Trim the Tree

Well it officially feels like Christmas in our house. I set up the tree and put up our Christmas decorations today. I even got The Boy (who can be a bit of a Grinch) to play Christmas music this afternoon!

Now I just have to start the dreaded shopping and put some presents under that pretty tree.

Lisa.xo

December DIY: Feather Wreath

Here's my second instalment of December DIY:

Feather Wreath

I have wanted a feather wreath for some time now. They're just so expensive. And I'm so cheap.
It only occurred to me fairly recently that I should make one. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it earlier.

Note: You may need to be slightly crafty to accomplish this project.

Here's what you will need:

In hindsight, you may also need these:

Now if you'd like you can buy a wreath. But as I've said, I'm cheap and don't want to shell out $30+ for the size I'd like at a craft store.
So I decided to make my own. I got some free styrofoam from Urban Barn when I worked there and have been hoarding it in my basement until the time I was ready to make a wreath.
I glued three thin pieces together to make one thick piece.
If you're not blessed enough to work somewhere with spare styrofoam floating around you could always ask a store (they're just gonna throw it away anyway, so they'll give it to you for sure!), or if you've just bought something packed in styro, SAVE IT!

But, I digress...Let's get started.

Here's What You Do:

1. If, like me, you're making your own foam wreath you'll want to cut it into shape first. If you've bought a wreath, skip to step #7. Get yourself your pin and thread the string through it and tie it to the eyehole. Like so:

2. Stick the pin into the middle of the styrofoam. If you're anal retentive and love math you could measure where the centre of your foam is. I didn't. I like to eyeball things. I guessed and stuck the pin into what I figured was centre.

3. Measure (or eyeball like me!!) where you want the outside of your wreath to be and tie your marker or pen onto the string at that point.

4. You've made yourself a compass! Now pull the string taut and draw your circle around the styrofoam. Next you want to figure out how thick you want your wreath to be, shorten your string and draw a second circle inside the first one.
As you can see I have three rings. I drew the second circle, decided my wreath was too wide and drew another one closer to the outer circle. See? I eyeball everything. At this point it's pretty hard to mess things up.

5. This is where you cut out your wreath (now this is where you can mess things up!! Make sure you've drawn a wreath shape you're happy with). I used an old serrated bread knife. Cut around your lines. Easy peasy!

Side Note: Cutting out your wreath will be really messy!! You will have tiny pieces of styrofoam everywhere, stuck to everything!! If you have a partner who HATES messes like I do I suggest doing this while they are not home like I did. lol!

6. Ta Da! A wreath! Now, before you continue decorating your wreath you should clean up the mess before your significant other comes home sees it and has a brain aneurysm in your living room. I used my vacuum cleaner. Worked like a charm!

Anyway...this is what I ended up with: 

 It's not perfect, but I'll be covering it so I don't care. I'm not perfect either and people still love me! :)

7. Ok. This is where we cover the wreath with the feather boas. I used 3. I could've used 4, but 3 did the job. The number of boas will depend on how big your wreath is. I stapled the string ends to the wreath like so. That way, if I get bored of this wreath I can take it apart easily and not have damaged the form with glue.
Then, wrap your feather boas until the wreath is totally covered!

8. And here she is! Feathery goodness! If you've a minimalist you're done! Hang it up! I, on the other hand, am not a minimalist. I've just started decorating this wreath.

9. For us non-minimalists, this is where the fun starts! I wanted my wreath to "speak" to the rest of my Christmas decor, so I grabbed these peacock feathers from the Dollarstore to tie them in to the peacock ornaments on my tree. I had originally planned on tying a big bow a the bottom centre of the wreath, but it was too much with the fullness of the feathers. So I opted to simply wrap the ribbon over the peacock feathers.

10. All there is to do next is to hang your wreath! I've used a 3M Hook.

And there you have it! Feel free to decorate your wreath however you choose. Wouldn't it be pretty in marabou? Or maybe in another colour? What about adding twinkle lights?

