Use vignettes in all of your DESIGNs

Whether you are just re-DESIGN-ing a room or decorating for the holidays, vignettes (small gathering of various items that create a small scene within a room) are a great way to add texture, depth and interest to a space.

Here are some examples of the holiday vignettes I created in the living room.

DIY snowball decor for Christmas

Since moving to the South, the one thing I miss the most is a white Christmas... So I like to use "snow" in a lot of my holiday decor.

These DIY snowballs are simple, fun and REAL-ly reasonable!

Supplies:
-compressed styrofoam balls, 10 for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree
-spray adhesive
-bag of snow "flakes"
-skewer
-plastic bag

Place some of the snow "flakes" into the plastic bag (remember a little goes a long way). Insert the skewer into the ball just enough to keep it secure. Next spray the ball with the adhesive while rotating the ball to ensure it is fully coated. The spray adhesive is messy so use the spray outside or inside a cardboard box to avoid the overspray landing where you don't want it to. Next drop the ball into the plastic bag of snow, close the top and shake it. Once it is fully covered remove the ball from the bag and repeat.

Instant snowballs, that won't melt on the mantel.

Finally, the Christmas decorating has begun

I thought I was doing pretty well this year, staying ahead of the quickly approaching Christmas chaos... But then I saw all the Facebook posts and I felt extremely behind on my holiday decorating. Congratulations to all of you who have already trimmed your trees and decked your halls!!!

I started late yesterday and worked on it most of the day today and there is still more to do, but here are a few pictures of the progress. This is the before and after of the living room mantel... Stayed tuned for more.

-Glitter PEACE letters, 99 cents each at Walmart
-Glitter reindeer, 2 for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree
-Snowballs, DIY

Another holiday re-DESIGN project

Over Thanksgiving my Aunt and Grandmother were discussing how much they love charger plates and how great it is that they are finally inexpensive to purchase... In fact, they are so reasonably priced that I bought this one at Dollar General for $1.50. The Dollar Tree is also carrying them, but at such a bargain they are often sold out.

For this project, I once again used my Silhouette to cut out a fun holiday saying. By staying generic to winter I will be able to extend the display time beyond Christmas. Once again, if you do not have a Silhouette a simple paint pen will do. Make one or two to display as decoration around the house or personalize one for each place setting for your holiday guests. You could write their name, initials or keep it to a generic message. The best part is you can make your holiday table look great and send guests home with a personalized gift on a REAL small budget!!!

Great ornament for kids to make for school party or teacher's gifts

My mother made these simple ornaments with us as kids and now I will be making them with my daughter's kindergarten class as a Holiday party craft. I searched the internet for ideas, but nothing fit the ease and appropriateness of this old tried and true idea.

Materials:
-Black matte board (use Michael's coupon for large piece and cut to size)
-Popsicle sticks
-White paint pen
-Scrap book stickers (the Christmas ones were included in one of the weekly 50% off pre-holiday sales)
-Thin ribbon (also part of the weekly sales)

Loop the ribbon and hot glue it to the front face of the matte board. Then glue the sticks to the matte board to create the frame. Next have the kids write letters, numbers, words, etc inside the frame and their name and the year on the back. Lastly, glue a decorative accent to the lower corner of the frame.

The kids will love being involved in DESIGN-ing their own gifts and sharing the talents they have learned in school as a gift to family, friends or teachers.

Local tips... Don't miss the sale in Midway

Just a quick tip for all of the Savannah area followers... The International Greeting Factory Store in Midway is having two more sales before Christmas:

Saturday December 1st, 10:00am-2:00pm
Friday December 14th, 9:00am-5:00pm

I finally got to check out this great sale last week, after hearing so many wonderful things about it.

I was not disappointed (as you can tell from my box of goodies in the picture). The prices are amazing, 4 rolls of wrapping for $1.00, 3 for a $1.00 gift bags and so much more!!! And the best part of all, is although there is a lot of Christmas items, there is still a large selection of year round items as well. With such great prices, not only can you use these items for practical use, you can even justify re-DESIGN-ing them into creative projects.

