5th Annual Holiday Homes Tour

Happy Solstice everyone!  It's always encouraging to get to the shortest day and know that within a month we'll have a bit more daylight.  Years ago when I taught high school a former colleague had started a great tradition of wearing shorts to celebrate the shortest day.  You bet I'm wearing shorts today--over my long underwear--and thinking of Ron as I do so.  You don't have to shave your legs when it's dark out and you're wearing long underwear.  Meanwhile, we'll keep things merry, hairy and bright in the darkness.  Welcome to the 5th annual Holiday Homes Tour sponsored by Jen on the Edge.  (Click that link when you leave and visit some of the rest of the blogosphere opening their homes to you today.)  Two celebrations for free today at Chez Green Girl! 

I'll let you in through the laundry room door, that's where friends and family enter.  Strangers?  They come to the front door.  My mom made that gorgeous tablecloth that matches my pretty blue kitchen walls.

Tying the knots to hang all those balls and snowflakes gave me hand cramps, but I do like the effect.  I hung them everywhere.

The front entry always makes me smile every time I pass by to the library.

I strung those balls up the stairs, too.

I've got all sorts of the old-fashioned looking stuff in the library this year.

Decorating a piano is akin to decorating a fireplace mantel, isn't it?  In fact, my piano is more lavish.

Snowmen take over the built-ins in the living room, though, and they'll camp out there until winter's over.

The mantel is simple--nativity with some more of those balls and flakes overhead.

 

We take Christmas trees seriously around here.  We like them BIG and FULL and LIVE.

 

Then we decorate them with a hodgepodge of ornaments from Christmases past.  Every year I see a "themed" tree and think for a moment I'd like to do one, but then I unwrap those old ornaments the kids have made me over the years and I know I'll probably never have the heart to do it.  Unless I got another tree.

 

 
Moving on you'll find the advent calendar my mother made me.  It's very similar to the one we had when I was growing up.  This year Mr. G and Mr. B have put each ornament on and you can see they are a bit OCD about how to do it--left to right, bottom to top, star goes on last.  Mr. T suddenly mentioned tonight that he'd like to put on tomorrow's ornament, which pleases me.  He's finally got a bit of Christmas spirit in his veins.

My BFF made me the "W" and I luff it.

Another angle of the tree--it kind of dominates the room this year.

That about wraps it up.

Thanks for dropping by.  Now, click on Annual Holiday Homes Tour and check out some other fabulous decorating!

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Our 2012 Christmas Display

Today I am "wrapping" up our Christmas posts with our annual shelving display decor.  As you may recall if you have been hanging out here for awhile, in 2010 we made a coffee filter wreath and scoured our home for decor items and in 2011, we spiced things up with some color...

Earlier this year, we did a major shelving switcharoo.  The two white shelves from Preston's bedroom closet went to my brother's apartment, so the two floating shelves from our kitchen went to Preston's bedroom and a spare single white floating shelf took their place.  So this year, our display had one less shelf to play with, and this is what we ended up with:

A peek at the sweetness head on?

I decided to stick with tradition and use items from around the home to dress things up a bit for the holiday season.

The frames were cheapo frames I had hoarded awhile back for a future gallery wall project.  I just placed some gold snowflake gift wrap in each one and added vinyl "25" numbers to the fronts.

All of the "trees" on the shelves, were cardstock paper rolled up and strings of beads {$2 each from Target} hot glued around the outside.

I scattered small mercury glass votives in-between the shiney bead trees...

Everything looks prettier on a cake stand right?

The glimmering gold garland is my favorite part.  To DIY it, I started by using some gold metallic craft paint and painting it on the front and back of cardstock paper...

Then, I used a small circle paper punch to punch out piles of the gold paper.

A needle and thread later, and I had some gold dot garland!

Let's stand back and take it all in with the rest of the dining area...

On the table, I just filled some hurricane vases with cranberries and candles.

The real beauty of the display is at night...

We love it and it seems to do a great job tying in the tree, DIY ornaments and holiday card display in the adjoining areas. 

It is so much fun to look back and see how the shelving displays have changed and evolved from year to year.  And after Christmas comes and goes, it always sparks a restyle on the shelves for spring, which gets me all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it now....

