We Need a Little Christmas {Part 2}

I have recently been perusing my previous posts, and realized I am a bit of a rambler!  I hope I don't deter anyone from reading because of my goings-ons, but I love to share where my inspirations come from and how my projects evolve.  But I will do my best to keep it short and sweet but still full of good stuff!  :)

 

So, here we are with {Part 2} of my Christmas cheer!  As with {Part 1}, I have a couple of projects I did for our Christmas house this year that I think are pretty unique and hopefully you will enjoy.

One such project that I've known for a while I wanted to do when I first saw it on Pinterest was the mason jar snow globes.  Aren't they sweet?!

 

Seen here

But I had to give mine their own twist.  :)

I didn't use mason jars but found a different type of jar that was slightly bulbous.

 

I found these cute little woodland creatures that I arranged with assorted mini Christmas trees.  Once I had my three scenes, I glued them in place onto the lids.

 

Because I was creating "woodland" scenes, I decided to give my trees some red berries.  So cute!

 

I had thought it would be neat to have my globes a little frosted, to add to the wintry atmosphere.  Then I thought it would be neat to create a little window in the frost to let me see into my woodland world.

 

I found some small paper doilies for my "windows," but they were a little too large, so I cut off some of the lace around the edge, then cut a slit from the edge to the center {radius}.  I overlapped the new edges to make a smaller circle.  It also made a slight cone-like shape, which helped conform better to the bulbous shape of the jar.

 

After I taped all my "windows" in place {two on each jar to see from the other side as well}, I spray painted the jars with frosted glass paint.

 

Once the paint was dry, I added my "snow" along with some glitter {for that extra sparkle something}.  Then screwed on the lid, with woodland scene attached, flipped her over, and watched the snow fall over my forest.

 

 

 They are so cute!

 

 

This one is my third favorite project.  I may have to add more scenes next year, who knows.
 

 

You may have noticed the picture of my mantle wall last year in my {Part 1} post.  On either side of the mantle was my really sad Christmas card holders.  That was a result of needing to be innovative with what I already had.  It's not bad, but I knew I wanted something different for this year.

 

Christmas card holders are all over Pinterest, and one picture had inspired me enough that I was going to add it to my home.

Seen here

But as I was outside looking for a branch {or something else that might work}, my light bulb whopped me upside the head.

 

A tomato cage.  Shaped like a Christmas tree.

 

I pulled one out of storage from our garden last year.  First, I needed to shape it a bit, so I cut the rings then re-secured them a bit smaller with heavy gauge wire.  Then I made my pointed top by also securing it with wire.

 

It was a used cage, so it was slightly dingy and rusty.  So I wiped it down, then painted it silver.  While the paint was still wet, I dabbed it with a paper towel to distress it just a little.

 

You can't really tell in pictures, but after the silver was dry, I went over the cage with green glitter paint to give it just a hint of green.  I also added a few red sparkly bows to my tree at the intersections, then topped it with a star and big red bow.

 

I used baby clothespins to attach my cards, and voila!

 

This lil' tree is in a tie for my third favorite project.   How cute is that?!

 

 

In addition to being a rambler, I am a pack rat.  A bad pack rat.  We won't discuss the things from junior high I still have, but we can talk about the collection of Christmas cards I have from over the years.  I just can't throw them away.  Some were just too pretty, and others held sentimental value.  But since we were trying to purge this Christmas, I knew I needed to get rid of them.  Sorta.  :)

 

I decided to keep parts of the cards:  the pretty parts, the sentiment parts.  And to make a decoration out of them so I would still have them but they would have a purpose.  Not just taking up space in storage.  {Not that cards take up a lot of space, but you know what I mean.}

 

So I used a large scalloped circle punch and punched out the parts of the card I wanted to save.

 

Once I had all my circles cut, I used silver thread to sew them together to create a garland.

 

You can easily adjust the distance between each circle to make your garland longer or shorter.  I had even thought to overlap them but I liked seeing each piece as its own.  It would also be really easy to add to once I get a new crop of cards in.  :)

 

And maybe one day it will be long enough to be my Christmas tree garland.  Wouldn't that be neat?!

 

Lastly, I'll share with you my tablescape.  I had these glass hurricane shades left over from the baby shower I threw, and had saved them because I knew I wanted to do something with them for Christmas.  In keeping with the "woodland" theme, I placed a couple of trees along with a tall candle holder inside each one, then tied a red velvet ribbon around the top.  I sewed two table runners out of this great vintagey-modern Christmas fabric and placed the shades in the center of each.

 

I think the arrangement overall is really pretty.  But I think I have to add a new description to my theme:  red and white!!  I never realized I had so much red and white going on until I started writing these posts, ha ha!  But it goes with the house, since my everyday decor has touches of red as well.  Never thought I was a red girl, but I guess I am!  :)

 

Again, I hope you enjoyed my fun projects and maybe even found inspiration of your own.  I hope to get {Part 3} posted very soon, which will feature my most favorite favorite project!  It's really different, but really cool {I think, at least}.

 

And if you don't get a chance to stop by again, have a wonderful Christmas!

 

ta-ta for now...