Okay, I know that there is still one more week left in the month of November, but we had a big Seattle snowstorm today and so visions of sugarplums are dancing in my head.
One other reason I’m dreaming about my holiday decor is the just-arrived December issue of Better Homes & Gardens. It hit newsstands with a really gorgeous wreath on the cover and all sorts of design, entertaining and gift-giving ideas filling 275 beautiful pages.
I was asked to pick my favorite garden gift for the holidays and you can read about it on page 153. Or you can see it here: An alluring “Forest Floor” ornament created by San Francisco designer Flora Grubb. It is a winner! Thanks to Flora for suggesting we feature one of her custom ornaments and for sharing the photograph you see here.
Living Ornaments:
It’s fun to use living elements and wild-gathered souvenirs from nature in your holiday decorating. I love this “Forest Floor” glass ornament created by San Francisco designer Flora Grubb. Lichens, moss, feathers and seeds cushion a living Tillandsia air plant inside a tiny glass ball – an enchanting, diminutive naturescape to hang from branch or bough.
An occasional spritz of water is all this tiny terrarium needs to continue looking beautiful – even after you take down the tree. Available from www.floragrubb.com; 3-inch, $19.95; 4-inch, $24.95; set of three 2-inch balls, $19.95.
Some good news for the print world:
For those of you who subscribe to the New York Times, you can’t have missed a full-page advertisement on the back of today’s Business section. It’s so huge that I couldn’t scan the entire contents of the colorful spread on my tiny printer. But here’s the gist of it:
Better Homes & Gardens, along with Meredith Corp. sister title Family Circle, are the magazine world’s #1 and #2 top books for women consumers, in terms of total advertising pages sold.
Under the leadership of editor-in-chief Gayle Goodson Butler and SVP, Group Publisher James T. Carr, Better Homes & Gardens has earned the support of 1,739 advertising pages this year.
Just when everyone thinks magazines are a dying breed, here’s a report that “these magazines have held the top two positions in the women’s lifestyle category for 2010 and 2009.”
Just sayin’.