Magical Holiday light display and porch decor

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 Hello, today I’m going to share with you my magical yard display of lights and inflatables, then our red and green classic Christmas porch decor, all thanks to Old Time pottery.

I always love to visit Old Time Pottery every season or holiday for new decor at affordable prices. I was so excited to get some new decor for our front yard. The way our home is built lights only really are easy to put up only on the front peak above the porch of our home. The second levels and transom is very high and then just not practical, as great as it would look we have gotten a few quotes and it would cost 2-3k. We usually put lights up on the first level but this year my husband has been super busy working due to the two hurricanes in 5/6 weeks that hit this area. Instead I decided this year I was going to decorate myself and keep it affordable but simple. 

I created a list of items I needed. From prior years I had a few items already on hand but knew I wanted to change up a few things to make it easier since my hubby wouldn’t be able to help. Since I was a little girl I have always decorated out palm trees with white lights wrapped around the lower base of the palm tree then I would use strands of green lights and green zip ties to wrap each palm frond giving it a beautiful look,  Last year my youngest daughter helped me and it was a lot of work just the two of us and I’m afraid of heights so a ladder isn’t my fave. This year I decided to use green spot lights which I found a spotlight with 4 colors red green blue and white at Old Time Pottery, I purchased two of these, then I also got 1 40ft green extension chord, 1 25ft green extension chord with 3 plugs, 4 10 ft extension chords along with the plug for the main outdoor outlet that has 2-3 plugs for the chords and a timer, remote or  Dusk to Dawn setting. These make it much easier for your outdoor lights I forget to turn off so have a timer set or can just use the remote control. I wish I had gotten 4 spotlights cause I love the look of the spotlight shining up at the fronds but for now live how it turned out. 

I also picked up a light up Snoopy, 2 outdoor decorative pillows, 2 wreaths and red ribbons, 2 battery operated strands of timer controlled twinkle lights for the wreaths, window or glass suction cups, decorative rug, black pottery planters to match, faux poinsettia plant and combined with some items I had from fall like my solar powered lantern style light by front door.  I purchased the gingerbread inflatable and the Christmas tree with Santa and presents both from Old Time Pottery the prices were so good and they were so fun. 

It took me about 2 hours to set up the decor and lights but I will say it is truly magical every night getting to sit outside and enjoy them or hear the smaller kids when they walk by with their parents. In our county where we live they have a holiday homes light list and we have a home on our street on the list so we get lots of traffic on our street so it’s always nice to see how many others get to enjoy our fun lights. I would sure love to go all out like my father always did or Clark Griswald lol from Christmas Vacation, but for this year being done by myself I think I achieved a great look and at a great price. I love too I was able to get the chords and remote control timer plugs so got years to come I can use those to grow my light show. 

Happy holidays, Peace, love and light always 

Melissa 

Winter holiday bedding

Hey friends happy almost thanksgiving. I wanted to share some winter and holiday bedding in this post along with a link to my LTK page . With Black Friday and everyone getting ready for Christmas whether it’s shopping for presents or holiday home decor I wanted to share all my faves. I also have some links and promo codes I can share as well. 

First ip my guest bedroom is this folk deer quilt and plaid bedding by @levtexhome I will add a link to the items below the photos. Folk deer bedding

Folk deer bedding

As you can see this has a very festive feel. It is a quilt set with two shams then I got a set of plaid euro shams for the larger back pillows. I kept my cream tone sheets from Walmart then added some Levtex decorative pillows. They also sent over a matching throw I use in a basket under the window with a boho textured cream pillow but love the reversible plaid to folk deer print. 

Next up is my master bedroom, I change up the bedding in these two rooms often I would in my girls bedrooms but they don’t like me taking tons of photos of their personal spaces and sharing so I do it less so I don’t have to take down photos, and change it up.  This is easier for me my bedroom I have photos but most are on my dresser then the guest room is pretty easy to change up. I painted the walls very neutral and keep the room simple for this very reason. 

My bedroom is more of a cozy winter theme than the festive deer and Christmas vibe of the guest room. I love texture and layering for design on beds, tables, sofas and even using rugs, textiles are my fave as a designer so the bedding is a go to for me. I picked out this silver grey velvet quilt set, layering over my duvet for warmth and then faux fur euro and king shams. Levtex home has some amazing accents for pillows and blankets as well. I also love their pricing, options whether you want a quilt style blanket, comforter or duvet cover. Let’s check it out below and I will have links for all these pieces also. 

Cuddle Weather Cozy Bedding 

Cuddle Weather faux fur and velvet winter cozy bedding for master bedroom 

Cuddle Weather Cozy Bedding

I love the velvet quilt the texture is soft and the design is amazing adds extra dimension to the room. The faux fur shams and throw give a warm cozy vibe perfect for winter and cuddle season… 

Love the Pom Pom details on the cuddle weather pillow and the snowflakes on the decorative accent pillows I love they have a light tan tone to keep with the neutral boho style of the space. 

