Do it yourself TREE DECOR!!!

So, this has four D to F ideas all wrapped up into one.  Each are do it yourself Ideas for your Christmas Tree.

#1:  Break down a wreath and use individual pieces as decoration.  

#2: Cereal Box Stars  

#3: Scrabble words

#4: Bird Nest Topper

Got a wreath made up of these sprigs all woven together for $2 at the D.I. This is what it looks like broken down to it's most basic piece.

I used most of the wreath for my Pot Rack about two years back but still had a bag full of  extras!

Remember these?  Look back at THIS post for instructions! It seemed too plain.  I wanted it to POP!!!

After you've made these stars, grab some Elmers Spray Ahesive & A large jar of clear glitter from JoAnnes!

Spray your star, cover in glittler.  Shake off Excess and VIOLA!  (WARNING: the spray adhesive is very tacky  so make sure you lay something under the product you are spraying.  Especially because it has a lot of overspray!)

So Glittery!!!

Scrabble Decor.  Super Simple.
#1: Lay out your letters
#2 Hot Glue them Together
#3 Hot glue a piece of twine for your hanger
#4- Hot glue a piece of ribbon over twine on back (see pic below)

Adding the ribbon strip guarantees that if your scrabble ornament happens to break,  no pieces will be lost!!!

Bird next for top of my tree.  It was actually a wicker ball that I shaped into a nest.  Sprayed it with spray adhesive and rolled it around in the left over glitter from my stars from above.   Added a little bird that was on a random piece of holiday decor I already owned.

Had to show you this super cute tree skirt my amazing friend Briana MADE!  She gave it to me last year as a Christmas Present (Seriously?  I was in heaven!!!)

Finished Tree. It was fun to drape my bead garland from the top instead of wrapping it around the tree!!!  The tree is still pretty bare, but it's the first year I've made my own decor, and it was super inexpensive.  Most of the items I already had lying around the house.

Speaking of D.I... if you wanna see us sisters find a bargain, check out our D.I. blog HERE!!!
Hope this helped get your creative juices flowing to make your tree one of a kind!

Christmas Tree

Is your Christmas Tree up yet? Do you change it year to year or keep it the same?

I love Christmas Trees.
Hunting down the perfect tree each year in the snow with the family, putting it up inside my home,
and deciding what ornaments to use.

I add a little every year and take a way a little every year. I wish I could walk through everyone's homes and see what gorgeous ideas they have done for their trees!

It amazes me that this.....

 Can turn slowly into this....

Now I feel  100% ready for Christmas to come!

When the tree is up I can enjoy the rest of the Holiday season.

Are you enjoying yours?

Christmas wrapping: Recycle your Old Clothes

 My son had this old ratty box that obviously needed thrown away, but instead I decided to recycle.( Pat on back)
I have, below, an old holy pair of shorts (so fitting for this Holy season) and a pillowcase that was in the donate pile.

 I covered the box and lid with a hot glue gun!
Wrapped it just like a present.
Easy, breezy, wrapped up box!

 Next I added some scraps of cutesy Christmas paper in the bottom  to jazz it up a bit more!

 I next started choppin up the shorts.

 I made a few stripes about 8 inches long

 Chopped them in half and tied them together with the same fabric!

 OOOOOOoooo I am just so pleased with this parcel!

 Drum roll please...........
  Ta da the finished  reusable wrapped box!

 I also added some scrap ribbon to add a little more pizazz!

Happy Holidays Everyone!
I cant wait to see your ideas on reusable recyled wrapping!

 

Christmas Wrapping: Recycled Road Atlases

Since mine and my husband's families live so far apart (Idaho and Arkansas), we are used to driving long distances to visit family members. As a result of our cross-country trips, we have acquired several road atlases over the years. And when it comes time to update to a more current atlas, I don't throw away the old one . . . I DRAB TO FAB it :).

