by Missy Allaire

It’s the time of year when we begin to think about decorating for the holidays.  I enjoy decorating for all seasons, but especially the Christmas holiday.  Christmas decorations not only look great, but also help to create a spiritual and festive environment.  Whether it is Halloween, Easter or Christmas, I always incorporate the foyer or entry table into my seasonal decorating scheme.

 

Christmas Card Display

I recently came across a creative way to display those beautiful Christmas cards I receive from friends and family.  The idea is to use the individual shutter slots as holders for the cards.  Holiday visitors enjoy looking at the cards, and the shutters help to frame the space and add height to the area.  I came across this set of saloon shutters at an area antique shop for $5.00!  After hardware removal, sanding and paint, they were ready to hang.  I hung with velcro strips to prevent damage to the walls.

 

Table Top Decorations

I am here to tell you that yarn is not just for sweaters!  Check out these decorative Christmas trees made from cardboard cones, yarn and rhinestones.  All of the materials for this project can be found at most craft stores (for around $12).  Simply wrap the yarn around the cones, using hot glue to secure every fourth or fifth row.  After reaching the top of the cone, I spiraled the yarn back down the cone to give the appearance of garland.  The ornaments were created by adhering the rhinestones to sequins with hot glue.

 

Ornaments

I decided to supplement the trees with a few yarn-wrapped ornaments.  Initially, I was worried that the hot glue used to adhere the yarn to the ornament might crack the glass, but it worked just fine.  To finish off the ornament, just simply tie a bow to the top.  These can be displayed in so many ways, such as hanging from the tree, filling for a clear glass bowl, or laying over the garland as I did.

 

NOEL

My favorite part of the decoration, and the centerpiece, is the yarn covered letters that spell NOEL. Similar to the ornaments and miniature Christmas trees, each of the cardboard letters (found at most craft stores) is wrapped with yarn.  I first wrapped each letter vertically until the entire face was covered in yarn, again securing with hot glue every fourth or fifth strand.  After wrapping each of the letters vertically, I wrapped the yarn horizontally starting at the bottom of the letter until entirely covered in yarn.  I had a very narrow wooden tray in which to display the letters, though I think they would look just fine resting directly on the tabletop.  I plan to re-use this idea for Valentine’s Day by replacing the ‘N’ with a ‘V’ in order to spell LOVE!

Here is a view of the entire tabletop.  I placed trees and ornaments on both sides of the table in order to achieve balance. I added a small red homemade stand (made of a candlestick holder and wooden plaque) to the right side of the decoration to maintain color consistency on both sides of the decoration.

I hope a few of these decorations will inspire you to create some handmade goodies to your collection of Christmas décor this year.  Creating is about your own personal taste, so take these ideas and make them your own.

I hope that you and your family have a blessed holiday.

 

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About Missy: Missy is a stay at home mom who resides with her family in Keller.  In her spare time, she enjoys crafting, sewing, decorating and scrapbooking.  After numerous suggestions from her friends and family she decided to pursue her passion and created a blog called lookiewhatidid.blogspot.com.  The blog is six months old and receives over 20,000 hits each month.  Originally from Arkansas, she has made Texas her home for the last 14 years.