Christmas Elves

Last week I got bit by the Christmas bug and flurried into a crafting frenzy. A glue gun and some floral wire can go a long way! Here are some of the things I made on a tight budget.

Fresh Front Door Wreath

Here's a fresh douglas fir wreath. I cut out a rectangle from one side of a large cardboard box we had in the garage and wired on the branches we trimmed off the bottom of our Christmas tree. It's so fun to have a huge wreath on the door. Plus it smells lovely! And the best part? It was completely free! Cost: $0

Christmas Ornament Wreath

I stole this wreath idea from my friend Hillary who in turn had stolen it from a crafting blog. Thanks Hill! It looks really pretty hanging up and is a very simple concept to make, but it proved to be a bit more of a beast than anticipated, mainly because the majority of bulbs on there are plastic flimsy things from the Dollar Tree. But I still want to make more if that is a litmus test of whether or not you're willing to try. All you have to do is take a wire clothes hanger and shape it into a circle. Gather approx. 80 bulb ornaments in varying sizes. You can do whatever color scheme you want. I think for the next one I'm going to do all silvers and maybe some light blues. HOT GLUE the tops down where the hangers attach. Then, string the ornaments onto your wire wreath base. I added a large bow on top mainly to cover the large gap that occurred after I accidentally dropped my wreath on our hardwood floor and sent quite a number of ornaments flying. Including ribbon and ornaments, Cost: $12

Timeline of Christmases Past

I stole an excellent idea from a friend and hung a timeline of Christmases past in our marriage on the fireplace above our stockings. There are a few gaps right now. Apparently we didn't take pictures during our third Christmas together. My goal is to get some stills made from video we have of that year together. And I'm waiting to add this year's pic after I get them from Costco tomorrow. It's already fun to see our Charlie Brown christmas tree our first year of marriage together decorated with Nate's birthday garland b/c we didn't have ANY Christmas decorations all the way up to this year as we wait in expectation of making our family grow to a family of four. Cost: $0.19 for picture development

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Craft Left-Overs Doohicky

This is a bit of Christmas wimsy when I got an itch to make something decorative the other night but didn't have anything on hand. So, I took an old picture frame, hot glued some left-over ribon around the edge, wired on some scraps of decorative spray, decopaged some old christmas cards to dangle down the center, and added a large bow we had on a gift last year. I don't know what it is either if you're wondering. Just some holiday cheer. It was one of those things that was more about enjoying the process of being crafty than needing the end result to be wonderful.
Cost: $0

Poinsetta Spray Wreath

JoAnne's Fabric was practically giving wreaths away last week for $2 a pop. I got to make four wreaths for our four big windows in our back room by just wiring on some poinsettias and ornaments. They make me happy. Total for four of them: Cost: $12

Advent Wreath

Here's our advent wreath. Depending on who you talk to in the family it is either inconveniently or very conveniently sitting low on the cedar chest for optimum toddler intervention. I made a wreath to go around an otherwise boring gold advent candle holder and then added the "Christ" candle in the middle. Selah like to challenge herself by taking the candles out and putting them back in the little holders. It's a fun toddler game. She hid the pink candle in the house somewhere. I'm still looking...By the way, do you know what the four candles on the advent wreath represent? First Candle: Prophet's Candle, signifying the hope of Jesus' coming. Second Candle: Bethlehem candle, in honor of where Jesus was born. Third Candle:Shepherd's Candle. Fourth Candle: Angel's Candle, because of the joyous proclamation at Jesus' birth.
Cost: $4