Have you checked out Darby Smart? It’s a pretty cool concept; Darby Smart features fun crafts and diys designed by awesome bloggers and people like you. They organize the materials and instructions you need into a kit. Then you buy it, craft it, and share it!
Let me tell you a story. A beautiful little love story.
Girl meets Fabric (it just so happens that they meet on the Internet).
Girl falls head over heels for Fabric. She thinks it might be a passing fancy, since Fabric is on clearance. You know how those clearance types are.
Girl wakes up one day and realizes her undying love for Fabric. She and Fabric exchange Orders (that’s fabric for vows), and they live happily ever after in Home Decor Haven.
Did that get weird? Sorry. But, I really, really, REALLY love this fabric. It’s by Swavelle / Mill Creek. And it’s on Last Chance clearance at Fabric.com. So if you think you love it to, go get her before she’s gone!
With this swatch, I’m starting to decorate our bonus room upstairs. Now that we’ve got some furniture, we need some accessories (my favorite part!). I don’t love the fabric on the throw pillows that came with our sofa, but I lurrrrve this fabric (have I said that already?), and I know it will look amaze-balls against the charcoal grey upholstery! Is it out of style to match your pillows and your drapes? Because I would LOVE to make drapes out of this fabric, too. Come to think of it, I would love a floor-to-ceiling room made out of this fabric. Too much? Probably.
Anyway, with this color palette in mind, I’m starting to collect accessories. I’ve been assuming I’d put the Satchel & Sage feather print in my office, since everything that doesn’t have a place will probably end up in my office, but doesn’t it work great with this tealy-turquoisey glass candle holder? And the other print is a postcard that I received as a bonus for an order I placed with Mary Elizabeth Arts through Etsy a number of years ago.
So while this is just one tiny, tiny corner of our room (clearly)…
it’s a start!
How do you start decorating a room? Do you go all in at once, or bit-by-bit?
Looking for a cool ornament DIY? Why not a Golden Snitch!? I made this guy last year, following this tutorial via Tiny Apartment Crafts.
All-in-all, it was pretty simple, though shaping the wings was a little challenging (maybe I bought the wrong wire?). I also purchased a set of small gold ornaments from Target that came in all different patterns, so I skipped the painting step.
If you make one, send me a pic so I can see how it turned out!
Okay, so this is a little different than my usual Weekly Wishlists. I cannot believe that Christmas is 6. Days. Away. Where did December go? Why do I still have a huge to-do list for the holidays? Why haven’t I mailed out my greeting cards yet? Why is my house still only half decorated? Why are my DIY gifts not done? Ack!
::deep breaths::
So, if I had all the time in the world, here are some of the things I’d love to do for this holiday season:
– DIY ornaments (for myself and for gifts), like some of the fantastic ones created by IHeartOrganizing
– DIY decorations
– a themed Christmas tree (probably to fit in with my “Winter Wonderland” vision)
– baking and candy-making up a storm
– create a way to display all the holiday cards we’ve received (inspiration via IHeartOrganizing)
– DIY-ing some wrapping paper and gift bags
…just to name a few. I guess there’s always next year! 😉
Are you on-track or stressed the %#^& out? Do you have any tips on how I can create more hours in a day?
Want to see more inspiration? Follow me on Pinterest here.
I shared my mantel on Monday, so now, it’s time to reveal the full monty tree. Here she is in all her nine-foot-majesty:
And lit up:
Lovely, right?
One of my favorite things about Christmas is remembering. There are so many memories that I associate with our ornaments and decorations that I love uncovering every December, like this one that we bought on our honeymoon in Maui…
Or this one to commemorate our big move last year…
But I think my MOST treasured set of Christmas decorations is our Nativity set, which my mom handed down to me last Christmas.
This set has been in my family for exactly 60 years. My grandfather purchased it in 1952, when my mom was 9 years old. It’s still in the original box, with the original postage stamp, and the original hand-written address.
I never met my grandfather. He passed away years before I was born. So I love that I have this little piece to remind me of him. Every Christmas, when my mom, dad and I would get out the decorations, I was given two important tasks: screwing in and checking each light bulb for the tree strands, and setting up the Nativity set. And I usually spent the rest of the holiday season playing with the animals, prompting my parents to exclaim that next year, they were wrapping up the Nativity animals instead of buying me toys.
What’s your favorite part of decorating for the holidays? Any special items that you’ve built memories around?