Burlap Christmas Pillows

Happy December everyone, 

I hope you have all been staying in out of the bad weather… It's supposed to start snowing here pretty soon, and while most adults growl at the weather this time of the year, i secretly love it. I love the mornings that we are expecting to get some snow, I jump out of bed and rush to the front door. There is just something very magical about beautiful white powdery snow. Then a dose of reality hits and i realize that i still have to go to work in it… As it turns out, adults don't get snow days (unless you are a teacher, brilliant profession i must add)… And when you have a huge barn behind your house full of John Deere Tractors you have absolutely no excuse for not getting into work. 

Enough about the weather and onto some burlap pillows. I currently have a crazy obsession with burlap. I have done so many burlap projects lately that my house is starting to smell like burlap. I love the fabric, don't get me wrong, but i think that we can all agree that it doesn't have the most pleasant smell. So, at the request of my farmer I have tried to tone down the burlap smells. Then Christmas came and i discovered Red burlap… 

I decided to make three little square red pillows and write "Ho Ho Ho" on them. I had just the right spot where I would display them (for at least the next 2 weeks anyways)…


Always lay something in between your burlap, otherwise it will bleed through to the back of your pillow. I learned that the hard way…


I used a stencil. You can free hand, I just wanted more of a uniform look since I had three different pillows and I was writing the same thing on each.

I have found that acrylic paint works the best for me… Especially in the white, it appears to hold its color better. I am not the neatest of painters and you can see…. Somewhere my dad is cringing at this photo… He is just the neatest painter. He has paint brushes he has used for 10 years that look brand new. I guess most every girl thinks their dad is perfect and i am no different. So dad, if you are reading this, i promise i wiped all of that paint off before closing the lid. 

Be generous with your paint, the burlap really soaks it up, but surprisingly, it doesn't bleed outside your stencil. 

These little foam brushes work the best on burlap… You don't really paint it in a stroke pattern, its more of a blot… 









After you are done, let them dry, fill with either a pillow form, or polyfill and finish stitching up. 

How great do those red burlap pillows look next to those beautiful green burlap pillows I made last summer. That's my favorite little area of my whole house and the first thing I see when I open my front door. 

I hope each of you is having a great Holiday Season… My farmer and I sure are in this Farmhouse. 

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Christmas Decorations

Please tell me it's not already December 5th. I love the Holiday season, and it is all going way too fast for me, what about you? I haven't gotten my Christmas cards ordered yet. Actually, we don't even have our photo taken for the Christmas cards… We have that planned for this weekend and that might or might not include a green tractor. Stay tuned for our Christmas card photo shoot. It will include a John Deere Tractor, Christmas wreathes, and my farmer who hates when i make him do these things but never ever once complains. Only reason # 1,538,789 of why i love him.







With a long to do list of things that still need to be done, inside Christmas Decorations is not one of them. My farmhouse is not a large one so a majority of my decorations are in my living room and some in the kitchen. Growing up in a large home my mom decorated everything from the kitchen to the bathrooms, and i  loved every bit of it. We each had our own little themed tree in our rooms that we got to decorate on our own. Something so small has stayed with me all these years. The thing that i love most about Christmas is tradition. The things that you do with you families each and every year.

That tradition for me starts with my Christmas tree. I must have a real one. Now, before you think that we went to a christmas tree farm and cut down a tree let me tell you that we got it at Lowe's. It's a long ways from an actual Christmas tree farm i know, but it is currently still a great tradition for me and my farmer. Someday when we add little farm kids to our mix we will make a new tradition that will most certainly involve cutting down our own tree, maybe even here on this very farm.




Each year as i decorate the tree i get excited thinking about my special ornaments. What they mean to me, who gave them to me, and whom i was thinking of when I picked that one out.

Since being with my farmer i have started a traditions of getting an "Annual Ornament" I think that will be fun to look back in 30 years of the 30 years of annual ornaments. I am currently waiting on my 2013 ornament to arrive in the mail.

Here is "Our First Christmas" ornament that i still need to put a picture in… I think i know just the perfect one too.

I cut off the tail to the left with my camera a little bit, but i received this one from my sister. It makes me smile every year. I know that everyone thinks that they have the best sister (rightfully so) but i actually do.

another new "tradition" is getting an ornament from each and every state that my farmer and i visit. This past fall before the craziness of Harvest we went to Dallas Texas for a Sunday Night Football game. It was a short trip, just two days and one night, but we sure did make some great memories on our first vacation together. I will think about that trip every time i look at this ornament.

i think that it's safe to say that my love of this particular ornament needs no explanation.

Last and certainly not least, i ordered this from Pottery Barn last year. It a beautiful glass peanut. My grandpa passed away the day after Christmas, almost five years ago. Some days it feels like forever and others it feels like just yesterday. I am sure everyone who has lost someone understands that. Anyways, peanuts were a special little thing between the two of us. So, this ornament that i got on sale for about $5.99 is by far my most prized possession.






This burlap tree skirt is trimmed in a great red tartan plaid. I got it last year from Ballard Designs and i would love to have it monogrammed one day. I think it's a great timeless piece that can travel through the many Christmas's with me and my farmer.

Some of my favorite ways to decorate for the Holidays are simply glass apothicary jars (which i am obsessed with in my farmhouse) filled with classic colored ornaments and fake snow. Such a simple look that's so colorful.

I like to have large ornaments and really small ones as well. The small ones help fill in the holes so there aren't a lot of gaps.

I have a total of four of these currently in my home. Red seems to be a popular color me, it's just such a great holiday color.

Ornaments and fake snow are certainly the most popular thing to decorate with, but i also tried something a little different this year. I took some reindeer moss, added a great little white feather tree and some glittery pinecones around it. It reminds me of a little fairy garden. 

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My Aunt from Florida sent me this live ivy bunny last Spring. It sits right to the side of my kitchen sink and each holiday i add a different ribbon around the neck. For Christmas, it's none other than a red satin ribbon.












Wreaths on the windows hanging from red velvet ribbon. (Stay tuned for my outdoor decoration blog in a few days, i also have this on the outside of my house.)

I just added a little greenery around my doorway to the hall and also some light bulb ornaments that i picked up last year at Hobby Lobby (i love that place). Also, notice my cow picture…. It really is my favorite thing in this whole house.

My mom and my grandma have always has obsessions for Santa's. I remember them getting new ones each year when i was a kid. As we have gotten older my mom has passed that onto me and my sister as well. She gives us great Santa's every year.

We got this one a couple of years ago. It's an old fashioned Santa. Even the fuzzy white beard is discolored and looks old. Everything from the wrapping on the girts to the silver tree says old fashioned.

 

I would love to hear about some of your favorite Holiday traditions.
I hope you and your family are having a nice Holiday season and as always, thanks for stopping by.

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