The Junk House: Holiday

Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Patriotic Polka Dot Bunting

I always have the best intentions of decorating when a holiday rolls around, but I always end up putting it off for so long that the holiday passes without a single decoration being put out (except for Christmas). This year, for 4th of July, I’m determined to at least get one decoration put out before the fireworks are over. Although, I guess patriotic decorations work for Memorial Day too, so I’m late on decorating again…

Anyway, I decided to make red, white, and blue bunting for the 4th of July. Bunting is one of the easiest and cheapest crafts to make, so there’s really no excuse not to make it for every occasion (says the person who never decorates for holidays/seasons). All you need is paper, ribbon, scissors (or a cutting machine), and a hole punch. I picked up two sheets each of red and blue polka dot paper plus some ribbon at Michael's (less than $5 for this project). I used my Silhouette to cut out the triangles (4 per sheet), but you could easily do this with scissors.

Once you have all of your triangles cut, punch two holes in each one and string them together on some ribbon. I use the first hole-punched triangle as a guide for the others, so everything lines up perfectly.

And done - I told you it was easy!

It’s only June 18th and I already have something festive for the 4th of July up in my house! That has to be a new record!

Do you decorate for the holidays or seasons? Have you done any 4th of July projects lately?

Linking up at: The Handmade Hangout

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Our First Christmas Tree

This year we will be celebrating our third Christmas in this house. It’ll also be our first year with a full-size Christmas tree!

During our first Christmas, Ringo was a little puppy hell-bent on destroying everything in his path, so we opted for a tabletop tree instead. Last year Ringo was 100x better than the year before, but I still worried about him messing with a tree, so we stuck with our tabletop tree. As a side note, we also got Abby that year, but she’s pure sweetness so we don’t worry about her messing with things.

Anyway...

While shopping the after-Christmas sales last year I found an amazing tree at an amazing price. I figured Ringo would be well-behaved enough for a full-size tree by then, so I bought it. Seriously, I couldn’t pass up a $250 pre-lit tree for $62.50 (from K-Mart).

Fast forward 12 months…

I wanted our first year with a full-size tree to be successful so I decided to introduce the new tree to the Ringo in stages. I set the tree up in the living room 2 weeks ago. I didn’t add any decorations because I wanted him to get used to having the tree in the house. He smelled the tree and got excited when I turned the lights on, but that was about it…off to a good start!
Three days later I added the garland. I was worried he’d grab a piece and accidentally pull the whole tree down, but he didn’t mess with it at all.

This past weekend I decided to start adding ornaments. This is definitely the part I’m most worried about because most of the ornaments are shaped like his ball, so I can see him pulling them off the tree to play. I made sure to put the shatterproof ones towards the bottom just in case. So far the only incident we’ve had was Ringo swinging his rope toy too close to the tree which caused some of the ornaments to go flying (nothing was broken though).

The white garland and red ornaments are all from after-Christmas sales and the white ornaments are from Savers ($0.99 for the whole box!). The rest of the ornaments are sentimental ones and ornaments I’ve collected over the years. New items this year are the tree topper and poinsettias (from Michael’s). I still need a tree skirt, but I haven’t found one that I like yet.

I’m so happy we finally have a full-size tree and I love how it turned out! Cross your fingers everything survives the rest of the month!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Deck the Halls Christmas Mantle

Ever since I moved to Phoenix I’ve had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. It just seems weird to still be wearing shorts and sandals, but decorating a Christmas tree (although I have no problems getting into the Christmas shopping mood…haha). As bad as this sounds (I promise I’m not a scrooge), I pretty much have to force myself to start decorating for Christmas. I add a Christmas scent to my wax warmer, turn on a Christmas movie, and spread all of my decorations out so I have to start putting them out. Of course once I start decorating I start enjoying myself and start getting excited for Christmas.

Anyway, this year I started with my mantle and I love how it turned out this year!

I don’t think I’ve posted anything about my mantle since last Christmas, so now is probably a good time to mention that I finally upgraded the mirror. The larger scale looks so much better with the large fireplace. It was originally black, but I spray painted it white. Oh, here’s a tip: Don’t leave a spray painted mirror outside overnight in the winter…the frost/morning dew will ruin the paint job – trust me on this one!

I used my Silhouette to cut out the lyrics to Deck the Halls with leftover vinyl. I used a large level and dry erase marker to draw lines on the mirror so I could keep the lettering level and centered. It took A LOT longer than planned, but I love how it turned out. Plus it’s easily removable, so after Christmas I can just peel off the vinyl and my mirror will be back to normal.

The stockings, glitter letters, and garland are from last year’s mantle. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only blogger who actually reuses holiday decorations and doesn't decorate with a different theme every year. That being said, I will admit that the candlesticks are new this year. I love the added height and sparkle.

Now that the mantle is decorated and our Christmas tree is up (although it’s still not decorated…I’m trying to get Ringo used to having a tree in the house), I’m officially in the Christmas spirit and ready to start putting out the rest of the decorations!