Holiday Decor

Horrible pic (new camera on the way!)

So.... the holidays are coming. YAY!!! I love this time of year!!! I also like to decorate for the holidays. Well, I love to decorate for anything! And I think I do a pretty good job for an amateur in home decor, (unless my friends are all lying to me! cuz I seem to get a lot of compliments). But I seem to have a hard time with tablescapes and mantles. I always have the best of intentions and then when I put them together they just don't seem to quite impress me. In fact, they fizzle. I get no "wow" factor. So I could really use some pointers if anyone cares to give me some????? :)

This is my fireplace now. It's kinda barren -if you saw my previous recent post you'll know it's because we just re-did it. And I just felt like less is more for right now. And that is VERY odd for me.
Here are a couple ideas I have. I walked through Pottery Barn the other day and saw some decoration ideas but whoa......they are pricey! So I'm gonna make my own. Here is a sign I ran across on Pinterest which led me to a great little blog called http://growingupgardner4.blogspot.com/

I just love this sign and the simplicity of the mantle.

So that's one idea. I really like the sign and might try my hand at making one. Don't you love it? She also has an etsy store where she sells them. And I'm thinking some different size poinsettia's to the left, maybe 2 and an over sized candle on the right or a basket of pine cones?

At almost 40 bucks for these at Pottery Barn, I can make them myself cheap!

 










Or maybe...

...this potted Christmas tree on a much smaller scale next to the sign? I usually do lots of reds, greens and blues but I think I want to do more "natural" this holiday season. What do you think?