Ashley's Nest

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 11: Peppermint and Gingerbread Tree

Days 11 and 12 are all about my Christmas trees! I have our main tree in our living room and I also have a tree in our bedroom. The tree I am showing you today is the tree in our bedroom. This tree is new to our house this year so it will need more trimmings over the next couple of years but I love it for now.

I think it is really important to have a theme for your tree. This way, when you are out shopping for decorations you will know what you are looking for and if it will match your theme. For this tree, my theme is all peppermint and gingerbread. Also by having a theme, you can pick things up from year to year and those decorations will always fit in with your tree.

This is the first year I have ever had anything but a green tree, but I am really enjoying the white tree with my decorations. I don't think it would have looked as nice on a green tree. When shopping for this tree, I was looking for anything red, white, peppermint, or gingerbread. I didn't want to mix in any other colors. It's important to remember to shop at multiple stores when decorating too. If you do, you will have more variety to choose from and when sticking to a theme you know it will all match even if it is not in the same grouping. Plus, doing this is a huge money saver!

One thing to keep in mind when looking for decorations is to get ornaments/picks of all different sizes. This will really give your tree some interest. Also, don't feel like you need to get multiples of every ornament. Sometimes, it's more interesting to just have the one. To me, bulbs are fillers. I always use them, but they never take up my entire tree. I enjoy the unique ornaments and picks more.

I hope you enjoyed my tree as much as I do! The most important thing to remember is to have fun with your tree decorating. If it's not fun, it's not worth it.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 10: Outside

Today I would like to share my front entrance with you. This year I decided to keep it simple. I wanted the wreath that I created to be the main focus.

I purchased the garland and trees from Lowes and the doormat from Target. To frame the door with garland, I used two Command strips. If you have never used these before, they are great. They are inexpensive and they even work great outside. I decided to pull out two of my pots from this past summer so I could give the trees a little more height. Because of all of the greenery, I wanted to add a touch of color to my doormat. I loved the simplicity of the red and white with this one.

If you have some garland pieces that are hanging to low, tie them back with green floral wire.

Take a look back at Day 1 to see how I created this wreath.

I hope you enjoyed the simplicity of my outside this year!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 9: Table Settings

Welcome to my dining room for Christmas dinner. To me there is no right or wrong way to set a table. As long as it is comfortable for eating, that is all that matters. One thing that I highly recommend to anyone hosting Christmas dinner is to set your table the day before. This way it is one less thing that you are worrying about the day of.

If you ever decide to purchase holiday dishes, try to keep your choice generic. If you do this, it will make it easier to add to your set at a later time.

When dinner is ready for serving, I recommend moving your centerpiece off of the table unless it is at a low height. You want your dinner guests to be able to see and speak with everyone at the table.

Chargers are a great replacement for placemats. I love the look of them, but more importantly they protect your table from the heat of the meal. The only problem is that sometimes they can get a little pricey. I purchased my chargers at Target and spray painted them oil-rubbed bronze to get the color finish that I wanted. By choosing to spray paint them, you can go as flashy or as simple as you want. If you have white dishes, you may want to choose a more decorative finish. Some options include: red, green, silver, gold, and metallics. If you really want to add some sparkle, spray your charger then while it is wet sprinkle glitter of the same color onto the charger for a more festive look. Here was the before...

The dishes you use, depends on what you are serving for dinner. Here are two different options for place settings that I have used in the past.

Dinner can be a lot of work, so try and remember to get as much done the day before your dinner as possible. This will make hosting a lot easier and much more enjoyable for you.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 8: Apothecary Jars

If you are looking for an inexpensive decoration that you can use for multiple holidays, decorate with apothecary jars. Once you purchase your jars, the costs are minimal and the options are endless for the fillers. Here are the materials that I used for my apothecary jars this Christmas, but you can use any size jars and any fillers that match your style.

I purchased all of these apothecary jars at HomeGoods and the fillers are from Michaels and Target.

This jar sits in my living room next to my television. I tied a few strands of twine around the jar for a thicker look and then attached two jingle bells from the same pack that I used to create my Christmas pillow.

For this look, I stuffed the berry strands loosely into the jar and sprinkled the snow on top letting it fall naturally. This apothecary jar serves as another inexpensive decoration to my guest room.

To create this, I filled the jar about half full with snow and then gently set the silver snowflakes into the loose snow.

Decorating with apothecary jars is such an easy and quick project that can be used in many ways so have fun with it!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 7: Welcoming Visitors

For everyone having people over this Christmas, this will be a great Twelve Days for you. It is very important if you are having guests to make them feel like they are at home. One great way to make your guests feel welcome is to decorate the room they are staying in . Also, make sure to give them plenty of storage for their belongings, so they don't have to live out of a suitcase for the holiday. Another extra you shoud have available are blankets.

