We Wish You a Merry Christmas! (Part Three)

Oh my! The Christmas season has been so busy in the best way, but boy am I behind in my blogging! 

Home was not on the list of priorities for decorating this year, the schedule was just so cramped.  We did get a few simple decorations up! The tree as always, with white lights and our collection of family ornaments.  Then a few other pieces around the house.  Check out the quick captions! 

The same triple tiered baskets from my Thanksgiving vignette, kept the pine cones, and added classic color Shiny Brights! Plus a couple fun holiday balls like the snow fun above.

And this lovely seasonal messaged ball! 

My favorite part of this display was the great fabric that I found at JoAnn's! It has a bit of shine so it goes perfectly with those bold Shiny Brights! Pardon my ridiculous reflection! :)

The stairwell in our home is perfect for a gorgeous garland! Add some lights and  berry strands for some pop!

Took that Thanksgiving vignette and simplified it for Christmas! Picked a simple, but stunning fabric that belonged to my grandmother, added the white porcelain nativity set, faux candles, and basic vases with fresh greens.

Look at that fabric! Silver thread pattern!

Late one evening I got the harebrained plan to give the kitchen some Christmas cheer. Red sheer ribbon and holiday shaped cookie cutters! A little Scotch tape and they were just right!  

We Wish You A Merry Christmas! (Part One)

Oh hello! It's that magical time of year again! My favorite month of all, December! It's my birthday month and Christmas, my favorite holiday, so needless to say I'm just jolly! This time of year also means that it is time for my Christmas blog series.  Again, you will see this year's decorations at church, around the house, a quick wrapping post, and some very neat gift ideas (those will have to wait though since I have to give them so my readers that receive don't have a spoiled surprise!). Ooh! And I hope to get a post in about a fun new find that I want to put on the front porch! Merry Christmas and enjoy!!!

Starting off with decorations at my church, which features a Scandinavian theme. The theme is highly appropriate for a couple reasons, the first being that the church was founded by Scandinavians, the second being that we are hosting a few events this season that we wanted to give a Scandinavian feel, so rather than re-decorate, it was best to make it the whole theme! Many hands make things go so much faster, so a huge THANK YOU goes out to those that volunteered their time and energy! 

Everything is very simple and traditional; the color scheme is red and white with evergreens and burlap. I'll try to keep the descriptions to a minimum (I'll caption each picture like I did for the Thanksgiving post). Most of the decorations are easy to put together and I have a separate post for the felt banner.

The week prior to decorating is usually spent preparing. Lots of paper chain, and turning my burlap Thanksgiving table runners into squares! 

Picked up a dozen poinsettias from Costco for $60. Best price that I could find in town. They are used all over the building, but we have four that brighten up the altar.  On each side I used a clear cake stand to give dimension in height. 

Here is where the burlap squares came into play! I don't love the gold/silver foil that the poinsettias were wrapped in, so I trimmed the foil down so it could hide under the burlap and sheer red ribbon.

My aunt Kathy (she is so clever, and I like to think that craftiness runs in the family!) decorated the Advent wreath and table so beautifully.  More burlap and burlap ribbon to act as a table cloth. (Pardon the garbage, photos were taken while work was in progress!) :)

We use the same grape vine wreath each year and simply add our own greens and color to fit the theme.  This year Kathy added the greens and some red berry picks that I stole from my mom! Thanks mom! 

We have long and bare ledges that surround the piano areas in the sanctuary, but during Christmas they are filled with color and candles.  Kept them very simple this year. Cedar boughs, the usual faux candles (Costco has these for a decent price usually, and they are the best in situations like this!), and realistic but totally fake poinsettia blooms in red and white.

Rather than use a traditional tree topper in the form of a star or even a beautifully designed angel, we went a bit vintage! This angel is part of a very old wooden manger scene that has been at the church since LONG before I was born. She made the perfect topper for our Scandinavian Christmas tree.

I was having issues getting the entire 12 foot tree in the picture! But here is where part of the paper chain ended up!
Thanks to my dad and Dave for putting on the lights, climbing ladders, and getting that angel to stay put!

The ornaments were simple too! Pine cones with red ribbon and traditional straw ornaments with red thread to hold them together. I know Bev, Dave, and my dad did ornament hanging and they did a beautiful job!

Dave and Bev also helped hang lighted garland from the balcony rail and my mom created bows from red and white checked ribbon that I snagged from Costco a couple seasons ago. (Costco seems to be a theme here too...)

Rather than buy new, we reused the same pillar candles in glass that we had last year with the paper chains. The windows only feature the candles and wood cranberry beaded garland that I also stole from my mom! 

Kathy and Brittany took that vintage manger scene and put it to good use! Since the Christmas program needed a manger anyways, Kathy thought it was a good idea to leave it in place all season! I AGREE! I mean this is the true meaning of Christmas! Featuring real hay bales hauled in by Jeremy, Brittany and Larry. And you can see the poinsettias peeking through! 

In our coffee area and front entrance area there is a large blank wall so I thought I'd take advantage of that space and add some good Norwegian cheer! Check out the easy HOW-TO! 

Downstairs window wells feature more cedar, more poinsettias, and more imitation candles. And the center window features my little IKEA friend.  I also mixed and matched ribbon downstairs, red and white checked with the same sheer red from upstairs. Thanks to my grandma and Kitty for filling the windows with boughs!

