DIY Glitter Ornaments

I decided to whip up a few quick and easy decorated ornaments using the plain glass ornaments available at several different craft stores and some scrapbooking stickers. The stickers are by Making Memories. Here's how they turned out.

I planned on filling them with fake snow, but I ended up running out. I filled up one of the ornaments with curled ribbon, but I ran out that too. I'll have to watch the after Christmas sales to find some goodies to use for filling up the ornaments. For now, they will stay empty. I was happy with how cute the bird stickers looked though.

Gift Bows Created From Trash

Do you know that you can recycle old magazines, catalogs, or newspaper ads into gift bows like this?

I saw the idea online somewhere. It's really easy once you get the hang of it. All you need is an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet ripped from a magazine or other source, brads, a hole punch, and scissors or a paper trimmer. If you have a regular size hole punch, you will need large brads with a top big enough to not pop through the hole. If you have a small hole paper punch(found in the scrapbooking section) you can use smaller sized brads.

I used a Kohl's jewelry ad for mine. Who doesn't like a bow made out of diamonds? I also used these star brads that I had from my scrapbooking supply.

First step is to cut the paper into nine strips. Cut across the shorter side so your paper strips are 8-1/2" long. If you have a paper trimmer, this step is super quick. If you have to use scissors, it will take a bit longer.

Next make a loop at one end by flipping and wrapping the end of the paper around to the back.

Repeat on the other end, reversing the direction the paper is looped under so it looks like this.

Carefully punch a hole through the center of the looped paper strip. Add your brad so that the pointy ends stick out the back. The back is what you see in this photo below.

Keep repeating this step with the remaining paper strips. Move the loops around as you add each layer to create a nice, even bow. It is a bit tricky to hold all the loops on as you add the new layer. You keep adding layers onto the bottom and pushing the first layer towards the top of the brad.

When you are finished the bottom should look like this:

The top should look like this. You can see the top of my star brad if you look closely in the middle.

That's all there is to it. You can use any type of paper that you want. I thought it was a clever idea to make bows out of things you might throw away.

Linking up the Shabby Chic Cottage:

 

Another Snow Scene in a Jar

I had fun making this paper house and adding it to a jar with snow and accessories to create a mini winter scene to add some festivity to the kitchen counter.

I also liked the result of adding a seashell, a bead garland, and a layer of fake snow to a jar for the bathroom.

So I decided to create one more winter scene in a jar using some Christmas scrapbooking diecuts.

I added several die cuts trees and reindeer to the jar on top of a layer of snow. The snow is deep enough to keep the die cuts from falling over.

I moved my seashell jar from the top of the bathroom shelf down to a location next to the sink.

That way I could add the reindeer scene to the top of shelf where it is easier to see.

 

Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my home. I'm so excited about this linky party with the Nester. I love seeing homes decorated for Christmas so this is sure to be a fun one. Here are the humble decorations that I have used in my home to try and feel festive for the season. Our house is pretty small and I have limited surfaces to add decor so this is what I ended up with.

First off is the living room. I've been playing around with so many different decorations for our mantel. Here is what it looks like currently:

I added a garland from Joann's along with some bead garlands and candles to set a cozy atmosphere.

Here's how I had it decorated last week:

A roaring fire always helps it to feel more Christmasey. I'm not sure which arrangement I like better. This garland keeps losing its leaves, but I like that is more full.

I also like the simple color scheme of just using more the red and white. Which do you like better?

I also have a metal star I painted Heirloom White, a white sparkle tree from Sears, NOEL candleholders and LED tealights fromWal-Mart, and some other decorations I have had for several years.

The little metal trees on the left were made by my husband when he was a machinist. He also made the metal cross hanging on the vase below.

This is a jar I purchased on clearance at Gordman's awhile back. I added some fake snow, ornaments, bows, and an oragami snowflake. I created the snowflake according to some decorations I found on BHG's website. I will try and post a tutorial on how to make them, because the directions on the BHG site are pretty confusing.

Our tree is a bit too disorganized for my taste. I prefer clear lights, but Mr.Delightful likes colored lights. I think it's a guy thing to like the biggest and brightest colored lights. We compromise by using mostly clear with a strand of colored mixed in. Our ornaments are a hodge podge of hand me downs and some gifts. We have a few ornaments we have purchased on vacation. I would like to have two trees someday so that the main tree in the living room can be color coordinated and more streamlined while the second tree can have the mixmatch of random ornaments. I stick the really weird ones toward the back, but it's still a bit chaotic.

Next on the tour is the dining room. The dining room connects with the living room so I tried to keep mostly with a white and red color scheme to match.

I used a 79 cent bead garland on the chandelier along with some dollar store snowflake ornaments.

The centerpiece is the one I originally threw together for Thanksgiving and posted about here. It's just a $1 Old Time Pottery charger plate with spray painted pinecones and an IKEA candleholder. I added a gold bead garland and two milk glass goblets filled with ornaments and 23 cent berry picks from Joann's. The two little metal trees are another creation by Mr. Delightful. The table runner is a white sheer curtain folded in half a couple times. I decided to run it a different direction on the table.

Over on our antique radio I added a little glitter church with some fake snow, a latern, and some greenery stuck in a vase filled with snow.

Here's the nighttime glow.

My handcrafted ornament wreath hangs over the patio doors.

Next stop, the kitchen. I didn't do a lot of decorating in here. Just a few festive touches.

A $2 berry garland on the light.

A few ornaments on the star plaque I madeover a few months ago.

My ribbon wreath creation had a gold snowflake added to it.

A quick and easy table decoration using a votive holder and more berry picks. It's sitting on a little mirror from Goodwill.

I also crafted a little house out of scrapbook paper following a Martha Stewart template from her website. I added a little tree and a tiny car ornament.

The little house hangs out with the bird art I made.

Another bird art piece over the stove.

Final stop is the bathroom. All I did here was add a seashell in a jar along with another bead garland(I stocked up on them this year) and some fake snow. I know snow and seashells together don't make a whole lot of sense, but I thought it looked pretty.

That concludes the tour, thanks so much for dropping by! Please check out the other homes on the tour: