Tag Archives: holiday decor

Couldn’t find the wreath I wanted, so I made it. A Shiny Pink Wreath DIY.

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I’ve been wanting to do some fresh holiday decor for our new house, and knew I wanted to go with something a bit more modern as our new house has a more modern architectural feel. And it had to be magenta. I wanted a pair of shiny ornament wreaths and looked for ones in magenta, and couldn’t find them anywhere. So what’s a creative girl to do? Make my own of course!

The “ingredients” were pretty inexpensive. I bought everything on Amazon. The plastic ornaments come in large quantities, 60 count for the larger ones and 90 count for the smaller ones. The wreath forms are simple wire ( I used 18” ones), and the ribbon is a 1” wired satin. And of course, lots of good ol’ hot glue.

Putting it all together took about 1 1/2 hours and was pretty simple. I started by wrapping the wreath form with the satin ribbon and attaching it to itself with a bead of hot glue on the back (flat) side, tying it off with a long loop at the top for hanging. Next step was attaching the plastic ornaments with hot glue. For the first layer I spaced the larger balls somewhat randomly about 1-2” apart around the ribbon covered form, then started filling in with both the larger and smaller balls. Be generous with the hot glue and attach the ornaments to each other as well as the wreath form. Be sure and do this on a flat surface so the wreath will hang flat on your door.

I had a few extra ornaments and a lot of extra ribbon left. I used the ornaments, along with a couple really big ones and some fake greenery (well, “pinkery” ) to fill the pots that flank the entryway. I’ll be adding a lot more next year, but at least we have a little holiday cheer for this strange season 🙂 Happy Holidays!

    Happy Holidays! A Night & Day House Tour

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    Happy Holidays All! No matter how you celebrate the season, I hope you are having fun! Here is our new home all done up for the holidays. It is scaled back quite a bit since moving into our new (and much smaller) home, but I just can’t let go of my Maximalist leanings 🙂 Long-time followers of the blog will recognize most of our decor from the old house recycled in new ways for the new.

    The only “new” things this year are the fresh wreaths and garland from trusty ‘ol Trader Joe’s, our adopted curb goose we brought home to live with us last year, and new sequined ribbon on our tree (75% off from an after-the-holidays sale at Neiman Marcus).

    First, the Outside.

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    Happy Holidays House Tour 2016 – Outside

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    Happy Holidays all! As promised, here is the outside of the house this year, scaled back from previous years but still festive and fun. (See he inside here: https://atomic-temporary-47873803.wpcomstaging.com/2016/12/23/happy-holidays-house-tour-inside-2016-with-helpful-hints-tips/ It’s all multi-color lights out front (the secret to a mish-mosh of decor items, a cohesive color scheme). Nothing new this year, just a few things moved around. Everything is either alley finds or thrift store scores collected over the years.

    At night, all sparkly bright 😉 My favorite is still the bubble lights, I’d cover the house in them if I could…

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    Holiday Decorating 2014, Part 4 of 4…Outside…It’s a Multi-Colored Good-Time Christmas, on a Serious Budget.

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    Here it is Part 4 of the 4-part Holiday 2014 Decorating Series…Outside! Firstly, allow me to apologize for the picture quality. I use my iPhone and it just takes crappy low-light pics. Below are pictures taken both a dusk and after dark.

    I changed things up a bit outside this year, as I managed to accumulate a decent amount of multicolor light strings over the last couple of years and decided to change the front to all multicolored. Every one of these light strings came from the thrift store, many of them new in the box, and most of them only a couple bucks. That amazing lit garland over the porch? The one with all the ornaments and multicolor LED’s? Believe it or not, someone threw it away! That, along with the lit wreath on the door, were found in a near-by alley. (This garland was inside on the stairs last year.) The tree in the yard was our old Christmas tree before we upgraded to the big one we have now. The tree next to the front door was yet another fabulous alley find. All the pine cones are leftover from previous years. The only new things are some assorted pine boughs I bought, which are in the pots and along the porch’s half-wall where the bubble lights are (yes, even those were found at the thrift store.)

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    Unique Christmas Holiday Decorating, Part 3, Other Spaces…

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    Happy Holidays people! It’s time for the third installment of the 2014 Holiday Decor, Other Spaces! In Part 1 & Part 2  you saw the entry and main room, now for those little touches of the holiday season in other rooms of the house.

