Swirling Up -CHRISTMAS

Marbled papers and ribbons in candy colors were all the inspiration stylist Jennifer DeCleene needed for her Christmas look this year. See how she weaves the theme through every part of her holiday decor.

JENNIFER DECLEENE IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THEIR CHRISTMAS DECOR TO FLOW NATURALLY OUT OF THEIR YEAR-ROUND DECOR, SO WHEN DECEMBER HITS, SHE ALWAYS THINKS PINK.

Oh, and mint green and aqua blue too all the candystore colors she surrounds herself with full-time at the suburban Chicago home she shares with her husband, Mike, and two young sons.

"I'm not an earthy and organic girl," the longtime photo stylist says, in case her strawberry pink sofa didn't give it away. "I love color.

I love lots of colors, lots of pattern." You'll see florals and stripes and block prints at Jennifer's house, but this Christmas she added one more motif: marbled patterns.

Their dramatic swirls and veining show up on and under the tree, on wreaths, and even on sugar cookies and peppermint bark-all in Jennifer's signature happy color palette.

"A marble pattern is so versatile," she says. "The fluidity of it pulls everything together." This mild obsession with marbling started with some handmade Florentine papers she brought home from a vacation in Italy. "That's the real, legit, centuries-old technique that I'm just trying to replicate," she says.

And replicate it she did. Using a $25 watermarbling kit from Michaels, the intrepid DIYer turned cheap balsa wood cutouts into a passel of pastel baubles, which she tied onto tree branches with ribbon bows.

That was just the beginning.