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?
Or on Facebook!
Super cute. I want to be more creative this year with decorations.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Chile? I am from Chile! I have followed your blog since I saw a pin of yours on Pinterest. Are you still planning on moving to Chile, let me know if you need any info.
ReplyDeleteLeticia