    The Kitchen.

    I’ve been looking for the right place to display these sweet handmade ornaments my friend Gina made, and finally figured out the perfect spot in the kitchen. I found a fun way to cover up the nails with these colorful kids plastic magnet letters spelling out “XMAS”. They are simply hung on the nails, but a dot of glue from the hot glue gun would hold the letters more securely in place. (My friend Gina also made the ceramic chicken plate on the wall, and the rest of the art above the molding is some my old painted polymer clay art work. The colorful dimensional painting below the molding is a $10 thrift store find.)

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    Elegant, Unique, and Sorta Victorian Holiday Decorating, Part 2, Christmas in the Main Room.

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    Welcome to Part 2 of my yearly Holiday Decorating series, the Main Room! This is the room we go all-out in. It’s in the front of the house and can be seen from the sidewalk, and is where we wind up doing the majority of the entertaining, so it’s where most of the madness happens for every holiday.

    I really didn’t add anything new, just a couple odds and ends I picked up at the thrift store since last season and some new glittered ribbons. If anything I actually toned it down a bit from last year. I do like to change it up a bit every year, using things in different spaces and in different ways, leaving some things in storage, and finding new goodies from my “stash” of supplies to add to the mix. Moving things around is the key to keeping it fresh and fun.

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    To the right as you walk in the room.

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    Elegant, Unique & Sorta Victorian Holiday Decorating (On the Cheap of Course), Part 1 of 4: the Entry

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    The Holiday decorating is finally done! It only took me 3 days this year 😉 I really didn’t add anything new, just a couple odds and ends I picked up at the thrift store since last season and some new glittered ribbons. I do like to change it up a bit every year, using things in different spaces and in different ways, leaving some things in storage, and finding new goodies from my “stash” of supplies to add to the mix. Moving things around is the key to keeping it fresh and fun.

    Today for Part 1 I’ll share the Entry Way. (The Main Room, the Outside, and Other Spaces are coming to the blog soon!)

    I actually toned it down considerably from last year, when I had the stairs done in ornament-packed multicolor garland (which is now outside, you’ll see it soon!) This year, I stuck with my jewel-toned decor and just made a few subtle changes. I still used my favorite decorating trick, peacock feathers (sooo cheap and what a great visual impact! Find them in bulk on Ebay), but added some dyed teal ostrich feathers left over from a big party decorating job I did a couple years ago, as well as a new wired purple glitter ribbon I fell in love with.

    Instead of adding tons of feathers all up and down the garland like I usually do, I just used them in groupings at the newel posts and center point. They are simply tucked into the garland (this is the same garland I’ve been using for about 7 years now, purchased half-off at Target the day after Christmas.) At the bottom of the stairs I also added a couple of strings of big purple Mardi Gras beads from my supply stash that I acquired from a party years ago. The new purple glitter ribbon is simply added on top and held in place by the wired garland.

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    The view upon entering the front door.

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    A closer look at the stairs. That’s one of our Dogvacay guest dogs, Cleo the Weimeraner, towards the top of the steps.

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    Here’s a close-up of the newel post. Yes, that is a taxidermy peacock “Herman” to the right, one of my most prized possessions. He “lives” there year-round.

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    This is at the bottom of the stairs, just to the left of the front door. The big lamp is simply adorned with a bit of gold glittered ribbon (I used more of it in the main room) and a sprig of fresh pine. In the mirror is a “sneak-preview” of the Main Room, coming to the blog next!

    The Big Switcharoo…Halloween into Thanksgiving, Decorating Quick & Cheap.

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    Halloween is over. Sigh. All the skulls and spiders and crows are packed away, (and the leftover candy has been packed away…mostly into my thighs ;-). It’s time to settle into the Fall, tone it down a bit, and gear up for the fabulous feast that is Thanksgiving. Here’s a look at what I’m doing for decor this year.

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    Holiday Decorating: It’s in the Details, Like FREE Pine Boughs (Here’s Where to Get Them)

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    This post is #100! Thanks for celebrating this milestone with me. Enjoy!

    Nothing screams “It’s Christmas-time!” quite like the fresh boughs of the humble pine tree. Green, needle-y and great-smelling. I used to buy a big box of cut mixed pine boughs every year. They are beautiful, but pricey. Last time I checked a box was $40, and that’s wholesale! I swore to forgo the greens this year…

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