How SILVER are your branches...

This was by far one of the easiest decoration projects I have done in my entire life.  I went out to our backyard and cut some small branches off of some trees and laid them out on an old shower curtain in the yard.  I then used some silver spray paint I had in the garage and spray painted the branches.  After the first side dried I flipped them over and did the same to the other side.  I had originally planned to use them in my dining room centerpiece but I didn't like that you wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation.  They sat in the garage for about a week and then WHAM it hit me.  I had a silver pot in the garage that I wasn't using so I just shoved them in there and bought some white glittery snowflakes from Target (4 pack for $1) and hung them from a few of the branches.

Sorry, I didn't exactly take a before picture of the branches but I think it's safe to say we all know what tree branches look like.

Linking up:

How Lovely Are Your Branches

I found this Christmas tree years ago after Christmas on sale for about $60.  Not too shabby for a 7.5 footer!  I wanted our tree to look a little more mature this year so we decided to go with silver, white, red, and green.  We already had ornaments that would go with the color scheme so we didn't have to buy any new ones.  I am a sucker for glittery ornaments though!  I think I'm part raccoon when it comes to shiney objects!  We did end up buying thick silver mesh ribbon (K-Mart) to wrap around the tree and a couple packs of the glittery swirly stick things (Garden Ridge)...what the heck is the proper name for those anyways?!

The hubs did an AMAZING job setting up the tree and fanning out the branches.  That part makes me itchy!  Then we did the dreaded task of putting the lights on.  My favorite is still pulling each ornament out of the box and remembering who bought it/

Have you ever realized how hard it is to take a good looking picture of a tree?  If you have any tips feel free to send them my way!

Here are some more of the handmade ornaments that are for sale.

Cheap Centerpiece Idea

With the help of blogs and Pinterest you can find cheap centerpiece ideas just about anywhere these days.  Here is my take on it using what I already had laying around the house.

I had all the ornaments and wreath picks (the greenery) left over from clearence sales that I bought in years past.  The glassware was actually used for our wedding for centerpices.  I bought the table runner last year at Ross.  The only thing I really "crafted" was the pine cones.  I found them all in the back yard and took some "white snow paint"  and just brushed it on the tips. 

I was really hoping to use some sticks I spray painted a sparkly silver in the center vase but after I put them in decided against it because it would be quite difficult to hold a conversation with someone across the table while peering through a silver forest!

Total cost: FREE

Linking up:

Southern Christmas Show

If you live in the Charlotte area you know I'm a little behind on this post considering the Southern Christmas Show was before Thanksgiving.  Regardless...it's a tradition for my sis and I to go to the Southern Christmas Show together every year.  We love that it really gets us in the mood for Christmas and gives us some great decorating ideas. 

...purple goodness

...leopard goodness

...cookie goodness

Rice Krispie treat turkey goodness...yes you read that right, a rice krispie treat shaped like a turkey. 

Oh Christmas Tree

Since this is our first Christmas in our new house it was a little stressful when it came to decorating for Christmas this year.  After I got up all the decorations I realized there wasn't a single Christmas item in our dining room.  We can't have that now can we?  So I was able to talk the hubs into letting me buy a small skinny tree to go in the corner of the room to help cheer it up a bit.  I found a 4 ft slim tree at Wally World but there wasn't a sign on it.  There was a UPC taped to it with a hand written $20.  I had the kind folks there find the box that matched the tree and went to check out.  Low and behold it rang up $25, not cool, I told Hubs I'd keep the entire mini tree budget under $40.  I told the cashier and we both walked over to the display together.  Sure enough she took the $5 off!  Whew!  I also pick up 2 gold poinsettia clips for 97 cents each while I was there.

When I got home I opened the box and it was super easy to put together.  I was not a fan at how short the tree really was so I ended up cleaning out a big urn I had in the back yard, priming (had), and spray painting it with some ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint ($6-Hobby Lobby).  I had some issues getting the base of the tree to fit and ended up having to remove the legs.  Then I kind of rigged it with some leftover styrafoam I had out in the garage. 

I found some sparkly burgandy remnant fabric (50 cents) at my local fabric store along with 12ft of white and sparkly gold ribbon ($2.50). 

I had some left over wreath picks and gold ornaments that I bought on clearence after Christmas last year (we'll say free since I didn't spend $$ this year on them) and I also wanted to put my new leopard ornaments to use! 

(with flash)

Total cost
Tree: $20
Poinsettia clips: $2
Ribbon: $2.50
Gold sparkly swirl picks: $2
ORB spray paint: $6
"Tree skirt":  50 cents
Leopard ornaments: roughly $3 (taking into account supplies used)

...drum roll please...
$36!

Yay for coming in under budget...$4 left...do I see a Starbucks in my future?  j/k Hubs ;)

 

Leopard Christmas

If you know me you know I love all things animal print.  I have ever since I was about middle school age.  If it didn't look so "Real Housewives of New Jersey" to decorate my entire house in it I probably would (thank you Real Housewives for showing me the error of my ways).  I wanted to infuse some leopard love into my Christmas decor this year in a tasteful way.  Low and behold...leopard ornaments! 

I searched high and low for leopard print tissue paper but couldn't find it in a local store and it was pretty pricey to order it online, so I gave up on the tissue paper and went to my local fabric store and bought half a yard of leopard fabric. 

I ended up using some old beat up colored ornaments I had saved for a craft one day.  I modge podged the entire ornament and used strips of the fabric and just continued to modge podge it on with a foam brush.  Has modge podge become a verb yet? 

I set them up in an empty egg carton to dry over night and the next day I used a paint brush and some gold glitter paint to add a little sparkle. 

I had a ton of fabric left over so this ended up being a super cheap project!

Linking up:

Rock-n-Roll Christmas

I was able to mark something off my bucket list this week!  Even though the house is a disaster and there is decorations and wrapping paper everywhere I will feel accomplished because marking something off the bucket list is huge!

As a Christmas gift to ourselves the hubs and I decided to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra this year!  They were nothing short of AMAZING!!!

Super blurry (had to use the small camera) but just to show how close we were to them!

                            Yes!  That is fire everywhere!  It made this pregnant lady sweat!



Christmas Ornaments!

Christmas is my most favorite time of year!  I love decorating everything!  I've been making ornaments for the tree for years now but this year I'll be selling them in the booth.  Here are some of the ones I've taken up there so far. 

 Wouldn't you know it that while I was trying to get pictures of the ornaments my camera battery died :(  fail.

I'm trying to get a feel for which ones people like the most.  I have a favorite but since I made them it doesn't count!  Do you have a favorite?