Let the decorating begin~and a link to a great tutorial!

with handmade paper garlands and music sheets! It always starts at the mantle in the kitchen. This years' theme is music sheets and paper garlands.

I'm loving the look!

Sometime this past summer I stumbled upon a stack of vintage church hymnals~I picked them up for a song! The woman at the counter told me that her husband ~ a pastor at a local church~ found them in the churches old piano. These two actually have dates in them of 1893-just imagine how many church services they've seen...the weddings, baptism's, funerals and holiday gatherings!

She was curious as to what I planned for them- at the time I didn't know, but I loved the typography and the old paper~just lovely! I think she thought that strange, but I wondered myself why her husband would be willing to part with such beauty that held so much church history-that to me was even stranger!

anyways, here are a couple of them in my mantle display~

As much as it hurt, I pulled out four of the pages from the Christmas section and wrapped them around my 'Sacred Heart' candles, then tied them with hemp.

The pages were just a little long and had to be trimmed...but naturally I couldn't toss those sacred scraps...they are now a little chain placed in my studio.

My favorite part of the mantle is the paper garland I made...edged with silver german glass glitter for a little sparkle!

This weekend we'll be working on the tree...I know I want more paper garlands ~ I'll have more photos to share next week!

Little update on these candles....

Diane, of Lavender Dreams has posted a wonderful tutorial on making these candles...she did a great job with her first tutorial and her candles came out fabulous! Check it out here.

A big thank you to Diane!!

If you haven't already scroll down and get your name in the proverbial hat for my sign giveaway...two winners this time & it's open to everyone!