Christmastime

This year, we decided to be a bit radical with our Christmas decorations. We didn’t get a tree.  I know. So sad. See, my lil sister is getting married three days after Christmas. That, combined with all the work with my thesis, led to it just not making sense to get a tree, decorate it, and then have to take it down without enjoying it to the fullest. Oh, and our cats can be sort of naughty with the tree too, so there’s that. I like real trees and didn’t want to settle on even a smaller fake one.

So I decided to use the money + time we would have spent on a tree to make some decorations that would last for the future!

Of course, I used Pinterest for inspiration. I wasn’t organized enough–and this is not a craft blog–so I don’t have any tutorials. But I will link up my inspiration!

I made the wreath in the top left corner pretty much on my own. If you check out my wreath Pinterest board, you can probably see where I got my ideas from. I used the tutorials at Cut to Pieces to make the felt flowers. Let me say–they are so easy and fun to make! I am addicted! 🙂 What am I not addicted to? Wrapping yarn around a wreath base. Can we say… stressful? I adore the finished wreath though!

The Christmas tree in the middle left was made using this tutorial at Better Remade. I am so happy how it turned out! At first I was bummed because I couldn’t find a light green felt like the original, or a big box of pearl white straight pins, but I love my final product. You can’t really tell in the photo, but the white felt circles have glitter in them, and look so sparkly when they catch the light!

In the bottom left corner is my latest thrown together craft: a paper scrapbook Christmas tree. Usually in that stand I have a mosaic I made during my camp counselor years but decided I needed something more Christmasy. I got my idea from A Little Tipsy, but didn’t follow the tutorial exactly. I use scrapbook paper and leftover felt rolled up and hot glued to some foam board which was wrapped in ribbon to hide my uneven cheap x-acto knife cutting.

Last but not least, the yarn wrapped Christmas trees on the right [gray and sparkly white] were inspired by all the DIY Christmas trees I pinned on my Christmas board. And the yarn wrapped wreaths too. I made the garlands out of yarn and beads and think they make them a little more festive and retro, maybe. The tiniest candy cane tree is just ribbon.

Here are a few of our other Christmas decoartions: the mouse in the chimney circa 1970, my metal reindeer + star candle holder + Christmas tree plate, my second grade nativity set + pinecone angel, and a vase filled with some of our favorite ornaments. I couldn’t resist! Oh, and our stuffed friends, Elfkin and Ginger. They live on our couch during December.

So there you have it, Christmastime in our house this year. Would you believe that I’ve barely made any Christmas cookies or treats this year? That has got to change. I did share my Crock Pot Cran-Apple Sauce over on Thriving Home if you’d like to go check it out! I have some plans for cookies soon, so maybe there will be a post or two about that next week. Has anyone made anything awesome this year that you can recommend? Have a great weekend!

shared at it’s just Laine