When Christmas Comes to the Living Room.

My life has been so busy with Christmas:

crafting, wrapping, baking,...

repeating to my five year old how many more days until Christmas several times each day.

It seems a big job to decorate the house,

but it makes everything have that special "Christmas spirit."

It is so much fun turning the mantel into a vision of snow and evergreens.

This year, my twelve year old wanted her carolers that I painted for her a few years ago on the mantel;

so we put the other carolers we had on as well.

A vintage sled filled a spot where we had gathered some trees I made a few years back

from cereal boxes painted with Plaster of Paris in white paint,

and two that were made from another recycled idea of inverted coffee bags snipped and wrapped around a cone form.  They came during a time when I wanted unusual looking trees and decided to rummage the cupboards for an idea.

(Why is it coffee seems to come to mind when I feel the need to think?)

 I let the kids decorate the piano

(pretty much, although I did hide away a few too many of the things they had crowded there).

Violet set a section of home-made snowmen together with a bunch of trees and a fence

and then strung some lights across it to brighten them.

 Her school table is behind the piano,

a festive place to have to work.

We decided to save a little money this year and bring the artificial tree down from the attic.

We all love rekindling the friendship from Christmases past,

placing it down in the living room with us again.

After everything has been set up,

it is a nice place to sit and relax and remember the real meaning of Christmas,

the sweet birthday of that tiny baby in the manger,
the King of Kings.

Then it's back out to the easel to try to finish one more Christmas present.

Thanks for stopping by today

and have a Merry Christmas!

Sharing with all the other fun Christmas home tours at:

The Nester: Christmas Tour of Homes

Christmas Wreath from a Wool Jacket and a Cereal Box.

 It is hard to believe the Christmas season is here!

Is your home festive and merry?

It's a work in progress at our home, but a cheerful one that the kids are happy to help with.

I had a few bags full of wool jackets in various colors I got at the end of a summer yard sale:

2 for $.25 because nobody wanted to load them up to take them home again.

I was happy to find a great assortment of colors, and all wool!
I'm sure they were happy I showed up and took that trash bag full that I did.

I had gotten them to make braided wool rugs,

planned on one for my room and one for the girls' room,

but they've gone into several other projects while the rugs have lingered at the back of my mind.

The wreath I made is now wearing the red jacket. :)

 I cut the jacket into strips and tied them around the wreath form.

The fun part of a wreath is dressing it in possibilities:

Sparklings beads and a glittered greenery pick;

Natural pinecones;

 A winter scene on the wreath...

with possibly a snowman made from plaster of Paris pom-poms;

Greenery and bells that have been made to look old by plaster of Paris mixed with black/brown paint
(I explain the process >HERE<);

 Real Greenery and a rustic rope;

Adding a beaded ornament for an accent or some old sparkly garland

or some home-made ornaments.

I decided to use some decorations I had made from an empty cereal box.

 I cut squares and then fringed them and curled the fringes with a pencil.

A coating of Plaster-of-Paris mixed with white paint stiffened them;
some glue and glitter finished them and a jingle bell glued in the center.

It's a happy thing to have a festive wreath...

 and it probably looks much better as a wreath than waiting to become a rug anyway.

Sharing with other great wreath ideas over at the Nester's blog,
Betweennapsontheporch 
and at: