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Holiday
Decorating

classic christmas mantel | decorating ideas

I don’t typically have plans for exactly how I’ll decorate when the holiday season rolls around.  I just start working with my things and see what inspires me and what Ideas spring up.  I find that I end up in more interesting decorating territory if I let it all happen organically.  And, that’s exactly what happened as I started decorating our living room mantel with a classic Christmas and slightly southern feel. It started when I decided to change out the art above the fireplace.  Both of the paintings I’ve had hanging over the mantel had more of a spring/summer feel, so I shopped around the house to see what might be a good seasonal alternative.  I tried a mirror and a few other things, but nothing was quite right in shape or scale.  On a whim, I grabbed the antique Jenny Lind portrait from the guest room and tried

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November 19, 2021 37 Comments
Holiday

Walmart Gift Ideas & More

Disclosure: This post of holiday gift ideas is sponsored by .  As always, all opinions and words are honest and my own. I’ve partnered with Walmart several times in the past around the holidays.  Last year I shared some creative gift wrapping ideas… …and some simple DIY Christmas ornaments and crafts… In this post, I’m going to share some holiday gift ideas from a few different categories, since you can get just about anything from Walmart!  Walmart is having and has already released a variety of gift guides for , , , , and more.  Here are some of my picks from things I purchased from their gift guides or giftable things I’ve owned and loved for years. walmart gift ideas | beauty & fashion I have had a for years!  I’m not even sure how long.  This is my second one and I think my first one lasted over

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November 18, 2021 6 Comments
All Things Home

setting a proper table & creating a thanksgiving centerpiece | HGTV articles

Those who have been reading my blog for a while are familiar with me mentioning writing articles for HGTV.  I have been writing for them now for almost 10 years and have written over 200 articles and tutorials. It’s an amazing part of my job that came out of simply sharing my work online.  An editor reached out to me to write a few articles for her and coached me through the process.  I still write for that same editor and have written for several others over the years.  Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I wanted to share a couple of my most recent Thanksgiving articles (and a couple of my favorites!) how to create a florist-worthy fall arrangement for Thanksgiving This Thanksgiving floral arrangement was designed to be simple, but to look classic and formal. Grocery store flowers are combined with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and even some

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November 16, 2021 10 Comments
All Things Home

how to dry & decorating with orange slices

This holiday season, I am in the mood to do some crafting…even more than usual.  Last year, I had a lot of plans, but most of them went undone.  It was a busy year and I just had to continue to let things fall off of my to-do list.  But, this year, I’m excited about creating some homemade holiday decorations, so I’ve started early!  Saturday morning, I sliced up some oranges to turn into decor and I thought I would share how to dry and decorate with orange slices. how to dry orange slices Preheat oven to 170°.  Slice fresh oranges into about 1/4″ slices, discarding ends.  You can also use blood oranges, grapefruit, lemons, or any citrus fruits.  I’ve even done this technique with apple slices to make an apple cinnamon garland. Arrange on a cookie sheet.  I was able to put about 8 oranges, sliced, onto two cookie

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November 14, 2021 23 Comments
Holiday

Maple Sugar House Cookies & Finding Home Farms

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by .  I’ve known Laura of Finding Home Farms for years and I’m so pleased to officially partner with her family’s business.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own.  There is a coupon code at the bottom of this post to help you save on your holiday shopping. We need to rewind back to the very early days of blogging for this story.  Laura Putnam of was one of my blogger peers.  We did blog-hops together and linky parties and met up at blog conferences.  We also were both vendors at the very first Chapel Market in Pike Road, AL.  Laura is actually standing directly behind me in this picture! (Oh man, what a crew!  I’m still in touch and friends with so many of these people.) I even have her book!  It’s DIY Rustic Modern Metal Crafts. At that

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November 12, 2021 11 Comments
All Things Home

Casual Blue & White Holiday Table

Disclosure: This casual blue & white holiday table post is sponsored by   As always, all opinions and words are my own. I have some more fun goodies sold exclusively at to share with you today!   Of course, I’m inspired by classic blue and white color palette.  They are definitely speaking my language.  As I was looking through their home items to decide what to share today, I kept coming back to these playful blue and white dishes.   Most of the pieces I use for my own table settings as well as ones for photoshoots are vintage or antique, which can then be more of a challenge to duplicate.  For this casual blue and white holiday table, I thought it would be fun to use dishes from and other accessories and decor from so it could easily be replicated. that inspired this casual blue and white holiday table… I started

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November 10, 2021 12 Comments
Holiday

pre-lit christmas tree review

I just set up my pre-lit Christmas tree for the fifth Christmas and I figured I would share a review of my specific pre-lit Christmas tree as well as my thoughts about buying a pre-lit Christmas tree in the future.  This post isn’t sponsored, but the Christmas tree was originally a part of a sponsored post for Balsam Hill.  You can read the original post HERE. The prelit Christmas tree I have is the 8′ Noble Fir by Balsam Hill.  It came pre-lit with incandescent bulbs. (These pictures are of my tree from 2020.) To start this pre-lit Christmas tree review, let me state that I think expectations are generally unfairly high when it comes to prelit trees.  I can say this because my expectations were unreasonably high.  The tree can be well made, the lights can be high quality, and the design is perfect, but an incandescent bulb is

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November 9, 2021 52 Comments
crafts

collecting & pressing leaves & flowers

Over the past few days, I have become acutely aware of autumn’s waning beauty and how it will all soon be covered in snow.  We’ve had some unusually warm weather in our neck of the woods, so I’ve done a bit of foraging on my walks.  I don’t always know what I’ll do with the bits that I gather, but I don’t worry about that too much.  I just carry a small bag and gather the things that attract my eye.  I collected pinecones to use for Christmas projects and decorations, some pods and thistles that might be interesting to draw, grasses that can be used for making brushes, acorn caps that can be used as little natural paint pots, sticks that can be brush handles and dip pens, and leaves and flowers for pressing. I also took advantage of a pretty afternoon and got the garden beds in the

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November 8, 2021 18 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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