Many ask me about the bed and side tables, All my bedroom furniture was from Z Galleries. I have had my bed for 15 years almost and when we moved into this house we got the empire dresser and two large night tables. I have since gotten two larger chests for the room in natural wood tone with some dimension in the design using slates on the front of the drawers. I’m obsessed they are made by ART furniture and from City Furniture.  I also recently shared on IG I got to pick out a new bed, it was hard cause I love my bed but wanted something more durable and not as light in color, then just to change it up since I have had it so long. My new bed is still same style has nail head trim details with a natural curve to it then the fabric is a darker tone gray linen fabric where the bed we have now is almost white, Bella gray and velvet so everything sticks to it and can be a pain to clean. Linking my bed and will see if I can link the side tables. 

Be sure to visit my LTK page for app exclusive sales, deals and finds from not just home decor for those who have followed me over the last almost two decades fashion, jewelry, accessories and decor are all things I am passionate about and love to share 

Hope you enjoyed my post and I will have my new Beddys duvet cover and insert to share later this week be sure to check their Black Friday and cyber Monday sales. As always peace love and light.✌🏻💙✨

 Have a happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family. Love always ~Melissa 

I’m beyond thankful and grateful to everyone who has supported me, liking, following and commenting on posts using my links and codes. It means the world to me I can be able to do what I love and share it with you guys. Xoxo 😘 

Christmas Holiday decor

 Hey there, 

I am going to share some of my decor for this year for Christmas. I’m not done and even once I finish this weekend I will then go back over and edit out the extra decor. What I do is start with setting up my Christmas trees, usually 3-6 full size, then I also have some smaller 3-4 foot ones I like to use in smaller spaces. Once I set up the Christmas trees and fluff then I will start to pull out the bins of ornaments, picks, ribbon, and toppers then start to decide what color or theme I want to sue for each tree. 

Mudroom pencil slim flocked white led prelit tree from Walmart I used tartan plaid ribbon and ornaments from Walmart also

Tree topper is rattan angel from Target. For the skirt I used a large blanket style scarf I received in a box a few years box as a collaboration. 

Main living room tree is blue and gold theme. 

I use cobalt, navy, teal and aqua blue with gold accents. 

This is a 7.5 ft Flocked King of Christmas queen with warm led lights. Comes with a remote, I also have the King of Christmas faux white fur tree skirt and their blue glass ornament set. 

The tree topper is from Walmart plain gold star that I added a small strand of white twinkle lights that are battery operated and set on timer. Ribbon used is blue velvet from Old Time Pottery, I also used gold mesh ribbon from dollar tree and some gold ribbon with leopard velvet side.  

Most of my ornaments are from Walmart and all are linked on my LTK app. Will add link below. I also have some ornaments from World Market. Any questions feel free to ask and make sure to head over to my IG, Pinterest and LTK pages all under user name Cr8tivewanderlust for links, more ideas and inspiration. Stay tuned will have our large 9 fr green King Fraser Fir with both colored and white lights. Waiting to decorate with my girls before Thanksgiving since we use our family ornaments dating back to my hubby and I when we first moved in together 1997 and our first Christmas 96. We also buy them for every trip we take, milestones and pets. 

Have a great weekend. Peace love and light always 

~Melissa 

LIKEtoKNOW.it/Cr8tivewanderlust  

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Bedding love

 I love textiles and part of my passion for home decor outside of seasonal decor and Christmas tree decorating is bedding or table decor. 

I love to decorate a bedroom and make a bed layering colors, prints, solids, different textures etc. I also enjoy table decor and settings as well but this post I’m going to share some of my fave bedding recently and photos 

These are just my master bedroom with one linen set and another similar color tone and look but a soft microfiber. My youngest daughter’s room  with black and white pops of pink. Then I added guest bedroom and my holiday pics I recently got a few styles together for a Pinterest post. 

Don’t forget you can follow me on IG, TikTok, Pinterest and LTK for links or more info/details on all my posts and items. 

Thank you for your support and I’m quickly reaching 100K on Pinterest it would be great to reach the goal I have had almost a decade now. It’s so hard with the changes IG has made over the years but I love sharing deals, my passion for decor and love for fashion. 

Have a great rest of the week. Peace love and light always MELISSA 

@cr8tivewanderlust 

Trending holiday fashion/decor finds either sold out or for less

 Hey guys this is a post you will want to check out. First let’s get started with my skull sweater  A lot of you may have seen a teen mom who has a fashion line with an online boutique share an over sized shark bite hem skull sweater, the pre sale sold out in minutes. I found the same sweater in mocha and grey. It looks like the one I got runs smaller I got M/L fits like the S/M I think. Here is a pic and link to my LTK page for the options and some other sweet deals I found in shackets or trending fashions in stock for less. 

I am adding another find recently this peppermint round candy pillow from Walmart found a few options to link all similar to and one just like the popular Pottery Barn pillow. 