Tips: go early, bring a friend and strollers would be a challenge in the small space. The line gets very long, so take turns with a friend waiting, while the other looks.

Time to re-DESIGN the home for the holidays

Here is one of my first Christmas decorating projects- a waterless snow globe. I used a large, wide mouth mason jar. I then hot glued stretched out cotton balls and two of my cute little trees to the underside of the lid and sprinkled the small flakes of fake snow into the jar. I reattached the lid and then decorated the jar with a piece of cut burlap and small piece of ribbon and the saying "let it snow" that I cut with the Silhouette. This is an easy, fun project that would make great gifts for teachers or friends.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

We spent the holiday at my Aunt's house and I just had to share some of her wonderful harvest decorations. She always has such great creative energy and beautiful ideas!! Check out her page, Two Women and a Social Group, on Facebook. It is full of great ideas for embracing the abilities of those with special needs.

Those cute little trees

One of my followers commented on my little trees featured with the JOY plates. I found this pack to be the best deal at Lowe's. The price was better than the individual ones at Walmart and nicer quality than the Dollar Tree. These little trees are so versatile and can be used in so many ways. Stay tuned... I am sure they will be popping up in some of my other holiday projects.

In honor of Thanksgiving... A fun solution for "where should I sit?"

Choose your seat, by choosing a quote

With tomorrow's holiday quickly approaching, I thought that I would share a fun idea that our family did last year to solve the age old question, "where should I sit?".  We wrote down various quotes (find on the internet under inspirational quotes, thanksgiving quotes,etc) and placed one at each place setting.  Then it was up to each guest to find the quote that best described them and hence their seat.  Then before dinner we went around the table and everyone had to read their quote out loud.
A fun way to create a solution, add a creative element to the table and have a little self reflection/group reflection in honor of the day... Engaging all your guests in an activity always adds REAL life to the party

Ahhh magazines... Tempting, but tormenting

If you are like me you can not help but be tempted by the allure of the perfectly staged room on the cover of a magazine. Whether in line at the grocery store or waiting on a prescription, I just have to peak through the pages. I rarely purchase, mostly browse and sometimes snap a picture or two for future creative reference. But as with most temptations, there comes consequence- for me a drive deep from within to achieve those cohesive color pallets and perfectly staged spaces... And then I am reminded of my REAL-ity; two young kids, a dog and a budget that can not even afford the magazine... All of the more reason to accept your REAL-ity and re-DESIGN it, so you may not have a magazine ready home, yet. Have faith in your creative abilities and resourceful nature and you too can have a picture worthy home!

DESIGNs for the holidays

If you are like me you see a lot of great ideas out there and just have to try them for yourself. These JOY plates are a great example. I found small white plates at the Dollar Tree and then cut the letters on my new favorite "toy", the Silhouette Cameo. If you do not have a cutter you can still achieve the same great look by writing on the plate with a large Sharpie paint pen. Their extra large sizes make writing large print extra easy!

I just love before and afters

BEFORE 

AFTER

Here is another example of seeing past the surface.  We purchased the home a few years ago as a rental property, so the goal was to make the most impact with the smallest amount of money and time. The dining room had numerous layers of wallpaper on the walls and even indoor/outdoor carpeting on the floors!  To save time and money we actually went over the layers of wallpaper with 1/4" sheetrock and as for the floors; to the discount flooring place we went.  Knowing that we only had a hallway and a dining room to cover, we were able to save a ton of $ on a leftover order.  This is common in a lot of flooring stores, so always ask if they have any overruns in the back.  However, be sure to allow a little overage in your quantities for spare replacement boards- the prices are great, but trying to match it down the road will be a challenge... Sometimes covering up is easier than taking down

A true example of a REAL-ity re-DESIGN

Before

After

In honor of my first post, I am sharing with you the home where so many of my ideas are currently being applied. Furthermore, it is a great example of what type of home is realistic for a tight budget, but what a little design can do to make it your own... Always look beyond first impressions