Christmas Bauble Wreath

Today is the day to take down all the Thanksgiving/fall/harvest decorations and tomorrow the Christmas decorations are going up! I always decorate right after Thanksgiving is over even though we don't get our Christmas tree for a couple more weeks (around the middle of December). I'm a huge Christmas decorating fan and this year I loved being able to make some of my own. The Christmas boxes may not be up out of the basement yet but this wreath is already hanging by the front door.

I started off with these 'baubles' - fuzzy sparkly pom-poms in silver-white and red, Styrofoam 'bowl filler' balls in red and white, and bells in red and white. I got them all at Hobby Lobby but I know some, or similar things, can be found at Michaels.

Here is the pile of all the baubles. They ended up not being enough and I had to go buy more!

And I just began gluing them on a straw wreath with my hot glue gun wherever my little heart desired. I just tried to make sure there weren't any gaps between them.

It actually took me a long time - probably a couple hours spread out over two nights. But I LOVE the outcome! This was actually intended to be a gift for someone but I loved it so much that I was selfish and kept it for myself. Hey, I can always make another one. In fact, I've already made similar ones which I'll share later. I then added a sheer red ribbon so I could tie it to the door handle.

This is by far the favorite wreath I've made!

Pearl Curtain Ties

What A Knock Out Off!

As you've probably seen from previous posts, I've recently redone my bedroom. After painting and rearranging furniture, the hardest part was coming up with some new window treatments that weren't too expensive. I got new curtains and drapes from JCPenney which was having a huge window treatment sale. The blinds arrived this week but I've been waiting for the man of the house, aka my dad, to have time to put them up. One of the pieces was broken so now we have to wait for it to get remade. My windows are such a weird size that we had to custom order.

While looking for curtains and blinds, I headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. While there, a beautiful curtain tie caught my eye. It was called a crystal pearl tieback. I left it untouched but it stayed on my mind all week so I headed back to BB&B to grab four.

I hadn't thought to check the price tag before but they ended up being $20 each! It was way too much for me after all I've been spending on curtains and custom-made blinds. An idea popped into my head and I rushed next door to Michaels and decided I'd try to make my own. Initially I wanted to get similar beads but I didn't see anything I liked so instead I grabbed some strands of pearls pictured below and some jewelry wire. I'd never done anything like this before but I was definitely excited to give it a try!

I snipped the beads off their strings and divided each kind into four even groups for the four ties I'd need to make so I could tell how many of each bead I would have so I could make an even pattern.

After deciding on a pattern I liked best, I started stringing and here's how it came out!

I looped the wire at the end and tied it around itself to create the hook.

You can check them in action here! I'm really pleased with them and the colors go great with my curtains and new paint. I still can't believe I got to make them myself for about $30 instead of $100. They're definitely a knock off that's a knock out!

I'm sharing this here...

Spooky Tree

Happy October! Fall has officially arrived and the weather is so cool and refreshing. October is my birthday month and also, of course, Halloween. I've never really been into Halloween but I don't mind a few decorations. I usually just skip over it and have some fall decorations and then add stuff for Thanksgiving, which we nearly always have at our house. But every now and again I remember to add a couple little things.

A few posts ago, I mentioned my friend Meg and I made 'Spooky Trees' but I couldn't figure out how to finish mine.

2013 Update: To make these, we just twisted black pipe cleaners into a stem for the trunk and added more for branches until we were happy with the way they looked. We painted blocks of wood that Meg's husband cut for us black and glued some fake moss Meg has lying around on top.

Well, I ended up finding images of a bat, a ghost, and a pumpkin I liked from ClipArt, edited out the stuff I didn't want, resized them, printed them, traced them, and cut them out on a few pieces of construction and glossy paper I had lying around from my scrapbooking. I then poked a hole in them with a pin and needle and made a loop to hang them with black thread. They're not 100% great (I went a little overboard with some red glitter and faces on the pumpkins) but I still think it's cute.

I also added a little gravestone just made from construction paper that says 'Happy Halloween' on it!

Stay tuned for more crafts coming your way! I've been super busy lately with them but I've got a few finishing touches that I'm trying to wrap up before sharing...

2013 update: