From Christmas Tree to Valentine Tree

This year, I put up my beloved white Christmas tree, and my newest cat (whom we adopted about a year ago, so she wasn't here for Christmas last year), decided that it was too beautiful to let stand there unclimbed. She loved sitting in the branches. Unfortunately, she ruined the tree, as it was a cheap one to begin with.

I was going to donate it, but then I decided that since the top section was intact, I would keep that, and use it as a mini tree next year. As Nick and I were packing things away, though, I decided it would make a lovely little Valentine Tree, so I unpacked it.

I also unpacked a set of 10 mini Christmas bulbs I had that were shiny, pearlized hot pink. Ooo, pretty! I had everything on hand I needed to decorate, or create decorations, except 1 thing- garland. For some reason, I just hate tinsel garland on that white tree. It looks horrid, so even though I had some red sitting out, I refused to use it.

In all honestly, I wasn't going to add garland at all, but I found some cute wired heart garland at Dollar Tree, so I grabbed it. It's pink and lavender, and I'm really glad I did! I love how it looks on the tree.

I made several unique heart ornaments out of felt, and added those to it. I also dug out the last of my flocked red, and pink glitter heart stakes from Dollar Tree (I picked them up for a craft, then hated them in it, and never used most of them), and stuck those in the branches.

For a topper, I took a pink sequined pick I got on clearance 90% off at Michaels after Christmas, and I bent the two middle strands into a heart shape, then two others outward. The lone stray (it was a 5 strand spray), I spiraled around the base. I also formed a heart from some of the left over wire garland, and added that, and one pink glittery heart pick.

Instead of a skirt, I used one of my Valentine's Day placemats under the stand. Last weekend, I picked up 2 glass apothecary jars at Goodwill, and filled them with left overs. One has a couple of pink bulb ornaments, and the left over flocked & glittery hearts, sans picks. The other has the last of the wired garland wrapped around inside of it.

I love, love, love the jars filled with candy, but 2 of my 3 kids have ADHD, with a large emphasis on being impulsive, so leaving candy laying out is an open invitation for them to chow down until it's gone, then look at each other and say "I don't know who did it, Mom!"

So, until the kids are out of the house in 10+ years (my youngest is 8, and this is totally counting on them all going to college, which we are pretty insistent on), the candy displays will just have to wait.

Lights, Lights, Lights!

Well, being winter, it gets dark early. Here it is, not even 6, and I have been out to photograph my Christmas Lights. I love them! The only problem- Santa isn't lit up. He takes a full sized light bulb, so tomorrow when it's not so cold, I plan to replace it.

My Front Door

This year, I decorated up my front door for Christmas. I love crafts, and I love houses that are decorated nicely. However, I have neither the money, or the patience to do so myself. Every time I try, the kids are one step behind me, messing it up, breaking things, or hanging off from things. I've just accepted that it will be another 8 years before I can truly decorate my house. At that point, Gillian, my youngest, will be headed off to college.

Anyway, last week I went to JoAnn's, and found 9 foot pine garland (not the fullest of full, but not bad) for only $1.99. I picked up two with the intentions of decorating my doorway outside.

Today while I was on the phone with my step-mom, I got motivated. I hung it, added ribbon that matches my wreath, and hung ornaments from it. I love how it looks, but I do need to go through and straighten the garland a bit. I only wish I had thought to wrap it with clear lights first. Maybe tomorrow?

Here is the wreath I made last week. I made an all green and silver one for my mom a few weeks ago, and liked it. Then last week, I saw an all silver and pink one, and liked it. I went in to Walmart and took a few minutes to peruse the ornaments. I saw the large, glitter covered pink "Let It Snow", and thought it would be perfect for the wreath. I picked up all pink and silver, then reconsidered, and added green in.

I love how it turned out! I had picked up both lime green and white sheer ribbon, but hated how both looked on it. I had a premade silver bow in the closet that I found for $.29 at Goodwill, so I used that for the bow on this one. I attempted to attach the "Let it Snow" by hot glue on the ends to hold it in place, but if you look close, you can see the spot where it was glued, and came free. Ah well!

Because I went with 3 colors, I had several ornaments of each color left over. When I set about putting the garland up (or, as my 7 year old calls it, "Garlic"), I brought out the left over ornaments, as well as some iridescent icicle ornaments to hang from the garland. I also grabbed the sheer green ribbon I hadn't used for the wreath.

I used light clips to hang the garland. They slid between the frame and siding nice and snug, and each has a clip on it that I slide the wire from the garland under, to clip it into place. There are 3 clips on top, so I could swag it, and 2 clips on each side, to hold it in place.

Once it was hung, I added the bow first, which wasn't long. I only did a simple 2-loop bow in the middle, and barely had enough ribbon to swag and hang over the sides.

From there, I used pipe cleaners to attach the ornaments to the garland. Some flopped badly, so I used the garland pine and wired it around a bit to support the ornaments from underneath to place them better.

I hung the icicles from the top swag, and then took my last pink ornament, a silver ornament, and a green ornament and hung them together, and hung them from the bow in the center.

I really like how it looks, and counting all the small things, I spent $21 for it. $15 for the wreath, with $5 total spent on the garland & icicle ornaments. The ribbon is barely noticeable, but I still like it there.

 

Decorating For Christmas- On a Budget!

Decorating for Christmas- on a budget!

I loved being at my Grandma's house all year around, but even more so at Christmas. She collected Snowmen. Grandma had more snowmen than we were able to count. To put it into perspective, no single ornament on her tree was anything but snowmen. She had a wall made into shelves, 8 feet tall, and probably 15 feet long, every shelf filled to the brim with snowmen. Her tables, wall shelves, even the bathroom, were all filled with snowmen.

But that sort of decorating takes years to accomplish. She got her snowmen mostly from gifts at Christmas, though she was also known to pick one or two up here and there.

So, how do you decorate your house frugally, but make it look nice? Well, forget the paper chains, fake snow, and window clings, here are some idea's that go above and beyond. While there is a definite place for the above mentioned items, not everyone is into preschool-chic decorating. ;)

Frugal Decorating

What You'll Need:

Pillar Candles in Holiday Colors*
Beaded Garland*
Wide Holiday Print Fabric Ribbon*
1-3 Packages Glass or Plastic Bulb Ornaments (if you have young children, or adventurous pets, I recommend using shatter proof, or plastic bulbs for this)
1/2 Yard Holiday Printed or Solid Colored Fabric
1-2 Roll Wrapping Paper in a Color or Pattern of your choice*
Wide Gift Wrap Ribbon*
1 Strand 35 count lights- multicolored or solid**
1 Bag Potpourri*
Suction Cup Hooks for Windows*

I have all the items listed as items to buy, but you should first raid your home to see what all you might already have on hand to use! Quite a bit of the items can be found at Dollar Tree for less than you would pay at a department store, such as Target or Walmart.

The items with a * beside them indicates items you can most likely find at the dollar store. Please note that while Dollar Tree does carry strands of lights now, I would not use them in the manner in which they are needed. I bought some one year, and used them in a potpourri jar, and the wires melted together, and almost caused a fire. Now, I skip Dollar Tree lights!

You might want to decide on a color theme before buying, so that you can stick to a general idea when picking up any items you may need to purchase. You can use any theme you want- jewel tones, traditional red & green, silver & gold, or pick a singular solid color for most of the items. The only limit is your imagination!

What you'll want from home:

1 large jar, like a mason jar, or a large, clear vase (make sure it has a wide neck, not a skinny one!)
1 large serving bowl
1 small "salad" or "dessert" plate for each candle bought (these can be covered if they are not "matching")
Hot glue gun & got glue

Here are the ways these few items can really make a nicely decorated home for your holidays. Many of these ideas would look nice in an office setting as well!

Potpourri Light Jar

• First things first, put the strand of lights into the jar or vase, leaving the plug out. Tape the wire on the outside of the jar so that it lays flat against the jar, but leave enough slack to plug it in.
• Fill the jar with the potpourri, and plug it in. These jars are perfectly safe, and they will heat the potpourri up enough to give off scent. They work great in bathrooms as a night light, and to scent the air.

Christmas Bulb Centerpiece

• Next, lay some fabric in the bowl so it hangs over the edges, if you think it needs to be covered. If not, just skip the fabric and move on to arranging bulbs in it in different sizes, but you probably won't use all of them.
  
• Drape the beaded garland in the bowl, and on top of the bulbs. The colors can all be the same, or you can mix it up for contrast. This makes a great table centerpiece. If you didn't need to use the fabric inside, then put it under the bowl when you place it on the table.

Candle Plates

• For the next one, arrange the candle pillars on plates with 1 or 2 of the smaller sized bulbs on the plate. If you have beaded garland left, put that around it, too.
  
• Take the ribbon, and cut it so that you have just enough to wrap around the candle. Hot glue it to the candle in the back.
  
• Set these out on tables around the living room for a festive touch. If the plates need to be covered, use the fabric that's left over, cutting it into squares that fit on the inside of it, or drape over the edges.

Wrapped Wall Hangings

• Find any pictures or mirrors that are hanging on the walls, and take them down. Wrap them up with the nice wrapping paper, tie with the ribbon, and add a bow, then hang it back up.

Window Ornaments

• Last, take any left over ornaments and any left over ribbon, and tie small bows to hot glue to the top of the ornament, just below the hanger. You can use thread or fish string to hang them in windows from the suction cups. Please note, cats will bat at these, you may want the "shatterproof" plastic bulbs if you do this one.
  

Viola- a frugally decorated house with out a paper chain, snowflake, or window cling in site.

Ways to add more to the decoration for a few dollars more:

You can add to the elegance by weaving a strand of battery operated lights in the bulb center piece to light it up some.

Add battery or cord powered "candle" lights to the windows under the hanging bulbs to reflect some light off of them.

Buy more fabric ribbon to use on the picture presents in place of cheap ribbon.

Get a pretty table runner at the dollar store to put on the kitchen table under the ornament centerpiece.

Buy a set of taper candles and sturdy heavy (but short!) taper holders (I've found heavy glass ones at the dollar store), and put those into the bowl before adding the bulbs & garland for a candle centerpiece.

Buy a bag of jingle bells for about $1-$2 at the store, and add a few to each of the different candle plates, the ornament bowl, and even mixed in with the potpourri jar. Glue one to the center of each bow on the hanging ornaments as well.

I hope these idea's help some people with new decorating ideas!