12/13

Craft Your Own Christmas: DIY Decorations

While I AH-dore dressing up my home for the holidays, but between wreaths, ornaments, stockings and gift-wrapping, it can definitely get expensive! So this year I thought, why not have a DIY moment? Well my DIY moment turned into more like a DIY day. I had so, so, so much fun and it’s a great way to get the little ones involved.

#MollyTips: Here are some essentials: good scissors, REALLY good glue, and make sure you lay out towels for easy clean up.

WREATH: I had so, so, so much fun making my own wreath! It’s actually super simple, and comes out looking AH-dorable. You just need to start out with a wreath mold. I picked a Styrofoam base, because it’s smooth and easy to work on. There are tons of themes you can pick for your wreath. Glitzy, sparkly, leafy, floral. I decided to go with a warmer, rustic look. I picked 3 different yarns and glued the tip to the wreath. There’s no need to glue around the whole thing. As long as you glue where it starts and ends, that will be enough. Once I wrapped it all around I tied some burlap around the top and made a bow. After sticking in some little green accents, I was done! It’s simple, but has a really elegant look.

I originally made this as a mini wreath, but the puppies enjoyed it way more. Perhaps I should get into the dog collar business? I MEAN…how cute?

STOCKINGS/STUFFERS: A really fun way to make stockings more personal is to make your own! You can put people’s names and pictures on them, and it’s so, so, so easy! All you need is felt, scissors, and glue. I made these three for my pupalups. I’m OB-sessed. If you really want to go all out this year, why not make your own stocking stuffers too? Buying mason jars and filling them with your own jam or almond butter is a great personal gift for friends.

GIFT WRAPPING: While buying gifts for friends and loved ones during the holidays is fun, wrapping them isn’t always quite as enjoyable. As part of my DIY frenzy, I thought it might be fun to try to gift-wrap on a simpler scale. Instead of folding and taping and basically doing origami, I decided to buy some plain white boxes and decorate them my own way. For a more natural, organic look, I decided to wrap burlap around the box and accent it with some glittery leaves. A little glitter never hurt nobody. For the second box, I found these adorable glitter daisies and decided to stick them on for more of a glam look. I’m totally OB-sessed. And these little name-tags really give them a finishing touch.

DECORATIONS: I have tons of decorations around the house, but I thought it’d be a fun project to make some of my own! This little snowman was super easy! All you need is a sock, some string, some googley eyes and 2 bouncy balls. Cut the top of the sock, place the first ball where the toes go, tie a not, place the second ball in, and tie a knot. Finally, put the cut part of the sock on his head so our snowman has a cute, slouchy hat. What a trendy little thing he is. Glue on some eyes and a face, and you’ve got yourself a snowman. This gemmed Christmas tree was also so, so, so fun and took no time at all. Just buy a Styrofoam cone and cover it in either felt or yarn, glue on some gems and you’re set. And who needs an advent calendar when you can count down to Christmas your own way? Paint a wooden slate with chalkboard paint and write in how many days you have left!

ORNAMENTS: You can never have too many ornaments. And while I usually go for a more traditional, elegant tree, I realized it doesn’t hurt to give it some character with unique, homemade ornaments. This part of my DIY day was so, so, so fun. I filled some with glitter, covered others in rhinestones, and even let Brooksie help me paint one with chalkboard paint so we could write his name on it. The bath beads look AH-dorable, but here’s a tip. The green beads turned red overnight! My red and green bead filled ornament was soon to be an all red one, which was totally fine, but it’s worth noting.

LEFTOVER BOXES: One of the best parts of the holidays is having family and friends over, especially when you’ve spent hours upon hours in the kitchen preparing food for the occasion. Now I know for me, personally, my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach when it comes to Christmas. And usually, the same goes for my guests. But there’s nothing wrong with not being able to finish your food, because unfinished food means leftovers, and leftovers means food for days. This year I decided it would be really fun to get creative with leftover boxes. Where’s the fun in sending guests home with a bunch of mashed potato filled Tupperware? Why not buy some festive Chinese takeout boxes and customize them with initials and stickers? Or how about put together a goodie bag for friends to go home with, and personalize it with name-tags and messages? You can even buy to-go soup containers, and cover them in beautiful holiday paper. How cute?

When it comes to setting up for the holidays, It doesn’t always have to look perfect, so don’t stress. In my opinion, if it looks like you put time into it and it looks authentic, that beats perfect and store bought any day.