Christmas Decor 2011

So. This is probably the least I've ever decorated for Christmas. As I mentioned, doing the Parade of Homes last year & decorating every.room.in.the.house definitely burned me out. I wanted to do at least the tree and mantle this year, so that's what I did. It was simple, stress-free, and very enjoyable. :)

The storage in the house we're in right now is not the easiest to access, so I just had Patrick get the first few tubs he could easily get to, and that's how I decided what colors I'd use to decorate. :) I ended up with aqua, gold, and some touches of red & green on the tree. I knew I wanted to tie the red & green in so it would match our stockings.

I had a horrible time trying to get pictures, and didn't really have the patience or time to mess with it long...so just imagine that it's much more breathtaking in person. Ha! :)

This is the first time I've had to decorate over the mantle since we always had the TV over it in our old house. I used to hate that come time to decorate for Christmas. But now that I had the freedom to put up anything? I was stumped. I wanted something simple and cheap, so I ended up putting something together that would match my decor.

I bought these 3 trays at Dollar Tree for $1 each, obviously. :) I spray painted them a champagne color, then added a few coats of Martha Stewart glitter paint in antique silver. (Pretty stuff, but doesn't give near the coverage I anticipated.) Then I cut letters out to spell JOY using glitter paper from Hobby Lobby. I decided to use that rather than to glitter my own paper because I didn't want glitter to be flaking everywhere.

And this is the finished product! I love the way it turned out and think it works great in our living room. The mantle was pretty simple to put together - some fresh garland from Lowe's mixed with lights and a gold leaf garland from Michael's, topped with a few Dollar Tree Christmas trees. I also put some ornaments in the DIY apothecary jars I made last year.

 

Because of a certain busy little toddler that lives here, I barely put any ornaments on the tree this year. Just lots of mesh, some glitter picks, and a few larger ornaments.

Like I said, I didn't get very good pictures, but here's a slightly closer look at the tree. Oh! And I should mention...the Scentsicles I was so excited about? Yeah, don't waste your money. All it did was make our house smell like Vicks for 2 days, and now you can't even smell them. Pretty sad about that. If you tried them, I'd love to hear how they worked for you though!

Well that pretty much wraps up my decorating for the year. Can't wait to check out everyone else's! :) I'm linking up at Kelly's Korner, Blue-Eyed Bride, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Nester & The Christmas Cheer Link Party.