Christmas crafts and decorations

A couple of weeks ago we had two parties at church. I was in charge of the centerpieces for the parties and since our budget was pretty tight for both, I had to find inexpensive ways to make the tables pretty. Along with the help of several other ladies who provided centerpieces, we were able to make the round plastic folding tables in the church gym look more festive.

Here are some of the centerpieces I came up with.

Do you know how awesome dollar stores can be? I love our local Dollar Tree. They have these tall glass hurricanes which were easy to dress up. For the middle hurricane I punched a snowflake pattern in some red card stock with my Japanese hole punch.

Since music was a big part of the program for both parties, I used sheet music for several of the centerpieces. This one was the easiest.

Joann had their Christmas ribbon 60% off recently, so I picked up a few rolls of this lovely music print wired ribbon for less than $2 each.

I made a sleeve out of the ribbon for this hurricane.

Each one got a flameless LED candle (also found at The Dollar Tree) for a little ambiance, since real flames aren't allowed in the church building.

This little sleigh was a clearance purchase at a craft store a few years ago, so I added a few "presents".
I wrapped some blocks in craft paper and tied them with ribbon or string.

The Bargain Center always produces interesting finds, including this wreath on a wooden stand. I wove some ribbon through the front and back and along the outside.
The glittery reindeer ornament came in a set of 2 from The Dollar Tree.

I found this rusty pitcher at a local thrift store and just filled it with some silk poinsettias that I already had and attached jingle bells (also from The Dollar Tree) for some extra detail.



This weather-worn lantern came from the Bargain Center as well. It had apparently been used outside, but all I had to do was clean it up, scrape the wax out and add a little LED tealight inside. I love how rusty and battered it looks

Target had these mini trees in their Dollar Spot so I picked up 3 and just had fun decorating them. This one got some mini bulbs (also from Target's Dollar Spot), a pom-pom garland from The Dollar Tree and a little banner that I made.



The white tree is my favorite. The mini star came from Michael's...

...and I made a banner for this one, too. (It says "rejoice", in case you can't tell.)

I made the garland from string and faux pearl beads, ornaments from thread and mother-of-pearl buttons, and tiny curly-cues from strips of sheet music.

Finally, another pom-pom garland...

... some button ornaments and a "peace" banner with a button star on top.

I got kind of carried away with trees while I was working on these projects.

The mercury glass tree on the left was a Bargain Center find, and the one on the right was an old book that I cut the cover off of, trimmed down with my Exacto knife, curled it into a cone and secured it with a paperclip. The wire star is my lame attempt to make something from only what I had on hand.

Another tree! This white ruffly one is just a Styrofoam cone covered in folded coffee filters.

Okay, I guess that's all of the centerpieces I took pictures of. Now I can show you a little of the Christmas decorations I've put out lately. I've tried to keep it minimal since we're gearing up for a move at the end of the month. But there are a few pretty things here and there.

I came across this beautiful vintage sled at the consignment store when I was dropping some things off.

Isn't it cool?!

There's no telling how old it actually is, but I love how weathered it is and the fact that the decals are still visible.

Meet Rudy. He's our helper elf that Santa sent to keep an eye on our kids. He decided to hang out on the sled the day I took these photos. Isn't he cute?
This "rejoice" banner is similar to the "boo" banner I made for Halloween.



How cute is this little wooden family of deer? Also a Bargain Center find!

My mirror got swagged with some faux greenery and these pretty bulbs that I found at a thrift store the other day.

My apothecary jars are filled with mini pinecones and tiny gold bulbs.

This is as much of a nativity set as I have- just the wise men and Mary with Baby Jesus...

... but at least I have the most important One.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree 2010

Once again, I've been gone too long. Things around here have only gotten crazier since I last posted, so I've been forced to neglect this little blog of mine. But don't think I haven't been crafting! Ohhhh, have I been CRAFTING. One of these days (if the sun ever comes out again) I'll take some photos of what I've been doing. LOTS of Christmas stuff has been springing from my desk. For right now, though, I'd like to share our Christmas tree with you.

First, let's have a look at last year's woodland-themed tree.

This year's tree is quite different.

Silver and white is big right now, so I thought I'd jump on the trend. I also added touches of gold to warm it up a bit.

I bought a few new things, like the sparkly branches, the ribbon and these glittery birds.

Joann has a lot of their floral items at 50-60% off, so I got a few of these feather and tiny bell picks for $1 each.

These clear plastic ball ornaments were from Michael's (also 50% off) and the glittery snowflakes came from Joann for around a quarter apiece.

I can't find a box with a lot of my ornaments in it, which includes my sentimental ones. So the tree this year is missing some of its usual nostalgia. But I did manage to find a few ornaments that make me smile, including this one painted by my husband for our very first Christmas together ten years ago.

And of course there are the photo ornaments that I adore.

Remember this one?





At first it looks like our tree has no star, but it's nestled up there among the highest branches.

I didn't have a tree skirt to go with my color scheme, so I had to come up with something easy and cheap to cover up this monstrosity.

This tree turned out to be REALLY heavy and while we were trying to stand it up it fell over (before decorating, thank goodness) and bent one of the screws in the base. Long story short, we got the base on as straight and tight as we could, then I chopped up a chair to raise it (last year we used my wreath box) so there'd be room for the presents, and then used some cardboard to tilt the whole thing so it'd stand up straight.

Anyway, back to the skirt. Here's what I came up with.

I bought a couple packages of this cotton craft batting at Joann (40% off with a coupon) and after doing some measuring I started cutting out my scalloped pieces.

I just butted the edges of each piece against one another then zig-zagged them together.

I zig-zagged along the top for added stability then attached ribbon to either end to tie it onto the tree base. EASY.

While I do miss my childhood ornaments and the other sentimental ones that are usually present each year, I really like how the tree turned out. It's sparkly.