Let's chat Christmas decor one last time.  Do you create vignettes and displays and have fun getting creative with them from year to year?  What do you DIY and what to do you splurge on?

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Our Crafty Christmas Ornaments!

Finally!  Two weeks later I am back to share with you how we created and crafted many of the ornaments on our tree this year!  Can I get a WaHoo?!

If you recall, I shared our Christmas tree and I let ya'll know that we made almost every ornament on the tree.  It was our challenge to ourselves this year, and the kids joined in on the fun, making all sorts of great memories along the way.

The goal was to create a plethora of random and vibrant ornaments, each one unique.  The other goal was to keep it simple and easy enough for anyone in the family to do.  Mission accomplished!  We all crafted the weekend away, even the hubs joined in on the fun!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may recall the pretty sight of the projecting in action:

I am here today to share some of our favorites out of the 50+ ornaments we popped onto the tree this year.

Aren't they so pretty?!

Here are some of the main items we used to get our crafting on:

All of the items were purchased from Michaels for the Dream Tree Challenge.  Here is a closer look at each one:

1 - Clear acrylic bulbs, 2 - Craft paint in a pearl finish
3 - Martha Stewart screen printing kit, 4 - Hot glue gun, 5 - Mod Podge
6 - Border paper punch, 7 - Adhesive ribbon, 8 - Paper punches
9 - Rhinestone alphabet stickers, 10 - Twine, 11 - Adhesive dots
12 - Large adhesive glitter dots, 13 - Brads, 14 - Beads
15 - Decorative foam ball vase filler, 16 - Glitter tape
17 - Confetti glitter, 18 - Adhesive pearl banding

Some of the other supplies I used were craft glue, yarn, jewelry wire, needle and thread and pretty snowflake stickers.

And here are the ornaments now with quick tutorial for each below:

1. Fill the bulb with water and then empty it.  Pour in the confetti glitter and roll it around within the bulb.  The glitter will stick to the bulb where wet, and once the water completely dries, the confetti will stay stuck to the bulb.
2. Thread small beads onto thin jewelry wire.  Use a small dab of hot glue at top and wind strand of beads around the ornament.  Add another dab of hot glue at the bottom to secure the strand.
3. Stick happy sparkly snowflake stickers randomly on the bulb.
4. Follow the directions on the silk screening package.  Use a pearly glass craft paint and the squeegee to apply the paint over the silk screen onto the bulb.  The silk screen sticks to the bulb {I had to make small slits in the screen to have it wrap around the curves of the bulb}.  Peel away the screen to reveal a pretty snowflake!
5. Find gems in the jewelry section of the craft store and use hot glue to stick them to the bulb.
6. Apply brightly colored adhesive dots to the bulb in a fun pattern.
7. Stick the adhesive sparkle dots in a random pattern on the bulb.
8. Fill the bulb with pearly craft paint, swirl and empty.  Pop a sticker snowflake to the front to finish it off!
9. Use a paper punch to punch decorative stickers from the roll of glitter tape.  Stick randomly around the bulb.
10. Use the rhinestone alphabet stickers to spell out holiday themed words and phrases such as "Joy" and "Peace".
11. Cover half of the ornament in craft glue.  Wrap with yarn from top to middle.  Cover second half with craft glue and wrap with yarn from bottom to middle.
12. Stick the adhesive sparkle dots in a zig zag pattern around the bulb.
13. Use the paper border punch to punch a pattern out of the glitter tape and wrap it around the bulb.
14. Use sticky ribbon to wrap around the outside of the bulb.
15. Fill ornaments with fun objects, such as leftover glitter foam vase filler.

A few other easy peasy ornaments:

We found a small wooden letter "J" which I wrapped with twine, using small dabs of hot glue along the way to keep it secure.

Use a paper punch to create snowflakes out of brightly colored card stock.  Use small amounts of Mod Podge to attach the snowflakes around the bulb.

Use strips of adhesive pearls and rhinestones to wrap around the outside of the bulb.

To make the garland, we purchased 4 bags of foam glitter ball vase filler.  Using a needle and thread, we strung the vase filler, piece by piece.  It turned out to be our favorite part of the whole tree!

