Christmas in the kitchen this year includes garlands, shiny copper pots and bottle brush trees. Plus I’m sharing a pretty darn cute gingerbread house in a jar with instructions on how to make one. By the way I just want to say thank you for the wonderful response on our Christmas Home Tour last week, and I’m so happy you’re back for more holiday ideas!
Christmas In The Kitchen
One of my best decorating decisions in the kitchen is a cup rack turned into a pot rack. It’s a much better way to display my old copper pots, and I even have a place to hang small cutting boards too.
Of course having a place to decorate with garlands in the kitchen is a big bonus. With limited counter space I’ve learned to just skip the extra decor to avoid that claustrophobic feeling of too much stuff in a small area. That’s why I prefer wall decorations and open shelves in our kitchen.
Over the pot rack I’m using two very simple or I should say skimpy pine garlands. I figure they won’t collect too much dust. 😉
In addition to the pine garlands, I’m using dried orange slices that were Christmas tree ornaments last year. I just restrung them on a hemp string and voilà I have a garland.
Fresher looking dried orange slices would be more photographic, but I can’t help recycling them just one more year. I’ll make new ones next year I promise.
Along with the pine and orange slice garlands I also have a mini pine cone garland. This is the same garland from my post, Simple Fall Bedroom Ideas.
To see how the pot rack looks with a boxwood garland click on Christmas In The Kitchen And Family Room.
Christmas In The Kitchen With Open Shelves
Open shelves over by the kitchen table is a favorite spot for my ironstone jars and Santa mugs. I’ve had these Santa mugs since I was a child and I love how each one is just a little different. They are all stamped made in Japan, but I think they were produced different years.
I added some bottle brush tress and of course the iconic VW Bug with the tree on top. Click on Bottle Brush Tree Vignette to see another way of displaying it.
Gingerbread A Frame House
On the kitchen table I created a snow scene in a jar with a gingerbread house. I love having a centerpiece that I can leave out all season or even turn into a tablescape.
It’s been years since I tried my hand at building a gingerbread house, so I opted to make one with the snack size graham crackers.
This is an A-frame house, which in my opinion is the easiest to make. I’m using a serrated knife to very carefully cut the graham cracker shapes. The serrated edge works just like a saw, but you have to go slow without applying too much pressure.
- 2 triangle shapes for the front and back
- 1 front door (optional)
- 2 square shapes for the roof
- 1 narrow shape for the roof top
- 2 long narrow shapes for the chimney
- small squares for windows (optional)
Instructions
Since this house is for decoration only, I put it together with hot glue. I know this goes against all gingerbread traditions, but my skills in this area are very limited LOL! For that matter my icing skills are pretty limited too, but we don’t have to talk about that.
By the way if any of the pieces crack or break a little hot glue works like magic.
Start by gluing the back triangle shape to the edge of the roof. Then glue the front triangle to the roof offsetting just a little so the roof will have a little bit of an overhang. Next glue on the other roof piece.
Glue the narrow roof top section in place, so it will fill in the gap between the two square roof pieces.
Glue the two chimney pieces together then glue them to the center back triangle.
Last glue on the front door and windows.
If I decide to make more of these, I’ll add one more square piece to use as a base. Just a suggestion if you decide to make one too.
Decorate as you wish with icing. I’m using a tube of white cookie icing (Betty Crocker brand), to hide the seams and highlight the features. Allow the icing to dry completely before handling, then place in a jar filled with sugar or salt. Sometimes I use powdered sugar for snow scenes too.
Be sure to save the leftover pieces for gingerbread trees or use bottle brush trees instead.
Gingerbread House Centerpiece
To create the centerpiece I’m using a faux greenery wreath with a cake pedestal in the center of the wreath. All that’s left is to place the jar on top of the pedestal.
Be sure to follow Thistle Key Lane on Pinterest, where the boards are up to date with holiday inspiration that you can use right now!
Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you’re enjoying our Christmas in the kitchen tour. Be sure to check out Christmas Holiday Brunch Tablescape to see how I’m using the gingerbread house centerpiece.
Cheers!
©2021 Christmas In The Kitchen post first appeared on Thistle Key Lane™.