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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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December 21, 2012

Inspiring Christmas Features!



 Welcome to our round-up of amazing Christmas features from last week’s Inspiration Friday! We felt that there were  so many amazing holiday and everyday links that we thought TWO features were deserving of last week’s party! Today we are sharing some of our favorite Christmas and Holiday posts and next week Inspiration Friday will resume as normal with another round of features!

So, grab a cup of coffee or hot cocoa and take a moment to enjoy these gorgeous Christmas features!

 Inspiring Christmas Rooms

Laura from Top This Top That shared her beautiful Living Room all dressed up for Christmas and looking so lovely in all of it’s winter-y whites and silvers.

 Kathy from Kate’s Place showed us her lovely Christmas bedroom and it has such a serene feeling to it. Perfect for resting after those long days of shopping and baking!

Jennifer from Town and Country Living gave us a tour of her entire home all decorated for Christmas but what we especially loved is that she even gave the bathroom a gorgeous winter makeover. So stunning!

Katie from Creatively Living showed off her beautiful Dining Room all decked out for Christmas and there are just so many fabulous details here. We love the numbered burlap chair slips!

Inspiring Christmas Wreaths

Angelina from Shop Ruby Jean  knows the way to a man’s heart…a DIY Man’s Wreath!

Linda of It All Started With Paint  created this gorgeous Anthropologie Inspired Pom-Pom Wreath

anthropologie-pom-pom-wreath

Taryn of Design, Dining and Diapers used some left over dough to create these darling White White Dough Wreaths

Inspiring Christmas Trees

We love Suzy of Worthing Court ‘s beautiful and meaningful Silver Bells “Memory” Tree

Christmas tree via Worthing Court blog

The garden has never looked so beautiful as Kristen of Sophia’s Garden-Inspired Tree does!

Cindy of Beaux R’eves designed this classic white Tabletop Tree full of beautiful detail!

Inspiring Christmas Projects

We adore these Anthropologie inspired Frosted Reindeer from Monster Circus

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

There’s still plenty of time to make these DIY Gift Boxes from Brooke of Blissful Roots

These “Sillouette” DIY Paper Ornaments from Ashbee Designs are simple yet sophisticated!

Robin from Happy At Home created this Christmas Woodland Display. We love the attention to detail!

Inspiring Christmas Recipes and Parties

Grab  cup of cocoa and enjoy one of Sue of Munchkin Munchies Cup O’ Cocoa Cookies!

Tanya of TwelveOEight‘s No Bake Gingerbread House is almost too cute to eat!

Tracey of The Kitchen Is My Playground has rounded up her 16 Sweet Treats for Christmas in one post. There’s a treat here for everyone!

 Inspiring Christmas Stories

There’s only one person we know who could take a simple “Elf on the Shelf” photo shoot and turn it into something so hilarious and so…ahem…naughty. You’ll have to go over and visit Kerry from HouseTalkN to see more of the Elf on the Shelf Gone Wrong!

 Debra from Homespun shared how feeding the birds has played such an important role throughout all the stages of her life and the treasured memories that have been created as a result.

 If you have one of the fabulous posts featured here today, we’d love you to grab the I’ve Been Featured Button!

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed these inspiring Christmas project, ideas, recipes and decor! We know you’ll want to remember some of these for next year.
Please visit each blog directly to pin these amazing posts so that the original authors get full credit! Thank you!

See you back at Inspiration Friday next week with some more amazing features!

22 Comments Filed Under: Christmas, Features, Good Ideas, Holidays, Inspiration Friday

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Previous Post: « Sharing Simple and Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas with Glynnis Whitwer
Next Post: Hosting a Holiday Party! »

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Comments

  1. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    December 21, 2012 at 4:18 AM

    Great features!!…The Elf on the Shelf made me laugh til I cried…!!

    Reply
  2. debra says

    December 21, 2012 at 4:30 AM

    Thank you for featuring my post ..I was reading through everything and got quite the surprise when I saw my name there! 🙂 Merry Christmas to you and your families !

    Reply
  3. Suzy @ Worthing Court says

    December 21, 2012 at 4:32 AM

    Oh goodness – I’m surprised and delighted to see my Silver Bells Memory tree featured as part of your Inspiring Christmas Features. Thank you! I hope both of you and your loved ones have a joyous and blessed Christmas!

    Reply
  4. laura@Top This Top That says

    December 21, 2012 at 4:37 AM

    Oh- what a lovely surprise to see my living in your inspiration features! Tell ya, I love all of the features but the elf on the shelf is tooo funny! Merry Christmas my friends!!

