Christmas Entry Area and Book Shelves

Our little guy had his 6th birthday a couple of days ago!  Doesn’t seem possible that he was born 6 years ago!  My how time flies!  He’s become a super little guy that is filled with excitement, thoughtfulness and a selflessness abundance to want to help.  It’s a crazy good on how much he just wants to help!  I just love him so!  Here’s a picture of him that night.

I have so much to share and very little time to do it in.  Thank goodness my shopping is done!  A few more presents to wrap and this Christmas season will come to an end.  But first let me share my Christmas entry area and book shelves.

I didn’t do a whole lot of rearranging of the shelves from what they looked like here.

I picked up a few more books from my Grandma’s house to fill the empty spaces and added some Christmas sparkle.

I twisted regular garland with a lighted garland to give it more thickness.  Then I clustered ornaments and tied them to the garland.  I didn’t have enough to span the distance of the book shelves so I just draped it over one side. 

It you remember my DIY vase I didn’t have much luck using gold leaf.  Well I did some research and decided to give it another try.  I did paint it gold first then applied the gold leaf.  Which in some areas the gold leaf rubbed off completely and just the gold paint is showing.  I can’t even tell those areas so I decided to keep it.  Plus it’s somewhat covered in the book shelf so no one will ever completely see those areas.

My small entry tree has now become this fun whimsical kids’ tree.  It has all my Hallmark ornaments from when I was a child plus our children’s collections.  It’s fun with it’s oversized bulbs, snowflakes and curly red glittered wires coming out of it.

On to the other side of the room, we repainted our cabinet in a fresh coat of black paint.  Placed above it is a Pier 1 mirror I got for my birthday a couple of months ago.  I spray painted some curly branches and applied white glitter to a few of them and placed them into a glass candle holder.  I hung a collection of ornaments from the branches.

I wanted a simple holiday wreath to hang over the mirror.  I made this one from greenery picks that were bent and then wired together into the shape of a wreath. 

Again for the holiday season, I used my vanity tray from my bedroom and placed a bowl up top with a few sparkly ornaments within.

In the past I’ve had wreaths for my front door that have been made by me.  Made by me in the fact they took hours and hours to make.  This one was also made by me but it’s simple; it only took an afternoon!  I combined 2 existing wreaths.  Cutting greenery from one and hot gluing it onto the other.  It made a full wreath that is close to 22” in diameter.  I originally had planned on adding some pinecones and ornaments but I rather liked it in it’s simple base form.  I tied some gold trimmed red ribbon into a bow and hung it from the top of the door.

I’ll be back soon to share my little guy’s bedroom all decked out for a woodsy Christmas.  I think someday I’ll have to stop calling him my little guy or maybe not.  He will always be my little guy no matter what age he turns!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.

Girls' Christmas Bedroom

I thought I would share some of my pictures I took of the girls’ bedroom decorated for Christmas.

Last year I brought a little bit of Christmas into their room and continued it again for this year.

I found a tutorial for a feather tree that I thought would look perfect in the girls’ bedroom that I wanted to give a try.  It was super easy to make, but this year I placed it into a pot since it was a little wobbly last year.

I did make the stuffed gold fabric bows.  There will be NO tutorial coming anytime soon!  I have very limited sewing knowledge and I just kind-of flew by the seat of my pants on that project.  All I can say is I got the inspiration from this ornament.

I glittered over old ornaments and picked up a few new pink and sequined ornaments and hung them on the tree.

And a white beaded bird I purchased at Target years ago acts as the tree topper.

I tried to coordinate the Christmas tree and ornaments to the art that is placed on the wall behind.

I drew the picture of the girl.  It had mixed reviews even some tears when I was hanging it on the wall.  Why does she not have a face?  Why is she holding her necklace that way?  Why is her arm placed on her head like that?  All questions that I needed to address and never thought I would have to over a girl in a ball gown.  But now that it’s up all questions have been subsided as they can see the bigger picture of it all together.  Yeah!  That’s what I like!

My gold ornate oval mirror that I purchased on Craig’s List looks great in their room.

Pink magnolias top the mirror, are at the base of the tree and up on a shelf in a vase.  I wanted to stay consistent and have a flow within the room in using the same type of flower.

I made several different types of cone trees for their room.  One with the same glitter as some of the ornaments and one with crushed velvet draped around it.

A bowered glass tray that once had a cream and sugar container on it, now houses their perfumes and Swarovski crystal figures (that I had in my childhood bedroom) is nicely contained on top of the dresser.

One daughter has been playing the violin for 3 years now and one daughter is in her first year of the cello.  They have been practicing a Christmas song for the family on Christmas Eve.  It’s so sweet and I can’t wait!

Last year I started a new tradition for a our family.  I would wrap one present and have it under “their” tree for Christmas.  It’s something that they will carry on and have in their home when they grow up.  I’m not going to say what it is, incase someone in particular is reading this.  But when I brought up the gifts the other night my little guy, who is 5 soon-to-be-6, thought it as a 3DS.  Sorry bud it’s not!

I hope you enjoyed the mini tour of my girls’ Christmas bedroom.  I will be back soon to show what I’ve done with my little guy’s room.  His birthday is on Tuesday…where has the time gone!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.

DIY fabric covered ornaments

My fabric covered ornaments I just love! 

I’ve had these ornaments for about 15 years.  I’ve redid them twice now in different colors.  I know that sounds ridiculous to redo them but it’s just too expensive to completely start over each time – especially at this time of the year.  I’ve kept the same Styrofoam balls and have added different fabrics and ribbon to give it new looks.

I originally got the idea with step-by-step instructions and a pattern from Martha.  I did them exactly how she has them pictured with the red, blue and green.  As the years have gone by, I’ve modified her method and made them into my own creation.

Here’s what is needed to start this project:

2” or 3” Styrofoam balls

an assortment of different fabrics

an assortment of different ribbons

beads

coordinating felt

pins and scissors

Martha Stewart pattern

Begin by tracing pattern on wrong side of fabric 8 times.  I used a sharpie and it’s OK if it bleeds through – you will cover it up with ribbon.

Start to pin cut-out fabric shapes onto Styrofoam ball.  For this example I used coordinating fabrics.

Once the ball has been covered start to pin ribbon along seams.  Use all the same ribbon or coordinate it with a similar or contrasting ribbon.

Once the ball has been covered, cut out two smaller circles out of felt to cover up the top and the bottom.  I used a pinking shear to add some added interest.  (If you look closely my circles are off – oh well no one will notice in the end!)

I collected different shapes and sizes of silver beads from several different craft stores and thread them onto a pearl-headed long pin.  This acts as the top and bottom final to the ornament. 

It was funny…this year I added the color gold to the ornament and when I got out these beads some of them had tarnished.  Or maybe it’s not tarnished but some of them had turned gold.  What luck!  I didn’t have to purchase any new gold beads.

Finally add a coordinating hanging ribbon and it’s ready to be hung on the tree.

If you are using several different types of fabrics the combinations and possibilities are endless.

I will leave you with a few pictures of them hanging on my tree this year.

I really do love the look of the colors I have chosen to redo them this year.  I will probably keep them for awhile now!  It’s such a classic and glamorous look!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now.