I've got a one more DIY project planned for next week. So stay tuned!

Check out my first instalment of December DIY here!

Lisa.xo

December DIY: Hanging Ornaments

I thought I would start us off nice and easy for my first Holiday DIY project:

Found Object Ornaments

Even if you don't have a crafty bone in your body you will be able to tackle this project! I promise!

Here's what you will need:

Ribbon

Any kind is good, vintage, new, expensive, from the dollarstore, or remnants.

Scissors

This is for cutting your ribbon into lengths

Found Objects

This is what you will hang on your ribbon. Make sure your found objects have somewhere to loop the ribbon through. Here I've got a selection to get your creative juices flowing. I've got some vintage and thrifted brooches, some jewelry parts and pendants and a chandelier crystal.
Your imagination is your only obstacle!



Here's what you do.
1. Collect your found objects
2. Collect your ribbon
3. Cut your ribbon into lengths. Long enough to loop through your ribbon and tie. 6"-10" is plenty.
4. Thread the length of ribbon through your found object (with the brooches I just looped it though the pin on the back!)
5. Tie the ribbon. I like the simple look of a knot, but you could cut the ribbon much longer and tie the ribbon in a bow.
6. Hang your new ornament on your tree, or wherever!

I came up with this idea last year when The Boy bought me a new, taller Christmas tree and I found myself short on ornaments to hang on it and short on cash to buy more. I remembered I had a bag of chandelier crystals and an entire roll of blue vintage ribbon in my craft supplies. In less than an hour I had more than 2 dozen new pretty, shiny ornaments for my tree!

Here are the objects above paired with some ribbon in my stash:

This brooch is vintage. Imagine a tree covered in vintage and thrifted brooch ornaments? So pretty! You could unify the collection by using the same coloured ribbon on all of the brooches.

 This brooch is not vintage, it's thrifted, but the green colour and the snowflake shape said Holidays to me.

 This is a chandelier crystal I had in my stash. This one is a little modern, but something faceted would be beautiful too! Mine look great on my tree. I make sure to hang them in front of a light for maximum sparkle.

 This leaf is part of a broken necklace. I think it's really cute with the polka dotted ribbon. I can picture many of these ornaments on a white tree with sparkly tinsel on it!

This is a shell pendant in my broken jewelry stash. If you had a collection of shells and pendants on mossy green ribbon like this on your tree with some rafia garland it would be amazing!

Ok, I know this is a necklace, but as I was putting these ornaments together I was looking at the "chain" on this one and thought I would hang this on my tree as is it's so pretty! Imagine a tree covered in pretty necklaces! You don't even have to cut ribbon!

Here's the ornaments I made last year. Simple and pretty. I love them! They are very subtle on my tree, definitely not the stars, but very important supporting players.

Well I hope that got your creative juices flowing! I love the idea of making your own ornaments. It's an easy, cost effective way to spruce and personalize your holiday decor. And with the cost of vintage ornaments on the rise, this is a great way to add some vintage touches to your home for the holidays.

If you tackle this little project I would LOVE to see your ornaments!

I've got two more DIY projects planned so Stay Tuned!

Lisa.xo

December

How did this happen? Can you believe it's December 1st? Can you believe it's only 25 days (and counting!!) till Christmas??

Well, there's good news and bad news. For both of us.

For me:
The good news is that I've got my Christmas decorations up.

The bad news is that I have yet to buy one present! (Ack!)


For you:
The good news is that I have a few DIY Christmas decoration posts planned for this month so stay tuned!

The bad news is that if I'm supposed to buy you a Christmas present I haven't done it yet...

Lisa.xo

P.S. Just because November is over doesn't mean you can't comment and say "hi!" on yesterday's post! There are still a ton of you who I'm dying to meet! A BIG BIG thank you and howdy to all of you that did! :)