Welcome to Red Shutter Cottage at this most special time of the year. A big part of decorating for Christmas is combining the memories of my childhood with my own personal idea of Christmas and how to decorate for it. Christmas for me is a time to honor memories, as well as bring the beauty…
Beef ~n~ Bowtie Soup
At this time of the year, at the height of the holiday season, soups, stews and chilis start to appear on my meal plans in a big way! I occasionally make this recipe for Beef ~n~ Bowtie Soup in the spring and summer months. But during the fall and winter months, when hearty and flavorful…
2018 Thanksgiving Mantel
Thanksgiving deserves its own mantel, don’t you think? Halloween gets plenty of mantel focus, and Christmas certainly inspires and dazzles with mantel ideas. But in November, the crazy month transitioning from Halloween to Christmas, sometimes Thanksgiving gets a teensy bit overlooked. So let’s give Thanksgiving a mantel it deserves. I found this leaf…
A Festive Fall on the Front Porch
A Festive Fall on the Front Porch came about when I was taking down the front yard Halloween decorations. Since I am hosting Thanksgiving, I wanted something on the front porch to greet my guests as they arrived. I already had the wreath up, but I was looking for a way to display my “Harvest…
A Simple Fall Vignette – 5 Ways
It’s a foggy Saturday morning in late October. Thick clouds and haze surround the neighborhood; I can barely see the hill half-a-mile away from us. It’s fall all right, it’s my favorite time of the year, and I can’t seem to get enough. I can’t seem to get enough of pumpkins and leaves, pine cones…