Holiday Extravanganza

OK so here's the thing. I have spent a fair amount of time perusing holiday decorating ideas online and in magazines this week. To the point that I was in a little funk last night about how un-cute all of my stuff is and how I wanted other things. Then I remembered that the point of this season is to celebrate faith, family, health, and blessings--not stuff. I told Taylor, "I just needed to get my head out of the Pottery Barn and back into reality." So with that said, I hope you have fun with these ideas and that they enhance your holiday season. (Please don't be like me and start coveting things! Don't worry, though. I'm out of my funk now.)

Thank you all for sending your fun ideas. We have a lot of things here that are simple, eco-friendly, and kind to your pocket-book. Be creative! Use things you already have! Have fun! Make things with your children! Make memories! Keep it simple! OK enough preaching. On to the goods...

I thought I'd start with some fun family tradition ideas. Something Taylor and I try to do is collect a nativity or Christmas ornament when we travel someplace new. (Think about it-you find yourself wanting a souvenir, but you don't want some junky figurine or something--a Christmas item is totally perf because you get it out once a year and actually use it and it reminds you of your trip.) So here's our Mexican Nativity
and our Paraguayan one. We also have a lobster ornament from Nova Scotia. It's pretty much sweet. Anyway, you get the idea. Very fun.

Another fun tradition is an idea I got from my sister, Liz. You wrap up all of your holiday books and movies at the beginning of the month. Then, each day, your kids get to unwrap one and read or watch it. It's a fun, advent-calendar-ish way to get into the Christmas spirit.
Speaking of doing fun things with your children, here's a fun one from Danette:
"It is so fun to decorate with things your children make. The wreath that Scott is holding was made by tracing his hand several times and cutting around it then gluing them on a round piece of cardboard. I have made this craft with Katie also, but we used green foam instead of green paper. The other picture is of my boys one day they had the idea to be Christmas trees so they made stars and ornaments and taped them to themselves. They even wore them to kindergarten and preschool that day. Black mail pictures during high school years."

A more grown-up wreath idea now from Sally:

"Basically I just hot glued a bunch of stuff to a grapevine wreath and then spray painted it silver with lots of glitter to top it off." Isn't it fun?! I love the ribbon instead of a wreath hook. Brilliant.

Speaking of wreaths, this is where I show off my $4 green, glittery winner and remind you that it's all about the after Christmas sales. I picked this up about a week after Christmas last year at Paddington Station-- one of my favorite local shops here in Ashland. $4 down from $38? Yes, please!
Now, on to garlands. I love them. It's nice to use fresh greenery in some places, but it obviously doesn't last forever. My mom has a fab faux garland and it has wowed us for decades. My friend, Kate has one, too. See?
Kate says she bought the garland and the wrapped the lights and berries and such around it herself. All available at the craft store. Isn't it warm and charming? I just love it.

On to mantels. Danette says her mantel has several looks throughout the holiday season. Here is the first one. I love the use of greenery and how the picture of the temple takes center stage.

My mantel is a work in progress. My mom lent me all these green votives which I love. In the vases (recognize those?!) are paperwhites. Do you know paperwhites? I love them. They are a great winter bulb. You just put them in a tiny bit of water with some rocks or marbles at the bottom for the roots to grab hold of. So obviously once the flowers appear my mantel will look a little more complete. I think I'll add some fresh greenery, too. And maybe something glittery. Oh, also, sometimes the water looks icky because of the bulb. I was sick of looking at the murkiness last night so I fastened the ribbons around the vases with glue dots. It's about 786 times prettier now.


Of course my dream is to have stockings like these hanging from my mantel, too. And I am totally resolved that I am going to knit them myself. I'll let you know how that goes!


Here is Beth's gorge mantel. I love how monochromatic it is and how the wreath is off-center.

It doesn't get better than silver and sparkly, does it?

Joan's mantel is dar. I love the clean lines. And I LOVE the family pictures. Important reminder of what's the most important this season.

Need some more decor and craft ideas? Buckle up!

Traci sent me some great ideas. First, here are some fun wall decals she found. Next, check out this DARLING advent calendar she's making. (Inspiration from Martha Stewart, of course.) Instructions here.

Next, Lisa:
"I have a white wall with white shelves, so I decided to line the walls with pretty wrapping paper. I'm sure not everyone has a space just like that but they might be able to adapt the idea to another bookcase or part of their house. For only $3, I'm pretty happy with it."

Ooh, Lis, I'm pretty happy with it, too! I love!

How about fun things to do with paper? I thought this was a darling way to do gift tags on gifts--cut out a block monogram. What a fun way to use all the million cardstock and scrapbook paper scraps we all have! (I think this is from Martha, too.)

Speaking of paper, Lisa also tipped us off to some greaties:

DesignSponge's White Paper Holiday
Modern Paper Ornaments and Paper Ball Ornaments

And check out Danielle's Snowflake Craft. It's brilliant, as is everything that gal does.

And here are some pretties from Pottery Barn (thanks for the links, Em!) that are simple to create by yourself:
Cranberry votives
and
Gift Garlands

Also from Emily:
"My grandma nan knits all of our stockings (she has for all of her children and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. so neat.)"
"I needed some winter wonderland in my entry, so i hung sparkly ornaments ($1 each at wal-mart) on fishing line from the ceiling. I like it when they twirl. You could also do a christmas mobile for the same effect. I like."

"Santa ornament (also made by Grandma Nan). she and my grandpa used to tag-team the ornament construction (one for each grandchild) -- he'd carve them in his shop, she'd paint them. after he died, she's gotten really creative with home-made ornaments that don't require a saw. this one's made out of a bent spoon, can you tell? i think it's precious."

A couple more Martha finds that I love:

Mini Stockings (thanks, Christina!)
and
Eco-friendly stacked trees (thanks, Lisa!)

I also thought it would be fun to include this link to Stephanie Nielson's Christmas decor last year. Her house is a regular Anthropologie, so I thought you'd enjoy: Nie Nie 2007

And to top it all off--CHECK THIS OUT!

Thanks for all of your contributions, everyone! This has been so fun to compile. I hope it gives you some great ideas to give your holiday season a little extra magic.

loves,

anne