Christmas brings about a lot of emotions for me... about my house. (This sounds so ridiculous! Keep reading, you may be able to relate) When I get all of the Christmas decorations up I am happy because everything is so pretty and festive. The day after Christmas I always convince myself that it makes sense to leave the decorations up until after New Year's Eve because that is basically an extension of the holidays - but really it is because I am not ready to part with them. On January 1st, I admit that, sadly, they will have to come down soon enough. Then I mull over that for a few more days, and usually during the second or third week of January, the decorations are getting on my nerves and I am taking them down without much fight. It is like a weird roller coaster. I think most of it has to do with the fact that the decorations are a lot of work and time, but by the end of it I just don't care anymore.
My husband is always happy to get everything "back to normal". We have to semi-rearrange our living room to fit the Christmas tree, so I get it.
Because I always have a "mantle" up, out comes the winter decor right after the Christmas stuff is boxed away. My theme for winter: winter :) Blues, silver, white, a few pine cones, reindeer, etc. Christmas is full of twinkling lights and red and green. The change to a cool, neutral palette is quite refreshing. Plus, it can get pretty darn cold here in Missouri, which matches the cool metals of my decor.
Most of the items I have gathered are technically Christmas items, but I don't think it feels Christmas-y at all. I also love that I can keep this up until spring time and it always makes sense with what is going on outside. I do not decorate for Valentine's day because, well, I just don't. I mean, I have found plenty of adorable things on Pinterest that I like. But it just seems a little silly (personal opinion!)... Valentine's Day is not a big deal for us and I'm not sure my husband would appreciate hearts and such floating around our house.
I do not put up nearly as much winter decorations as I do for Christmas, but here are a few photos of what I do have up:
Isn't this antler bowl so cool?? I found it in the Christmas clearance and thought it was perfect for winter!
Often times, on December 25th, you will find me in my sweatpants and ponytail scrounging through the Christmas clearance at Target, Walmart and the like. Why do I do this? Because I am cheap. Really, that is the only reason. A younger version of myself got some sort of thrill out of digging through clearance racks and bins. Not so much anymore, but I do love finding a good deal! And that is worth going out with the crazies to dig through the racks and bins and screaming children who would rather play with their new toys.
So one year during my clearance shopping I bought this cute little jingle bell snowflake for 70% off.
I'm not sure why, but I really liked it.
However, I knew when I bought it that it was incomplete. The scale is just, weird.
It's too big to be an ornament or hang from a door, but it is definitely too small to be by itself. Plus I felt like it needed some dimension. I decided I would jazz it up to make it a final piece, so I jumped onto trusty Pinterest to see what I could find by searching "winter wreath". To save you time, let me just tell you what 99% of "winter wreaths" search results consist of:
snowflakes
snowmen
twigs
berries
pearls
pine cones
Sometimes, they even combine these elements to make really amazing creations!! (Can you hear my sarcasm?!) Occasionally you will also find poinsettias, yarn and/or wood slices. Yay.
Now, I am not "hating" on these wreaths, some are in fact quite beautiful. But the lack of variety is quite uninspiring. And yes, I do realize that twigs, pine cones, snowflakes and snowmen are all relevant to winter. But still...
Side note: before you accuse me of being a hypocrite for also having a snowflake in my wreath, keep in mind I purchased it like three years ago...
Related side story: Every year my office helps organize a charity event about two weeks before Christmas. We auction wreaths, menorahs, and ornaments that are original creations. Being that my profession has many creative people, we get some unique submissions. A group of girls and I usually make a wreath to donate and this is my favorite one we have made:
It was super hard for us to give it away because we all loved it so much. So I got to thinking, why not recreate this for my winter wreath? My winter decor does not have a lot of twigs, snowflakes, berries in it, so adding any of those things wouldn't make a lot of sense, and this would be easy on time and budget!
So I bought a plain wall frame and some ribbon from the craft store. I spray painted the frame silver.
I took some of my ribbon and looped it around and through so that it would act as the hanger. I tied a simple knot at the top.
Then I needed to make a bow. I have experimented with bows before, but in general I don't have a natural knack for these things. So onto youtube I went, and I found this amazing and easy tutorial.
I made my bow much smaller than she did, but the tutorial worked just the same. After my bow was complete I took a dab of hot glue to attach it to the frame.
Then I used more hot glue to attach the snowflake to the frame and BOOM, I was done! Probably the fastest wreath I've made (once I figured out how to make a bow!)
I love the way it turned out! It is simple but pretty and definitely coordinates with the rest of my winter decor.
I'm getting this posted just a few days before Christmas... if you read my last post you will understand why...
I am super-duper excited to share with you what our house looks like for Christmas! As I'm sure you gathered in the fall, my husband and I love Halloween. I really do love decorating for Halloween, but I also love decorating for Christmas. The two are so very different, I think that is why I love them both!
Anyway, I've added a few new decorations this year. Partially because I knew I was going to be sharing photos of our house, and partially because I have been really on top of Christmas this year! (sorry for bragging, this is new for me!) I was inspired by a friend who said they had almost all of their Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving... I decided that this year would be different than the last two years. I would not spend 5 hours sitting on the floor Christmas Eve wrapping every gift just to unwrap it the next morning. I would not miss out on the special Christmas events around town because I was too busy shopping (or working). I would not miss out on watching The Grinch as many times as I could squeeze in. I would not get wrapped up in the busyness to miss enjoying this magical time of year.
Because I have been doing things little by little, it actually left me with some windows of time as the holidays got closer. The last two years I wanted to add to our holiday decorating, but it just didn't happen. To be honest, I'm pretty sure my husband and I put up half of our lights in the snow and freezing cold last year, just a couple of weeks before Christmas. So this year my lack of procrastination paid off - I was able to add a few new things to our Christmas decor! The garland and accessories on the bookcases are new this year.
Anyway - here it is! I hope you enjoy :)
How cool is this wreath? My co-worker made it for a charity auction and I loved it! (notice the Grinch??) it is made almost entirely of pipe cleaners
Don't mind our dog begging for the pizza my husband was making...
In preparation of my Christmas home tour, I wanted to do a little DIY post.
I made these a few years ago. Well, "made" really isn't the correct word. I assembled these a few years ago. I was at my sister-in-law's house and saw these two little guys underneath their Christmas tree. I told her how cute they were and she explained they have received them as a gift. I flipped them over and turned them sideways to memorize the details, and a few days later I bought the supplies to make my own set!
What you'll need:
(2) glass blocks from the craft store, small and medium
(2) kinds of ribbon, one wide and one skinny
(2) strands of white mini lights
extra adornments, as desired
Step 1: Take the rubber cap out of the bottom of the glass block. Push the strand of lights into the block, making sure you leave the plug and a little bit of cord outside of the blocks so you can plug it in. Replace cap.
Step 2: Tie the ribbons (and adornments, if you want) around the glass blocks.
Step 3: Plug in.
This may be my easiest tutorial ever! These are so easy to make assemble, I think everyone should have a set! Make them for that friend or family member who is impossible to shop for, or just because you think they might like them. They work great under a tree, on a mantle, on a bookshelf, or in a little corner that needs some extra light.
If you have any questions about this DIY post, let me know in the comments section!