Walmart PB peppermint candy Dupe

Skull sweater

Then I have been obsessed with the super cute Sherpa shapes for the holidays by pottery barn. I found this candy cane one retails for $60 at PB and at Kirklands I got mine for $22 and change on sale they usually always have 1-20% off in store or coupons 

Sherpa Candy Cane Pillow

I have not found the snowflake yet hoping someone has it but I did get the PB one for Christmas cause I love it. Will have more dupes and close to items for less soon keep an eye out here or my IG and LtK page. Same user names 

Also found some great garlands and other decor items for less here 

Walmart finds

Walmart Christmas Decor

Have a great week ahead, peace love and light always 

Melissa 

The Polished Bar

 Hey friends I am obsessed with https://thepolishedjar.com/ they have the cutest bottles, soap and lotion dispensers, trays, brushes, towels and more. You can design your own with different colors, plastic or glass, foamer or lotion pumps, sleeves, labels, custom options, and so many great accessories. They have different sizes, then you can get plastic bottles if you don’t want glass. We use plastic in the bathrooms and I want to do my shower bottles for shampoo and conditioner. I love mixing and matching. Until October 11 you can use my code MELISSA10 for 10% off. 

https://thepolishedjar.com/

Love this raised tray the feet are adjustable in case your surface is uneven. I also love the ring dish when I wash my hands I don’t usually remove my ring but when I do dishes I will if there are a lot it’s nice to have a designated spot for them. You can also get a brush or have a lotion bottoms. Here I have the mid size bottles but I also have the larger size 32 Oz 

Love the plastic foamer bottles for the bathrooms this one is black with matte black pump, I have it on a marble tray for just the bottle. I also got a marble soap dish for my daughter to store her bar of charcoal soap she uses. 

https://thepolishedjar.com/ 

They have a selection of accessories and this super cute Turkish towel was a perfect addition for the kitchen with my black and white theme. These are the larger 32oz bottles. 

Then I got this plastic white bottle with stainless foaming pump, bamboo dish and hand brush for cleaning your nails and hands for our 1/2 guest bathroom. I literally could order a set for every bathroom then want to do shampoo and conditioner bottles but plastic for the master bathroom. 

There are great gift ideas for a house warming, bridal shower, wedding, Christmas and birthdays. Don’t forget to sue my code MELISSA10

Hope you enjoyed my new addiction and have a great weekend. We are doing good here after hurricane Ian we had some flooding in the back then couldn’t leave our home until Saturday cause the one spruce creek bridge then the other way out were all flooded but we got super lucky. Praying for those on the west coast and those affected by the storm in our area. Lots of flooding and wind damage around us so sad to see. Cheers to the weekend. Peace love and light always 

~Melissa 

Halloween decor dupes and diys

ShopMyHomeLTK

 Hey there everyone and happy October. I have had the craziest few weeks between getting sick then hurricane Ian recently hitting Florida. We did not get direct impact but we were on the east coast directly in the path so we did have flooding, lots of strong winds, which meant lots of clean up but in the end we are all safe and our home is safe. Right now trying to help others in our area and the state who got impacted worse. I have shared links on my IG of ways to help or donate if you would like to help others as well. 

Now for October I’m sharing some of my fave finds from online and stores we all love such as Pottery Barn, Anthro etc… I have a diy for the ever so popular internet viral terracotta Jack o lantern pumpkins. I painted mine a cream and brown color versus the terra-cotta but wanted to have the pottery finish and look of terracotta pottery with the dusted feel. I have some of these plastic pumpkins in my bins I hope to come across this week while unpacking the last of the few items I want for the Halloween decor, I would love to paint a black one and a gray one. 

Terracotta Pottery dupe Jack O Lanterns Pumpkins   

For this diy you will need 

Shop what I used 

Baking soda 

Flour 

Matte acrylic paint in the colors you want, for terracotta they sell a color called terracotta or you can use orange with a touch of cream and burgundy, also when painting my own I used brown and the brown first coat over the bright orange looked like the terra-cotta color. 

For my pumpkins I used cream and a brown color matte acrylic pant I did 2-3 coats mixed with baking soda for texture. Once complete I dusted the brown one with flour in the crevices then applied a clear matte top coat to keep the white flour intact. On the cream I plan to use brown sand or maybe brown sugar to rub into the crevices but in my photos it’s just solid cream with baking soda. 

Matte clear top coat spray paint 

If you want to make the stem longer and twisted I picked up air dry clay but since I was sick and delayed weeks I just made my mine how they were but may eventually add the cute stem.

I added the baking soda and paint doing 3 thin coats in my brown smaller one and 2 coats on the larger. The coats were thin and I had to be careful not to remove the first coats. Allow time to dry and don’t let brush dry out. 

I love how they turned out not to mention how much money was saved. I had some plastic Jack o lanterns but purchased these 2 for 14-18 from Walmart. The cost of the supplies for both cost less then one of the originals and as I said I love how mine came out the colors are more my decor style. I plan to make a coke smaller using pumpkins I have already. Great way to repurpose older decor to give it a new higher end look. 

Next up be sure to check out my next post where I will share some more dupes this time not DIY style but just items that are close matches to high end designer looks but for way less. I always love to save money to have extra cash to save  for clothes or travels and the future. 

Hope you enjoyed my diy and fun neutral Jack O Lanterns for Halloween. 

Peace love and light always 

~Melissa 

Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and LtK same user name @cr8tivewanderlust for more diys, crafts and links to shop all my fave decor, fashion and beauty finds.