A Country French Christmas

I am so excited because it’s the last Sunday in the month…time for our Country French Design Group to share…and this time the subject is Christmas! I love that mixture…my favorite style with one of my favorite holidays! And believe it or not, it’s not hard or expensive to give a Country French flavor to your Christmas décor!



It only takes a few little touches to get my vintage Quimper collection all dressed up for Christmas…a few well-placed candles and bits of greenery, an easy-to-make and inexpensive wreath…

…a few ornaments here and there to add to the holiday feeling…

…and my favorite finds from the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France …reminders of a wonderful holiday spent with friends! You can get a closer look at my Christmas-y Quimper collection here.

I always have a little frenchy Christmas vignette greeting my friends at my door…this time a little chalkboard-painted silver tray and a tiny forest of bottle brush trees.

And I love to scatter more French Christmas greetings around the house…such as this no-sew Ballard inspired Joyeux Noël pillow…

…or these little handmade tea towels…no embroidery skills required! You can see how I made them here.

And this year I added these French sheet music Christmas candles to my holiday decorations! I love the rustic look and the texture!

I am still working on this year’s mantel, but here’s one of my favorites from Christmas past…starring French ticking and burlap!

And another favorite is already added to this year’s table top tree…my DIY grain sack ornaments! You will find the tutorial here.

And sometimes things just look French to me, without necessarily being French…like my vintage sheet music decorations…

…or my Wisteria inspired sheet music candles. They are super-easy and inexpensive to make…and I even provide the graphics for you!

But my absolute favorite Country French touch at Christmas is the crèche that I brought back from the South of France several years ago! It is all handmade and hand-painted by local artisans. You may notice that it includes a few visitors that you do not recognize.

That's because it is the custom in southern France to add santons  to the nativity scene. They are traditional figures that represent the local people, such as this pretty Niçoise, or woman from Nice, who is wearing the traditional dress of that region.

One of my favorites is le Ravi…the man with upraised arms in the background. He is the first villager to see the Baby Jesus and is proclaiming the news to the rest of the village. He is considered an essential part of any Provençal crèche. I also love the shepherd, called le Mistral for the very strong wind that blows in Provence. See how he is holding on to his hat? You can get a closer look at my crèche and more information about santons by clicking here.

Baby Kitty says he hopes you have found a few tips for adding Country French style to your Christmas décor! And just in case you missed any of my posts on previous topics in our Country French Design series, here they are…

My Favorite Tips for Adding Country French Style

Collecting…Country French Style

Country French Style…My Vintage French Favorites

Dining Outdoors…French Style

Decorating with Country French Fabrics

Using Vintage Silver in Country French Décor

How to Give a Chair Country French Style

Baskets…Country French Style

 

Also head on over to visit these beautiful blogs from my very talented fellow Francophiles to see the wonderful Country French Christmas ideas they have to share with you!






Thanks for stopping by! Please visit these wonderful bloggers and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants. 

Under the Table and Dreaming for the Sunday Showcase Party , Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday , Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday , The Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips Tuesday , Coastal Charm for the Show and Share Party , A Stroll thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday , My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Inspire Me Monday, Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays ,   French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday , Common Ground for Be Inspired on Fridays , The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday , Craftberry Bush for the Inspiration Gallery on Friday

See you next time! À la prochaine!

Also find me at…

 

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Please Join Me for The Scoop #146

Hi and welcome back to The Scoop! It's been a busy week here with some unusually cold temperatures to put me in the mood for Christmas crafts! So while the Thanksgiving preparations have been going on, I have been sandwiching in some little projects for this year's Christmas décor!

 

 First, is a super easy no-sew Pottery Barn inspired project with a "Deck the Halls" theme...my FA LA LA LA pillow!

And then, concentrating more on my vintage frenchy theme for this year, I created some Christmas candles using vintage French sheet music. You can see how I did it here.

 

  And now...I want to see what you have been doing, so let's get this party started!

Welcome back to The Scoop! 

The weekly party featuring the scoop on the best from around the web!

We are

Anita from Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Debbie from Confessions of a Plate Addict

Yvonne from StoneGable
and Suzy from Worthing Court 

Our host this week is…

Anita from Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Hello and welcome to the Scoop! I have so much baking and cooking to do, I don't know why I am here! Oh wait, I'm here because I love visiting with you! I sure hope you enjoy this party as much as we do and that you get lots of inspiration each week. I know I enjoy seeing these fabulous blogs every week.