Whole window! There are three windows total, all a variation of this concept.  

Somehow I failed to get a picture of the tree downstairs! Uff da! But I can tell you that it features a matching paper chain to the upstairs tree, little red apples, white Christmas balls, and traditional red candles! Thanks to the team of girls and ladies that put that tree together so beautifully!!!

Stay tuned for more festive ideas and creations! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

'Tis the Season (Part Five, Final Installment)

Welcome to the final installment of my Christmas themed blog posts! This post features just a couple projects and decorating ideas that I used around the house this year. Enjoy!

After creating the large pallet sign for church, I got the harebrained idea to create more signs! The first sign I created was small dark green piece with white printing, MERRY CHRISTMAS. After painting the sign and lettering, I used a piece of sandpaper to rough the piece up just slightly on the edges and across the words, just slightly.  

The second small sign I created was for a family white elephant gift exchange that has a rule about being self crafted or created.  I got this idea from Pinterest (Go figure!), and simply downsized the piece. Although I would still LOVE to create a full size sign! 

The green sign became part of my alternative wreath project, featuring a family heirloom sled from Germany and a greenery arrangement tied with a plaid ribbon. So if you come a-caroling, you will be greeted by this cheery Christmas sled! 

I believe that all parts of the home are fair game for decorating, so in order to make my room look and smell extra Christmas-y I made a very simple display on the top of a bookshelf.  I took a medium sized vase and filled it with cedar greens. Using the same green and red plaid ribbon from the sled display, I tied a simple bow around the top of the vase to add a hint of color. To finish the look, I used a piece of the vintage sheet music paper chain. I did not do anything fancy with it, choosing to just drape it casually around and over my picture frames.   

I love the simple look, and the yummy evergreen aroma that now fills the space.  Plus I just LOVE Christmas, so the decorations bring me all sorts of holiday joy!

Being this is the final installment of my 'Tis the Season blog series, and Christmas is just days, hours, moments away, let me close with a heartfelt thank you for following my blog! 

May you and your loved ones enjoy a Merry Christmas and holiday season filled with peace and blessings! 

Give a Little Love!

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching! I've been busy creating my Valentine's gifts this past week, and was able to get two projects out of one set of materials! BONUS! 

I found an adorable set of bookmarks on Pinterest that I decided would be absolutely perfect for my students.  The premise was simple and quick. I needed multicolor paint chips, a heart-shaped hole punch, a regular round punch, and ribbon! All things that I have or can acquire at a cheap price. The paint chips (like the snowman) were free from the Fred Meyer paint department. I picked up a roll of pink ribbon from our brand new Joann's, 10 yards for $0.50.  I already owned the necessary hole punches, so I had a low cost project on my hands; the best kind!

Hearts punched from the edge of the paint chips.

After punching the hearts along each color block, I punched a single round hole in the lightest color block.  I then cut lengths of pink ribbon, about 8 inches each, to tie off the top of the bookmark. I simply folded the ribbon in half and put the cut edges through the hole, then laced them through the loop at the other end and pulled tight.  I think they turned out quite well if I do say so myself! :)

The finished product!

I was able to use the punched out hearts for my next project! I created a heart shared mosaic card for my boyfriend.  I set up the design on the table then glued them into place one by one.  I used a white blank card as the base and Elmer's clear craft bond glue.

Punch scraps turned art!

Process, one heart at a time.

To finish the card, I used a red ink pen and jotted a small scripted note.  iloveyou.

Finished card, maybe I should start production... :)

Remnants of Christmas?

Since I'm just getting this blog business rolling, I have many delayed event pictures. I do, however, promise that these pictures are lovely, and will potentially provide you with future crafting and decorating ideas! These pictures are taken at my church, decorating credit must also go to my aunt Kathy and cousin Amy! These ideas are not only really beautiful, but also wonderfully simple to create.

1. Collect a variety of clear vases, bottles, jars, or pitchers. The more diversity the better!

2. Arrange the vessels in an order of your choice on either a window sill, shelf, or mantle.

3. Use white lights (preferably with a white cord) to fill the vessels. 

4. Make sure to shake the lights out so they fill up the jar without clumping.

Thanks to my aunt Kathy for this adorable idea!

This delicious smelling and delightful looking ornament was incredibly simple to create.

1. Find pine cones in nature (cheapest method) or purchase them. I got mine from Fred Meyers, they are about 8 inches long and smell like cinnamon!

2. Use a metallic gold spray paint to lightly coat each pine cone.

3. After they have dried, use 1/2 inch ribbon, we used both gold and white, to create a hanger. We simply wrapped the ribbon around the first layer of scales on the flat side.

1. Use the bottom trimmings from your Christmas tree or any another evergreen. 

2. Arrange to taste in a vase or jar. I used a simple, square, clear vase.

3. Add decorative pieces, in the picture I used a white silk, rose, beaded wire, and pearl floral picks.

This advent wreath is made of a grapevine wreath on a small tray. The candles were placed first then filled with greens and pine cones.  Pearl flower picks were placed throughout and gold ribbon was used as a garland. 

Thanks to my cousin Amy for the gorgeous work!

You need three things! Glass candle holders, white taper candles, and a garland of your choice. The picture garland was made of gold ribbon and fake pearls. I honestly have no clue where it came from, rather it was found in the mass amounts of holiday decor that fills our church attic! Reuse!