This is my favorite way to wrap presents for the following reasons:

• cheap
• pretty
• recycling
• cool
• easy

I rarely even have to use scissors!  I just tear out a single sheet (or lift out a "double sheet" from the staples in the middle) and it's ready to go. {I don't recommend buying a spiral-bound atlas for either driving OR wrapping, because the pages you use the most get torn out when you still need them to find your way, and, you don't have the "double-sheet" that the staple-bound atlases give you for wrapping}.

If you have a larger gift, carefully remove
a "double sheet" from the center of the
atlas by pulling it up from the staples.

If you travel Tom-Tom style with a GPS and don't have a road atlas, snag an old one (or an outdated world atlas) at your local thrift store.  Siam and Burma may not exist on current atlas anymore, but we can keep them alive under our Christmas trees!

Tulle is my favorite "ribbon"
material, though I don't think it
goes with the map-wrapping as
well as the examples below.

Colored rubber bands:
cheap, easy, festive . . . 

. . . and cute!
The card is a folded 3x5 card from my
surplus of office supplies--I think it is the
perfect compliment to this type of wrapping  

If you want to use ribbon, get
pastel colors that compliment
the typical orange/pink/yellow/
green/blue color scheme found
on most political maps

Kitchen twine is always a classic choice
for your packages and parcels.
(Sneak preview of one of your gifts, Bon!)

One other fun idea is to add a toy car or two
to the outside of your package--especially
if it goes with the gift!

Stay tuned for more ideas from my wrapping-savvy sisters!  Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Book Page STAR

In Keeping with my book page Christmas Theme for this year, I am making star ornaments for my tree.  Soooo easy to make.  Buying these type of stars at the store are usually anywhere from $5-$10 a piece.  This one:  FREE NINETY FREE!!! And it seriously only took me 5 minutes!

You only need these 6 things to create these GORG stars!!!

Draw a star on a cereal box in any ol' way you'd like with permanent marker.

Cut out star and add score markes.  from tip to center, and from inner corners to center.  Score each with a box cutter (be careful not to cut all the way through.)

Cover side Opposite of the scores with an old book page.  Then cut off the excess.

Flip over, fold, then Ink to your hearts desire!  Now it's ready for your tree!!!
Now go make some ornaments of your own!!!

Old Book Page Wrapping

Super easy wrapping.  Using Old book pages (Or new book pages inked up.)  Our favorite place to go to find inexpensive old books is Deseret Industries.  (click link to see our cool D.I. blog) 

start with empty boxes - croutons have a ziplock top, the rest have lids or easy open/close tops.

There are several ways you can wrap.  Be creative and come up with your own!!! I like using a glue runner (like for scrapbooking) as my adhesive.

#1: lay book pages out straight.  Don't worry about overlap. You don't need to cut it, you can either tuck it under, or let page you glue down on other side line up with the overlap! 

I keep old tags from jeans we buy.  simply cover with a book page, and cut around the outside for a perfect fit (Or wrap page all the way around the tag.)

Ink the edges/middle.  Use Hole punch to attach the tag. Add an inked christmas tree and VOILA!  Crouton bag done! 

#2: you can crumple a book page & then after you uncrumple, ink the creases.

It will look like this when it's inked.

Add to surface

and I like layering some packages with pages in different directions!

Spray paint lid to christmas color of your choice!

#3: strips of paper.

Ink each strip before gluing down to surface.

#4: Full pages.  don't ink until after they've been glued down.  Only ink the creases of the box!

And now a little Book Page Christmas Bow Tutorial.  Super easy.  I'm going to make a lot of these!!!

Strips of paper.  Inked and folded from both ends into the middle.  Staple. and repeat.

do as many layers as you'd like.

Once you reach the top, start folding to make loops stand up!

If making it a permanent part of your gift.  curl two strips of paper and staple to top of box.

staple finished bow on top of your curled ribbons. and you're done!!!

Finished Products!!!!  (although I think I am going to add more bows to the rest of them!) 

The Great thing about the packages I chose is I can re-use them EVERY YEAR!!!  Stay tuned later this week for an Inexpensive Christmas Present Idea using book pages!!! Happy Wrapping!!!