It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Well, ok, I know I'm late to the game as it started to look like Christmas in October!!  But for me, this is the perfect time to start decorating and getting in to the holiday spirit.  I made my own wreaths this year, which I think look great, and couldn't be easier to do.  This idea has been around for a while:

Using plastic bags cut into strips, simply tie them around a wire wreath frame until it's nice and full.  I like to spray paint the wire frame silver so it blends with the plastic bags.  Using this same idea, I cut felt into strips and tied them around another wire frame and the results, to me, are stunning!  Again, soooo easy and they cost about $7 for the felt one and $5 for the plastic bag version. Click here for a tutorial.

                           Hot Pink and Turquoise ARE traditional Christmas colors, right?!

                                                  I might just leave them up year round!
                                           Here are some of my other holiday decorations.

In the southwest, we use Agave stalks as Christmas trees!  Here is one of mine festooned with my homemade glitter ornaments!  This one, I DO keep up year long, minus the ornaments.

Hope you enjoyed a peek at my holiday decorating!
As always, please consider following me on the right sidebar and I do appreciate your visit!
Cheers,

aLL THAT gLITTERS.....

Have I mentioned how attracted I am to shiny, glittery, sparkly things?  Well, with that in mind I set out to make some beautiful, glittery baubles for my Christmas tree and the real tree in my front yard.  I went to my "go to" craft store, Michaels, and found some really cute, pre-cut, heavy cardboard shapes for .99 cents for a bag of 12!!  They come in so many shapes, it was hard to choose!  Everything from pirate ships to guitars to hand and footprints to flowers to....well, you get the idea.  A can of spray adhesive and some 'fine' glitter later, I had beautiful, glittery ornaments to adorn my tree!!
 

The supplies.

 I am absolutely LOVING the Martha Stewart glitters that are available.  They come in amazing colors and surprisingly, go a looong way.  The "Anthracite" is the most beautiful, deep, gun-metal grey  color I have ever seen!  Would it be weird if I covered myself in adhesive and rolled in it?  Wait....don't answer that!

Give a good coat of adhesive.

You want to be generous with the glitter so you get a nice, even, opaque cover.  You can always re-use what doesn't stick to the surface.  The trick to getting a good coat is to use your fingertips to really 'mash' the glitter in to the adhesive.

A cool macro shot of the 'Tourmaline' glitter!

And one of the 'Anthracite.'

 A hole punch and some ribbon later, and voila!  There you have it!  Beautiful glittery ornaments that are easy to make and cost just pennies a piece.  I love the way they glisten in our warm southwest sun!

Hope you enjoyed the sparkle!  As always, I appreciate your visit.  Won't you consider 'following' me on the right side bar?  Thanks and Happy Holidays!