Holiday Styling Workshop a Resounding Success!

On Saturday, we held the Holiday Styling Workshop here at our historic home. The morning is a chilly one at 38 degrees, but we first gather in the kitchen to the smells of freshly baked dried cherry scones, fresh fruit and warm cups of coffee lattes. Many of our guests attended last year’s workshop and it is fun to see old friends and make new ones, too!

Life at Bella Terra’s Featured Guests

We are so delighted and pleased to have Chloe from Celebrate and Decorate attend again this year. Many of you are familiar with Chloe’s talents to create the most stunning tables and holiday vignettes. I so appreciate her flying from Florida to be here and sharing her styling tips.

Andrea, from Design Morsels is another talented designer and blogging friend. Everyone needs that person you need in your life who can tell you exactly what size lighting fixture you need over a table, or how to pick the right wall color. That’s Andrea. She also has the best sense of humor and her support for this workshop is invaluable.

Holiday Design Tips for the Front Entry

With a 5 hour day ahead, we start in the front entry with decorating the staircase. Inspired by a garland from Dunbar Road that has blue velvet ribbon, oranges and artichokes (but costs $1200), Chloe re-creates this elegant look at a much more affordable price.

The artificial oranges I initially purchased, just seem too orange to us. Chloe suggests adding cloves and not only does it smell good, but I think it breaks up the strength of the bright color. Using a wooden skewer, small holes are made for easier insertion of the whole clove.

Two types of ribbon are used~a Williamsburg blue velvet one and wider, more elaborate one from Choe’s collection. Everything can be found online and you can source all items used listed on her shopping page here.

Moving onto the Dining Room

As you may recall, due to the design of the rug, the typical colors of Christmas red and green do not work in my dining room. Back in 2020, I decide to go with shades of blush, pink and rose gold for this room and, though a bit atypical, is a perfect fit for the holidays.

Given a box of dining room holiday decor, Chloe demonstrates how easy it is to put together a mantle using what you have on hand.

By layering greens, bead garland, floral picks, pinecones and ornaments, Chloe creates a lush holiday focal point.

Lunch Break

We gather for lunch on the back porch. A roaring fire is waiting for us to take off the morning chill and adds to the cozy atmosphere.

Lunch consists of one of my favorite soup/crockpot recipes~Creamy Tortellini, Spinach and Chicken soup by 365 Days of Crockpot, arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette and Hawaiian rolls.

Using fresh cedar greens and roses from Costco (you can order online), the centerpiece is a fragrant addition to the country English look. I love this ruffled tablecloth from Studio McGee (and it’s 25% off right now).

The brown Asiatic pheasants paper placemats from Hester & Cook, my wooden scalloped chargers (see similar here), antique dinner plates are Royal Staffordshire Tonquin (can be found on Etsy, eBay), and Lenox gold rimmed cream soup bowls (on eBay here) make up the place setting. Seasonal plaid edged napkins are from Ballard Design (no longer in stock) and tied with a brown velvet ribbon.

Dessert is the delicious Meyer Limoncello bundt cake, using my homemade limoncello from the All Things Lemon class earlier this year.

Afternoon Crafts

Inspired by this real log flower holder that my husband made for me last year, Scott makes 10 more logs for me to use for the workshop. Our attendees fill the center hollowed out section with dry floral foam and add artificial greens, sprigs, pinecones and berries to make their very own winter/holiday centerpiece to take home.

Bow-tying is next with Chloe demonstrating the most effective way to make a beautiful holiday bow.

Of course, Finn didn’t want to miss out. Here is his attempt at bow making!

Some Holiday Refreshments

In the afternoon, we have a quick demonstration of how to make this festive appetizer ~ Christmas Tree Spinach Breadsticks using store-bought thin crust pizza dough, spinach, spices and cheese. This is a fan favorite and your holiday guests will love it.

This recipe is very easy to make with impressive and tasty results.

Looking for a holiday cocktail that is colorful and festive? Using refillable clear plastic ornaments, funnel fill them with this seasonal margarita (or use a non-alcoholic punch recipe), and serve in a pretty glass with sugared cranberries and a fresh sprig of rosemary.

You can make these ornament drinks ahead of time and refrigerate them until your guests arrive. Tying a cute ribbon on the top is not only pretty, but makes it easier to gather the tops after your guests pour their drink.

Goodie Bags to Go

It is such fun putting together a thank you bag of goodies for our workshop guests. Local vendors share their lovingly created products.

Bianca from Beetanical Garden makes her delicious raw Lemon Blossom Honey and grapefruit beeswax lip balm. Bianca’s family is pollinating a lemon orchard in Yuma and this honey captures the essence of lemon.

You can find Beetanical Garden honey at Sweet Pea and Sage boutique on Cave Creek; Savale Flowers and Antiques in Old Town Scottsdale; Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market and Roadrunners Farmers Market every Saturday. They also make a Desert honey which is so effective in managing your allergies.

Purvi Desai lives locally and has created her own beauty product line~Zaaina Skin care. Zaaina Skincare creates artisanal natural skin care products, formulated with simple and effective ingredients. She generously donates her face serum with rose geranium and body soap bar.

Libby from Sweet B’s Baked Love donates these gorgeous winter-themed cookies. As you may recall, Libby conducted a cookie decorating class here last February. Her cookies are delicious and exquisite designed.

Life at Bella Terra also adds to the gift bag~1/2 dozen of fresh eggs from our chickens; loofa grown in the garden last year with loofa seeds; and a salt dough pinecone shaped ornament with how-to instructions.

All in all, the workshop is a great success! I try and keep the attendance small so our guests can participate and socialize on a more intimate level. Each year, we learn and try to develop new and interesting content to improve upon this workshop To see last year’s Fall Styling Workshop, click here. We are already talking about next year’s workshop so stay tuned!

Thank you to Felicia for taking so many wonderful photos and sharing them with me.

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