Deck the Halls...

It's been over a week since my last post as we've been very busy with some personal family matters. To keep my mind off things I've been listening to Pandora's Peaceful Holidays station. This really got me itching to decorate for Christmas.

Here's what I've been up to:

For my kitchen window, I took an old birch tree stick, some velvet ribbon and some ornaments and made a Christmas-y window treatment.

Until we get that faux fireplace figured out, I've decided to just pretend that this area already has a mantel. 

While we are on the subject of Christmas, do your kids believe in Santa? At what age did they stop believing/you told them the truth? How did you break the news?

Reindeer Hairclip Tutorial - super easy!

Pretty self explanatory here. :) Make antlers from brown ribbon and hot glue.

Make a loop with tan/light brown ribbon and hot glue. Attach antlers to clip first, then attach head to clip.

Make a small loop with red ribbon and hot glue.

Attach nose and some googly eyes. 

How to make the Christmas tree clip you see on Pinterest

Supplies: Lighter (or Fray Check), scissors, hairclip, yellow, green & brown ribbon, hot glue gun.
Cut the green ribbon as shown. 2 shorter strips (about 1 1/2"), 2 medium strips (about 2") and 2 long strips (about 2 1/2")
Cut a 2 1/2" strip (or thereabout) of yellow ribbon.
Cut and glue the brown ribbon to cover the side and top of clip. The brown is the tree trunk.

With a teeny dab of hot glue, secure the ends of each ribbon together as shown. It will look like a teardrop.

Glue each "teardrop" to it's mate as shown.

Starting with the larger loops, attach with glue to he middle of the clip. Then, glue the middle loops slightly above the larger loops and finally, the smallest loops slightly above the middle loops.

Tie a small bow with the yellow ribbon and secure with hot glue to the top of your "tree".

Christmas Wreath

Another inspiration from Pinterest. (I'm completely hooked on that site!) I made this wreath for our front door for less than $5.  Because of the kids, I've retired all our glass ornaments in exchange for safer ones. They've been sitting in the Christmas box for years just waiting to be put to good use again. That's when I stumbled upon this gem on Pinterest.

Using a coat hanger, our old glass ornaments and some velvet ribbon I got at Hobby Lobby for 50% off (90y for $4.49) I made this pretty wreath in about 10 minutes.