So, I have another good friend. Her name is Courtney.

She has an amazing eye when it comes to decorating.

She arranged this beauty below for me.

Whenever we go to her house she always has these amazing displays of cuteness. A few years ago our friend Caryn (remember her from yesterdays post-maybe it’s that last picture from the post that is still haunting you) anyway, she walked up to one of Courtney’s displays and says, ‘Now, where can I buy one of these ‘sets’.  We were all anxiously awaiting her reply. But, instead she just laughed and said, ‘There are no ‘sets’. I mostly use things I already have and then change them up every season.’

She makes it seem so easy.

Since then we’ve told her that she should really start creating‘sets’ and selling them. I even came up with a name. ‘Sets By Courtney’.

Original. I know.

But, every time we said the name out loud it sounded like something else. Her husband was one of the first to ask, ‘What did you say?’

Ok, so we’ll work on the name.

Today I am going to show you what she did with my ‘stuff’ I’ve collected over the years. Most of it is Christmas decorations, but I also got out glasses, vases and other things for her to work with. 

~

Courtney’s Decorating Tips

1. I always try to use what I have on hand.

2. Create different heights. It makes it more visually appealing.

3. Use cloth napkins or extra fabric. They make great coverings to set your decorations on.

4. I love working with foliage and flowers. They can cover up something you want to hide, plus it just makes it look pretty!

5. I have Christmas, fall, and spring leaves. I change them out every season even if I don’t change the decor around them. It just gives things a whole new look.

6. I like to have things with some kind of texture, it just seems to make the display ‘pop’.

7. I like to “nest” things together rather than spreading them all out.

~

Now that you have some tips I will show you her magic.

I’ve always wanted to do a ‘white’ display, but it always made me nervous with the kids. I decided this was my year. I went through my decorations and started setting aside all of my silver and white things. Here is Courtney gettin’ to work.

I have such cute friends.

I had some green fabric that this cute sister left at my house. (You snooze you lose sis.) Courtney set the fabric down first. See how my picture frame is sitting up? She put a box under the fabric to give it some height. The tall silver candle holder and the one in the glass jar are both hers, but pretty much everything else is mine.

She took this ribbon that I have had for years and layered it in my Dollar Store glass jars. Then she added some ornaments and foilage. She played around with it for awhile and came up with this. Who would have thought to add ribbon as a filler. She is so good.

She also helped me decorate last year as well. I displayed the same print as above only this year I changed the picture and the colors. I guess it’s sort of a tradition now that it’s been two years in a row.

I made the ‘BELIEVE’ blocks myself. Lucky for you I created the printable for you to make your own as well. Scroll to the end if you’d like to print them. I thought it might be too much ‘believe’, but my daughter, Abby, insisted that it looked good and it was all part of the theme. So, I kept it. 

Once you print out the blocks of ‘BELIEVE’ you will see tiny snowflakes on them. I like to add small dots of glitter glue or Stickles to make them stand out even more. Can you see them? I’ve actually seen this glitter glue at Walmart for only .99 cents. Love it. 

Now on to the warm colors in our family room. The only thing I think I bought this year in this display is that gold bucket at Michael’s on Black Friday. I knew she would snatch that right up to decorate with. See, I’m learning.

I love how she turned my glass container upside down, put ornaments under it and uses the bottom to display the snowflake. The rest of the stuff around it is just decorations that are in the dollar section at Michaels. Courtney just has a way of placing it in a way that makes it seem like it came in a ‘set’.

This is another one of my wood signs I made.

Complete with gold glittered snowflakes of course.

Here is the other side. More Christmas wonderland.

The JOY blocks are also a set of my wood signs.

They were a hit at the craft fair this weekend.

Doesn’t it make you want her to come over and decorate with your stuff? I think she needs to create these displays for a living. Or at least start creating ‘sets’ to sell.

Let me know if you have a better name for her ‘sets’.

I’ll let you know when she puts them on the market.

Thanks Court for making my house so pretty. And thanks to your cute daughter Finley for playing with Carson while we you worked.

plumadorable.com

If you would like to make your own wood blocks click on the picture below to download the printable. You can find 2 inch wood blocks at most craft stores. I painted mine white, sanded the edges and have been using them all year long by changing out the word.  

~Jenny