Bottle brush tree holiday tablescape

I love creating fun tablescapes and the holidays are a perfect time to bring together a bit of creativity and joy for entertaining. One of the best parts of this tablescape is that everything can be reused as regular Christmas decor, which I definitely did after hosting my annual Friendsgiving.

Another awesome thing is that I already had most of the elements and just brought them together! The base is actually a macrame wall hanging that I just folded up, I had thrifted all the candlesticks previously, I had most of the bottle brush trees from last year (and bought a few more from the Target dollar spot to fill it out), and the felt trees were a DIY craft project I did last Christmas season!

A few tips for putting together a stunning tablescape:

• Don’t skimp on the candles, they bring such a warm glow and instantly create atmosphere. I always have lots of candles when I’m entertaining.

• Vary heights and create levels. When you vary the heights of items in your tablescape, it allows the eye to keep moving. I made sure to spread out the different sizes of trees so there were different levels throughout the vignette.

• Add texture! While the macrame base was mostly hidden, it still added a lot of texture and warmth. The felt trees have a wonderfully cozy texture, and the bottle brush trees had their own unique texture and sparkle that complimented the other softer textile elements.

• Greenery! Okay so this table doesn’t technically have greenery like most of my designs, but I grabbed some sparkly white faux branches from Michaels to bring in that natural plant-based element. Even though they’re totally obviously fake, they still read as a plant element. A super easy way to add real plants without breaking the bank or having to learn floral styling? Buy a bundle of eucalyptus branches and lay them in the middle of the table, interspersed with your other decor elements. It fills the space beautifully, adds a lovely touch of green, and bonus: you can dry it and keep it as year-round decor!

The pink ... panther?

Guess who finally said goodbye to bright yellow hair?! Probably the only person you know with bright yellow hair: me. I dunno guys! I was just feeling the winds of change and I actually made a snap decision to go pink after I’d been planning to go purple/grey for a while.

I used Arctic Fox hair color again, this time in Electric Paradise. The yellow was Cosmic Sunshine and it was a great color, very fade proof (almost … too fade proof? I was hoping I could get it to wash out so I could go silver/grey but alas, the dye is TOO good, lol). I’m excited to see how this one fades. I really like a faded pastel pink, so we’ll see how it looks after a month or two!

Paradise found

Back in the PNW after an amazing week in Maui and I’m on the strugglebus getting back to our regular routine (and the rain). Maui is one of my favorite spots to vacation, mostly because it feels truly like a vacation. Growing up we went to Maui several times (nonstop flights from Anchorage make it a very popular spot for Alaskans to vacation during the frigid, dark winters), so by now I’ve done most of the touristy things that Maui has to offer and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything by spending literally all day every day just relaxing at the beach. I love an adventuresome trip, but now that we have a toddler, having a true vacation where we can just chill and recharge is so refreshing. Mega bonus: we were there with my parents so we were able to go out on a couple dates to celebrate our eighth anniversary!

I brought my big camera but only decided to bring it out one evening. I talked my mom into taking a few shots of us together for a Christmas card pic, so maybe I can actually get those out in time for Christmas this year, eh?