

Audra & Denise

 

Sharing:

A Strol Thru Life

52 Mantels
 

 Home Sweet Home

Front My Front Porch To Yours

 

Homespun Christmas Link Party



 

 

Christmas Front Porch

Today we want to share Denise's Front Porch decorated for Christmas!  Boy oh boy is this porch a job to decorate! But she does it every year and she always loves it.  The front porch is newer and she has really enjoyed decorating it for every season.  Would you believe it took my mom almost 20  years to convince my dad to build this front porch!?  When they moved into the house it didn't have a front porch, but she knew that the house would be complete if it had a wrap around porch.  It is also is an enjoyable place for my parents to relax especially in the summer time. 

 

The sleighs and little mini trees at a touch of charm, and and bring the ambiance of Christmas to the porch!

She uses battery operated candles in her lanterns, which is perfect because they come on and off themselves!

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The poinsettias are artificial and they look so realistic.  The color of the berries, bows, and poinsettias brings everything together!

Using different pines creates dimension in a garland, and the lights make the red berries and fruit pop.

 

 

The lanterns are decorated with burlap and natural pines, creating a rustic feel.

Now we are just waiting for the snow!  We are dreaming of a White Christmas!  Have a great week everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Audra & Denise

 

Sharing:

Wow Us Wednesdays
Treasure Hunt Thursday

Feathered Nest Friday
Flaunt it Friday
Inspiration Friday

Mesh Bow Tutorial

Hi Everyone! We hope you all had a nice weekend. We both finished up some decorating. My mom was working hard on her front porch and we will be posting that in the next couple days.  We still have a lot to do but we both hope to get most done before we go back to work Wednesday. Today we wanted to share a tutorial on how to make a bow out of mesh ribbon and use it on your tree. We get asked about this a lot at the shop. The mesh ribbon looks beautiful on a tree. The best part is it comes in so many different colors. What you will need is 2.5" wide mesh ribbon, scissors, and wire.

 

 

First you want to make a loop with the ribbon and pinch the middle.

 

You repeat the step above until you have as many loops as you would like.  I made three loops, since I was using them on a smaller tree.

 

 

Next you wrap your wire around the middle.  Try to make it as tight as possible.

 

 

 You can cut the tails as long as you would like.  On a bigger tree we suggest to leave them longer and let them flow on the tree.  Now you can begin placing your bows on your tree!   

 

 

Here is a 6ft Pencil Tree Decorated with Mesh Ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope this tutorial helps!  We would love to hear if you used Mesh Ribbon on your trees.  We still do have a lot of decorating to finish so we will continue to post.  Thanks for stopping by everyone!  Have a great week!

Audra & Denise

Sharing:
The Sunday Showcase Party
A Stroll Thru Life