Country Christmas Santa-scape

This holiday season has been flying by! So much to do, so little time. Because I had been spending so much time decorating my booth for the Christmas market,

I have not had much of a chance to decorate my own home for Christmas! So what I am doing, I am doing in bits and pieces. Open a storage bin, pull out some stuff, set it up-decorating on the fly. Tablescapes are a quick, simple way to add some holiday cheer to a tabletop, cupboard or hutch. The trick is in the layering. This is my little storage cupboard in the kitchen. Before…

After…

Here is the how-I-did-it: Started with a base. In this case, a white sparkly runner from HomeGoods to brighten up the top of the cabinet, which is dark red.

Added a backdrop. I had this aged, chippy piece of wood (I believe it is an old cabinet door, sans cabinet, so I painted the raised panels with chalkboard paint so I can write whatever I want, depending on the season or holiday.) I just stood it up against the wall, no need to hang it.

Added the swag-this sparkling BELIEVE sign on a jute rope was the perfect size to hang from each corner.

Next comes the plant or flower. I like to have something flowering on one side and then a candle or lantern on the opposite side to create a full vignette with the background. The heights don’t need to be the exact same size, but you should have some balance between the two sides. In this one, I used a poinsettia in an old raspberry jam bucket we picked up at a consignment shop over the summer. Loving the bright red colors!

Added an old Santa and the red lantern on the opposite side, which provides the height and color balance I was looking for.

Placed the reindeer next to the poinsettia in the bucket.

Since I was going with a Santa-themed vignette, I decided to write some fun Christmas lyrics on my chalk board. Very simple process: go to Avery.com and find whatever size template fits the space you are going to write on with chalk (in this case, I used an 81/2 x 11) Choose your words, choose your font and print. (My printer is just about out of ink, so the print was very faint, but I only needed the outline so no worries there!)

Flip over the paper to the reverse side and “chalk it up” rubbing the entire paper with the side of a piece of chalk.

Flip it over, tape to the chalkboard, then trace the edges of your design with a pencil.

Remove the paper and voila-you have a chalking template in place!

Now you just fill it in with your sharpened chalk and you are done.

++TIP++ keep a damp Q-tip nearby as you chalk so that you can easily clean up any edges or marks.

Looks so festive, right?! Added the greens, just weaving them in and around the items on the tabletop.

Sprinkled on a bit of fake snow for some sparkle

and some twinkle lights to give it that holiday glow. Done. 30 minutes from start to finish. Really gives the kitchen a holiday feel.

Now its time to start baking for our cookie swap! Only 9 days left everyone! Keep HoHoHoing! Susan