4 Holiday Mantles

A fireplace isn’t the only place you can decorate a mantle. This entryway bench and mantle is one of my absolute favorite places to decorate. Each season I look forward to decorating this space. I found the Merry Christmas sign for $5 at target. I didn't see it online. The baskets are from home goods and keep it functional! Stockings are so fun to hang on the hooks. You could also hang a wreath under the mantle on the hook. The Christmas tree pillow, stockings, gold vase and green tree are all Home Good finds!

A Very Merry Mantle

Thanksgiving Mantle

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The smart tv is very popular right now. We love our Samsung Frame TV. Make sure you click below for link to purchase! Having a TV above the mantles isn't as much of a challenge when it comes to decorating. The option to upload photos or art is a huge bonus and allows you to create a beautiful look. We chose to go with a smaller screen size to have enough space for decor! You can search the internet for a picture background that matches your season or theme. Pull from the colors of the art to create a cohesive blend into your mantle. Add some fall florals or garland to brighten the space up and bring the feel of nature from outside to inside. Pampa’s grass is a big trend right now and I’m obsessed. I love keeping the feel of my coastal/boho style while adding the seasonal décor. I like to use different textures and incorporate candles, pumpkins and lantern to give the fall feel to my fireplace.

Frame TV

Thanksgiving Mantle Vibes

Fall Fireplace

I wanted to create a warm autumn feel here. I intentionally picked a background picture that had warm tones to match my rust-colored pillow and warm woods. Adding a basket with a textured blanket and a pillow is a must have for every season. Make the simple switch when it’s a new season by adding a different blanket, or colored pillow. I typically like to work in 3’s when I’m decorating an area. Ideally you want to use varying heights for the décor objects you use. Think balance when your creating!

Warm Fall Tones

Cozy Christmas Mantle

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Garland covering one side of the mantle and flowing down is a huge trend right now. I purchased this pre-lit pine at target. The image of snow on the frame TV gives such a cozy winter vibe. I chose gold, emerald, green, creams, and wood tones to create this look. I found the Merry Christmas stocking holder at Home Goods. Adding a lantern is always a great option. This was a gift from my sweet friend Amie. She said it was a Home Goods find as well. The green trees are from Hobby Lobby. I had to add a quote that talked about our Saviors birth so this sign from Hobby Lobby worked great! I switched out a rattan basket for a gold basket to give the mantle a little more of a glam look. When it comes to Christmas, The shiner the better! Creating a mantle doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Let’s recap some of the important things to remember. Start with your theme. Pick a few metals that blend well with your existing color scheme. Add texture, create varying heights. HAVE FUN!

5 ways to tell it’s time to FORGIVE!

Forgive

You Can’t stop talking about it

In the last 24 hours how many times did you talk about the person that hurt you? Let’s go back a day or even a week. Are you constantly regurgitating the situation?

If you asked your husband or friends how often you talk about the person that hurt you… what would they say? Chances are if you can’t stop talking about them, resentment is growing and it’s time to forgive!

You can’t stop thinking about it

You lay in bed tossing and turning thinking “how could they?” “I’m so mad”

“I just don’t get how could they” “If I could just make them pay”.

“If people really knew who they were”

“why am I even with this person still?” “I deserve better?”

Again, your left with a sleepless night. Your time is being stolen away by the tormentors of resentment and your becoming more bitter by the second.

You have no peace

Peace what is that? How could I have peace when I am so mad, so hurt? All I do is think about the how offended I am, how I just can’t believe they did that to me. What is wrong with that person?

Its causing constant fights, arguments or debates. It is taking up so much of your mental space you can’t focus on anything else. You definitely can’t get anything done, how could you?

Your angry…really really angry

You really have thoughts of losing it on this person if you have not already. You look back on your phone and see the angry text messages you don’t even regret sending.

You have thoughts of retaliation. You want to be justified. You start changing your behavior because that person “doesn’t deserve your best” Your steaming angry and can’t get over it. You give him the silent treatment or may him pay. Girl, it's time to forgive!

The situation plays like a cd stuck on repeat

The offense grips you, torments you and plays over and over in your mind.

When you are standing in line at the grocery store, when you are laying in bed, when you are at your desk, when you are at the gym, it is playing on repeat.

You feel like your tormented from the constant replay. Like it wasn’t hard enough to go through it now you have to relive it every minute. Errr

Girlfriend, I’ve been there, done that and had the tee-shirt. I lived in the prison of unforgiveness for years.

I was surrounded by bars of anger, resentment, retaliation, and hate. I was a bitter betty and everyone around me could feel it.

I get it girl, I promise I do, but FORGIVENESS SETS YOU FREE.

When I was able to truly forgive I was FREE. Free from the pain, the memory, the anger, the torment, the hate!

Free to be me and live my life! Please stop wasting your precious life.