As for Cedar Hill Farmhouse, if you want to see how a room evolves over time, I have a treat for you. I have basically time-lapse photography showing how this room below has evolved over 4 years time. Don't feel that you have to make your room look perfect in a week. It's okay to take your time. I certainly did. I think that over that time, I changed out every single thing that was in my dining room, except for the painting on the wall! Here it is...DINING ROOM FINAL REVEAL

But enough about me...here are the features that caught my eye this week!

Common Ground - Finding The Old Door and a Lesson for Blogging

D. D.'s Cottage and Design - Rustic Christmas Banner and How To

Chateau Chic - Full Reveal of Master Bath

Creating the Life - English Marmalade Jar

The Refeathered Nest - Master Bath Big Reveal

Savvy Southern Style - Bonus Room Transformation

Now let’s see what you have to share!

Thank you for linking up, friends!

Please read the guidelines before participating:

• Follow and/or subscribe to your host blog.
• Be sure to include THE SCOOP button or text link to in your linked post…mandatory to be featured!
• By linking up you are agreeing that the photos are yours or that you have permission to use them, that we may use those photos to feature your project on a blog post, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter with a link back to your blog, of course.
• Please go to the source of a photo to pin it to Pinterest so that the originator of the post gets the credit.

Also find me at…

 

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French Sheet Music Christmas Candles

I really had fun working on my latest project…my French sheet music Christmas candles! I love the vintage look and the warm little glow that they are adding to my Christmas decorations this year! And…they were easy and inexpensive to create. In fact, I didn’t spend a penny to make them!



This one has a star cut out for the tealight to peep through…

…and this one was simply wrapped in the sheet music with the leftover cutouts from the star candle being used as a fun tag!

And this one sports a Christmas tree design! And I bet you already have on hand most of what you need to make them!

Here is what you will need:

• Glass jars in assorted sizes
• Printouts of French sheet music found at The Graphics Fairy here
• Rubber cement
• Jute twine
• Tealights
• Matte finish tape
• Scissors
• Evergreens and berries to trim (optional)

 And here is what you will do for the candles with cutouts:

1. Cut the sheet music to fit the jars. I used two lengths, back-to-back, for the jars with the cutouts.
2. To create the cutouts, simply fold the sheets in half across the short side and cut out your pattern. Note: I practiced first on plain paper until I got the cutout the size that I wanted it to be. Unfold your sheet and you will see a whole star or tree. If you are uncomfortable cutting your own, you will find quite a few shapes online.
3. Next, glue the two sheets together with rubber cement. It’s a great adhesive to use with paper since it doesn’t wrinkle and you can simply roll it with your finger to remove the excess.
4. Wrap the sheets around the jar and secure with matte tape.
5. Wrap jute twine around the mouth of the jar several times and tie. You can add evergreens or berries if you wish.
6. Insert your tealight and light with a long match…or use a battery-operated tealight if you prefer.

For the candles without the cutouts:

1. Cut one layer of the paper, wrap it around the jar and secure with matte tape. Note: You only want one layer of the sheet music for this one so that the candlelight will glow through the paper.
2. Wrap jute twine around the mouth of the jar several times and tie. You can add evergreens or berries if you wish.
3. The cutouts from the other candles can be glued back-to-back to reinforce them, then punch a small hole and thread them on the twine.
4. Insert your tealight and light with a long match…or use a battery-operated tealight if you prefer.

And here they are…so fun and easy…and you can’t beat free! I've already planned where they will go. I am still working on my Christmas decorations and I can’t wait for you to see them! Can you tell I am going for a vintage-y, French look this year?

And here are a few more fun things that you can create with sheet music…wreaths, candles and ornaments! Be sure to get a closer look at my sheet music decorations and check out the tutorials by clicking here!

And for more Christmas-y fun with jars, here are my Mason jar Christmas candles! You can see how I made them here!

But Baby Kitty says forget the decorations! It’s waaaay too cold here for November and he’s just going to sit by the fire! Actually, that sounds like a good idea...so if you will excuse me...:-)

Remember to pin it!

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit these wonderful bloggers and their beautiful blogs to see what they are up to and to find a list of this week’s participants. 

Under the Table and Dreaming for the Sunday Showcase Party , Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday , Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday , The Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips Tuesday , Coastal Charm for the Show and Share Party , A Stroll thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday , My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Inspire Me Monday, Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays ,   French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday , Common Ground for Be Inspired on Fridays , The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday , Craftberry Bush for the Inspiration Gallery on Friday

See you next time! À la prochaine!

Also find me at…

 

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