Mosaic Monday #7 - Burlap and Bows

Oh, how I love decorating for Christmas!  When we lift the flaps on the cardboard boxes marked "Christmas", it is like a birthday, anniversary, and Valentine's Day all rolled into one.  Yes, we've possessed most of these decorations for two decades, but we haven't seen them for 11 months.  I experience a pleasing mixture of surprise and old familiarity that brings joy to my heart and (sometimes) tears to my eyes.

This year, it is the first time we are celebrating Christmas in our log home.  It means an opportunity to decorate in different ways.  To clean out some embellishments that just don't 'fit' the rustic industrial theme we have created.  To utilize gifts that have lain in wait until this moment.  So, come with me as we 'deck the halls'.

Do you decorate outside your house?  Our tradition in Ohio regularly involved some lights looped over fresh pine roping that festooned our porch and its pillars, aided by two short, artificial pre-lit trees on either side of our front door.  Well, it was time to fashion a new look, for many reasons: 1) those 'old-fashioned' bulbs have a sad, short life; 2) the stubby trees were blown over so frequently that most of the lights didn't work (and did I mention they didn't look much like pine trees anymore?) and 3) we strongly prefer a design that does not require banging nails into our lovely logs.

I am proud to say (because you know I am a planner) that we began this process last January when we snagged 8 sets of outdoor LED lights for the front of the house and the garage.  Are these cool or what?  They clip to the fascia - NO NAILS NEEDED!  And did I mention they were on sale?  Installing them was fairly efficient with the two of us; moving the ladder and ensuring its safety was the most difficult and time-consuming element.  At night, it looks like we have built a small landing strip …

We also purchased burlap bows last year, which we used to brighten the entry of our temporary home.  For this season, I wired the bows to branches of lodgepole pine (harvested from our back forty) to create home-made swags on either side of our front door.  (We also put a large swag with bow at the driveway entrance.)  Spousal Unit came up with the brilliant notion to 'plant' trees in our ceramic pots to add depth to the porch.  We took this occasion to thin a few lodgepole pines that were blocking our view of the lake, and used the tops for the pots.  Gravel to secure them, and a bow tucked into the front of each pot completed the look for the three 'trees'.  

As a finishing touch, I created a plant arrangement utilizing a vase I already possessed; all of the greenery came from our back forty, and a short stump elevated its position in front of the snowman and the bear.

This plain wreath has sported our Advent candles in some years; more often than not it was a cuddle spot for our furbaby Josie in the midst of our decorating process (I know; I don't get it either!)  This year, I decided it was time for a facelift.  I removed the bells from this old door decoration, and wired them to the wreath.  Collecting five Ponderosa pine cones from our woods, I added them to the wreath with floral wire.

Last year, we had purchased two different spools of burlap ribbon, and I chose this one for the bow on the wreath.  (This particular ribbon features stiff but pliable wire on the outside edges, so it is easy to shape.)

At this point in the process, I felt the wreath needed more color, so I gathered branches of grape holly.













Voila!  And when you open the door, you get a little jingle!!!  Next week, we'll go inside.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

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