How ONE Decor Piece Inspires My Entire Christmas Theme

My theme every year at Christmastime comes from one item, but where do I go from here? So you see how these are all connecting? Well, you know, you'd have to be from Wisconsin to know how this stuff really grows. Over the years, I've been doing Christmas decorating on YouTube for 15 years now. Would you like to know how I come up with my ideas every year to change my theme completely? I'll take you step by step and show you what I start with as an inspiration, and I'm going to show you how to build on that. You might think that I know exactly what I'm going to do each year for Christmas, and actually by the time I start decorating, I do. But when I start thinking about it, I don't. I start with one item as an inspiration. For example, how many of you remember the year I did the blue and white? It was cobalt blue and white. Now this was a year when blue was not around, at least not cobalt blue. Now you can find it anywhere and everywhere. Do you guys remember that Christmas? It's one of my favorites I've ever done, and it started with this. This was my inspiration. They're Yule plates and they're collector items. So each year they come out with a new design, but it is a blue and white Christmas plate. And I got these from my great aunt, and I used them when I first got married, and then they sat in a box for years. And one year I thought, I have always loved those blue and white plates. I'm going to find that box, open it, and I'm going to build a Christmas theme around blue and white. Do you remember the year that my theme was musical instruments? Where did that come from? What was my inspiration? It was my brand new grand piano. I had just bought it. It's the first time I'd ever owned my own grand piano. And I thought, I'm going to make that my theme. So what did I do? I went to pawn shops, and I bought old instruments. They had, you know, I mean, they're not even in perfect shape, but the look was so authentic. Rather than buying Christmas decorations from a Christmas store that looked like a little piano, and looked like a little this or that, I actually bought real instruments, and I added them to my tree. This was a scroll that I had hanging up. And you can see how the idea of musical notes, this is Silent Night, all played in beautifully with my musical instrument, Christmas. And it all came from one thing, my piano. Everything you see in this video today is available to you on the website from Amber Marie and Company. The link is in the description box below. Well, this year is no exception. I searched all over market for something that could be an inspiration, something I hadn't seen before, or something that just captured my attention, just like my piano did, or my blue plates. And you probably have things in your home too that mean something to you, that have some special memories, or some nostalgia behind them. I was looking for something that would inspire me, and I went to market with a different idea in mind, and then I came upon this. They're actually glass, but the look of them is so heirloom looking to me. It made me feel like I had gone to Paris, to a flea market, and found these old world heirloom quality and looking balls. And this, with Santa, or I like to call him Old Man Christmas on it, this was one of the balls. And they come in two different sizes, with like three different themes. This one I loved, this little one with the, I think it says, I don't have my glasses on, I think it says Merry Christmas on it. Is that so cute? So that's where I went, I've never seen that before. I love the idea of a vintage heirloom timeless kind of look, that looked like I had gone up into someone's attic when I was in Paris, and found these old balls, and it just kind of gave me a thrill. I was like, I love that. At the same place, I found this really amazing tray, and you can kind of see the the feel, right? It's Old Man Winter or Santa, but it's not the typical Santa you see today with the jolly red cheeks. This guy is an old Santa. Now you see where we started, and I'm going to show you how, as a designer, same exact thing I do in a home project. I teach all of this to you on the design sessions. If you're not a member of the design sessions, you should definitely consider that, look into it. There's a link in the description box below, and it'll teach you the design principles, but you're about to witness it firsthand today. Here's where we start. What do I do once I get my inspiration ball? We're going to call this the hero ball, okay? What do I do? I go looking for ribbons. So let's take a look at the ribbons that I thought went really well with this guy. Let's take a look at these colors. You see this kind of a, oh, there's kind of a neutral shade. Again, that's what I call almost that paper mache look. I know that's not what it is. Maybe it's decoupage or something. So I found this ribbon, and it was very neutral, and I thought that is beautiful. The edging on it isn't too precious. Like I didn't want to do a lot of things that had gold and, I don't mind brass, an antique brass this year, but anything that was really glamorous I didn't want to do because, again, this just looks so old and vintage. And I found this ribbon that has red on one side and green on the other. So I thought, okay, I'll use that, and that gives me some options. And you can see here, too, I vary the shape, the sizes, the thicknesses of the ribbon. Another thing that I saw at market this year was a lot of plaid and a lot of berries, and I thought I could incorporate plaid into this because to me plaid does look old. It looks like a, you know, Christmas is past. So I found plaids, and I didn't want to do just one. I wanted to do two. So this one has an argyle shape to it, meaning it goes in the diamond pattern, and this one has a striped effect to it. So it's almost a check and a plaid at the same time. And I thought the two of those used together looked really nice. And