Rudolph Decoration

Do you like this cute new Christmas decoration I made?

I found that great tan fleece at the scrap store and it was prefect for this little Rudolph. I made a paper pattern and was quite surprised when it all fit together, though the head is only made of 3 pieces.

There's wire going through the head, connecting the antlers to make sure they stayed upright. 

Like the Christmas banners I made, this little Rudolph got sold the next day after I'd finished it. In fact it was the first thing I sold at last week's Christmas Fair.

Party Decorations

For my birthday party I made these big gold numbers for decoration.

To make them I cut out a 2 and 5 from corrugated card.

I sprayed the card with spray glue and stuck them to this glittery wrapping paper which I bought from the Scrap Store for 50p. What a bargain.

I cut the excess paper so it would wrap around the card and glued it in place.

The numbers were so much fun to pose with and I'll be able to use them again in 27 years when I turn 52!

The other decorations I made were tissue paper pom-poms. So Pinterest!

I made 6 pom-poms from one 49p pack of tissue paper.

I used more of he gold paper to add to the pink paper bunting I already had.

I also hung up some photos of me throughout the years,

And finally I fancied up some plastic disposable cups by gluing pink glitter around the bottom,

Paper Star Decoration

Next week I start a new job at a different school so I've been spending a few days there these past weeks to get to know it. I was there yesterday when they had a Christmas craft afternoon and I learnt how to make these star decorations.

After helping the children I wanted to try and make one myself so I took home one of the templates.

To make the decoration you fold a square of paper in half and cut along the lines from the template.

Then you unfold the paper and fold the middle section round one way, sticking it in place, then fold the next two bits round the other way and stick, and so on.

You need to make five of them to stick together to make the star.

The children made great big red and green stars which look great hanging around the school.

Wooden Decorations

At one of the Christmas craft fairs I had a stall at, my Mum bought these wood cut decorations.

The stall was being manned by a boy selling the things his Grandfather made, including wonderfully finished boxes and nativity scenes. And lots of these decorations - 4 for a £1.

I decorated them by painting the picture part in the middle with water colour paint so the texture of the wood would still show through.

Then I painted the rest with gold acrylic paint and finished them with a coat of gold glittery nail varnish over the gold parts. Because glitter = Christmas.

Then I strung them up with invisible thread and added them to the tree.

 

Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Speech Bubble Decorations

I'm well and truly in Christmas mode and for this little project  I was thinking of more alternative Christmas decorations.

I was inspired by this plaque that I made many years ago and have hanging in my room.

The hanging speech bubbles are made of Sculpey rolled flat and cut to shape.

You can't really tell from the photos but they're about palm size.

I painted them with white and black acrylic paint.

I like the uneven black lines. I think it gives them character.

That and I find it hard to paint smooth, straight lines.

I think these would look really fun displayed on a Christmas tree but would also work as decorations for other parts of the house.

Do you have any Christmas decorations that aren't the traditional red, green or gold?

Decorating for Christmas

The Christmas decorations are up!

Actually, I put them up the evening I came home from uni.

Talk about eager!

I saw this idea for pine cone photo frames on the Martha Stewart website and thought they would look great hanging from the fireplace.

So I started by going through old photo albums looking for photos from past Christmases which is always fun.

The smaller photo is my sister when she was younger and that cutie with the blonde curls in the top photo is me with my Dad.

I cut out circles from a cereal box to stick the photos to.

I removed the pine cone bits with some pliers. Apparently the bits are called scales but that seems weird; they're not fish!

Then I glued the bits to the card with strong glue and added glitter to some of the edges.

I made four in all to hang either side of the fireplace.

I love putting baubles in glass vases ever since I saw it done on Young House Love a few years ago.

The pine cones in that vase are the ones that have fallen off our fake tree over the year.

We've even got a vase full of candy canes. Delicious and decorative.

And of course the tree.

It's looks pretty similar to last year; keeping it tradish with red and gold decorations.

Holy Christmas!

Here it is in the dark.

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Here's a peek at our Christmas decorations. Most people in my family have their own opinions on what to put up, so the key word is compromise. 

This year my sister bought a pack of mini candy canes (from Poundland. Winner), so we hung them over fireplace with mini pegs.

As well as cute little ornaments on the fireplace I took a glass vase and filled it with pine cones that have fallen off our fake Christmas tree over the years and a few leftover red baubles.

I also dug out some old photos and displayed them on red shiny thread with mini pegs that I covered in glitter. They show past Christmases including one from when my Dad was younger on the left, when my Mum was a child on the right, and my sisters and I in the middle. Did anyone else have bubble saxophones? 

On the shelves above the tv I put some of the random ornaments including two Santas and an angel my Mum received from one of her students.

This guy usually lives in the porch but we've brought him inside whilst our doors get replaced.

Check out the snow!

Here's the tree. It's red and gold themed as usual but we bought a new angel this year. She's a bit of a beast compared to the size of the tree, but we like it.

The lights are also new. We've always had coloured lights but this year we got white LED lights which use less electricity. I'm using this to justify my long showers.

We also got some new tree decorations this year including sparkly gold instruments and mini red and gold mirror balls.

What colour schemes do you go for with your decorations? My sister has a pink tinsel tree in her room with silver decoration which is pretty cool.