Ho Ho Holiday Greetings!

 

Hello my friends, and welcome December!!

 

It's that wonderful time of year where there is a chill in the air and every now and then sparkles of beautiful white snow drift through the sky and make the ground shimmer with magic!

 

I absolutely love it!

 

Naked Greenery

>Hello my friends,

last night I was in my car driving to a wedding reception when the radio announcer mentioned that this years trend was that of

'Naked Greenery'.

She said that the Pinterest search was up more than 400%

What is naked greenery?  Garlands, wreaths, and trees with no ornaments.  Nothing to distract from the beauties that they are in their natural state.

Who knew that this old gal was right on trend when she had a vision late one night as to what she wanted to do on her porch?  (tee-hee)

Yup, I imagined a tree farm with lots of (you guessed it), naked greenery.  :)

I added it to my chandelier.  I may have cheated just a little by hanging the shiny bulbs.  However, that greenery is entirely naked.

Hubby and I, and our youngest daughter got permits and cut 4 trees to make my 'tree farm' vision come to life.  It was from an area where they allow cutting a small amount of trees each year in order to clear the area.

Two trees were placed on the right end of the porch.

I placed them in buckets to keep them fresh.  Our daughter had a

Tree Farm sign created using a lazer machine and hubby

 added an arrow point. 

 I asked myself, "if you had a real tree farm what would you want it to consist of?"  I knew I would want a cocoa station to keep myself and my customers warm and toasty.

Two kinds of cocoa, candy canes for dipping, and cups and spoons for sippin.

I draped my drop leaf table with a plaid tablecloth and topped it with a small sled.  I sat my red toolbox on top hoping it would hold the cocoa bar supplies, but it just didn't work.  So instead I filled it with more 'naked greenery'.

Then I tucked in a star and some vintage red bells.

I filled a jar with marshmallows and a red Coleman cooler is on hand for holding hot water.

We have a tree stand ready to hold a tree picked from our tree farm.

Tree number three is a Juniper.  I tied my wooden star to the top and tucked the saw I painted a few years ago in amongst the branches

The live wreath on the door is plain and simple. . .more naked greenery.

And did you notice the beautiful new door color?  We had it restained a couple weeks ago.

I hung more greenery from the ladder on the left side of the porch.

I also tucked them into my two urns and added a couple of old lanterns.

The fourth tree is tied to a ladder to help keep it from falling over.  My chippy red step stool holds an old green heater to keep us warm if winter ever comes to Utah.  Seriously, it has felt like spring for quite some time now.  I am loving it, but we really need the snow!

I cut logs from my sons home and placed them here and there around the porch.

More naked greenery in my creamer and almost naked branches.

I am loving all of the 'naked greenery' at my tree farm!

Here's a couple of pictures of it lit up at night.

Oh, and I decided to search 'naked greenery' on Pinterest to see what came up.  I mainly got naked cakes, so I'm not sure what the radio announcer was talking about.  lol!

hugs,

Jann

Sharing with these fun parties:

Sundays at Home

I'm excited for the Cozy Christmas tour starting on Monday.

I will be sharing on Tuesday.

Also, I hope you are getting your posts ready to share for our Creating Christmas link party.

STEPping it up on the Front Porch. . .

Hello my friends,

Here it is the first of October and we are definitely feeling touches of fall.  Cool breezes, leaves bustling, and frost will soon be on the pumpkins.

 

Right after I had my surgery our youngest daughter, Kylee came and decorated the front porch for me.  With the help of my grandson, Braxton they quickly changed my summer porch into fall.

 

They removed the aqua glider and brought around my two coral metal chairs.  I have a collection of leaf rakes and Kylee corralled some of them in the old milk can that came from my husbands grandparents farm.  The cute 'Love' pillow was a gift from my friend, Shelley.

 

My friend, Ann gifted me with ornamental pepper plants.  I  planted one of them in an enamel teapot and the other in an old watering can with an orange spout.

 

She added them and my little chippy red ladder to the display along with a plant I had in a rusty gallon can.

 

I also had picked up a few mums at Walmart.  She placed two rust colored ones in an old wooden crate.

 



 

The weather remained hot for some time and it certainly didn't feel like pulling out the pumpkins weather.

 

Recently it has cooled down and I decided I would STEP it up just a little and add my ladder to the left side of the door where the old filing cabinet usually is.

 

I'm so excited!  All of these pumpkins, except the gourds; came from my garden.  I've left a couple big ones out there that were still quite green.

 

 

I feel so blessed to have such great family and friends that share.  My sweet cousin, Betty gave me two giant sunflower heads from her garden.

 

And my long time friend, Joyce gifted me with the Indian Corn.  Can you believe we have been best friends since 6th grade?

 

 

I scored this orange toolbox at a thrift store for $10 last spring.  I could hardly wait to use it for fall.

 

The plants in my urns were still looking pretty good, but I pulled them out to stack these cuties.  I did buy these pumpkins. Thinking I need some cornstalks underneath.  Truth told, probably won't happen.  :)

 

I teased on facebook and said, "Unlike me, these girls are stacked"  (wink)

 

 

Kylee had placed my Nesbitts soda crate on my rustic flat wooden wheelbarrow in the garden below the porch.  I added a few pumpkins and gourds.  I love the orange next to the purple Aster.

 

There you have it, my '2017' fall porch.

 

  I absolutely adore the unusual pumpkins you can find now days, but because I had enough in my garden to decorate with I am going to resist buying more.  Hoping to plant some unique ones next year.

 

hugs,

Jann

 

 

 

 

 

Front Porch Sittin in the Summertime

Hello my friends,

hubby and I are vacationing in CA.  I decided to take a little break from posting Share Your Cup.  Not to worry, it will return next week.  :)

Summertime is approaching and we all need to take time out to enjoy it!

Before we left I readied our porch for some

front porch sittin.

Last year I had our glider, which use to be red; powder coated aqua for my grandsons wedding.  Hubby helped me bring it around to the porch.  Perfect for some
"front porch sittin",

wouldn't you agree?

I painted an old cooler that I had picked up at a yard sale to look like a flag.  It's a fun conversational piece to take on picnics.  I can see it filled with some summertime refreshment.  :)

The large wicker cone hanging on the old door in the corner use to be a planter.  I bought it from my friend, Paula; who hosted the "fleology" vintage flea.  I put a pumpkin in it last fall out by "hilltop cottage", my she shed.  It tipped over one day and the base broke off.  :(  Not to worry, still cute as a hanging planter!  For now I filled it with a cluster of flags.



The wicker stool was also a garage sale find.  I topped it with one of my old scales and added an old honey tin planted with a sweet potato vine.

I also tucked flags into the bucket planters hanging from the porch.  Everything will look much prettier when the plants fill out.

I added a few pillows and an Americana quilt for extra comfort.  I must admit, that the quilt will not stay out there.  It's one of my favs, and it cost me way too much to make to let it get sun faded.

We live in the center of a cul de sac.  At any given time there's generally a lot going on in our little circle.  The neighborhood kids  love to ride their bikes up and down our drive way because it has a slight slope. A few of them own mini ATV'S.  The teens are quite entertaining with their skateboards skills.  It certainly makes for some fun summertime front porch sittin!

Now let's pop open a Diet Coke and relax!

hugs,

Jann

I will be sharing with these fun parties:

Vintage Charm