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woven jute living room rug

I’ve been asked a lot about my woven jute living room rug on Instagram, so I thought I would write a post about it share the source as well as why I chose it along with a review. When we had hardwoods installed this summer, I knew I would need to find an area rug for the space.  If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that rugs are a challenge for me!  I have learned that I tend to like quieter rugs and most of the rugs in our house are woven or braided jute.  They are relatively inexpensive, forgiving, and hardwearing.  They are also not too precious that I freak out over spills and pet accidents (which always happen on rugs or carpets!) So, when I was looking for a living room rug, I wanted to stay in that world.  Some day, I might want to

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January 6, 2021 30 Comments
a slice of life

Christmas 2020 recap

While our Christmas break was quiet and slow, it was also full.  We have spent Christmas with family some years, but it’s not out of the ordinary for it to just be the four of us, so this year didn’t feel sad or lonely.  We did miss the school Christmas concert and church staff Christmas party, but it was still a sweet season.  We ordered our yearly Christmas Eve breakfast out and ate it at home.  We had our candlelight Christmas Eve service on the sofa in our jammies.  We watched movies at home instead of going to the theatre.  We met with our family over Zoom to open presents and play games.  But we still had a wonderful time of celebration, reflection, and rest. (Yes, the top string of lights burnt out just before Christmas!  Ugh!) And Christmas morning was still a flurry of activity and excitement as the

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January 5, 2021 22 Comments
All Things Home

top ten posts of 2020

Well, hello there and Happy New Year!  Oh man, I just love the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  We did a lot of hanging out, playing games, watching movies, working on puzzles, and I had plenty of unhurried time to read some of my books, sketch and paint in the studio, and I even learned how to knit!  The boys are back in school today and it’s time for me to get back to work.  I did squeeze in a little planning this weekend, so I could be ready to hit the ground running.   Before we get into 2021 and exciting things to come, I’ll be sharing a few favorites and highlights from 2020 throughout the month of January.  Let’s kick that off with the top ten posts of 2020! These are the top ten posts of 2020 based on the number of views the posts received in

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January 4, 2021 17 Comments
a slice of life

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Song

About 8 years ago, I snuck off into another room a couple of days before Christmas and played the guitar and sang I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas for my blog readers. Unfortunately, that video was accidentally deleted a few years ago. Since that first song, we’ve done a song for Christmas almost every year.  We’ve done duets, group songs with friends and family involving preschool toys, kazoos, and popcorn-tin drums. It’s been so much fun and I know my blog followers have enjoyed seeing that different side of me (and seeing more of my family.)  Every year, I receive messages asking if I’m going to do a Christmas song and I try to pick a fun song that we can perform for you. I didn’t last year because I was recovering from shoulder surgery, but I felt like this year needed a song.  It’s been quite the year! We

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December 23, 2020 118 Comments
All Things Home

Christmas Dining Room 2020

Last year, I didn’t decorate my dining room for Christmas, because it was just too much to try to do as my shoulder was still healing from surgery.  This year, though, I was right back to dressing our dining room for Christmas!   I kept it pretty simple, though, and just added some faux greenery to the chandelier, our small tree in a goat cart for our advent stockings, some garland on the mirror, and gingerbread in the hutch. I really wanted to do my usual advent wreath for the center of the table, but the cats picked mine apart last year, so I didn’t do it.  I just used a simple candle ring on a chunky candle in an ironstone bowl as the centerpiece. The greens are just tucked into the chandelier.  You can see a tutorial on my method HERE. Violet let me know she was watching. On the

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December 22, 2020 28 Comments
All Things Home

Hand-Painted Ceramic Christmas Ornaments

I know that I’m slipping this one in at the last minute, but I wanted to share one more Christmas craft!  You can scrape together the materials for this year or hunt and peck at some after Christmas sales for ribbon and unfinished ceramic ornaments to have some handmade gifts and decorations in the hopper for next year!  Here is a tutorial for hand-painted Christmas ornaments using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint with acrylic and gouache accents… This hand-painted ceramic ornament tutorial was easier to show in a video as opposed to pictures and words alone, so here is a short video tutorial showing how I painted the first one… I actually filmed four of the ornaments that I painted, but my hands were out of the frame!  That’s happened to me a lot lately, so I really need to pay better attention to that. Anyway, here are the materials

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December 21, 2020 19 Comments
All Things Home

Gift-Wrapping Ideas with Walmart

Disclosure: This gift-wrapping ideas post is sponsored by .  As always, all opinions expressed are honest and my own. As I shared a couple of weeks ago, I’m feeling extra crafty this year!  I know it’s because we’re home more than usual and creating things not only brings me joy, but it’s a great stress-reliever.  I put on some good Christmas music and I don’t worry about time or what’s happening in the world.  For an hour or two, I can just “be where my hands are” and focus on what I’m making. A few days ago, I decided to use some of that quiet, creative time to wrap some pretty packages for my family and I thought I should share those Christmas gift-wrapping ideas with you!  I ended up with some really cute packages and they were all pretty quick and easy. Before I started on this project, I

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December 18, 2020 42 Comments
All Things Home

Christmas Kitchen 2020

I know you don’t need to hear from me that Christmas is coming fast!  I am definitely feeling it, though.  My house is finally all decorated, though, gingerbread houses have been made, and I’m almost all done with my Christmas shopping.  I’ll be sharing some creative gift wrap ideas tomorrow, but today I thought I would share my kitchen decorated for Christmas along with the gingerbread I made earlier this week… I made the same gingerbread I’ve been making for the past few years.  You can find the mini gingerbread house templates and recipe HERE. Each year, I make some of the same houses, but I’ll also try some new ornaments shapes and gingerbread house templates.  This year, I made some mini houses that sit on the side of mugs… I got that ! …and I hand-cut some ornaments based on 17th-century embroidery designs.  Because, why not? As far as

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December 17, 2020 16 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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