Merry Christmas! {& decoration wrap up}

I know I'm a day late and several Christmas related posts short. My apologies. I got so busy making decorations and gifts along with the normal daily responsibilities that I was lucky to remember to take a picture, most of the time. Today I want to share the rest of the Christmas decorations I made while there may still be some interest. My kids are already thinking about New Years eve plans so I better get on it.

I have had the same decorations for eight years. Bulbs, tree skirt, even the strands of lights {that still work and remain untangled because of my OCDness when putting things away the same as they came}. This year I decided I needed something new and fresh and more 'me' or fitting for my style now. I had cranberry/wine and gold colored bulbs with matching tree skirt and while it was pretty it just isn't 'me' anymore. The bulbs were scratched up and obviously old and I couldn't wait to give them a makeover. Until I opened up my Christmas boxes and discovered they were gone and remembered throwing them away last year determined to get new ones this year. This is what happened before pinterest, perfectly useable bulbs gone to waste. Hope was not lost, I found boxes of free bulbs on a local facebook page and made {some of} my pinterest dreams come true.

I covered bulbs in sequin trim, fabric, added glitter to a pinecone, covered a bulb in pinecone pieces, stamped some bulbs that were in good shape, used white vinyl to make a Santa 'stache, made paper pinwheel & doily ornaments, covered bulbs in sheet music, twine, glitter and yarn. I added some madeover acorn bells to some as well. {The mailbox ornament wasn't made by me but by my great grandma so it's pretty special, we each have one and each year Santa leaves a little something in there too.}

My favorite makeover is the music sheets. They remind me of singing Christmas carols around the organ at my great grandparents' house. I didn't care for the bulbs covered in pinecone pieces, the idea was better than execution. Also, if you cover bulbs in fabric I found better results using hot glue compared to mod podge. Stamping on a sphere is trickier than it looks so I didn't have very many stamped {joy, merry christmas, ho ho ho, fa la la la la, silent night/holy night}. Next year I have plans for clear bulbs that I hope to find on clearance this year. Overall it was totally worth the hot glue burns.

My plans for a tree forrest were scratched when I ran short on time and shorter on sleep. But I did manage to cover one cone tree in burlap & lace trim and another in yarn. Next year I want to use book pages, twine, doilies and other things I've pinned but since forgotten.

And last to show is our stockings hung on the bookshelf with care!

With the same drop cloth I used for my tree skirt and a template I found online I made these stockings. I am thrilled with how they came out. Last year I wanted to make some but didn't so this year I was determined. I wanted something simple and cohesive but individual for each of us too.

The first is for my son. He likes wearing a tie or bow tie and is very particular about his clothes. I couldn't think of anything better to embellish his stocking. My oldest daughter asked for flowers & butterflies so we compromised on flowers. {while writing this I had an idea to put birds on hers, will I ever be satisfied? haha}. The baby didn't have much to say about hers so I layered petal like shapes and added some holly berries for a pointsettia. I still need to add some red trim to my son's and am contemplating adding their names somehow but not decided.

Around here Santa doesn't leave anything for mom & dad but sometimes we leave a little something for each other so we needed stockings too. Mine just had to have ruffles. My husband's is still plain because I couldn't think of something that was masculine but still worked. Any thoughts? I may just leave it as is, he's a simple guy so that may work perfectly.

I didn't make these bird hooks but had to share the story behind them. Back home we used to have a Pier 1 outlet store. It was fabulous. My sister used to work there and she told me about a great sale they had on Christmas items. Everything was 90% off! Of course I jumped on it. They had these pretties for $1.50 each, meaning the original price was $15.00, yikes! What would have costs me $60.00 was only $6.00, probably my best bargain to date. Only problem is I only bought four and now we are a family of five. My OCDness won't let me have one that doesn't match and I love them too much to get all new ones. Maybe one day I'll find a fifth bird somewhere. Until then dad & mom share a hook for their stockings.

Thank you for visiting!

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