2010 Christmas Decor = 800+ Count Coffee Filters

So this year's decor is just about exactly the same as last year's decor with the exception to about 800 plus coffee filters and two Dollar Tree crafted apothacary jars (Click the link for tutorial). Here's the overivew of the living room decor. Yes, there is blue table off of our makeshift coffee table. It's my son's. He loves to sit there and play, eat, color, etc. It has become one of those staples that I have become so used to seeing, that I forgot to move it before I took the picture. Oh yes, and before I forget, notice that I have no disco ball hanging from the ceiling fan. However, my husband wanted to hang some ornaments, so you're seeing the bottom portion of the cluster of ornaments..... This is a picture of my kitchen. I have no idea how to decorate the kitchen for Christmas. I bought these mirrored cones, which I fell in love with. Look how the sun comes in the windows and puts the reflection all over the walls. I love them!!! Well, now what do I do with the cones? My husband bought our son his first train set this year, so it's on the table where we can watch to make sure the inquisitive toddler doesn't touch it. This year, the cones are surrounded by the train, but next year, I'll have to come up with something a little more decorative.

Another picture of the tree and the mantle

Okay, so here's where the 800+ count coffee filters went. See the wreath and the three trees at the bottom of the fireplace? Yeah.... They sounded like a good idea; they looked easy to do; and pretty much all of that is true... HOWEVER... They were a pain in the backside as far as time goes. They took FOREVER to make. If you want the tutorial, The Nester has a great one. If you click on her name, then you'll be directed straight to her site.

Here's my crystal centerpiece. I bought the votive holders at a local thrift store. The crystal stemware and candlesticks came from a local shop.

Here's another photograph of the coffee filter trees. I hot glued three glitter ornaments on them.

The coffee filter wreath with a $1.00 Wal-Mart glitter ornament.

My Big Lots shatterproof ornaments. I love them. Do you know how many times these fell off the tree the day we put it up? I'm so thankful for plastic ornaments... LOL

My favorite Christmas decorations of all.... the silk and glitter amaryllis. Next to them I put the apothacary jars I made. I found directions on the Dollar Store Crafts website. I simply bought a glass vase and a glass candlestick and glued them together. In $2.00 I have a nice apothacary jar. In the jar, I put some instant snow and matching Christmas bulbs.



Now, does anyone have any suggestions on how to hide the wall AC unit and how to fill the shelving with items the toddler won't disturb? It sorta looks like I just up and quit the decorating in the living room.

Christmas Linky Finds

Today was day two of the linky party, but it was hosted by Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality

Her focus was on the Christmas Vignettes. I absolutely loved looking through everyone's links, but found the following items as my favorites (click on the blog name & you'll be linked directly to the blog):

The Adventures of Nick and Jessica had an awesome Rustic Glam Christmas vignette, but I fell in love with the idea of the lights behind the picture frame. This is just so simple & shabby chic... LOVE IT!! I've been afraid of hanging my Swarovski holdiay ornament collection this year because of our son running around like crazy. Maybe this might be a way to showcase them... I may just try & see...

Another inspiring idea I found via the link to Unskinny Boppy. The dining room table boasted a beautiful dough bowl of lights and ornaments. I immediately told my hubby that I found an idea to use our dough bowl. Then he wanted to know if I was going cut a notch in it and now, I'm just not so sure... But regardless, I love this idea and may try to find a way to do this using battery operated lights instead. Thanks for the inspiration!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Okay so it's December. I can't believe it! Where has the year gone? Well, I haven't done one thing to start decorating for Christmas... yeah, I know, I'm a total slacker.... Working full-time, chasing our toddler around while I am at home, being six months pregnant, and now I'm sick with a cold, I just haven't felt like doing too much of anything. I have been listening to Christmas songs on Pandora, though.... does that count?



Luckily though, I'm following Thrifty Decor Chick on twitter and she sent out a reminder of the holiday linky party starting today with The Lettered Cottage. I jumped on the site and found some awesome Christmas mantle decor. Through the links, I found an awesome coffee filter wreath by Cottage Instincts & some gorgeous burlap stockings in the colors of my Christmas decor. Here's an overview picture of the wreath and stockings hung on the mantle. Oh I'm so in love!!!





