Christmas Tree 2011

As I sat here listening to the first drops of rain of the evening, which are forecast to turn into the first snow of the season (I'm not counting the freak Halloween storm because I wasn't here for it!), it occurs to me that I'd better share my tree soon or I'll miss my chance entirely! 

 It took me awhile to figure this tree out, and I don't feel I've quite made it all the way yet. No proper topper, you see...

But that sweet little owl holds the place quite nicely!

 I'd just like something to glow a bit behind him... I was going for a sort of enchanted forest, rustic glam sort of thing this year. Which was a new one for me even though I've been lovin' that look for awhile!

I started out with a shot at flocking the tree. (Lightly, since I couldn't find real flocking and only had canned snow!)

Outside, in the full sun, I thought it looked horrible! So paste-y! Not shimmery and enchanting at all, despite a liberal application of glitter. 

But then I got it inside and with the lights on it was a whole different thing! I loved it! Of course I wasn't about to pull everything back off, haul the tree back outside and finish the flocking, so I have a half -flocked tree this year! (I think I might go whole-hog next year, we'll see how hard the clean-up is after removal!)

At first I also thought I wanted a pink and green tree:

But that was looking a little too Arsenic and Old Lace, and not in a good way... or at least not in a way I was feeling. So I pulled off the pink ribbon, added some shimmery burlap trim and DIY pine-cone and twine garland instead.



 A healthy dose of cute little critters to finish:

Adorable stag from JCPenney.

Glimmering mushroom from Crate and Barrel.

Absolutely adorable reindeer from Crate and Barrel. (really hoping to get back and get more of these!)

And voila! A Christmas tree! So far.... : )

Check back to see the mantel in continuous progress as well!

Christmas Crafts: Non-taxidermy Deer

And NO! I didn't just hang an un-preserved dead deer from my wall! EW!
Growing up my Mom had an antique taxidermy deer head in our family room. And while on one level it grossed me out (that would be the level where the day she came home with that piece of decor she was inspired to make a deer stew out of a deer's neck. I'll tell you when you open that pot to see what smells SO delicious and see recognizable bits of anatomy and you're 12....) it also had a certain charm. We named him Bambi and put a bird's nest on his head, and bauble earrings at the holidays.
Lacking my own taxidermy version to put up for the season, I made a cute cardboard deer head!

It looks pretty cute! As long as you don't look straight on...

 And it actually doesn't really go anywhere in my house, so he'll be going down to my brother's place for early Christmas dinner with Mom (I'm in charge of decorating! Wahoo!)

We'll just find a nice side-wall to put him on where no one will see him face-on.
Want to make your own cardboard deer head? Instruction are here on Good Housekeeping.
Just be careful with that exacto knife!

Holiday Crafts: Lamp Silhouette

Hey Everyone!

The other day I decided the lamp in the corner of my living room needed some holiday flair. 

A little plain, right?

Reindeer have been speaking to me this year. Not literally... I have seen a few in the neighborhood, but none have struck up a conversation yet...                                                                                                                                                
Anyhoo, I went online and found some clip art I liked, blew it up and printed it out. I planned to simply tape the whole piece of paper in the shade and be done with it, but  you know these things are never that simple! First the printer skipped parts, which I filled in with marker, which it turns out is denser than printer ink, so I had to go back and fill the whole thing in. Then the edges of the paper showed, so I ended up having to cut it out...

Well anyway, in the end I quite liked the result!

Seasonal, but not too kitschy. Not that I'm against kitsch- HA!
I thought it could use a bit more of a colorful festive touch, so I wrapped some pink dupioni ribbon around the base.

And then promptly moved the TV in front of it to make way for the Christmas tree! Oops! Oh well, you can still see it from parts of the room...

In the meantime, while I was meticulously cutting out all those little antlers I decided to do it well enough that I would have the negative left for another project. Stay tuned to find out what I did with that! 

I'll give you a hint, it has to do with this. Can you possibly guess? 

: )