I was working on decorating for Christmas – draping garland on the tree, putting fresh batteries into the LED tree candles, topping cabinets with greenery – and I got sidetracked, as I often do.  My collection of copper bundt pans hanging from the potrack in my kitchen caught my eye.  Oh yeah, I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas centerpiece out of one of those.  That thought sent me on the rabbit trail of making this copper mold candle centerpiece… antique copper bundt pan | Norfolk pine | LED real wax candles | Miss Mustard Seed wrapping paper | brass sleigh bells  | faux juniper I looked for the best candidate and decided on an antique copper mold I bought in Italy a few years ago.  (It measures 9″ at the widest point, the rim.)  If you don’t have one on hand, you can find vintage and antique real copper

The past few Christmases, since our move back to the East Coast, I have been behind on sharing holiday and Christmas posts.  After years of working way ahead on Christmas for retail, articles, and blog posts, it felt good to decorate, shop for gifts, and share in real time.  I realized, though, that I was often sharing too late for people to make handmade decorations, or that all the products I was using were already sold out!  So, I’m going to share some Christmas decorating and gift ideas earlier this year, not to rush my blog readers along, but to give everyone time to move through the season at a comfortable pace—planning, shopping, and making things at their leisure.  As I’ve been looking through past Christmas ideas, I’ve felt excited about decorating, making things, and relishing the holiday season.  I hope the upcoming posts do the same for you!  I’m

For the past few years, I have used dried orange slices in my Christmas decorating in various ways.  I’ve tucked them into garlands, swags, and wreaths and made them into ornaments to hang from the tree.  This year, I decided to make them into a garland to hang in my kitchen and, I love them so much, that I’m making more to hang on our tree this year.  I have used two different methods of making the garlands and I thought I would share both of them along with some tips I learned in the process of making them. You can find a tutorial on making the dried orange slices HERE and in THIS POST, you can find details and materials for making the wreath hanging on the range hood. The first method I used (shown above strung along the pot rail) was made with jute twine and hot glue.