I’m sorry they hurt you I really am. But choosing to live in unforgiveness only hurts you more and holds you back. Don’t let Satan steal your life from you anymore. IT is time to enjoy your life!!!

Jesus said he came to give you ABUNDANT LIFE!

Girl, It’s time to forgive and start living!

If you are ready and want to learn more. Make sure you listen to the podcast on forgiveness!!!

Forgiveness sets you free, are you ready????

What is Beauty

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Sitting in front of my mirror in my college dorm room my freshman year, tears ran down my cheeks as I called my mom and said “Mom, I’m beautiful.” On the other end of the phone, I could hear the shock in my mother’s voice. “Clare what are you talking about? You have been told your whole life by your family and strangers how beautiful you are.”

I may have been told I was beautiful but up until this day I never felt it. I never saw it, I never embraced it, and most definitely I never accepted it. I felt ugly inside and when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see my big blue eyes, I saw regret. I didn’t see thick long hair; I felt the weight of shame. I didn’t see a tall strong athletic body …I saw a body that was weak because I didn’t stop the abuse. I saw a body that I hated, and I shamed myself for someone else’s sins against my body and soul.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all I beheld was insecurity, fear, anger, bitterness, depression, anxiety and condemnation.

Being a victim of child abuse at the age of five left wounds on my soul that I had hoped my home could heal. Surely home was supposed to be a place of refuge, safety, security and comfort, right? I had a really strong dad and big brothers that would protect me. I told myself they would love me, fight for me and rescue me. Unfortunately, that wasn’t my reality but only a dream I held in my broken heart that never came true.

As a little girl, I wanted the fundamental basic needs of safety, comfort and love. Instead, I lived in a home plagued with anger, rage, abuse, mental illness and dysfunction.

Were there moments of love and happiness my mother tried to create? Sure… but they were far and few between the episodes of domestic violence, outrage and abuse from my father that shattered my identity, self-image and self-worth.

I didn’t speak up much as a child. When you live in a tumultuous environment, you learn to cope and survive. Silence became something I mastered until I hit my teen years. Then it was game over. I began to speak the TRUTH.

I hated the facade, denial and hypocrisy. I was open and honest and vowed to myself that I would not hide the ugly hard truths. The ages of 13-17 were rough years and you can only imagine how my boldness was not delivered with grace or gentleness. I had deep pain and it impacted every area of my life. I refused to even entertain the idea of beauty. Our financial situation never afforded me the opportunity to buy makeup or pretty outfits, except for the occasional gifts from extended family members or hand me downs from friends that I loved.

My mom never wore makeup, and I was the only girl for 10 years with four brothers so my first experiences dressing up or playing with makeup came with my cousins and friends. They had vanities with sweet smelling lotions and shiny lip-glosses, instead of Vaseline. They had pretty outfits and fun accessories. I loved going to their houses and pretending to be beautiful. I can remember the fun and my love for all things beauty growing.

When I started High School, I stayed at my friend’s house a lot so I could put on her makeup and clothes. I remember getting ready at her vanity thinking I’m going to feel so much better after I put on this makeup and outfit- only to feel just as ugly minutes later. In college, my girlfriend showed me how to walk in heels and showed me every shade of lipstick.

A part of me felt new when I put on makeup and a cute outfit but the wounds in my heart made it all disappear within minutes. I attended a Christian college, which is a complete miracle and another story for later. In my 17-year-old mind, I wasn’t happy about the required mandatory chapel twice a week. Frankly, I wasn’t happy with this God I had heard about my whole life from my abusive dad, and I wanted no parts.

Walking into that first chapel I swung my hips and rolled my eyes. As I walked closer to the front seat, my heart began to beat faster as the most beautiful music got louder and louder. My palms were sweaty, and I began to FEEL an environment I had never known. It was as if I had just walked into a cloud of peace. I barely made it to my chair before I fell to the ground in complete brokenness. I felt the love of God and felt so unworthy. I cried because everything I had hoped my childhood home had provided was right in front of me and all around me in the same moment. I felt peace, love, joy, safety, protection, security, stability and refuge. I felt the burning love of Jesus that gave me permission to grieve my pain in his presence and begin my healing process. I felt beauty in JESUS and when he touched my ugly damaged heart, I finally felt and saw beauty in my own mirror.

"I finally felt beauty in my own mirror"

For me, beauty is so much more than makeup, hair products and skin care. Beauty is about having your heart transformed on the inside so you can portray that beauty on the outside. Jesus promises to give us beauty from the ashes that the fires of trauma bring.

Beauty is about understanding that we are God’s daughters who are deeply loved. That we all possess unique character and traits that our heavenly father personally picked out. Beauty is knowing that makeup, hair care and accessories are meant to be enjoyed- not an escape.

Beauty is about shining your light, not covering up your messy mindsets and hiding behind concealer and lashes.

If you stick around, you will find me sharing all things beauty inside and out. My hope is that you embrace, accept and experience the beauty that you already own, and my motivation is to help you find it.