Easy DIY Christmas Decoration Ideas

It is a Pinterest kind of Christmas around here.  I mean really, do you even remember what the world was like before Pinterest?  


Last year, I gave away an entire bin of decorations, in an effort to just have less stuff.  We live in a house with over 2000 sq feet and in a matter of 7 years, we have filled every inch and corner with stuff.  


It all started last July, when I started packing, when we were about to move to Chile.  I just gave away everything I had packed up, because I realized I didn't even need it or miss it!  I have been slowing clearing out stuff, ever since.


So this year, I reduced down again, and gave another two boxes of Christmas stuff away.  I only kept the stuff I really, really loved or that was a family heirloom.  Has anyone else gotten rid of Christmas decorations this year to simply life and have less stuff?


Of course, I also wanted to make room for a few new pieces, but overall I still have way less stuff in the house.


Ok, so the felt Christmas tree.  Took all of 20 minutes.  Cut out a big ole tree, mine is about 3 feet tall.  I got the green felt for a couple of dollars in the remnant bin at Joann's last Christmas.  I had enough to make two trees and gave one to my friend.  Miss P is not the biggest fan of it yet, but I really like it.  She likes to make Mickey Mouse's out of the ornaments.  I just did circles for the ornaments (I used some of my gorg bamboo felt) but if you get really inspired you could make fancy ones like these.

As I was cleaning out all of my decorations, I realized I had 9 boxes of red glass ornaments in one bin.  I slightly remember buying them, thinking, they are so cheap!  I could do a ton of different projects with them!  And never did.  Because there was no Pinterest back then to light a fire under my arse.  


I finally put them to use and made a wreath.  I used this tutorial, it called for more balls (hee, hee that's what she said), but I was not about to run to Micheal's just to get one more box, of balls, so I made due.   You can see that mine could have used a couple of more (can I get away with another that's what she said joke here?) to make it more full, but whatever. 

I saw this idea from the one and only Martha.  I used all of Penelope's old Christmas socks and went out and bought the rest.  You can get Christmas socks at Target for $1.  I hung it up in front of her play room.  It is not exactly functional this year, because I didn't put anything in them.  But baby steps!  I was thrilled just to get it done!

I put stickers on the socks instead of embroidering on them.  Less time and if for some reason I want to use them or repurpose them, I can just rip the stickers off.


See that little red and white stripe one with the green ball on the heel?  I bought those for Penelope her first Christmas.  Her feet were so small then!  Sigh.  

Yes, here is Miss P, at 4 weeks, in jeans.  There was no lounging around in plain onesies for her.


I also made Christmas trees with lights for the front porch.  I had both the tomato wire and the garland already.   I couldn't get a good picture of mine, but you can sort of see them in the background here.

I was also inspired by my Candy Cane board and instead of putting cranberries into my glass vases like I normally do, I put candy canes inside. I also wrapped red ribbon (that I had on hand) around the big white columns on my front porch and made them look like candy canes.


And lastly, I changed up my shelf/mantel from last year and did a couple string of lights instead of pine tree branches.   


So there you have it!  Do you have any easy, cost-effective holiday decorating ideas to share?  






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$2 Dishtowel Christmas Pillowcase Dress

Yup,  I made my daughter I dress out of dishtowels.  

It is one of those things that could go very wrong or very right.  I wasn't convinced it was right, until she tried it on and then I felt pretty damn good.  But Penelope would look cute in a potato sack, so I am not sure if I am seeing clearly. 


I have seen dishtowel skirt tutorials online and that is what planted the seed for the idea in the first place.  Apparently, people are making other types of children's clothing with dishtowels.  I am not sure about this, but mad props to this mom for being creative.


In my mind a dishtowel is thicker and a tea towel is thinner.  This dress would probably be easier to sew with a thinner tea towel, but I liked that the dish towel was thicker, because it would give her added warmth this month.  Not that we need it, the high was 80 yesterday!

Miss P was not really in the mood to be photographed this day.  She just wanted to play, can't really blame her.

