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Monday, December 13, 2010

Smoke and Mirrors...

So - I mentioned what the blog is about in my last post (which you can read here) and today I thought I would show you about the way that I have decorated my tiny little shack for Christmas. I am not done yet (I don't think) but I am not really planning on doing much in the way of Christmas decorating this year. My sister-in-law is getting married on New Year's Eve (yay), and we are having a huge birthday party for my Hubs and his dad (who turn 30 and 60 respectively) next Saturday, so Christmas is just taking a back seat this year. That's fine with me as we don't have any children yet and we are spending money redoing the house so we don't need to spend any money on presents...total load off my mind.
Before I show you pics - I should mention that my dear Hubby is in the construction field and a carpenter by trade. Which means - you guessed it - NOTHING is finished in my house. We have almost no trim in the living room (with the exception of two living room windows) and no trim or baseboards upstairs in our bedroom. C'est La Vie! It's just the way it goes.
So - because I am not really feeling Christmas this year, I didn't feel like dragging the decorations out of the basement. We decided not to do a real tree or replace our old faux tree, so I decided to get a little table top tree in a pretty urn. I can always use it outside for the rest of the year and next Christmas.
Here she is:

Isn't that pretty?!
You will notice that the Angel topper is WAY too big for that dinky little tree, but it was on sale and I am sure we will have a bigger tree to use it on next year. I spent 5 dollars (5 dollars!!) on the ornaments and bell garland from the Dollartree. (I already mentioned this in my first post but - sorry for the crappy quality - you can't hardly see the ornaments or garland...trust me they are there). I also bought a cheesy sparkly drapey (very technical) thing and 3 faux giftboxes at the Dollartree and...that's the tree this year!
BUT - because I am planning on showing you ALL the nitty gritty details of these projects. This is what the back of the tree looks like -


As you can see - there is only 1 ornament on the back of the tree, and the garland does not go all the way around. That's how WE roll. I really just didn't want to spend anymore money so I  am only worried about the view when you walk in (it looks so much better in person than in the photo from my stupid camera). I feel that if anyone has a real problem with the back of my tree, they can just leave. That's all there is to it.

***SIDE NOTE: You will also notice a random jar of dirt sitting there on the top of the wall...that's from another project - Thanksgiving centerpieces. I REALLY wish I would have taken pictures of that projects. It was another one that took forever and 2 tries to get right. But I was happy in the end.***

I mentioned in the last post that I haven't quite got the hang of the glue gun yet. Lets look at an illustration of this point. Shall we? (oh yes let's)


I started by buying a wreath at our church for $10. Not a bad investment I thought. It was just plain greenery. I needed more bling. I had left over faux crystals from my wedding a year and a half ago, so I stuck those in randomly (or what I thought was randomly until I took a step back and realized that I had actually made them in a circle pattern - oh well, whatevs!). Then I had a thought!! For some reason the hubs decided to buy a HUGE bag of Cinnamon scented pine cones before thanksgiving (why? I don't know). I have been trying to use these bad boys up. I had a few left and thought they would look good added to the wreath. So I took out the handy, dandy, glue gun. I am really NOT good at that thing - YET (I will get the hang of it - I am determined).
Lets look at what I mean -


See those stringy-spiderwebby looking things? YEP...that's glue. I cannot for the the LIFE of me figure out how to stop the glue from doing that. If anyone has any tips, please share. I actually wound up having to glue the pine cones on twice because when I saw the glue strings at first I was pulling them off - which pulled off the pine cones...arrrgghhh. So I did it again and just left the strings there. I guess this wreath is what you would call a Monet. Looks pretty from far away but up close its just a big 'ol mess! (Quick - 5 points for naming the movie!)

So that's the story mornin' glory. It's all just about what you see and what you don't. I have a few more projects waiting in the wings to show you. I also get my new Silhouette SD craft cutter tomorrow and I am sure there will be TONS of trial and error to show you. I am hoping to use it for wedding crafts as well as Christmas crafts. We will see...Thanks for stopping by!


I have decided to Link this post up to the Dare to Decorate challenge going on over at Newlywoodwards

Dare to DIY

4 comments:

  1. Hey Debra! Im a new follower! I LOOOVE your charlie Brown tree!! I would LOVE for you to visit my blog and 14 days of xmas trees! I have a floral giveaway you might like! Tomorrow I will be starting a Linky of anything xmas...would love for you to join :)

    *ENTER CUSTOM FLORAL Give-Away Here *

    xoxokara

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  2. love the wreath! that little gems are there a so inpspired. thanks for sharing!

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  3. I really like the idea of having a table top tree in an urn. It really dresses it up that extra bit!

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  4. The wreath is pretty. I love the sparkles and I"m a huge fan of the pinecones, esp. since they smell good.

    Thanks for linking up!

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