    Reply
  5. Shelley @ Calypso in the Country says

    December 21, 2012 at 5:32 AM

    So many wonderful features! It makes me sad that all the Christmas decor posts will soon be over! I gotta go check out that elf on the shelf!
    Merry Christmas!
    -Shelley

    Reply
  6. Anita @ Cedar HIll says

    December 21, 2012 at 6:00 AM

    The features are all so inspiring! I’m really drawn to those hot chocolate cookies! What a clever, clever idea.

    Reply
  7. Brooke says

    December 21, 2012 at 6:30 AM

    Thank you so much for hosting and for featuring my DIY gift boxes. I’m a new blogger, so it’s thrilling to see something of mine being featured. Thanks again! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  8. Cynthia says

    December 21, 2012 at 6:45 AM

    what beautiful featurews. I enjoyed them all, thanks for sharing.

    Cynthia

    Reply
  9. monsterscircus says

    December 21, 2012 at 6:46 AM

    Hi Girls! Thank you so much for the feature, it such an honour to company alle those great feaures! The trees are so fantiastic like your, and you’ve got more than one, lucky you! You are right, it’s so good to know, that there’s an opportunity to give al those lovely ideas a try next year! Have a blessed Christmas both of you and your family! Thank you for being cool crafters:-)

    Reply
  10. HouseTalkN says

    December 21, 2012 at 6:56 AM

    I love you, sistas! Thank you for sharing my naughty elf!
    Happy Holidays!
    Kerry at HouseTalkN, home of the naughty elf

    Reply
  11. Angelina says

    December 21, 2012 at 8:13 AM

    Ah! thank you ladies for featuring my “Man’s Wreath” I can’t wait to stop in and take a closer look at some of these Lovely features.
    Merry Merry Christmas!
    Angelina

    Reply
  12. ange says

    December 21, 2012 at 8:39 AM

    Love all these amazing features! Thanks for rounding them up in one post. Merry Christmas to you Heather & Vanessa! So happy to have met you at Haven this year and hope to see you all again one day!

    Reply
  13. Robin says

    December 21, 2012 at 8:56 AM

    Awwwwww, you two are the sweetest. Thank you so very much for featuring my simple red and white cabin display with this fabulous roundup of Holiday cheer. You have made me day. Merry Christmas and thanks again.

    Reply
  14. Tracey @ The Kitchen is My Playground says

    December 21, 2012 at 8:57 AM

    Thank you so much for including my 16 Sweet Treats Round-Up in your feature picks! Such a nice treat to pop on over to your blog and see ‘me’ in the list. Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas!
    Tracey @ The Kitchen is My Playground

    Reply
  15. Andrea Schuneman says

    December 21, 2012 at 9:21 AM

    What a wonderful post and what amazing talent out there. Wishing you both a wonderful holiday and new year. Thank you for always inspiring me with your words and talent!

    Blessings to you,
    Andrea

    Reply
  16. Julie says

    December 21, 2012 at 9:22 AM

    Beautiful features! Enjoy the break, you deserve it! Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  17. classic•casual•home says

    December 21, 2012 at 9:38 AM

    Love that pom pom wreath and the Joy Tree.
    Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  18. Carol Reddin says

    December 21, 2012 at 11:11 AM

    So many ideas for Christmas 2013!

    Reply
  19. Sue says

    December 21, 2012 at 1:58 PM

    So many great features! Thanks so much for including my Cup O’ Cocoa cookies! I need to go check out the others, starting with the Elf:) Have a very Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  20. Michele (Finch Rest) says

    December 21, 2012 at 4:26 PM

    EACH and EVERY one of those features are drop-dead fabulous!

    Have a blessed and Merry Christmas and happy healthy New Year!

    Reply
  21. katie goldsworthy says

    December 21, 2012 at 5:40 PM

    Thank you so much for the feature ladies! Wishing you both a very blessed Christmas!

    –Katie

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Inspiration Friday No. 94…Welcome! says:
    December 27, 2012 at 12:30 PM

    […] features are from Inspiration Friday No. 93, last week we featured some amazing Christmas Inspiration, today we are featuring some other amazing projects! […]

    Reply

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I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
.
…It was just the beginning!
Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house that’s become the landing zone for ALL THE THINGS! 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪 I’ve never been more thankful for our rarely used dining room table as it’s become command central for school books and laptops and games.

Where are things collecting in your house right now?
“Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every si “Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every single one of these emotions has made their way through our home in recent days and, my guess is, they have in your home too.

I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole lockdown thing began, I’ve come to appreciate this time of day even more.

It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

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If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

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If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

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