Then, linking from Cottage Instincts, I found another blogger who made some burlap stockings that are so adorable with burlap roses... and she wants to know if we want a tutorial on how to make these... Um hello??? YES!! Here's the picture of these darling little stockings on Cozy.Cottage.Cute

Earlier this year, my mom and I were shopping at Pottery Barn and found a burlap table runner that I fell in love with, but couldn't justify the price they were asking for a piece of burlap. So we had gone to another store and I thought I had found one. She bought it for me and when we got home, I excitedly opened it up to discover I picked up the wrong package and got a table topper instead. Now the square table topper looked awful on the oblong table... Yes, I tried it.. So I thought it would be cute as a tree skirt this year, but then looking back at my Christmas decor from last year, it wouldn't really match. Well, now I can use it as a tree skirt if I make these stockings, but I'm desperately hoping Sarah at Cozy.Cottage.Cute puts out the tutorial.
I found a great tutorial on the coffee filter wreath on a blog called Crafty Texas Girls If you click on the title of the blog, it should take you straight to her awesome tutorial. You'll see she's got a gorgeous painted brick fireplace, too. I'm so jealous!!! I hate our red brick fireplace. This just inspires me to want to do some more updating. Uh oh... There's another "TO BE DONE" item that will probably never get crossed off! LOL
I am so embarrassed now, looking back though this blog at my Christmas decor from last year after looking at all the links on Layla's website. Oh and by the way, what is up with the disco ball looking ornament hanging from my ceiling??? LOL Oh I've got a lot of work to do this year!!!!
Anyone have any great suggestions about what to do with the eyesore of an air conditioner stuck in our wall? EWWW I hate that thing!
Well, my throat is sore as is my throbbing headache. My hot tea is gone and I'm off to bed to get some rest so I'll feel somewhat decent for work in the morning.
Love to you all!
Jaime

Kitchen Cushions

I've been busy scouting out the internet searching for nursery ideas. We're expecting a new little one in a few months and I'm all excited to once again be designing a nusery.

In the process of doing so, I've happened upon some awesome kitchen cushions. For months now I've searched the local stores high and low trying to find something to match my kitchen. I love Pottery Barn's style, but nothing just really struck me as "I HAVE to have those." Well, I came across some yesterday on a site called http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ They are adorable, but at $29 each and I need 6, that's a lot of money... Yowza..... So, for now, here are the pictures of them and at some point, maybe I'll become creative enough to try to hack them.

Ready for Christmas

Okay - so we used the time this weekend to get the house ready for Christmas. We've got our inexpensive, yet live, Christmas tree up and decorated; the mantle is completed; and the stockings are hung with hope that St. Nick.... Nevermind.....

Anyway, as you can see, I used the aqua, silver, and white theme. I bought the tree skirt from JoAnn Fabric. It is just silver brocade fabric I purchased at 60% off plus another 80%. It's not hemmed or shaped for a tree skirt. I just used pinking shears on the edges and threw it around the base of the tree. It's my version of the "Tree Skirt Mistreatment"

You'll see the gifts we purchased for everyone over on the shelf. I'm keeping them up high from the baby (to prevent early opening urges), but they're in paper to match the tree. Maybe one night when he goes to bed, I'll put them under the tree to get a somewhat finished picture... hmmm

So what does a 15 month old do while you're spending the afternoon decorating the tree and listening to Christmas carols? He plays with the empty bulb containers of course!!

Oh yes, and not to forget about the curtains. I've been following a blog called The Lettered Cottage by Layla Palmer and another called The Nester. I absolutely love those to blogs. They've got to be my favorites. Anyway, The Nester does "mistreatements" with fabric to make no sew curtains. Also, Layla did a blog entry about using painter's canvas drop cloths for curtains. So I combined the two and came up with this (keep in mind I haven't ironed yet - just wanted to see what they would look like):