We hadn't planned on doing much decorating this Christmas because we'll be gone for a large portion of the month. We're leaving this week to head to
Virginia Beach, and then we're looking forward to spending a few days in North Carolina with our nephew, Gavin, on the way back home. But thanks to a gift box full of goodies from Lori and Megan of
White Flower Farmhouse, and a few other items we had packed away in our attic, we got to decorate our mantle just in the (saint) nick of time! :-)
Warning: The White Flower Farmhouse items in the images you are about to see will make your heart skip several beats and are guaranteed to thrill you to the edge of your seat. Hang on! 
If you haven't visited
WhiteFlowerFarmhouse.com, I'm about to turn you on to one of the most amazing stores on the planet. I'm not even slightly kidding. From the minute I stumbled upon their website last year, I was hooked. Sometimes, I foolishly attempt to visit their site simply for inspiration, but that proves to be completely impossible every time. They've always listed something new (which is usually actually very, very old) that I just
have to have.
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The day we found their package sitting on our front porch we couldn't get it into the house fast enough!
Megan and Lori's attention to detail is incredible. Each item they sent us was individually wrapped in brown kraft paper, secured by soft, basil green-colored ribbons. Here is the first bunch of items we excitedly discovered...

Of course I couldn't resist taking lots of pretty photos of all this great stuff within minutes of unwrapping them...

8 oz candle: $16
2 oz candle: $4

German bird candy container: $5

Large French wire bell: $15
Small French wire bell: $12

Apothecary jar: $15
Glitter: $4


Christmas picks: $3 each
The contents of the next few packages we unwrapped resulted in excessive cheering and a two minute happy dance around our coffee table. Max was terrified by our sudden burst of excitement, and immediately escaped underneath a blanket bundled up on the couch. :-)
The packages contained three of the most beautiful stockings we had ever seen.
I love how the little brass touches and bark-colored rope pair perfectly with the vintage Army fabric on Kevin's stocking...


Brass letter stockings: $35 each
The nubby texture of the wool stocking seems like the perfect choice for our cat, "Bean". And the way the shiny silver bells contrast with the old brass letters on the stockings on either side of it makes me giddy! :-)


Wool stocking with bells: $20
The bottom part of my stocking is made of a heavy-weight, cream-colored fabric, and the cuff is a very light, soft pistachio-green color. The tiny pearl-esque Christmas ornament is the perfect finishing touch.


We got Max's stocking from Pottery Barn last year for $4.99. I was ecstatic to discover that its green ticking stripes, and coordinating velvet, blended perfectly with the stockings Megan and Lori sent us...

Behind the stockings, we draped a single strand of apple green, bead garland that was also enclosed in our package from White Flower Farmhouse...

Bead garland: $8
Each "bead" is actually hollow, and they are very delicate (like teeny-tiny ornaments) so we simply hung it up using clear shipping tape because it's so light-weight.

And speaking of tiny ornaments, we were also delighted to find a small box of vintage, German Christmas ornaments nestled inside the box they sent as well. I piled them up in a bowl on top of our mantle...

German glitter ornaments: $6
The bowl was left to us by The Nest crew when they came to shoot our house. It's from Anthropolgie in case you're as in love with it as I am! :-) I used some leftover reindeer moss I had from another project inside the bowl, to act as a soft and fresh backdrop to the crunchy surface of the antique brass-colored, glitter-covered ornaments.
The giant pinecones, and the urns they sit in, were the perfect "endcaps" to our extra-wide mantle...

Pair of urns: $36
Jumbo pine cones: $5 each
I topped them off with a couple of sparkly, gold, mini tree toppers I got at Hobby Lobby.
I have more photos to post, but that's all I have time to blog about today- so this post will have to be continued tomorrow.
:-)
'Til then, happy decorating!
Layla