Christmas Decor 2010

I wanted to be a part of the big Christmas tour of homes at Nesting Place, but I think I'm a little late. I thought I'd share anyway.

I feel like my decorations are even done really. I didn't include a pic of my stairs because I only have naked garland wrapped around the railing and a bow tied with the ribbon spool still hanging off of it. I couldn't commit to the ribbon, so it's been that way for a couple weeks now.

Anyway, on to the pictures....

I showed you my mantle and new stockings,here.

Here's the living room tree. Every year, I say I'm gonna get a big tree during the after Christmas sales. Our ceilings are so high that this 6 ft tree looks like a dwarf. We'll see if I get one this year.

I added some green ornaments this year. Most of them I bought at the Dollar Tree and Walmart had some great glittery ones for $1.

One of our nativity scenes.

I love to see how the figures are rearranged daily. Notice the optimus prime next to Joseph. He was there at the birth of Jesus, right?

Here's our upstairs tree with all our family ornaments. I used to put up a larger tree, but half the lights were burnt out so I picked this small table top tree at Goodwill for $5. It was prelit with colored lights (oh yeah) and was still in the box. The only bad part is that all our ornaments didn't fit. We just picked out our faves and it was all good.

I really wanted one of these Little People nativity sets last year, but they were sold out. So, when Target had them for half price at $13 a few weeks ago, I snagged one up! I love to watch my 2 year old play with it!

He always puts the sheep on top of the barn where the angel is supposed to go. He also likes to put most of the characters in a big cluster. Apparently, we've lost Mary. That's never good.

Well, those are the highlights. If you want to see some really awesomely decorated houses, go here!

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Vintage Merriment

My friend, Nancy and I just opened an etsy store.

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Christmas crafts

Well, we are really getting ready for Christmas this year at our house. I really wanted to do an advent calendar with the kids this year. I haven't found a ready made one that I really like. I wanted to make one and found some awesome ideas for them all over blog land, but there was one problem....it was November 30th when I finally decided to do it. So, I didn't have much time to be creative.

I was browsing the aisles at JoAnn and found an advent calendar kit for like 5 bucks.

It took about 26 hours to put it together. Not really...it was more like 2 hours, but still. I think I might could have made one of the other super cute ones in the same amount of time. I still think it turned out cute and it was totally fool-proof because I didn't have to think a bit- just glue all the pieces together. The only thing I changed from the original design is I put burlap over the white polka dotted chipboard back pieces.

I decided to put verses in each pocket rather than candy or anything like that. My kids have really enjoyed reading them every night. I hope this will be a great new Christmas tradition. Maybe next year, I'll make a cute one! For more advent ideas (for next year of course!) go here.

I also made new stockings this year out of burlap and some trims that I had around the house! It was fun, except for cleaning up all the burlap fuzz!

Go here to check out some other great Christmas crafts!

Our Christmas Mantel

The Lettered Cottage was hosting a mantel party yesterday and of course, I am late!

I decided to decorate our mantel a little differently this year. If you want to see last year's mantel, click here. Because our tv sits right on top of our mantel (not too excited about that, but it is what it is), I can't use really thick garland or the remote doesn't work...which makes hubby and the kids upset. So, I went with a skinnier garland and a few red bulbs scattered throughout.

I saw these topiaries on a blog (I thought it was How Does She but can't find the post now.) and decided to make some of my own. ((( ----Found them. It was here.)))

I only spent $4 at the dollar store on glitter and 2 styrofoam cones. They are placed on top of some brass candlesticks spraypainted cream. The larger round topiaries are made from some old forms I kept. I stuck them in my trusty white Ikea pots and threw some moss and ribbon on them. I think they might need a polka dotted bow tied on the stem. Don't look too close- I ran out of glitter!

Next to the topiaries, I put some milk glass vases each with a silver ball ornament on top

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I bought these stocking holders last year at Target after Christmas for like a buck a piece. Although the shapes are kind of cute, I was afraid they were a little too juvenile looking.

So, I peeled off the felt backing on the bottom and unscrewed the metal weight.

Then, I unscrewed the decorative piece and put it all back together.

I had been wanting some stocking holders for a while, but they can be so expensive when you have to buy 5 of them! This was a great fix and they are plain so they are versatile with any Christmas decor.

Speaking of stockings, I made new ones this year out of burlap. I made each one a little different and accented them with trims and buttons that I already had.

I like the way it turned out this year!

Go on over and check out everyone else's mantels to get some great ideas!