Tag Archives: decorations

Thoughtful Thursday – Last Minute Ideas To Save the (Holi)Day!

Grumpy Cat, meet Grumpy Dog. (slash Rudolph)

Put on that antler headband, and beat the bah-humbugs with our list of last minute holiday cheer!

Christmas is less than a week away, and yuletide is upon us. If you haven’t made your home festive (or you want to add some extra,) or if you just haven’t been able to come up with gifts for you friends, neighbors, or that relative that’s really hard to shop for, here are some last minute ideas to make your season merry and bright. (Click on the images for more info.)

Easy Decorations:

Simple, inexpensive, and elegant.

 

This has to be the prettiest, simplest tree I can imagine. Outline with lights and add paper cutouts of stars (or snowflakes!)

 all about the paper snowflakes

Speaking of snowflakes, here are some beautiful patterns to use!

20 minute crafter - make a giant star for less than five dollars - it is made from yard sticks.

 

Make an inexpensive outdoor star decoration with yard sticks.

..

 

Forego the can of fake snow, and break out your glue gun instead!

Free Printables:

Christmas Printable Freebie

Buddy the Elf printable.

Christmas printable

 

 

Holiday subway art printable.

Printable Christmas Banner!

“Noel” banner printable.

FREE Printable Christmas Gift Tags

 

Forget the expensive wrapping supplies. Use magazine or newspaper, plus these cute printable tags.

Quick Gifts:

I have to remember this for Christmas!!

An adorable gift for the women in your life!

Christmas on your stove. Made with Cinnamon sticks, dried lemon slices, dried orange slices, dried apple slices, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, bay leaf.  Great neighbor gift idea.

A natural home fragrance that smells like the holidays. A great gift for the neighbors!

DIY Lip Gloss using TWO ingredients!

 

What tween or teen girl wouldn’t love some pretty lip gloss in their stocking?

DIY Rosemary Mint Shave Cream

 

Whip up a big batch of this manly smelling shaving cream, and divide into small containers for a great gift. Add a straight razor (and print out a good how-to) for a gift the guys will use all year!

Of course, don’t forget our giveaway to enter to win this gift-able handmade necklace:

 

Share the Love,

Chelsea

 

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Welcome, Spring!

Finally, some warmer weather. It’s so nice to see and feel the sun. Around here, we relish in Spring, because by the time Summer gets here, it’s pretty miserable.

It’s time to list new things in the shop and sign up for any shows we’d like to participate in this season. The pop-up market in Fort Worth is coming to Arlington, so we may see what that’s all about! Things are busy here at the center where the hubs and I live, what with our new management, and all the seasonal activities coming up. The big event is our annual Spring Banquet to celebrate our students, and, to honor our new staff and all of the changes being made, I chose the theme “new beginnings.” For the past couple of years, it’s been my job to come up with a theme, buy and make all the decorations, and put them up the day of. Fortunately, we started a little sooner than we did in years past, so I have plenty of time to focus on making things look spiffy!

For our buffet table, I decided to create a display inspired by this tutorial: DollarStoreCrafts: Make A Floral Monogram. As you know, I love me some Dollar Tree, so I knew I would be able to find exactly what I needed to create what I had in mind. Here’s what I have so far:

005S-R-N- What does that spell?!?

… “Nothing, Chelsea, that spells nothing. What are you talking about?”

Never fear, “PIG” is here:

006

For you word scramble enthusiasts, you’ve already figured out that when you alternate the floral and moss letters, that spells “spring.” The moss letters are another dollar store creation. Right now, they have tons of moss on sale of different kinds. I chose the Reindeer Moss for it’s pretty green color, which matches our color palette of grassy green, yellow, white, and pops of red and blue.

It’s not “Make It Monday,” but I thought I’d go ahead and share how to make the moss letters:

What you need

Foam board

Moss (about one Dollar Tree package will cover the front and edges of a 12″ letter)

Blade (box cutter, exacto knife, etc.)

Hot glue gun

How to make it

1. I used some leftover foam board (that I also bought from the dollar store,) to cut out letters that were relatively the same height and width of my floral letters.  They measure about 12″ tall and 5″ wide. If you’re not confident in your free-handing skills, you can always print out letters in your desired font to create stencils to trace onto your foam board.

2. Once the letters are cut out, warm up your glue gun and open your package of moss. Begin separating the moss into chunks so that it’s easier to handle.

3. Spread glue over a small section of your letter, and quickly grab a chunk of moss and press down. You’ll find that there’s probably excess moss that doesn’t attach, but that’s OK. It’s better to have that extra to keep you from burning your fingers as you press down. Continue spreading glue on small sections of the top of your letter and adding moss.

4. Once you’ve covered your letter, tilt it and shake any excess moss off of it (as if you were working with glitter.) You may see that you have a couple of “bald” spots, in which case, just add a drop or two of glue, and use that excess moss to patch it.

5. Now it’s time to cover your edges. Use the same technique, this time, laying glue down the line of the edge for several inches, then covering with moss until you’ve covered the entire edge of the letter.

6. Depending on what you’re doing with your monogram or word, you may want to cover the back of the letter in moss as well. If you’ll be hanging the letter on a door or wall, it’s not necessary, but it gives it a nice, finished look.

7. Now you decide how to display it. You can glue a ribbon to the letter to hang it, glue a dowel or two to the back of the letter to “plant” it in a pot or vase, or leave it as-is to prop against a nook in your home.

There you have it! I’ll be sure to post pictures of my finished “spring” display once it’s done, and some pictures of the rest of the decorations for the banquet.

Share the Love,

Chelsea

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Make It Monday – A Very Belated Reveal

Um, wasn’t Halloween yesterday? No, wait, that was Christmas. Where did the time go?!?

Anyway, here’s the very belated reveal of my finished mermaid costume and our Trunk Or Treat decorations:

It’s hard to tell that I’m super glittery in the pics, but I assure you I was glittery for a week after! (And it was the glow in the dark kind …)

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Chelsea

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Favorites & Freebies

Happy Friday!

I’d like to share on of my favorite shops I’ve come across on etsy:

RedMarionette

The Woodland Critter Set

Her shop is filled with silly and cute little creatures that always bring a smile to my face! Check her out for some fun ornaments and decorations this season.

Not-So-Scary Skeleton

Also, one of my favorite new things that a friend shared with me on Facebook is the Better Homes & Gardens 100 Days of Holidays daily email. They have such great ideas, like this silly-scary pumpkin vase. Thanks, Melissa!

Hammered Gold Cuff Bracelet

For an amazing giveaway checkout the Give-Away-Diva’s Wendy Mink Jewelry Giveaway! There are a lot of people entering this giveaway, but I’d say it’s worth a shot – the bracelet is worth $175.00.

Here’s to a fantastic Friday!

Share the Love,

Chelsea

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