Christmas Decor 2010

Apparently, I'm going to be one of those people who keeps right on decorating up to Christmas. My friend Susan informed me that Christmas lasts until Epiphany though, which is January 6th (the twelfth day of Christmas), so I think I'm okay. I haven't done a "tour" of my decorations yet, so what the heck, right?

First off - this is my husband's Christmas gift to me. I told him to wrap it and he didn't, so I decorated it instead. HA!

It's a bee-YOU-tee-full milk glass pedestal dish in the lace edge pattern to match the plates and dessert compotes my friend Suzy gave me. I've admired this piece on other people's blogs but have never come across one in real life before. I about wet my pants when I saw this at Savers. I just think it's the prettiest thing.

Previously the ornaments were in a clear glass trifle dish. Upgrade!

This is the table in our entry. I showed the Hello Kitty tree before (I've recently added a pink star to the top!) but here is the little vignette next to it.

There is the frame that previously held vintage Halloween and Thanksgiving postcard reproductions (click here if you'd like a copy of those for yourself) and will soon hold a New Year's greeting. The milk bottle in the back is from an antique store in North Phoenix and is filled with a gold bead garland. The wooden trees I've had since I was eighteen, I think. At my first job as a teacher's aide, one of the teachers would organize craft days after school in the library for the staff. She would provide all the materials and we would get together to paint and decorate whatever the project was for that week. Needless to say, I loved those get togethers!

Here is one of the bookcases. The other one has the tree pretty much blocking it.

If you compare it to previous photos of my living room, you'll see that I finally managed to accessorize the top of the shelf properly! The stockings I made last year. On the top shelf in the right hand corner I tucked a glass apothecary bottle that I filled with a silver garland to bring a little shine to an otherwise dark area. It gives a nice little bit of height there too so I'll probably leave it after Christmas. There's a frame ornament on one of the stockings that I plan to fill with our family photo from this year, but I have yet to get around to it.

Here's the china hutch:

I owe a LOT of this to thrift stores! Father Christmas and the tiny tree are new additions this year to my decor. I put a strand of red Mardi Gras beads on the little tree for color. The cheese dome cloche that held a pumpkin for fall now houses glittery ornaments, as does the big apothecary jar.

I made a bunting for the top of the cabinet by just cutting out paper triangles with zig zag paper shapers and stapling the top corners together. I cut the word "★believe★" from silver glitter fun foam on the Sizzix machine. That stuff looks so cool when it's cut that way and it's even self adhesive!!!

The seraph is made from paper and I've had that since I was seventeen, I think. It may be the oldest piece of Christmas decor that I own. I bought it at this store called Old America that has long since gone out of business. The bottle I found for a dollar at Goodwill and just tucked some twigs inside.

After I took the first photo of the hutch I decided that I needed to decorate that bottom shelf because it looked sad After some rearranging and a little bit of playing with the glue gun I came up with this:

I really like how that compote looks with something in it, so I may have to get some fake fruit or something for after the holidays.

I had that cheese dome in my closet because I wanted to make a second cloche but hadn't found the perfect base yet. I dug out some teeny earring boxes that I bought at a paper store (Xpedx in Tempe for you locals) and hot glued some silver ribbon to it to make tiny gifts. I plopped those on a bed of fluffed up cotton balls, added a paper Making Memories poinsettia, made a little embellishment for the ribbon on the dome and bam! Done and super cute.

I tossed a few glitter ornaments in the urn and added a mini-tree topper for more color. It was a little short so I sat it on top of a mini-playdoh container that I wrapped in unrolled cotton balls. Ghetto, but effective.

For this side, I started out with more glitter ornaments. I wrapped an empty Advil box with a piece of an old shopping bag, some cardstock, and vintage glitter lace. It's topped with a bow of the lace, a puffy star, a red button, and some jingle bells. The angel ornament was purchased in the gift shop at the second largest cross in the Western Hemisphere in Groom, Texas while on a road trip. The monogram was cut from more glitter fun foam and then mounted on some dark brown cardstock for stability and contrast. I have a feeling that will stay out long past Christmas!

On the bar to my kitchen I have a few more little things.

There are some extra ornaments that didn't fit in the pedestal dish/trifle dish, so I put them on the top level of that tower and embellished the big one with some ribbon. Then of course, you have to have clementines at Christmas, right? A few faux poinsettias and the ornament my friend Danea sent me on the candle holder I use as a mini cake pedestal for cookie photos, and this area is now nice and festive.

I was at the Goodwill by my mom's house the other day, and I found an actual cloche. I was super excited because I've been looking for one for a while. Even though it was tiny, I put it in my cart because it was only two bucks. They actually had about ten of them, but I was good and only brought one home with me.

Well, as I was standing at the sink washing it I happened to look up at that ornament on the pedestal and had an idea. I dried my cloche off really well and then set it carefully over the ornament. Perfect fit!!!

I put some white jimmies under the ornament and made the little "sweet" rosette for the ribbon. I love it so much! It just goes to show how you never know what you're going to find that works together with something you already had, even if you never considered it in the first place. There are always new ways to mix and match what you have. Also, how easy was it to go from cute (ornament on a stand) to awesome?

This is the door to the garage. I decorated this garland probably six or seven years ago, which is why the ornaments on it are 1. gold and 2. glass. I'm hoping I don't regret hanging that up! I just pull it out every year and fluff it.

Finally, my last bunting.

This is a terrible picture because I stink at taking photos out of a window of inside the house. You can see my curtain post for further evidence of this.

I got the idea from Ashley's blog. She just took some paper doilies and strung them together for a simple and pretty garland. I used Scotch tape and thread! Bubba calls them clouds.

Well, that's all that's up for now, but I will probably put up more things if I know me! I just can't leave well enough alone. :) I still want to do a bunting for over the mirror in the entryway but I don't know what I want it to say. Something about Jesus for sure. A child is born, perhaps? Suggestions welcome!

Today I'm making up more meat for tamales and some cookies. Hooray Christmas!