Holiday Decorating: inspiration from Orchard House

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I'm really excited about decorating my home for the upcoming holidays! This year, my desire would be to have Christmas decorations that make me feel like I'm in the 1994 version of Little Women (w/ Winona Ryder & Christian Bale) by using natural, organic things like fruit, white flowers, and live greenery. Here are some examples:

image from country living

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image from Veranda 

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How are you decorating for the holidays?

New in the Shop

I made some new earrings this past week... lapis, mystic & cherry quartz. They're all simple and dainty! Take a look:

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I hope your week is off to a great start! An instrumental song for Monday...

Farrago Friday 11.15.13

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The holiday season is fast approaching and I've been spending a lot of time prepping for what I hope will be a "rush" of some kind. Banana Grove Designs will be having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, by the way...more info to come. From the week:

-This sentiment...

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-I love Etsy because it hearkens back to the time when everything people wore or used was made by hand. I can only imagine that those items were treasured so much more due to the time and energy and creativity that went in to each individual piece. These 3 little holiday videos Etsy put together encapsulate that sense so well.

-Queenie Liao is an extremely creative photographer and mother! I love these photos of her baby son's naptime. She's just as creative with names. The little boy pictured is Wenngenn. Wenngenn's a heavy sleeper for sure! More here.

-New in the shop...

-Must make and drink this mocha mint frappe soon!

-When the decline of the American Girl doll brand mirrors the decline of society...article here.

- I get excited about wearing flannel shirts during the cold months...came home with this pink one from Target the other day.

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-When the groom is in charge of the wedding invitations...

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-Song

White

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Just got snow here in the Midwest!!! And there are still leaves on some of the trees. It's beautiful, though!

I'm having too much fun with pinterest and pictures of snow...winter pinterest board.

I have to share this with y'all! I worked on it for a while and it is my favorite white and gold piece. I told you that Pliny the Elder thought rock crystal was permanently frozen ice, remember? This piece is a permanently frozen icicle. A raw rock crystal on a long doubled gold chain...find it in the store here.

Farrago Friday 11.8.2013

It's getting colder all the time. Goodbye happy warmth of the earth.
Here comes the weekend! Stuff I found this week:

-This Fossil t-shirt is awesome...

-There's a little tiny procrastinator in all of us...click here to make the field guide bigger.

-Interesting article about the "busy-ness" epidemic. Is it really something to brag about?

-Someone actually did this! If you have a desire to see how you could dress like an American Girl Doll, click here.

-Recipe for Salted Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies

-This is great...:)

-Can't imagine how difficult photographing a birth would be, but this photographer did a lovely job.

-Song

Leaf Fell Down

More photography practice...I'm still trying to focus on natural lighting and when I go outside all I see are leaves everywhere so that's what I've been shooting. :)

It's interesting to compare these to the shots I took at the beginning of the season...

November...

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October's gone. Halloween's gone. November's here. And almost exactly a year ago today, Banana Grove Designs was conceived. I'm amazed to think back to each little "victory" for my shop and all of the things I figured out that seemed insurmountable. There are a slew of things I don't have the first clue about, but remembering the small things I was able to conquer leaves me with confidence that I'll soon conquer the big things, too. I have loved my little business so much and am excited to see what the Lord does with it in the next year! 

Here's a new little guy just in time for winter. Check him out in the shop here. 

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