Christmas Decorations

I love decorating for Christmas, and it typically takes me about a week to complete it...mostly because the people I live with still have to eat and wear clean clothes!  

You must check out this blog...Restore Interiors...Kelli has fabulous ideas that don't cost a fortune.  I recently saw a wreath she created for her front door, and immediately knew it was perfect for the mantle.  So off to the Lobby I went.  I only needed a few items to complete the project, as I was recycling the wreath, ornaments, lights, and glitter.  Click HERE to see Kelli's version that I based my wreath on.  

 My finished mantle...or maybe not.  The right side looks awfully naked.  I am thinking red, glittery metal trees...that I do not own.  Ha!

 The wooden mirror behind the wreath is above our mantle year-round, and I knew I did not have anything Christmas-y that was large enough for that space (without having to spend a fortune), so I put my thinkin' cap on and decided to hang an old wreath from years ago in front of it, tied fishing line to the wreath, slapped a nail in the wall, and hung it up!  Perfect!  Except it was naked.  And then I saw Kelli's wreath.  

First, I dug out an extra strand of 100 white lights from my boxes and simply wrapped them through the wreath.  No decorator tricks, just wrapped them.  

Then I used red, glittery meshy "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby...the roll is about 6 inches wide...and created the bow, secured it by wrapping branches around the ribbon at different intervals.  Then, I painted "chipboard" letters, which are versatile and very inexpensive.  I used Citron Green, Cherry Red, and White paint and added clear crystal glitter.  Note to self...and to you if you paint these letters...decide beforehand which color you want the inside of the letters to be, and paint that first. 

 My artist friend, Stacy, at Sleepyheads Designs, gave me the brilliant tip for painting polkadots...using the eraser at the end of a new pencil!  Worked like a charm and gave me much better control than using a brush.  And as a sidenote, I did not use fancy brushes...I simply pulled out my kids' paintbrushes and picked one that wasn't crusty.  

I painted the polkadots white, and while still wet, I sprinkled the polkadots with clear crystal glitter, shook off the excess, and voile!  

 I arranged the letters in the desired position, then hot-glued them on.  Lastly, I added the ornaments, using hot glue, but florist wire or pipe cleaners strung through the ornament tops works well, also.

I really love how it turned out!

After the first picture, I added these fellows, but I will be on the hunt for "red, glittery, metal trees" since that is what keeps coming to my mind for this space...they'll have to be on sale, so they may show up next December.  

For now, mantle is complete! Thanks, Kelli, for the inspiration!