Tag Archives: Christmas

Weekly Wishlist: Holiday-Chic Pillows

This week, I’m really loving the idea of bringing some special throw pillows into our family room for the holidays. Specifically – metallic embellishments and textured neutrals to make the room feel chic and cozy. Imagine being curled up on the sofa, homemade hot cocoa in hand, fire roaring, and tree twinkling. Ah, heavenly!

All of these picks are from Pier 1. Enjoy!





Tree-mendous Tuesday

Tom & I have made quick work of our holiday traditions together. We always get a real tree (I grew up on the artificial stuff), and we make it a family affair – meeting up with his parents and sometimes his uncle’s family to pick out our trees. I love it. His mom is a live tree connoisseur. She has a very discerning eye, and will comb through the whole tree lot before making her decision. And her trees are always spectacular. I’m trying to learn her ways.

At this time last year, we were packing up our condo, getting ready to close on our current home. So, Christmas decorating didn’t happen. I insisted on some kind of tree, so we bought two small potted trees at Home Depot, and I decorated them after we moved in (which was literally 1 week before Christmas).

So this year, we’re making up for last years tree-less Christmas. We’ve got 10-ft ceilings in our family room, and I intend to take advantage of every last inch.

We made our annual trip to the tree lot this past Saturday. Here’s the tree before we left the lot! Don’t you love how part of it is hanging off the back of the car? Not quite as glorious as the scene at the beginning of Christmas Vacation, but still pretty sweet.

www.twopurplecouches.wordpress.com

Here’s a peek at it in all its glory in our family room:
IMG_1916

Is it weird to be super-excited about a Christmas tree? Because I am super excited about this Christmas tree…

Don’t worry – I’ll show you the final decorated product soon. I’m working up a post on all of our Christmas decor. What’s the tradition that you love most about the holidays?

Fall Pinterest Challenge: Holiday Ornament Wreath

When Sherry at Young House Love. issued the Fall Pinterest Challenge last Tuesday, I eagerly accepted… Annnnd then later that day I found myself in the acrylic paint aisle at Michaels, completely overwhelmed and unable to decide which Pinterest project I should finally take on. Ack. Cue crafting meltdown.

After recovering, thanks to the help of some Panera mac ‘n cheese, I thought it’d be smart to get a head-start on some Christmas crafts, since that’s what I’ve been pinning a lot of lately.

Ornament Wreath Collage

The winner? An Ornament Wreath. The inspiration? This one, and this one.

Except mine would be all in silvers and whites to fit into the sparkly scheme I’m dreaming up for our mantle/family room this Christmas.

After reading up on some other bloggers’ tutorials to gauge how many ornaments I’d need (answer: a ton), I shopped around hoping to find some all-silver sets including small, medium and large sizes. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, but Hobby Lobby had the next best thing – a set of 50 medium ornaments in various silvers for $19.99 plus 40% off! They also had color-coordinated sets of smaller ornaments.

I pretty much followed the instructions from Deep Fried Kudzu, starting with spray-painting a 14″ foam wreath so that the green parts wouldn’t show through. I used Krylon Brushed Metallics Satin Finish in Nickel.

ornament wreath supplies - Two Purple Couches

Once dry, I flipped the wreath over so the back of it would face me while I worked. I removed all of the ornament caps, then started gluing the largest ones around the outer edge of the wreath, just like so:

ornament wreath progress - Two Purple Couches

I was relieved when the ornaments were nearly-perfectly spaced around the outer edge! Yesss! I didn’t even count that out in advance!

Then I did the inner circle. I decided to use up some remaining large ornaments, with a few mediums throw in for good measure.

Ornament wreath rows - Two Purple Couches

I waited a bit until everything seemed dry and secure. Then I flipped the wreath over and plotted out a “pattern” of medium and small ornaments. Here’s why my photo-taking fell apart. Sorry. I was in the Glue Zone.

So, here’s the finished product. Ta-da!

ornament wreath - Two Purple Couches

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty pleased with myself for completing a Christmas craft before November! I am never this on-the-ball! And before you ask, no, I do not have any gift-shopping completed yet. Priorities, people!

ornaments

Come back in December to see how my Sparkly Winter Wonderland theme pans out. This wreath will surely be taking center-stage.

And now, a few stats to round out this post:

Total Number of Ornaments Used – about 100! Broken down by size: 27 small, 50 medium, and 24 large. I think it was enough. Honestly, you could probably keep gluing ornaments to each other until the cows come home!

Total Number of Glue-Gun Burns – only 1!

Total Project Cost – about $35

DIY Ornament Wreath - Holiday Wreath - Two Purple Couches

You can find my Pinterest Holiday Decor board here, or all of my Pinterest boards here.

Thanks for reading! Now go check out the other great projects from the Fall Pinterest Challenge Hostesses!

Sherry @ Young House Love / Sarah @ Ugly Duckling House / Katie @ BowerPower / Carmel @ Our Fifth House

I’m already getting ideas together for the Winter Challenge 😉

I’m also sharing this DIY at:
The Shabby Nest

Home for the Holidays 2012

Coaster Crafting

I have a fun little DIY to share today! This project requires just a few supplies and is relatively quick to assemble, once you have everything laid out.

I originally found this craft on Pinterest last year (this original link is broken; you can find similar instructions here), and had wanted to make them for Christmas gifts. But time got away from me. I dug it out last week over the Labor Day holiday weekend, when my friend Katie and I decided to have a Girl’s Night In and craft (maybe I’m just getting older, but this is really an ideal way to spend a Friday night, haha!)

Supplies:

– 4×4-inch ceramic tiles (mine were leftovers from the kitchen backsplash in our previous home)

– Mod Podge

– Foam brushes

– Clear acrylic spray sealer

– Scrapbooking paper (could also use wrapping paper, wall paper scraps, greeting cards… whatever floats your boat!)

– Sticky-back felt or felt furniture pads

Directions:

Cut paper(s) into 4×4-inch squares; or trace your tile onto the paper for a more accurate measurement. Apply a layer of Mod Podge to the tile, then lay a paper square on top and smooth it over. At this point, I flipped the tile over and trimmed off any excess paper. Once trimmed, apply another layer of Mod Podge over the paper. Let dry. Once dry, spray tiles with the clear acrylic sealer according to sealer instructions. Add felt pads to the bottom, and voila! You have a new set of coasters to keep or gift!

Bonus idea: Gift them with a mason jar of home-made hot cocoa or chai tea mix. Yum!

I got too caught up in wine and girl talk to remember to take pictures of the “During” process (sorry!). But here are some “glamour shots” of the “After”: