Choo Choo Train Table Center

You can say it, I'm a genius.  The reeds are from two separate assorted packs at Ikea.   The trains are from Aldi.  That's right Aldi!  Aldi on CLEARANCE!  

Baby's Reindeer Feet

Can I say success,  or can I say success? !!!
Mine look better than the pinterest original

 My babies LOVED making them
Their little thumbs made the red noses.  And the washes in the background adds some artistry

Art at the Chicago Children's Museum

I dislike museums. They bore me for the most part, however I do love a clever display.

This white Christmas tree is made with mop heads.  How great is that?

 Horses made from trash :)

 This is a bench.  I love how painting the street on the seat makes this look 3 dimensional. GREAT IDEA!

Snowflakes & Ballerinas

Ok. I'm jumping on the trend wagon again.  I can't resist these paper diy ballerinas.  I used the template from krokotak and some some sheet music instead of plain paper just for fun.

Homemade Snowflake Christmas Garland

A couple of years ago, I made it a goal to make natural Christmas garland.

This year, I live in a potentially roach and mice infested apartment. Foods and sweets need to be in sealed containers not used as decorations.

As usual finances are an issue, and I cannot afford to expend money towards decorations.  I saved the better of the origami ornaments from my paper tree and managed to find white Christmas lights at a free thrift store.



The Result is adorable.  My pictures really don't do it justice.  It gives just the right festive touch without being cheesy.  My husband and I are finding that we don't even notice the absence of a tree.

Dried Orange Ornaments

Simple and delightful

1. cut oranges
2. place on cookie sheet
3. cook in oven at about 200*F until dried out (open to let heat out every 20-30 min.)
4. thread with needle and string/ribbon/thread

Popcorn & Cranberry Garland

My popcorn and cranberry garland was free except for a $1.60 on fresh cranberries.

1. Pop the popcorn with no salt and very little oil
2. Let the popcorn go stale over night
3. Strong thread and needle

 The original attempt for the garland was to be placed on the tree.  However, the tree detracted way too much from the beauty of the garland, so I placed the garland in some random places.  

Origami Ornaments

Being strapped for cash and newly in an apartment of my own, I find myself without any ornaments for our borrowed artificial tree.  PAPER!  Of course I have old paper and this random origami calendar that was a gift two years ago.  ORIGAMI IS SOOOOOOOOO HARD!!!

1. Find instructions
2. Staple stubborn folds for reinforcement
3. Hole punch for string/ribbon
4. Put on tree     

 My tree with just origami and lights seemed to be a little boring so I added snow flakes using  fantastic instructions

    

                                                                                                  

Christmas Ceiling Art

Apartment Therapy has some great Christmas ceiling art. I want to make at least one of these designs this year. Once I make one, I'll post a tutorial

This idea DIY Wedding Flower Garland from OnceWed is technically for a wedding. However, I think that with a few tweaks it would be awesome for Christmas. OnceWed also has a step by step tutorial.

Natural Ornaments and Garland

Decorating my Christmas tree with natural ornaments sounds delightfully inexpensive. 

I liked this idea of using Cinnomon stick bundles as ornamonts

Dried fruit is another means of making Christmas decorations.

A couple of articles I found that appear helpful are How to Use Dried Fruit as Decorations, How to Make Dried Fruit Decorations , and this article explains specifically how to dry apples How to Make Dried Apple and Orange Slices

These pictures were found at an online furniture store called After Noah Furniture and Furniture

Christmas Decorations

As Christmas comes, I realize that my Christmas decorations consist of four ornaments.  I am resolved to make them this year.  Christmas decorations always tread a very thin line of being incredably tacky and pleasantly magical.  Here are some of the fruits of my mad googling skills and the blogs that I follow.

From Home is a paper Christmas tree that is attached to the wall.  Printouts are apparently available for free, but I'l probably just make my own anyways.

Glass ball Wreath is another fantastic idea that I saw at  Nanny Goat and there's a tutorial on this Eddie Ross.

Creating my own Christmas Village gives me warm fuzzy feelings inside.  I found one reasonable looking village from Marth Stewart.  It's not what it looks like but what it has the potential to be.  Printout templates are available.

 Silver & Gold

Another idea that I came up with was spray painting pine cones with metallic paint.  It would eventually look something like this only better because the pine cones would be natural. 

Metallic Pine Cones

This is also from Martha Stewart.  There are so many directions I could go with this. There are directions on how to make these birds on the link provided above.