Living In Upstate

Decorating for the Holidays

Christmas is a special time for our family as I am sure it is a special time for everyone else. I decided that my Christmas decor needed an overhaul. Nothing matched and it was not any color themed at all. I picked out a bunch of things from Target and got some new pillows. For my living room I used the green, gold, red, black and white color scheme.

For the pillow I used a sham from Ikea that I found that perfectly matched my rug perfectly and a Poly-fil Premier Lumbar Pillow.

I think it looks great with all my Christmas decor.

Here is the tree with the pillow. I love it! I picked out all these ornaments from Target. Some of them are special ornaments we have picked up through the years too as our family has gotten bigger.

I used an existing vase that I had and filled it with gold bells from Target.

I got this great piece from Target to decorate my mantle.

I used this existing tin and I had an filled it with pine cones I got from Target.

I picked up this village set from Target and love it!

For our living room we have been cutting down real trees from our property. I decided to decorate this tree in white. The crocheted ornaments are made by my Grandmother who is no longer alive, the balls I got from Walmart and the snowflakes from Target. It is impossible to find a skirt big enough for this 12 foot tree so I used 4 blankets from Target to make a skirt. We need a skirt because the floor gets covered with pine needles.

The rest of the room is in greens. I picked up some new pieces for our mantle.

This tree was given to us by our church last year. I love its rustic look.

I picked up these trees from Target. I love the different shades of green with the white!

I hope you like my Holiday set up. I definitely feel more grown up with these set ups and it makes our home seem so cozy! I can not wait to add to it next year. Maybe we will get some stockings up since my daughter is getting older and will not pull them down.

Check out some other great ideas from other bloggers with holiday pillow ideas here!

I have teamed up with some other friends and there is an amazing giveaway for a $100 gift card plus a 10 pound box of Poly-fil!

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Make Something New by Thinking Outside the Box

Have you ever made something you did not like and your family adores? That happened to me in high school. I made the square container below in ceramics class in high school. When I brought it home I did not like it at all and gave it to my Grandma and Grandpa because they loved it. They thought it would be a perfect tissue holder and put it in their house for 20 years. That thing was there forever! It was kind of symbolic now that I think of it. Often times family members will love and cherish us despite our flaws. And they sure loved me.

My Grandpa died when I was in college and my Grandma died last year. I knew I had to take it when they died because it was something I had made for them that they cherished, much like they cherished me.

Here is a closeup of another side. It was an Ombre heart and star pattern ceramic piece.

They even found felt to put on the bottom they cared for it so much. There was NO WAY I could throw it away, but I tried keeping it on my counter with tissues and I really did not like it. I am a big proponent of Marie Kondo and she says to keep things that bring you joy. This brings me joy, but not with tissues in it. I decided I would put a plant in it instead. I was thinking I could get foam and stick the plants in. Or I could buy a prepotted plant from Target, take that out, get the foam and put that in the "tissue holder".
After I got the plant I realized it was a perfect size to put in the "tissue holder" as is. No foam or cutting required. My recycled project took me 5 seconds when I got home.This plant and "tissue holder" stays in my bathroom. Instead of making me cringe when it contained the tissue paper, now it brings me joy. I love the look of the plant I got and I picked out a cute clock from Target to go with. I can think of my Grandma and Grandpa and the love they had for me every time I go to my bathroom and that is several times a day.

I have joined with some other bloggers this week to showcase some more ways to recycle old crafts.

There is even a giveaway!

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How to Save Space and Stuff Pillow Shams with Poly-fil

I love how this room has come together. Click here to see what it looked like before. We have a teal loveseat, green fireplace and green background from the windows in this room. I picked out some pillows for this room and wanted to make sure they did not clash. The last thing we have to do is paint the stair rail. We have a ton of greens in this room. I thought these tan pillow case covers from Bed Bath and Beyond were perfect! I also used these on my patio for some pillows that were green. I stuffed them with Poly-fil and am going to show how easy it is today. Fairfield World, the makers of Poly-fil is turning 80 years old this year! (#fairfield80, #polyfil, #poly-fil, #FFWcelebration) I received the Poly-fil and these goodies for this project.To make these pillows I got some pillow shams from Bed Bath and Beyond. I have one bag of 32 ounces of Poly-fil. I opened the bag and filled the pillows to my desired "stuffiness". That is the great thing about filling pillows, they can be as hard or soft as desired. We like medium stuffiness here.Here is the finished product. I love how they turned out. They fit in really well with the decor in the room and are super comfortable to sit and take a nap with! The perfect thing about this project is if we decide to change the pillows they can be changed out with other shams and folded, not taking up a lot of space!