And last but not least... Mix & Match!  We did many of the same techniques on multiple bulbs, just mixing and matching colors, stickers, ribbons and punches.  

So there you have it!  Our crafty and colorful Christmas tree!

And for all of you mommies out there wondering where all of those fantastically created kid ornaments are, we have an annual tradition of letting the kids hang all of their handmade ornaments from years past, on the tree on Christmas Eve.  

Anyone else DIY all or some of their tree decor this year?  How about favorite decorating traditions you do from year to year?

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My Favorite Christmas Organizing Ideas

The holidays come with so many things.  Things to buy.  Things to make.  Things to decorate.  Things to give.  Things to cherish.  I could go on and on right?

So staying even somewhat organized through the busiest time of the year, will be a huge stress reducer. Here are some of my favorite tips for super simple and time saving organizing during the holiday season:

Track Your Giving!
It is the giving season, that is for sure!  And it can get out of control, expensive and overwhelming, so I like to use a gift tracking checklist.

{download your FREE copy here}

The checklist helps me jot down ideas for each individual I will be purchasing for, keeps me on budget and lets me check things off when I am done, so I always know who is left.


Create a Card Display!
As holiday cards roll in...

It's nice to keep them out on display!  Not only does the display let me see the smiling mugs of my friends and family each day, it also adds a nice festive flair to our home!


Organize Christmas Cards.
If you are a little bit of a sentimental peep like me, then you hold onto those photo greeting cards and look back on the memories and changes from year to year.

I like to organize them by year in an album...

But you can also quickly make your own as well!

Make Wrapping Easy!
Of course, an entire wrap station year round would be ultra dreamy....

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However, realistically, most of us don't have an entire closet, room or area in our home to dedicate to a single function.  But, wrapping supplies can definitely accumulate, especially if you use different papers for each occasion, keep gift bags, tissue, bows and ribbon...

Slim totes that fit under a bed are a really great option...

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Adding some additional trays for scissors, tape, ribbon, tags and trimmings keeps everything separate and orderly for a quickly wrap job!

Another great way to store wrapping gear is with an over the door organizer.

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They take advantage of typically unused door space,  yet still offer year round access to your wrapping goodies.

Since a lot of quick and smaller gifts are given during the holidays, keeping a small box with a few ready-to-go essentials ensures that you will never be late to a party or show up without a gift in hand.

Decor Storage!
But what about all of those ornaments?  And lights?  Decorating a tree takes all sorts of beautiful bulbs and glittering strands of lights, but no need to invest in super expensive containers to keep them safe and organized year after year.

If you eat eggs as often as we do, it wouldn't take long to stock up on a few of those cartons, which are the perfect solution for the smaller glass bulbs.

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And for larger bulbs, plastic cups make perfect dividers!  Hot glue them onto some cardboard and you can even stack!

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Or save up on tomato and apple containers throughout the year.  They also make incredible divided storage, and it won't cost you a thing!

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For the really fragile pieces, adding a small layer of felt padding will ensure your favorite ornaments grace the branches of your tree year after year!

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When storing lights, we love to use the classic trick of wrapping them around some cardboard strips.

I love the idea of using tension rods too!  Decor below, lights above!  So smart!

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The same method could be used for beads and ribbons as well!

I like to use a small storage container to hold off our our smaller bits and pieces, such as tree hooks and spare lights.

And of course, label, label label!

Keeping bins labeled will make it easy to quickly find contents from year to year.  You can use clear business card holders or make your own pockets out of cardstock.  Another tip is to use a specific color for your Christmas bins so they are easy to spot, and to load them up either by category, or by putting the first out items on top to prevent digging.


It is OK to Buy!
Knowing when it is OK to invest in good storage vs. DIYing it is a good thing.  For me, I will be purchasing a good tree bag to ensure our prelit tree stays preserved for the long haul.  And a hard sided wreath bin will keep those beautiful hand made wreaths lasting longer than those soft sided ones will.

So there you have it!  A round up of my favorite tips to keep us smiling though the Christmas season craziness.  What other things do you do to keep your sanity through the holiday season?  What is your number one Christmas organizing tip?

Pssst!  I recently blogged about more gift wrap storage ideas over at Better Homes & Gardens Style Spotters blog here!

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