Last Winter I was inspired to create a French Christmas carol poster to use in this year's Christmas decorations. Wholesale gift shows always have spectacular larger-than-life window and floor displays designed by their professional stylists which usually are beyond my resources to replicate similar ones.
F R E N C H
C H R I S T M A S C A R O L
P O S T E R
O Holy Night
The RAZ Imports display of the Christmas carol Silent Night was a floor-to-ceiling 6 feet x 8 feet poster of the music score, English lyrics, and original German lyrics under the English lyrics. A large Christmas tree decorated with the wholesaler's seasonal offerings stood to one side of the poster. Altogether the display captured the feeling of Christmas perfectly. I was drawn back to it over and over.
I cannot show a photo of their inspirational display since general guidelines for wholesalers do not allow photographs of their showrooms. You can see a photo of the display titled O Holy Night on the official RAZ Imports Pinterest site. Their music poster is of Silent Night, not O Holy Night.
I realized I do not have room in my small garden shed to fit a wall-size poster, but I knew I could make room for large 3 feet by 4 feet posters above display tables and chests. Deep in Winter last January I began working on beautiful Christmas carol posters for the 2021 Christmas season, over ten months in the future.
... a shopping experience in a beautiful setting
that radiates the Christmas season ...
Each year I gather a collection of beautiful Christmas items for the annual French Country Christmas Event and keep a notebook with display ideas. One of my goals for offering a Christmas shop is to provide a shopping experience in a beautiful setting that radiates the Christmas season in a special one-of-a-kind venue.
When all of my favorite small locally owned stores for Christmas shopping closed, one by one over several years, I missed the joy of visiting them during the most wonderful time of the year. As I mourned their closings over ten years ago, I decided to open a Christmas shop to offer a joyous shopping experience to others. So, each year, I dream, plan, and envision displays to showcase items found from wholesalers, estate sales, online sources, and antique markets.
As I began thinking about which Christmas carols to use for posters, I researched a few of my favorite carols to check when they were written, to find sources for their lyrics, and to find any sources for copyright free music scores.
... French-inspired garden and home decor ...
To my delight, I discovered O Holy Night is a French Christmas carol, originally a poem written in 1843 and entitled Cantique de Noël when the poem was set to music a few years later. The French carol was translated into English in 1855. Another of my goals for offering a Christmas shop is to provide French-inspired garden and home decor. A French Christmas carol poster is perfect.
A French style garden urn often holds a fresh-cut tabletop Christmas tree, but this year the large French urn will hold a special Christmas arrangement connected to the lyrics on the French Christmas carol poster.
I created the design using word processing software on a laptop computer. To add a distinctive French element, I placed a large fleur de lis in the background using the software's watermark feature.
Then, I sent the file electronically to a local wholesale print shop which did a beautiful professional job printing the poster on high quality poster paper. Before printing the poster, the printer checked the quality of the poster to make sure the original document could be enlarged without loss of quality.
We used wood glue to attach the top of the poster to a 1" x 2" solid board. Small sawtooth hangers are attached to the back of the board near each end of the board to allow the poster to be hung on a wall.
Two small brass cup hooks were attached to the top of the 1" x 2" board to allow the poster to hang from a wood grid 8 feet above the floor. A blue grape stem accent fits inside one of the cup hooks to secure the blue grape spray draped over the 1" x 2" board at the top of the poster.
... blue and white seasonal decor ...
Christmas decor is traditionally red and green, but in recent years with the increasing numbers of home decor bloggers publishing on the internet, other color schemes for Christmas have gained popularity.
Eleven years ago, the first year for the French Country Christmas Event, finding blue and white Christmas decor was difficult. Another one of my goals for opening a Christmas shop was to offer blue and white seasonal decor. Today, blue and white is once again popular for home decor, and much easier to find during every season of the year.
The French Christmas carol poster is the focal point of this year's French Country Christmas decor. A three-piece cast stone Holy Family sits on a 20" diameter blue ceramic garden saucer atop the French garden urn. Garden saucers come in many colors and sizes at a local garden nursery. I searched for a clear glass platter for the top of the urn, but could not find one large enough. The price of the garden saucer was less than most of the large glass platters that were not large enough.
... natural materials instead of manmade synthetics ...
Stars hang from the wood grid that was formerly a grid in a glass French door. Normally the stars are ornaments for a Christmas tree, but are beautiful as a star-filled sky above the Holy Family. Another important goal for opening a Christmas store was to provide beautiful items made with natural materials instead of manmade synthetics.
The solid shiny stars are metal with glass rhinestones. The outlined stars are tiny glass beads strung around a metal frame. The large guiding star is gold painted wood. Ornaments made using natural materials generally cost more than manmade synthetics such as acrylic, resin, and plastic, but will be heirlooms for future generations. Each year natural material items are harder and harder to find.
... do-it-yourself insures you can have what you like ...
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Joyeux Noël
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You may also enjoy seeing more Christmas decor ideas on my Pinterest Board, Christmas Decor.
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