Tag: celebrations

O’ Christmas Tree

O’ Christmas Tree

finaltreeqewt952a8d1deb6bd4We have a big, beautiful Christmas tree we decided to abandon in the basement this year. It’s not that we don’t love it, but the mammoth thing is nine feet tall and six feet wide and feels like the love child of a hippo and porcupine when you’re dragging it up a narrow flight of stairs. So instead of hauling and hoisting the big girl this year, we decided to go with a bare-bones six footer I bought really cheap a few years ago. I thought it was a good idea until my husband set it up in the living room — the poor thing just looked so sad, and short.

I thought and thought of ideas to add a few feet to the height of the tree and a bit of charm without dipping into my pocketbook. Suddenly it occurred to me that we had a large urn holding some dying pansies out front and it might just be the ticket. So my husband and I dumped out a bit of dirt, pulled off the tree stand and stabbed in the tree . I wedged some rocks and pieces of wood in place to secure the trunk and surprisingly enough it turned out to be quite steady. . . and cute. It also added about two feet to the overall height, and even withstood the decorating process, which included the help of a certain three-year-old boy.

Cheap and Easy Holly Hangers

Cheap and Easy Holly Hangers

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I’m going to let you in on a little secret of mine, because who doesn’t love cheap and easy. Whoa now, I’m not sure you’ll find this little tip quite that interesting, but if you are looking for an inexpensive and extremely quick way to hang holiday decorations on mirrors and pictures, then you’ve come to the right place.

A few years ago while my husband was sorting outdoor lights and I was festivizing the living room, I decided to hang a cute little wreath (pictured at left) in front of the mirror over the fireplace. I didn’t know how best to go about this without scratching the mirror or poking holes in the wall, until. . . until I spied an orphaned light hanger that had fallen off my husband’s project. Speaking of lights, one suddenly went off in my head.

I took this one little plastic hanger, you know the kind you can buy for cheap that attach to outdoor lights and slide under roof shingles or clip on gutters, turned it upright and attached it to my wreath. I then simply slid the part that is supposed to go on the gutters or shingles over the top of my mirror. It was a perfect fit!

Obviously if you have a seriously chunky frame on your mirror, the clip won’t fit; and in that case I’m going to leave you hanging (no pun intended). But for most simple frames, this technique should work fine. Also, if the little “rabbit ears” on the clip stick up above your wreath or bow, simply trim off that portion of the clip.

Saturday Sparks – Christmas Window Boxes

Saturday Sparks – Christmas Window Boxes

As we change gears from all things fall into holly and ives, I wanted to share a few ideas for decorating window boxes in the spirit of the season. You know I love window boxes and my beautiful summer box flowers have become a frozen brown mess, so it’s definitely time to swap the contents for something a bit more festive. I’ll let you know what I come up with; but in the meantime, enjoy this bit of inspiration.

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UPDATE: See more Christmas window box ideas at Saturday Sparks — More Christmas Window Boxes

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