I finally feel like Christmas really is right around the corner. It’s starting to get cold, Christmas lights are out in full force, and my house smells like pine. We weren’t going to get a real tree this year, but once all our holiday plans were laid out it seemed that we will be having more family visit than ever before. I am super excited and I was really only waiting on a slight nudge to go ahead with the tree. This is more like a push off a plank- blind folded. I am working on blowing my house up with Christmas- although I’m not much for the obvious and traditional. So this makes my task a little harder, not to mention I won’t be spending any money on my decorations. Time to get creative.
We jacked up the tree so that we could buy a less expensive, shorter tree.
I decided to use rafia as the tree topper and then I paired it with my sparkly and shiny ornaments. The upstairs tree got all of the colorful and fun ornaments. I realized I needed more shiny ornaments, so the hunt began. I found my crystal punch mugs and silver goblets. Both made beautiful ornaments. They are heavy, so I had to hang them close to the trunk. I love how the light catches off of them from within the tree. I also made ornaments from a collection of yard sale broaches.
I love how it turned out. A little wild birds nest, meets messy with a lot of shine. I wanted to wrap burlap around the base of the tree, but I didn’t want to buy a new roll. I found this fabric remnant (left over from a shower curtain I had made) that has the same color tones as burlap but also has a little shine. Fits the theme perfectly.
There is only one place that I can put a tree so that you can it from the street. So, I always set up the fake tree in our upstairs sitting area. Like I said earlier, it got all of the fun ornaments this year. It also got the tree skirt that I slaved over. Surprisingly I actually like how it turned out.
Here is our mini tree in the kitchen. It is actually the topper of an old tree. Somehow when we received hand-me-down decorations it was separated or put in the wrong box. I just put it in a quart sized mason jar and covered it in burlap. I love how the large ornaments look on the miniature tree. A little old fashioned, mostly wooden ornaments with an Americana theme. I have to be careful each time I plug it in because it’s a little front heavy.
Then there’s the mantle… I love my every day mantle, so it’s not too much of a change. I just added ornaments to the frames that I always keep on the mantle.
Shane and I went to the Northeast Georgia mountains for our honeymoon. While we were there we visited a chainsaw artist. He made us a personalized piece and we picked up 3 Christmas trees. They were painted green, which was a little too hokey for me so I sprayed them brown. They are perfectly rustic and I wish I could keep them out year round. I actually tried 2 years ago, they made it until July when Shane finally convinced me they are truly ‘Christmas’ trees.
I got the ‘Faith’ sign a few Christmases ago when we decided not to exchange gifts on my mom’s side. At the last minute the rules changed to dirty Santa and we all scoured the drug stores and convenient stores open on Christmas Day to find gifts. I love it and I’ve used it every year since. Not sure there are too many other presents from years past that I can say that about.
This is before I hung the stockings. Yes, the random pitch fork is part of my year round decor.
I got two of these angels made of branches at a yard sale for a dollar each. Shane thinks the one below has a broken trumpet. I tried to fix it, but it’s actually made that way. Not much I can say for it only being a dollar. It’s quirky.
Now for random touches. I will keep adding them as I go. Like I said, I kind of want my house to be throwing up Christmas by the 25th.
I pulled out my mason jars and punch mugs and used them to fill up the odd little ledge in my living area. I put votives in random jars and I like it so much, it might stay year round.
You remember my fabric garland…
I got the red milk jug canister from a thrift store a few weeks ago. I just filled it up with the branches that we trimmed off of the bottom of our tree. I’m debating on adding ornaments, but I’ll probably leave it as is.
Our entryway…
The Merry Christmas sign is made from wire (I found it last year after Christmas). I just laid it on top of the mirror.
I think this is all I have out so far. Next week I’m going to set up my tablescape.
