Candles for the Season

Candles! 

I love them and use them in many ways around our home.

Candles are always part of my dinner table decor, especially during the holidays.

My old standard for years and years was to use only white tapers.

 Back when I had my shop, there was that funny time that I painted candles

 with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in a color I mixed up to get a vibrant pink.

(Note that you shouldn't burn them as they will smoke, so this is just decorative.)

Those pink candles are a far cry from traditional white tapers.

  So you can see that I have loosened up my  rigid thinking of what is supposed to 

be correct.  My recent fondness for striped candles that feel modern and add 

a touch of color to my table are on this year's holiday dining table.

  As far as scented candles for a dinner table, I will say that is a no-no.  

Who wants to be eating dinner while smelling vanilla

or gardenia or cinnamon or evergreen or......you get the idea, right?

Of course in other rooms of the house, I do love to use scented candles and 

often light a candle in the kitchen or the living room if I am hanging out.

My living room is my favorite room to do just that, and it appears to be Colby's as well.

We spend hours in here~I am often reading or on the laptop, and he is either 

on the couch or in front of the fireplace on a little quilt with his chew toys.

Right behind Colby on the window side table is a neat little candle warmer that scents

the room, without me having to light a  real candle.  Wax melts are added to the warmer and

the scent is released into the air.  You can switch it on or off when you want to scent the room. Or you can do it the traditional way by lighting one of their scented candles in glass jars. 

I had never tried a wax melt and was surprised at how effective it is at scenting a room.

The small ceramic dish warms up wax melts

(which are little chunks of solid scented wax)

 that you add to the ceramic dish on the warmer to really add a 

holiday atmosphere to your room!

I love creating a home that is filled with all the things that make a 
Christmas memorable.  Adding old photos, like this one of my hubs and his big 
brother, bring back childhood memories that make us recall how magical a time  Christmas can be.
The smell of a Christmas tree transports me back to when I was a little girl
waiting for Santa Claus.  They say the sense of smell is the strongest to bring back
old memories.  So what could be better than adding that Christmas tree smell to our homes?

It didn't take long before my room was scented with an evergreen aroma.

Air Wick makes these special scents for the holiday and I am 

pleased to give one of my readers two of the Emerald Woodland
 and Apple Crumble candle scents in the glass jars.

Spiced Apple Crumble is perfect for your kitchen, and the Emerald Woodland

is exactly what I needed in the living room as my tree is a fake one, 

so the woodland scent was ideal.

To win the four candles all you have to do is leave a comment letting me know

 you enjoy candles too.  Or maybe you will share the special ways you

 incorporate candles or wax melts in your home.

Enter by December 7th, and I will have it shipped out right away

 so you will be able to enjoy these scents for your holidays!

Its only four weeks 'til Christmas!

Oh my gosh, lets enjoy the season, shall we?

To check them out and see all the fragrances they have 

you can click on the links below to see more.

 Scented Candles by Air Wick 

 Air Wick Wax Melts 

You can also find these at Target, Walmart and area vendors.

Note: This post was sponsored by Air Wicks and I received product for myself and the giveaway and compensation to do this review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Classic Christmas Tree Magic

This is the first time I have ever decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving.  Two reasons being, one is that Justin and Madison are hosting Thanksgiving this year (that and our dining room is still not finished), and the second reason is I got a Tree Classics Christmas tree to review!  For the last several years I have been wanting to get a fake tree, simply because they are a lot easier to maintain and these days look just as realistic as any tree off of a farm lot.  It arrived in a sturdy cardboard box with the red and green Tree Classics logo.  It was a two piece tree that all you had to do was "snap" together and plug it in.  Ready for decorating!!  Since I started so early I may do a few different looks for the tree as there are so many ways I love to decorate Christmas trees.  For this post I decided to do the tree in an "heirloom shabby chic" style, pulling out all my antique and vintage glass balls and using beautiful french blue satin ribbons.

 The handsome 7.5' Hyde Park Pine Snap Classic tree  with clear lights is decked out in glass balls that we have collected over the years. This tree is so realistic, even my husband said the only way he could tell it was a faux tree was to look at the base, as it is on wheels so you can roll it around to where you think it looks best with ease.  I had this tree set up in ten minutes flat!  Lights included, so it was truly a joy and all that was waiting was to do the fun part, decorate it!

 A few simple touches around the room include scented cinnamon pine cones

 on an old transfer ware platter and a thin satin blue ribbon for my

 potted boxwood topiary that I got at my son's shop.

 A collection of vintage pink ornaments and lambs ears along with a few faux roses

 and tiny bottle brush trees are decorated with more satin ribbon to tie

 it together with the theme of the tree.

Tree Classics also has beautiful hand painted ornaments, like the gold trellis design, 

which I was thrilled to add to our lifetime collection.  Tree skirts and ornaments and 

other delights for the holiday season can be found at www.treeclassics.com

My living room went from everyday to holiday magic in a flash

 because of the simplicity of this tree design.  Let me show you how easy it was to assemble.

 My "everyday look" in the living room these days revolve around puppy care for Colby,

 our three month old pitbull pup.  Normally he hangs out in front of the fireplace with his collection of toys and old plastic garden pots, his current favorite.  I brought the tree into the living room and as I said it is in two pieces.  The top is sitting on the couch and the base of the tree has been snapped into the rolling stand.  You need to separate the branches and do some fluffing so that the tree is full and balanced.  

 My little wide eyed friend was a good boy and seemed to have little interest

 in the tree which was a major surprise to me, and one I am truly grateful for. 

 Needless to say, I did not decorate the bottom branches as I didn't want to tempt fate.

 The tree is pre-lit and after I snapped it upright in the stand,

 I plugged it in to make sure it was working.  

The color of the bulbs are nice and warm,

 not that harsh white bright light that some pre-lit trees have. 

You can see where I need to fluff out the branches so that the tree 

can get it's perfect shape.

Next came the top section, I just plopped it into the bottom section 

and it instantly lit up too!  After some fluffing out of the branches, 

it looked nice and full and beautiful just standing there without any ornaments.

I was impressed and excited, this was the easiest Christmas tree set up I had

ever been involved with. Its usually a huge procedure to just get the lights on,

after you struggle trying to get the tree to stand up securely in it's stand.

I am in love with our new tree! 

 It's made my life so much easier, and the holidays ahead will be much less of a hassle.

 I know I won't miss sweeping up falling needles and watering my tree everyday.  

 Take a look for yourself and compare prices if you are considering 

a good quality faux Christmas tree this season at Tree Classics. 

 So many styles of trees to choose from, it will be hard to pick a fave!