Twelve Days of DIY Christmas - Day 5 Glitter Reindeer Silhouette

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I wanted to share a project that I did several years ago because I feel that it is just as cool today as it was then. And it's a super easy project that you can do with your kids, if you aren't afraid of a little glitter mess.

And because other people have already done tutorials on this, I won't reinvent the wheel and will share this tutorial instead.

(http://inspirationformoms.com/2013/12/holiday-home-tour-2013-diy-glitter-reindeer.html)

I did this project three years ago and the glitter has held up very well. Just make sure to store it carefully after use.  If the glitter does come off over time, you can reapply glitter, just like in the tutorial.

p.s. Isn't this snow globe beautiful? The are at Homegoods for $15, and half of the purchase price goes to St. Jude Children Research Hospital. Pretty things that support a good cause? I'm all about that!

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Twelve Days of DIY Christmas - Day 4 Pom Pom branches

This is a simple and cheap way to create a fun piece that can add color and height to a decorative Christmas arrangement.

All you need are tree branches, a vase or jar, pompoms and a hot glue gun.

First, arrange the branches in the jar so you know how many you need. Next, pick out the colors you want to use, glue them on, and you're done!

Easy as that!

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Twelve Days of DIY Christmas - Day 3 Bokeh Christmas Tree

I'm back with a new project to share with you!

I found this colorful geometric christmas tree art and thought it would be fun to recreate, except that I wanted to use circles to give the effect of bokeh, or an out of focus christmas tree with colorful lights.

Martha Stewart has this great adhesive stencil film that I thought I would try out for this project.

I rolled out two rows of film and secured it to the work surface. I then traced my tree shape free hand and cut it out with an x-acto knife and cutting board, but scissors would have worked just fine.

I then removed the liner paper and adhered it to the canvas.

I selected the colors I wanted to use, and with round foam brush, which I learned are called "spouncers," I started adding circles to the canvas, a few colors at a time.

I kept repeating the process with different colors until most of the area was filled.

I let it dry completely and then came back and filled in and fixed some areas, just using paint and my fingertip. Once I was happy with it, I removed the film, crossing my fingers that there wasn't any bleed-through. There were only a couple places where the contact paper didn't hold up, but considering the texture on the canvas, I knew it could be a possibility so I wasn't too disappointed. In all, the adhesive film did a great job and I'm excited to use it on different surfaces. 

I like the finished outcome, but if I ever did it again I would choose thicker acrylic paint. I used Craftsmart paint, which is cheap, watery paint, because I thought I wanted some transparancy, but in hindsight thicker would be better. 

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Twelve Days of DIY Christmas- Day 2- Gold Table Centerpiece

With three kids, a fancy dinner table with a centerpiece and nice table settings has been out of the question. But this year is different because my youngest is finally past the "I wanna touch and climb on everything" phase, although accidents and mischief still occasionally happen. And my two older love setting the table and turning dinnertime into a special occasion, so who am I to deny them that?

So I set out to create an affordable, classy Christmas centerpiece and table setting. I wanted to do lots of gold and lots of candles, and I wanted to incorporate the teal dishes that we own.

With the glitter candle holders completed, I next took these two dollar store candle holders and spray painted them gold. My favorite is Rustoleum's metallic spray paint.

I took them outside and gave them two light coats of paint. I loved the pattern on them and was excited about the texture that it would add to the table, but they definitely needed an update.

Lastly, I took this basic hurricane and added a simple gold band.

I taped it off, making sure to thoroughly cover the areas not being sprayed, and sprayed two light coats of metallic spray paint. Once the paint was dry I carefully removed the plastic and tape and it was finished!

Once the projects were finished, I started working on the table setting. I used gold charger plates, dark teal plates, and these beautiful napkin rings that I got at Hobby Lobby for $2 each.

I used a neutral table runner so as not to detract from the center piece, and cranberry sprigs that I got for 60% off at Michaels.

Here's the breakdown of what I spent on the centerpiece:

Table runner: $10 Homegoods
Hurricane: $6 Ross
Trellis candle holders and two candles: $4 Dollar Tree
Cranberry sprigs: $4 Michaels
In total I spent $24, plus $10 on the glitter candle holders,  so considering that includes three different projects, that's not bad!

I also spent an additional $30 on chargers, napkins and napkin rings, because sadly, we really don't own any fancy table things, aside from the wedding china and glassware in our attic that we have never ever used. Maybe we'll put that out this year?

Do you do centerpieces for Christmas? How do you feel about gold? Are you Team Gold or Team Silver, or both? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear from you.

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Twelve Days of DIY Christmas - Day 1 - Ombre Glitter Candle Holders

I've caught the Christmas decorating bug a little earlier this year, and I am super excited about the projects I have in the works. Although I won't put up the bulk of our decorations until after Thanksgiving, I wanted to share with you what I'm working on now, as well as a few other projects I've done in the past, and hopefully give you some inspiration for Christmas decorating!

My first project was to take these $1 candle holders and add a touch of bling with glitter. I wanted to do both copper and gold, and possibly variants of the two colors.

 First I taped off the area where I wanted to add glitter. Then, with a soft paint brush, I liberally brushed on mod podge, leaving the bottom of the glass bare. In hindsight, I would have made the brush strokes smoother because that makes the glitter go on more evenly.

Then I dusted glitter over the mod podged areas and lightly tapped the glass to remove the excess. When purchasing glitter for this project, look for extra fine glitter for the best coverage.

Once it's dry, remove the tape to reveal a clean, sharp line. 

I repeated the same process with the copper glitter, and then in a separate bowl I combined two parts gold to one part copper, stirred it up and dusted it over another candle holder. Then I added more copper to the mixture to create a fourth candle holder with a more coppery color. 

