DIY Christmas Decor-Part 2

Happy end of the weekend!  Hope you had a great one.  With my illness the last couple weeks I  am waaaay behind with shopping, decorating, and just enjoying it all. Thank goodness I am now my normal (?) self.  Now I need to slow down and soak in all of the glory and peace and love of the season.

I wanted to share some fun little projects I've been working on to spruce up the dining room.  On my last post, I shared my snowflake and red ornament window.  This is the same room, but there are some other projects that I wanted to highlight.  I haven't filled the tin pails with anything yet (I am trying hard not to buy much, and can't decide what to put in there, maybe lots of candy canes?).....

Isn't the chalkboard cute?  I have a set of three of them and they are fun to write little messages on!  There's more of that wrapping paper from the Target Dollar section..  I also plan to add some peppermints in the small mason jars you see at the top.  The whole room is done is simple silver, red, and lots of pinecones that I already had from previous seasons.  Unpacking my Christmas stuff was like Pine-cone-polooza.    I really tried to use what I had and be creative with fun little touches here and there. This is the dining room table, not done yet.  My kiddos sprayed simple wooden stars just like they did the snowflakes and we also glittered the pinecones.  I had extra silver bells, so I tossed them in there, too.  I had our red tray out on our porch I shared with you this past summer.

I have lots of these bead garlands that used to be on our tree and used them in this glass hurricane and also this wooden bowl.

More pincones.  Told you I had a lot. :)  I tucked glittered stars in random places.

Two of my favorite {very little} touches are the pine cone I painted white to make it look snowy then stuck in a tiny silver pail I had.....

and using a red pom-pom to add some fun to Rudolph, my silver reindeer.  He makes me smile every time I see him.

This room is bright, simple, and fun.  What little touches have you added to your rooms to make them festive?

DIY Christmas Decor-Part 1

Geez, I had totally meant to be able to get right back on the wagon and post all-week-long but life got in the way.  Or, should I say, more headaches and being 2 weeks behind on my schoolwork got in the way.  Ick.  I have fun things to show you but have not even had a chance to take pictures, let alone post about them!  I leave in the morning for work before it is light and when I come home, I hit the ground running to be a full-time mommy, wife, and domestic goddess. HA!

I was able to take a few pics the other day on a little project my hubby and I did.  You may remember my easy-sprayed-glittered snowflakes that the kids helped me with a while back?  I used those,  red ornaments in 2 sizes and types that I had on hand already, and some red and white baker's twine I  bought at Target last month.  I hung the snowflakes and red balls across the curtain rod that is on our front window in our dining room and voila! fun and festive look for very little cost and effort!  {tip on using baker's twine:  mine kept fraying...in order to stop it from fraying at the ends, dab a little white or craft glue at the end and it will harden clear and not fray!  woo hoo!}  Isn't it cute?  I love how it turned out!

Could you guess that the "table runner" on this table is wrapping paper from Target's dollar section? Score!

Sharing with:
Centsational Girl
Hi, Sugarplum!

Christmas Tree 2012 {And I'm Back...}

Hello, hello!!!  I did not skip town...I have had the craziest, most un-fun 3 weeks.  I had my first migraine ever along with complete facial numbness on the right side of my face.  Scary, right?  This crazy thing is just now finally going away.   3 weeks with a numb face, horrible headaches and dizziness is about enough to make someone nuts!  I've had lots and lots of doctor appointments, medications, tests administered,  and time on the couch.  I missed several days of school (never an easy thing for an elementary teacher!) and many fun times with my family!  Thanksgiving was mostly spent on the couch.  Thank goodness the doctors don't think anything is seriously wrong.   I have developed total empathy for people that struggle with illness much of the time or cannot function normally for extended periods.

Let's get to the tree!  Throughout this time, I had been able to do very little around the house to doll it up for the holidays.  Hubby and the kids put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and we got some of the other festive stuff out.  Luckily before my illness I had started making some little DIY projects.  I was able to work on some of those this weekend now that I am feeling somewhat normal and I can't wait to share them with you later this week.

When my family went to put up the tree this year many of the white lights were out.  In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?  I had a lot of thinkin' about life to do on that couch, I tell ya.  ;)  We had plenty of colored lights on hand so we decided we'd go against our regular tradition of white lights.  Color us happy, we think it looks great.

Most of the ornaments on our tree have special meaning.  Each year since my husband and I have been together I have bought a matching ornament for each of our 4 kids.  (Riley wasn't born yet, but when she was, we went from 3 to 4 matching ones to get) I write their name of the back of the ornament and the year.  So now we have 25+ ornaments on our tree from this tradition, which I love.  We also have silver stars that we got a few years ago that say "HOPE", "PEACE", AND "LOVE" and silver reindeer in different poses.  My hubby and I picked these out together.

A new addition this year is a collection of hand-painted ornaments that my hubby's mother painted years ago.  She did an amazing job and they are a cute addition to our tree.  Since she is gone now, they are especially meaningful.   We all agreed that this is our favorite tree yet.   Downstairs in our finished basement we have a smaller kids tree that has Disney and kid ornaments and handmade treasures that the kids have made through the years.

Make sure to stop back this week to check what I've done in other areas of our house.  I am giddy about how some of my easy-DIY projects turned out and I hope to inspire you!

Puttin' on the Glitz: Using Glitter Paint

While at the beloved JoAnn's today, I picked up some unfinished wooden snowflake ornaments and a bag of unfinished wooden stars ($3.99 for a bag 20 of small-ish assorted sizes).

The snowflake ornaments were $1.29 each but on sale for $0.77 each.  They came with a little red ribbon to hang them, which I took off because I am not going to use them as ornaments.

I bought a small can of silver spray paint for $3.99.

We gave these babies a coat or two of this paint, and let them dry.  Then we used glitter craft paint
in silver by none other than Martha.  I've used this paint before in another color and it has a translucent look to it that I love.  I let my two sweet youngest get in on the action and go over the snowflakes with this paint.

It's an amazing 67 degrees outside today in Ohio, so they could do this on the deck!  Didn't they do a great job?

We also sprayed the bag of wooden stars, let them dry and went over them with Martha's paint like we did the snowflakes.

I have plans for both the stars and the snowflakes and I can't wait to share how I incorporate them into our holiday decor!

I loved this glitter look so much, I had the kids then use the glitter paint to paint the edges of some cinnamon pine cones that I had.  It made them look like snow.  These pictures are before the paint dried, so it looks a little gloppy (is that a word?), but pretty none the less.

I love that we were able to create these easy, inexpensive projects that will be beautiful during the holidays.  Best of all, my kids were able to help create them.  Think of all of the ways you could use these!  As ornaments, hanging on mirrors or windows (which is what I am going to do with a lot of them, hint, hint...), adorning the outside of a gift you give.....the possibilities are endless.

What are you going to go glitter-ize now???

Sharing this project with:
Six Sisters Stuff
Tutus and Teaparties
Delightful Order