A great way to provide your guests with welcoming items is to place them on a tray. It not only looks great, but it is easy to move. Some things that you can place on the tray are magazines, books, and a candle.

If you really want to welcome your guests, provide a warm, plush robe and slippers for them. You can hang the robe on the closet door with a decorative hanger and have the slippers sitting underneath.

Aside from the decorating, you should also invite your guests to help with one of your own holiday traditions. One way of doing this is to bake some holiday goodies together. Before inviting them to do this, make sure you have all of your supplies ready. Don't make your guests feel like they need to purchase the ingredients.

Another great tradition that your guests can help with is from The Yellow Cape Cod . This is a great way to get your guests involved from the moment they walk in the door.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 6: Candles

A great thing to have out during the holidays are candles. Candles are such an easy way to make a house feel welcoming. The warmth and smell they give is an instant comfort to guests. If you want to have multiple candles lit in your home, make sure to stick to one fragrance. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on this. For the decorative candles all around your home, choose inexpensive, unscented candles that are strictly for burning. Then when choosing a candle with a smell, it doesn’t have to be decorative because it will not be on display.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 5: Small Touches

There is much more to decorating for Christmas then your tree, outside, and dining room table. I like to add small touches of Christmas throughout my entire house for a more welcoming feel.

Once you have walked into my home, this is the first thing that you see. Rather then hanging two of the same snowflakes, I chose two different ones at two different heights. However, they still tie into each other because of the same twine ribbon and that they are both snowflakes. I think it is important to have something at your front entrance so that guests know it is time for Christmas when they walk in.

I love that when I grab my cozy, warm blanket that I am greeted with this little gold reindeer.

This garland turned an every day candleholder into a Christmas decoration in an instant. You don’t have to pack away all of your regular decorations when it comes time to decorate. Try to add a Christmas touch to your every day decorations to lessen the cost.

This little tree was a very inexpensive find from Target, but adds a lot to my end table.

It’s not Christmas to me without the smell of these cinnamon acorns.

I just love my little reindeers.

A small Christmas touch to my bathroom.

This little tree sits on my kitchen window ledge. It’s a great way to decorate my kitchen without taking up any counter space.

Don’t forget to decorate your guest’s rooms!

Thanks for stopping by, don’t forget to add those small Christmas touches throughout your entire home.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 4: Dining Room

Here is my dining room through the month of December. Later, I will be sharing my table settings for Christmas dinner with you.

Aside from my tree, I like to keep my decorations a plain red and green. This way I can add to my decorations at any time and they all match. I chose a simple centerpiece that is easy to have out throughout the month and can be easily removed for dinner. When I was making my centerpiece, I added the same greenery picks that I used on my bay window ledge for continuity.

This chalkboard is new this Christmas. There are many different messages that I could have put, but for December I decided to keep it generic with “Let it Snow”. If you have a chalkboard in your home or would like one, you can also put your dinner menu on the board so guests know what they will be eating that night.

Stay tuned for The Twelve Days where I show you my table settings!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 3: Pillows

I love to add Christmas decorations every place that I can. One area that I add to is my couch. Pillows can really add up in cost and that is not something that I like to do for one month. So, this year I only bought one pillow and then I added a little something extra to my everyday pillow.

I purchased this pillow at PotteryBarn. It was a little pricey but well worth it to me. It ties in a lot of the elements that are in my living room. The jute trim on the pillow ties in with my rug and other everyday pillow and the cream color matches the rest of my pillows so it’s a little more subtle than your average Christmas pillow, which I like.

Instead of spending another $20.00-$30.00 on a pillow, I only spent $2.00 to get this next look.

To get this look, you will need a little piece of twine and two jingle bells. I purchased a pack of jingle bells from Michaels for $2.00 that I used in this project and another Christmas project that will come in later. Because they are noisy jingle bells, I wanted to be able to easily remove them in case they became uncomfortable. To do this, I tied a bow with my twine and tied the jingle bells to the ends of the bow. Now all I have to do is slip the bow behind the button on the pillow and I have an instant Christmas pillow for under $5.00.

Thanks for visiting! Day Four is my Dining Room so make sure you check back.

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 2: Bay Window

Welcome back!

Today I would like to share with you how I decorate my bay window for Christmas. My tree is located next to this window so I like to keep these decorations simple. This way it doesn’t take any focus away from my Christmas tree. This is also a great alternative for your stockings if you don’t have a fireplace!

Instead of using a strand of garland, I combined different styles of greenery picks to create a more natural look. Picks are a great way to get the look you want without compromising because you put it together yourself. Here are the picks that I chose for my bay window.

Before I placed the picks, I laid out my candles so that I could intertwine the picks in the base of the candleholders. To break up the greenery, I added red berries to incorporate the color from the candles and stockings. Once all of the picks were laid out, I could place my stocking holders in the front. To keep all of this looking uniform, I chose oil-rubbed bronze as the finish for both the stocking holders and the candle holders.