Side by side, these variations in color create an ombre effect.  You can also do this with other color combinations like silver and gold or silver and copper. 

The supplies for this project, including the candles was only $10, with lots of glitter and mod podge left over for future projects.

They will be a part of a centerpiece that I am assembling for our dinner table, and tomorrow I will show the finished project!

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House to Home Series Part II - Fill it with Family

One great way of making your house feel more like a home is by adding pieces that remind you of family and people that are important to you. From a simple apartment to the most high end show house, anyone can add meaningful pieces that blend well into the decor.

Family Heirlooms
My dad passed away many years ago and so my sisters and I have chosen to display many of the things that my dad passed down to us from his days of growing up on a ranch in Wyoming. It's a great way to remember him throughout our day, and give a piece of him to our kids.

We each got a milk jug that they stored fresh milk in on the ranch, and all of us have decided to leave them as-is and not refinish them. One of my sisters opened hers and found it crammed full of letters from our late-grandmother, which was a really cool experience.

Each of us were also given a horseshoe from the ranch as well, and we all hang ours above our doors to bring everyone who enters good luck.

If you don't have a dad that lived on a ranch that passed down interesting relics to you, never fear! It could be something as simple as a book, a collection of family photos, grandma's knitted blanket, or in my case, a candle holder. Recently my mom was giving away a pile of junk, including this Avon turtle candle holder, which still had the original candle in it from who knows when. I remembered this turtle lying around the house when I was a kid and thought my kids would love it, and so I rescued it from the Goodwill pile and took it home and cleaned it up. He's a cool little vintage piece with a history and I love that.

If you don't have any family heirlooms, but you want to have something that reminds you of your family, be bold and ask your family if there is something you can have to remind you of them. I bet they'd love to share a bit of them with you.

Family Art

After watching Monuments Men, I resolved to honor my family and our history by displaying family artwork. The first thing I did was hang up an oil painting I did in high school. I had never hung him up before because he looks like Johnny Lingo, but I decided to embrace it's quirkiness and hang him in a prominent place in our house. I want my kids to know that we place an emphasis on artistic creation and celebrate one another's accomplishments.

The middle piece of art in the picture below is a copy of a piece that my grandpa painted, and my sister has displayed it in a really nice way in her home. Someone else in my family owns the original, but my mom felt it was important enough to make a print for each of us to display in our home.

I think its especially important to hang art that your children have done. Regardless if it's a masterpiece or a scribble, display it proudly! 

Family Photos

Maybe the most obvious way that we can make our house more homey is by displaying family photos around the house. My Mom and Dad's wedding photo is displayed on our bedside table. 

And pictures of our family are scattered throughout the house, mostly in wall collages like this one.

You can find lots of interesting ways to display your pictures (as well as heirlooms and art) online, so get creative! The sky's the limit. 

Whether it be an heirloom, a special souvenir you've collected in your travels, artwork that your children have done, or even something that just reminds you of your family history or those that you love, find a place for those things in your home. Don't clutter the house with them, but a piece here and there will be just the touch of family to make your house feel more like a home.

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Modern Provincial Girls Room and Mixing Styles

Hey friends,

I have a new House to Home post in the works but it's been rainy and dreary over here the last few days and not ideal for taking pictures of some examples in my home, so I decided to do another style board for you today and talk about mixing styles in a room.

Since my last post about finding your design style, I have been thinking a lot about mixing styles. I am really drawn to the clean lines and graphic qualities in modern and mid century decor, but I love me a beautiful provincial style desk or arm chair with curvy lines and turned legs. Especially when it comes to feminine girls rooms, I think mixing styles is a totally acceptable thing to do.

It was love at first sight when I saw this canopy bed by Pottery Barn Teen. It makes my heart go pitter patter. I love everything about it, and it can be used with so many different styles! When thinking about this bed in a pre-teen girls room, I can see it used with bright bold colors and clean-lined furniture, but I can also see it being complimented by a french style desk and soft, feminine fabrics. So I decided, what the heck, I'm going to use both.

I chose a few geometric pieces like the lamp and clock, and decided on a lucite chair, which is a great example of mixing modern design with classic lines. I chose fabrics that were graphic but feminine and romantic, and the Anthropologie wingback chair has a romantic classic feel, but can work in a modern space as well. The french provincial desk from Chairish (which has unfortunately already sold,) and this very traditional, scalloped mirror are both very "Marie Antoinette" but are the perfect bit of girly that this room needs. The gold side table from Chairish is an incredibly versatile piece, as well as the cool bamboo teal dresser, also from Chairish.  So here you go, a modern, provincial style girl's bedroom. What are your thoughts about mixing extreme styles like this?

******Thanks for humoring me with these style boards. They are a fun way for me to stretch myself and improve my design skills, and since these are all for fun, I don't limit myself on budget. The total cost for everything on this style board is $4243, not including the french desk which I remember being at least $1,000. That's a thousand percent more than I could ever dream of spending on a single room for my home, and I certainly don't expect my readers to fork over that much either. But these style boards are meant to inspire, and I hope that if this board inspires you, you can find similar pieces for a thousand percent cheaper and create these looks on a budget you can afford. ******

Here are the links. Drool away.

1. PB Teen Canopy Bed
2. Anthropologie Bedding
3. Polka Dot Pillow
4. Bokeh Pillow
5. Flower Pillow
6. Love pillow
7. Lucite Chair
8. Provincial Desk (from Chairish but already sold. Sad face.)
9. Wingback Chair
10. Gold side table
11. Teal Bamboo Dresser
12. Pink Lamp
13. Wall Clock
14. Gold Mirror

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