look at this with this. Look how cute that is with this ball. It brings in the green that's in here. But here is the other thing that I thought was really unique and different about this and what I thought that would be super fun. Take a look at this tray. He's got on his black boots, his black belt, and instead of looking like the glammy kind of plaid that I've used in the past, I went with black leather. It's actually pleather, but a black leather ribbon that brought that black in. And look how that sort of grounds it. This also grounds it. This is very, you know, traditional Christmas, but this look here I thought gave it more of a earthy, more organic look. And then of course I have to have my one inch ribbon, so I chose green for that. And I love one inch ribbon because then I can do this with it and do this with it and then use it in all sorts of places throughout my decorating. So that was the beginning of building the color scheme and the theme. And it all started from this. And look how cute that is with all those colors and those patterns. So I want you to take a look at how I curated the rest of these ornaments and balls to go with this look. Here is a plaid ball. It looks great with the plaid ribbon, but notice that it has almost this turquoise-y blue-green in it. And look, that's the color that's in the background and around the tray here. Then I found another plaid ball that brought in the black. So I felt like, you know what, I'm doing two different plaid ribbons. I'll do different plaids in my balls. And look at this with the black. This does have a little bit of the gold glitter on it, but very subtle. So now you see how this looks with this and this. Okay, that's how I start. Then what do I do? Well, then I'm going to get some other glass balls. This, a very vintage looking ornament, it's a finial. And I thought that goes great with this really like old-fashioned vintage look that I'm going with. And again, the nostalgic and the heirloom. Doesn't that look like an heirloom ball that, you know, your grandmother might have had on her tree? Then I start adding some other plain balls because anytime you have a print or pattern ball you need to balance it with solids. When you are curating a palette, you want to make sure that you get different sizes. Same ball, different sizes. Then I brought in something that could bring in a little bit of life and color. So this I thought was so pretty and it has a little bit of pinecone in it, but sometimes it helps. You know, this can be a very dark tree because I'm going to show you that I chose to go with green this year instead of flocked. So in a dark tree, deep in the tree, and you're trying to put your balls in deeper, something like this can bring in just that little bit of life that kind of opens up the tree and allows your eyes to go in deep. Some of this, these little gold pinecones, don't these look vintage and old look? And it's on a ribbon. There's four to a thing and look how that goes so well with this color ribbon here and looks great with this ball. I think that the idea of how I take this and I match it, I'm literally walking around market with this ball in my hand and I'm selecting each individual item to pull it all together. And you can do the same thing. If you have something that's your inspiration, maybe you're using blue and white plates or something, take the plate with you when you go shopping and try to match the colors or find something that feels similar in shape. I love this ball. This has, it looks again very old, almost like an argyle sweater, and it went, I thought, very well with this look. So I'm combining some of the newer with some of the vintage and older. And then at the same time, I went back through what did I use last year. These are some of the balls that I used last year and you can see here this has a slight iridescent smoky amber look to it, but very light. And look how beautiful it looks with this. So you get this newer look with this old-fashioned look and the juxtaposition. And then there's also, from last year, another ball that is smaller and it's richer in color. And then I chose, I love to get larger balls. Now look, this is a large ball too, okay. So having large ones and then smaller ones within the tree. And this one was so fun because it's like, I don't know, it reminds me of cranberries. It has a little bit of icing on it, but I loved the red and I loved a larger ball and the texture of that was really nice. So I called these balls, and now I'm going to show you ornaments. What kind of ornaments would go with this? Look at this Santa Claus. That is perfect with the theme. And doesn't he look old and vintage? I found this pine cone with a cardinal inside. And I just thought, you know, that's kind of fun. It's got the red and then the pine cone goes with, as I was pulling this theme together, it went from Paris flea market to being at the lake house. I thought, I want to bring more of that nature feel into it, vacation feel, being away in a cabin at Christmas time. So this type of thing started to come into play. And I love critters, I always have. Look at how cute this is, this little Santa. Trust me, there are a lot of Santas out there. Finding something like this that looked old and vintage was what was special about this. I thought he was, you know, he looks, he looks like an old man winter Santa and not your child's version of Santa. This was so beautiful, this reindeer head with a wreath around it. And look at the colors and the texture and the feel. Look at it with this ribbon. Is that cute or what? Super cute. And he still has kind of that older vintage look to him. This was totally random, right? But it looks great in the tree to do these silver. And most of this stuff is in brass, so there wasn't a lot of silver. And just like this piece, I like to bring in something that gives a sense of light. So it, you know, when you're curating things and you're pulling them together, it doesn't mean