I love to look through decorating and craft books, especially at this time of year. I had a marvelous time browsing through Country Living Merry and Bright: 301 Festive Ideas for Celebrating Christmas. The 301 ideas for transforming a home into a holiday setting are shown in full color photos and are fully described.
The book is grouped into decorating projects, entertaining and tabletop decorating, craft projects, and holiday baking. The decorating chapters show all kinds of fun ways to use ornaments in unexpected ways – as tiebacks for curtains and as centerpieces. They even have unique ideas for ornaments including using old baby socks and shoes, clock faces, paper dolls, childhood mementos, and gift tags. Everything around the home gets decorated in this book, even beds, doorknobs, stairs, and birdhouses. Practical suggestions for watering the tree, for storing ornaments, and for organizing supplies are also included.
I like their new slants on old ideas. The book shows wreaths made out of pinwheels, packages wrapped in foreign newspapers, a ribbon chain instead of the old paper chain, and ideas for decorating with paper snowflakes. Instead of using gift tags, they suggest writing on the ribbon with a metallic marker. Centerpieces can be a bowl of old ornaments, a tier of cookies, or groupings of heirloom ornaments. If you don’t have aged looking heirlooms they provide instructions on how to age them, and a few projects on how to make your own vintage looking items. Other craft projects include making wreaths with everything from macaroni, to birds’ nests, to ice skates.
For food, the book shows recipes ranging from homey to fancy. Packing tips are included for giving food as gifts.
I found at least at least thirty projects that I’d like to do for my own home.
Also See:
Crafts For Little Kids – Better Homes and Gardens
Family Traditions: Celebrations for Holidays and Everyday – Elizabeth Berg