I originally planned to make her a Christmas dress with some amazing, vintage inspired Christmas fabric I found, but after I paid for it, I got an email saying they were sold out.


I needed to come up with plan B and I did not want to go into Joanne's and wait in line for an hour, so I decided to tempt fate and experiment with the dish towels!

I got the towels at Target, the day after Christmas last year, and got them 50% off.  They came in a bundle of two, and with the sale cost $2.  I used one for the front and one for the back.  I had the ribbon and bias tape on hand from another project.


I think the pattern design of the towel is what is going to make or break a sewing project with a dish towel.  It has really got to be super cute. I love this modern Christmas design, I think it makes the dress pop.


You sew the towels together, along the long sides, right sides facing.  This gives you a tube of dish towel.  Then you cut out your arm holes, sew the bias tape on, and make a regular pillow case dress like here and here.

I also made this little cutie, inspired from where else, Pinterest.  I wanted to make a shirt that could be worn with her red and green skirt that Penelope wore for her birthday.  You did see the Apple Party pictures, right?!


So what do you think?  Is the dish towel, pillow case dress, a right or a wrong? 






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Christmas Bucket List!

                                                Free printable here.

Oh, I am so excited it is December!  Last year, I wrote down a list of everything holiday themed we did, and the things we didn't get to, so I could remember for this year. 


I am big on traditions and consistency.  I think kids thrive best when they can depend on not only a daily rhythm but a yearly one (a little flexibility is good of course). 


I want to give her memories and traditions that I never got, or didn't get consistently.


I want to try and do a Christmas themed thing every day, even if it is something super simple.


I am so excited that she is 2 now and can really start to participate and experience the joy of Christmas and that my husband and I will get to relive that magic through her.


Ok, so here is my list.  Please let me know if I am forgetting anything, like I said a lot of these traditions are new to me!

• Open some new christmas jammies on Christmas eve.
• Make and advent calendar (did this already, I will show you soon!)
• Put up lights outside this year.  Papa, this is all you.   And you better do it soon.
• Put up a second Christmas tree in the kitchen for our salt dough ornaments.
• Make salt dough ornaments 
• I would love to take Penelope to disney to see all the decorations and lights.
• Some sort of volunteering that is age appropriate.  I need some ideas! Maybe go to an assisted living home?  Shop for toys for underprivileged kids?
• Go see the Christmas lights in our neighborhood.
• Go see the Christmas lights at Dorothy B. Oven park
• Go to Thomasville's Victorian Christmas (Dec 8 & 9).  We went to Tallahassee's last year and it was meh.
• Get our Christmas tree at Tallahassee Nurseries.  We have gotten our tree there since 2005.  Peter likes the stands they sell because they are really sturdy and that they put the tree on the stand for you.
• Bake Cookies!  I am going to try and make ginger cookies this year, from a recipe from Peter's great-grandmother, wish me luck!
• Go get our turkey from the farm for Christmas Eve dinner
• Christmas Eve Mass
• Take Penelope to see Santa.  Last year the restaurant in our neighborhood golf course did a Santa brunch.  It was a really relaxing way to see Santa, so I hope they do it again.
• Watch holiday movies, last year Polar Express was her favorite.
• Get a special ornament for Penelope (this is done too, I will show you on Monday!)
• Get a wood or plastic nativity scene so Penelope can play with them.  Teach her the story. 
• Make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  Usually I buy store bought, but I would love to figure out an easy recipe to make them from scratch.  Anyone have any easy ones?
• Eat pan dulce on Christmas day.  This is an Italian tradition from Peter's family in Argentina.  His family is of German and Lativan descent, even though they are Argentian.  There are so many Italian-Argentians, that the tradition has stuck.
• Handprints on the tree skirt.  The year Penelope was born I bought a tree skirt from Red Envelope and you make hand prints each year and then in twenty years its full.
• Crafts!  I have several all ready planned out, but still looking for a few more ideas
• Make a gingerbread house.  We did this last year, well Papa took it over and we watched, it was really fun.
• Make Penelope a Christmas outfit.
• Make one of her gifts.
• Put cookies and milk out for Santa on a special plate, I bought one last year, so cute!
• Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas day.

So there you have it!  What am I missing?  What is your favorite Christmas tradition?



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Easiest Halloween Decoration Ever

Like I mentioned in this post, I had some left over chalkboard paint from when I did Penelope's playroom makeover.  And now I wander around my house, mentally referring to my chalkboard pin board on Pinterest,  trying to find things I can paint with chalkboard paint. 


One Fall, several years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to buy 5 million clay pots and put mums inside and line them up and down my front steps.  It was beautiful, but not very practical.  Ever since, I have had mountains of these clay pots in my garage, just waiting for the perfect DIY to come along. 

I had been meaning to rearrange and re pot some of my orchids and replenishe their soil with some orchid fertilizer.  I slapped some chalk board paint on the pots first before I replanted.  I painted two coats.

Then I wrote Boo in white chalk.  I love how it came out!  So stinking cute and best of all, EASY.

I have seen all kinds of footprint artwork on Pinterest, but I haven't seen this till my friend did it.  She made hers out of felt and put it on a felt, trick or trick bag she made for her daughter.  I was going to do this painted version, but my other friend beat me to it.  She watched Penelope for me the other day and they did this craft together.  


I think this would look super cute in a black frame with a white background.  It would be cute to do this every year and make it a tradition.

 

And lastly, another super easy, toddler craft that doubles as a Fall decoration.  Again, this is not my idea but one of my friends.  Penelope had so much fun doing this, she says Paint Pumpkin!, several times a day.  It is just plain old acrylic paint and let your little one go to town.


Oh and P.S.  remember this post with my Candy Corn pins?  Yeah, well, I was right,  I ended up eating the entire glass jar of candy corns. I actually pulled it off the counter and sat down with the damn thing on my lap and watched a movie.  No more decorating with candy corn for me.


What is your best and EASY Halloween decoration?

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Valentine's Day Skirt

I made this skirt for Penelope for her Valentine's Day outfit.  It was so easy! Even easier than a pillow case dress.

It took me about 15 minutes, no joke.  And a half a yard of fabric.  I got a yard of this fabric from Joann Fabric's the day after Christmas for like $4.  I had a little fabric left over and made her a little matching head scarf.

       I made it a little long so she can wear it for awhile.

Isn't she an angel? Oh, I love her so much.

Valentine's Day Mantel Idea's

This is what my Valentine's Day mantel looks like.  It's meh-so, so but it was fun and got my creative juicing going.  I don't have very many Valentine's Day decorations, so this is just something I threw together to have something in the house decorated for sweet Penelope.

 

I mod podged these rocks from our back porch with little heart shaped pieces of scrap fabric.  I saw the idea from this blog.

       Then I dumped some Sweetheart candy in some champagne glasses from my cabinets.

Then I made a heart shaped garland with scrapbook paper I had on hand. I just cut out hearts from a plastic template thingy I have and hole punched two holes on either side of the heart. It's a heart shaped hole punch that I got at Micheal's years ago, they still have them. And strung them together on a piece of ribbon.

Here, here and here are couple of other cute hand made Valentine's Day decoration ideas to check out.

What have you Mama's been up to?

Holiday Mantel Inspiration

 

Thought I'd share a little holiday decorating tip!


I really love simple, nature-inspired holiday decor and this one is very easy and cheap to do!

 

First get some cheapy ornaments from Micheal's or some other place. The day after Christmas is when I buy any holiday decorations, always a steal to be found.

Then get some Frasier Fir branches for FREE when you get your Christmas Tree.


Trim them up to fit the size of your mantel and then mess with their placement until you are happy with how it looks.

 

Then I had Peter go outside and cut down some branches from our Japanese Ceder tree for some variation.

 

Lastly, place ornaments on top of the tree branches, varying in size, color and texture. 


I like a monochromatic look, but I think mixing up the colors would also look pretty. In the past, I have done this with all white candles and one year I did it with just pine cones. Most of my holiday decor stays the same each year, so it's fun to have an area that I change it up each year.


What does your mantel look like this year?