everything has to be the same exact shade, doesn't mean it has to be the same finish. You want to kind of bring in some matte finishes or like I showed you guys on the trends video, that felt look or velvet look is super big this year. So you get the different looks, the different textures. What do I have that I used last year? I've already bought it, so I'm combining what I have with new things. And I thought, okay, we're up at the lake cabin. This little sled would work. And we're up in the mountains, so how about using this? It's a watch. It's a bubble-eyed watch. And look at it with the colors and the feel of everything else that I selected here. Again, a pocket watch and then a little set of binoculars. So I was able to reuse some of these things as well as some of the plain balls. Now, last year, my theme was a dreamy white Christmas. There weren't a lot of things that I could reuse from last year because it was so white and glittery, but the things that were toned down and a little more nature-looking, I was able to use. So here you can see how the ribbons connect with the balls and the ornaments and the overall feel and look with my hero balls. And I hope you like it as much as I do. Here, I'm going to stick this back on here so you can take a closer look at all the beautiful things that I have on this table. But where do I go from here? Am I done with my curation? No, because what does this stuff go on? It goes on Christmas trees and on garlands and on wreaths. Last year, everything was flocked. This year, I wanted to go green, which I think is so perfect with this more of a less shiny look, more of a dull matte look. So I found a beautiful green tree and I bought two of them for my family room. You're going to get to see those on November 1st, to put all of this on. But I also needed to get garland. And then what do you do with a tree and with garland and ribbon and balls? You need picks and sprays. So I'm going to start by showing you the garland that I selected. It's a six foot icy garland. You can see here that it's very open in the middle. Well, what do you fill in to make that look lush and full and also add to your trees? So then I went and I selected picks and sprays. Want to take a look? Here's my selection of picks and sprays. I'll go through it with you. I wanted to include sort of this Norfolk pine look, and I loved this bunch. It could be hung just like this. And then you take your branches and you pull them out a little bit. And I ended up putting one of these actually on a black lantern with a big bow, big plaid bow on it. And something like this can be added into your and I'd probably break it up. This is a pretty thick piece into your garland. And look how much more lush and full that looks. I also really liked this pick because it has this little bit of organic, natural look to it. And a little bit of that kind of goes well. Look at that with color that's on the balls. So I'll put this here and you can see how that adds another touch to this garland and you sort of intertwine it with what is already there. I also really loved this. It's a bottle brush look and it's got the length to it. So this kind of thing can poke out. So you go like this. Actually, this is the one. This is the one that's a bottle brush. Sorry. And this, of course, can be manipulated just like all the others. And this is where Sarah, my girlfriend, you'll see her in some of my videos this year. She and I, this is really her gift because she's from Wisconsin. And I'm always saying, why did you pull it like that? And she says, nature. Well, you know, you'd have to be from Wisconsin to know how this stuff really grows. It's kind of our little joke. So we take this, put it here. So look at that. Now you have something that goes off beyond and gives some other texture with a little pine cones in it. And then this final one that I started to show you, this has a pine cone as well. And this is the kind of thing that I kind of took apart and used where I needed to. For example, on a wreath, when a wreath is, you know, you get this. I have some that are oval shaped but they weren't perfectly oval shaped. So I cut some of this off and I stuck it in and around to get the shape that I really, really wanted to add. And you can see, like that would be beautiful on a centerpiece. So those were the main picks, but I also added some colorful things too. And this can be pulled out and moved around. When you're curating this kind of stuff, buying in quantity, which I will talk about even more in another video, it's really the key to good interior decorating for Christmas time. Because if it were me and, well it is me, if I had to be on a budget, rather than get all these different picks and sprays, I would choose maybe two styles and I'd get no less than 12, more likely more like 20 of each of these picks and sprays. Because you're going to want to use them in so many of your decorations and it pulls it together. Then I got several different kinds of berries. These I really love because they're super airy. I would just pick this up and send it that way. I have rose hips that I used as well and I use these quite a bit. And then here's another type of berry that could be pulled around. I found this here, I was so excited because in the past I have found that good berries that look natural are hard to find, good quality ones. And this year there was a plethora of them, which is what told me berries are trending this year. So you can put this in here and just get that overall sense of red in the berries. And then the last thing, this is kind of quirky but fun, I found this holly and so I used this in my tree and I thought it was so cute. It's like holly leaves but it's in a plaid. So here you go and I take each leaf and I just sort of bend it and do something weird so it doesn't just look like a flat thing. And there you go, you can just add that to your greens. Now look at this alongside this. Then I finished it off with, hello, remember