Valentine’s Day is less than week away! Can you believe it?
Crafty Christmas Trees
My inspiration for my Crafty Christmas trees came about from a few different sources. I loved these ideas that I saw (see below) and wanted to make my own versions.
Source: blissbloomblog.blogspot.com via Janalyn on Pinterest
Source: kellehampton.com via Mindy on Pinterest
I bought three different sizes of floral foam cones and made each tree a little different.
For the biggest tree, I pinned on circles of felt to look like ruffles. It took 16 sheets of felt and a lot of time to cut out all of those circles! But it was worth it ~ so pretty! I then added little jingle bells as ornaments, a pretty sequin ribbon for garland, and some glitter as snow. Then a bow on top to complete it.
For the smallest tree, I wrapped the cone in green yarn, glued on tiny pom poms for the ornaments, and added a mini bow to the top. I also painted a very small plant pot to put underneath the tree.
For the middle sized tree, I also painted a plant pot to put underneath it. I wrapped the tree in white yarn, but covered the whole thing in silver glitter. (I LOVE glitter!) I also added tiny pom poms to it as ornaments and added a little star to the top.
Now I have a cute display on little Christmas trees. I’d love to make more – like a pinecone tree, a fabric tree, a jingle bell tree — the sky is the limit!
Any other ideas?!?
Wooden Christmas Light Garland
I was going to try to find vintage Christmas lights to cover in glitter (found via Pinterest- see below) but I found something even better!
Source: blog.craftzine.com via Mindy on Pinterest
I found these little wooden Christmas lights at the local craft store. They were too adorable to pass up at 39 cents each. I thought it’d be fun to paint them and make them sparkle with glitter!
I had acrylic paint in a variety of colors, and bought two classic Christmas colors- red & green. I painted each light a different color, and sprinkled them with gold glitter dust (it worked better than regular glitter in this case). I painted the bases of the lights black too, and then decided to tie them onto a green yarn to make garland!
Easy & fun little project to add some Christmas cheer to the house. You could also just display them in a little jar or dish on the table. :)
P.S. – Thanks Ryan for photographing my lights!
Christmas Ornament Wreath
Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I spent most of my Thanksgiving break hanging out with Ryan and working on Christmas crafts. It was so relaxing; I didn’t want it to end! You can expect lots of fun Christmas posts in the near future because I have lots of projects up my sleeve. :) I’m starting with my Christmas ornament wreath I made. It was easy to make, fairly inexpensive, and it looks LOVELY!
I based my wreath off of this tutorial I found via Pinterest. It was a good use for a wire hanger (my Mom won’t get rid of them). The only difference is that I hot glued the smaller gold ornaments and bells in instead of stringing them on the wire with the red and green.
I had fun choosing the ornaments (I got cheap ones in a package at Walmart) and arranging them on the wreath. It took 52 of the large ornaments and maybe about 20 of the smaller ones. My Mom helped me make a red and green ribbon to tie it all together! Also – thanks to Ryan for using his muscles to help me bend the hanger. ;)
You could do a lot with this wreath to make it your own. What are you creating this holiday season?!
Belated Christmas Post
{Christmas Eve}
We woke up to a Winter Wonderland!!! So perfect. Just enough snow to cover everything, but not too much where we couldn’t travel.
I also woke up with a slight cold. Boo! I had one last Christmas also – this better not be a tradition. Thank goodness it wasn’t a bad one.
The main roads were clear so Sara, Ryan, and I headed to SW Missouri to Ryan’s Grandparents.
His uncle and cousin also joined us and we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner of soup and a surprise dessert to celebrate Ryan’s graduation!
We ALMOST dropped the cake.
CONGRATS RYAN!!!
(Except he found out he has ONE science class left to take. So I guess we’ll have to have another cake when he graduates in May! Oh well, he’s pretty much done anyway and looking for a job. Who needs that piece of paper anyway? Ha jk!)
Then it was time for gifts. And lots of pictures!
We watched A Christmas Story before visions of sugar plums danced in our heads.
{Christmas Day}
Drove 2 hours to Ryan’s extended family gathering in Joplin, Missouri. It was my first time to experience their family Christmas and their famous spaghetti and meatballs. I sat there trying to figure out who was who, and where all his family came from! Ryan has a lot of extended family like cousins once removed and second cousins and I don’t even know the equivalent in my family! They are all very welcoming and kind.
Then we drove 3 hours back home and had a big Christmas dinner (more like traditional Thanksgiving dinner) with my Mom and her BF, my brother, Ryan, & Sara! We were pretty tired from a busy day, but it was fun!
I was so excited for Ryan to open his presents from me!
He got COAL in his stocking…heheh…made of soap! Much to his delight, he also got a Magic Trackpad!
We got his Mom an artificial Christmas tree for next Christmas and beyond!
We got my Mom some new dishes and an iron!
I got a wallet from my Mom and money from my Grandma !
One of Ryan’s stocking stuffers.
I was sporting my Mom’s new slippers and my Valentine’s socks. HA.
Overall, I had a very Merry Christmas. Lots of memories, lots of fun. ♥ I hate when Christmas is over. So sad!