It feels good to finally have the tree decorated. I went all white, with touches of silver, which just works in my living room with the wall color and the quality of light. Admittedly, I was having a moment with gold, but I decided I could get my fill of it when wrapping gifts for other people. Sometimes you just have to go with what works in your home instead of what's trendy.
I made almost every single ornament on my tree, which feels like an accomplishment. Not that I have anything against store bought, but I feel like I've made tons of ornaments for clients over the years and then all I have to show on my tree are dozens of ornaments I've purchased. It was time to remedy that. And in fact, it was so much fun that I'll have to make it a holiday tradition. Maybe not dozens, but a few to add to my collection each year.
Here are some of the ornaments I used, all of them inexpensive and easy to make.
1) The tutorial for the glittered paper stars can be found here. 2) I had lots of clear glass ornaments sitting around from last year, so I filled them with fake snow and and tiny Alder cones from Earth Beauties on Etsy (they look good with sprigs of greenery as well, though you'll want to remove it at the end of the season). 3) I reinterpreted the mistletoe sprigs from my wreath design in white velvet with beads from a necklace I found in my local thrift store. To make an ornament, follow the directions to make individual sprigs and fasten two of them together with white floral tape instead of the green I used for the wreath. Fold the taped wire to the back of the sprigs to form a loop, then trim excess wire and glue it in place with Fabri-Tac. When it's dry, thread a piece of silver string through the loop and knot the ends. 4.) The small star and reindeer silhouette were made from DAS air-dry clay, rolled to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. 5.) I was asked to rework my felt pinecone designs for Mollie Makes 34. While I was at it, I finally made a few wintry versions for myself. 6.) The antler ornament started off as an inexpensive ornament from Walmart. I gave it my own twist. See below for easy instructions. 7) Pom-poms couldn't be easier to make and they remind me of snowballs. I chose a white iridescent yarn which is subtle but picks up the light nicely. 8) The glittered acorns came from a winter nature display that I did a couple of years ago. I painted the acorn bodies white, coated them with a thin coat of Mod Podge, and sprinkled with a fine textured white glitter. When they were dry, I glued them to acorn caps. To turn them into ornaments I simply tied silver string around their stems.
Revamped Antler Ornament:
I love to scout the aisles of discount stores during the holidays. I always pick up all kinds of inexpensive ornaments whose forms I may like, but whose execution doesn't quite fit my taste. That was the case with these antler ornaments from Walmart. They felt too dark and muddy to me, but I bought a bunch, deconstructed them, and gave them a quick whitewash with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.
1. I cut the twine, which I later replaced with silver string, and used pliers to pull the wired jingle bells from each antler.
2. I dipped a damp paintbrush (1/4-inch flat bristle brush) into white paint and offloaded the excess onto a folded paper towel. With the paint that remained on my brush, I quickly applied a light coat to the entire ornament, leaving some of the underlying color exposed.
3. When they were dry, I strung them individually with silver thread instead of hanging them as a pair.
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