I said black? Black pine cones that are used in my tree. Amazing. So there you go with the black pine cones. Love me some bells and these aren't just silver or gold, these are brass and the brass is huge this year. So you can stick that in there. And then finishing off with these twigs. Now these are from last year and we still have, Amber and Jerry said we still have a lot of these in stock because we really bought big last year. And this was part of my dreamy white Christmas. But you know what? This looked amazing in my Christmas tree. It's the same reason why I said that white ball that I showed you earlier. It just gives, brings in a little touch of life to your greens. So there you have all the picks, the sprays, the garlands, and some of those berries and the pine cones and the bells. And you can look at it as it relates to my original theme and scheme and my hero ball. All of this curated from this very first thing that stood as my inspiration for Christmas 2025. Do you think I'm done? No, of course not. Because you not only need a tree and garlands and picks and sprays and berries and bells and all those things along with your ornaments, balls, and your ribbons, but you need some figurines. How cute are these trees? A little grouping of three. These can go on your kitchen counter or on a side table, on a credenza. And it just looks amazing to have the three different sizes. And look how beautifully it goes with my theme, my ribbons, and all the stuff that I selected for this year. I want to keep in this natural look as well. So I didn't just do the red and green and the plaid, but I also brought in some nature-looking figurines like this deer with its baby fawn. Is that the cutest thing you ever saw? How cute. And so look, this ribbon here bring in this natural look of the doe and the fawn. I think that's what they are. And it still stays with my Christmas ball here. It brings in that natural shade and that color and that texture. Even this little Santa right here. So you see how these are all connecting? It's just like interior design year-round, how you connect your textures, your colors, and you start building this theme. So it started with this old man winter ball. It goes into these more organic and natural looking decorations, balls and ornaments. But then it brings in, like I said, I'm going up to the mountains. This is my lake home for Christmas. So wouldn't you imagine that you'd see a cute little deer and fawn at the lake? Yes, you would. What else would you see? Well, you might see this guy. Cute little nutcracker. Hello. So I have all these locations in my family room and in my kitchen that need a little something that looks Christmassy. And then look here. I have a set of these. This is the smallest one of these little green trees. It gives me a pinecone. It brings in the green and that can be used. And what I loved about this is look at the base. Hello, black leather, bringing it all together. Even this nutcracker here, he's got the black and the red and the green. So just pulling in and continuing on with this theme. But what else would I want to add to this? Well, if you've been watching my videos very long, you know that I like to have some investment pieces. Something that really stands out and is different and special that I can add to each year. So let me show you what I brought in this year. You ready? Meet mama bear. Ta-da. So here we are. We're at the lake home. There are bears at the lake and this one is wearing the red, but look, it's a black bear. Brings in the black leather, the black on this tree, the black on the nutcracker here. That is a nutcracker, isn't it? Or is it a soldier? It goes both ways. It can crack your nuts or it can protect you as a soldier. So look, is this the cutest thing ever? And I have the daddy bear. This is the mama. I have the daddy and he's larger. Some of you saw my unboxing video where I show you this amazing vintage chipped painted wooden horse. It's a rocking horse. I have that as well. Too big to bring up here, but look how all of this looks together. Is that super fun? And the last finishing touch was something that I needed. I needed to bring something on my sofa, right? I have white sofas. So I wanted to tie it in and not just use my regular pillows. So I found this pillow here and it is in plaid and it says joy. And the very last thing is something I already had, which is a needlepoint stocking that looks like it has that old-fashioned Santa Claus on it. And that right there is exactly how I curated my theme for my family room and kitchen this year. And I hope it helps you to see the items by themselves rather than placed around. It kind of gives you my thought process in how I come up with the items. I keep in mind the textures, the colors, the overall feel, the overall theme. And then I just pull the things and I shop all over six days at market to come up with this theme. But I think it looks amazing. I can tell you as we speak, my family room and my kitchen are complete and it looks amazing. And I can't wait for you to see it on November 1st. So be sure to come back for that. I want to thank you for joining me today. This has been super fun to share with you my process of how I curate any given theme in a given year for Christmas. And I can't hardly wait to see what you guys come up with. Remember, all you need is one item that inspires you and you just build off of that. If you're looking for that one item that's going to inspire your entire design theme, head over to the Amber Marie and Company website. Just remember the next video that we have coming out on my channel will also be Christmas related. It's aimed at helping you make the most beautiful Christmas that you've ever had before, where we demonstrate to you exactly how we do it so that you too can do it. As you saw me stick the picks and sprays in the garland, it's very simple. You can do it. All right, you guys, I will see you next time. Thanks for joining me today. Bye-bye.