Christmas Crafts

Several years ago I dreamed about a day when I would decorate each room of my house in a different Christmas theme (only this time of year, of course). A red/green room, silver/gold, gingerbread, peppermint, snowmen, penguins...you get the idea. Kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms- a whole winter wonderland! But I am just not in the season of my life to pull off such elaborate setups for reasons such as time, money, energy and practicality with two little ones. Alas, a girl can dream, right? So I can't go all out now, but I can do little bits at a time.

I've been crafting for years but ever since I learned to sew last year and even more so when Daniel bought me the Cricut earlier this year, I have been full speed ahead (when I have time that is...I stay up way too late for a mommy). You saw my ornaments a few days ago and I just wasn't ready to stop. I'm happy with my mantle setup and decided it was time to decorate the top of my entertainment stand which I've neglected for too long. Peppermint here I come.

I wish I could take credit for these ideas, but decorated styrofoam tress are all over the place right now. I bought 3 different sizes of styrofoam cones at JoAnn's for a tiered look.  Most I've seen are decorated in yarn, but I don't have yarn. What I do have is fabric. So that's what I used.

I wrapped the smallest in red then added some white ric-rac leftover from our family ornaments. Then did the opposite on the second and had a better idea for how to wrap the fabric evenly. Will likes this one, says it's like a blanket :)

And since I wanted to stay with red & white, I had to come up with something different for the third one. So I perused my paper and wah-la! This one may even be my favorite. :)

After I finished and placed them on the ent. stand, I knew they were missing something. On top. So I brainstormed and thought a ball with fringe? But I don't have anything like that and was trying to keep cost to a minimum (the cones were already $13 total). Then I thought about an ornament- I tried a couple different ones before the lightbulb went off- I have the perfect thing:

Candy cane ball ornaments! They match the theme, have some sparkle from the glitter and we have plenty on the tree so they won't be missed. I just turned them upside down and stuck 'em in the top of the cone. I love it when a plan comes together! Or at least when you want to do something, wing it and love the end product. :) Next I filled and embellished some glass vases:

I would've liked to do Jesus or Peace, but I only had 3 clear vases, so maybe next year. I cut all the letters on my Cricut, glued them on and added peppermints. Initially I tossed them in with the wrappers on but that wasn't cutting it. Removing the wrappers was a little jobby but they look so much better unwrapped. Lastly I made a Christmas subway art page:

Again, I wish this were my idea, but these too are all over the place. I looked online for free downloads and found a few but they either didn't match the color scheme or didn't say what I wanted. And I honestly didn't want to buy one when I could make one. So I did just that and it took me some time, but worth it I think. I purchased the frame at the dollar store and painted it red. And I will not purchase a $1 frame again. I broke the side trying to get the back off then after I added like six coats of red acrylic paint and let it dry, I broke the glass. So here is my broken, glassless frame. Ha! Next time I'll just get a regular cheap frame from WalMart or Target instead of a super cheap one from the Dollar Tree. Still, I'm very happy with my setup!

Total project: less than $20 (cones, frame & mints)

Merry Christmas!