Hints of Christmas (House Tour: Part Two)

First and Foremost, I again want to say that my prayers are with the families who lost sweet little loved ones on Friday. I cannot imagine what they must be going through, and it pains me to think that I am writing about my christmas decor, when Christmas will always be a time of pain for these families and loved ones. 

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If you remember from Part One, my family really had to scale down Christmas this year.

While I'm sure my mom and brother would've been fine putting up no decorations at all, I had to at least have something. Nothing big, because we certainly have done big before, but just hints. 

So, here are our "hints" of Christmas. 

Okay, I also have to admit that the majority of this "house" tour is actually my bedroom.

Like I said, my mom and brother were being scrooges, so I decorated my room and let them be humbugs.

Here is an overview of my bed!

I added lights and lots of Christmas pillows.

Both the white tree pillow and the striped tree one (down below) came from goodwill.

This one is my favorite!

This darling lamb came from a craft show. 

She is made up of little scraps of christmas fabric. It is just adorable.

Moving to above my bed...

The mirror was a curbside find and the garland came from a yard sale for $1

Next, is my bedside table.

The tree came from goodwill for 50 cents and the cute little snowman was my grandmothers (Thanks Nana!)

Even my mannequin got some winter love!

Everything she is wearing came from either a yard sale or goodwill

and next to her is my dresser.

I added this amazing find from goodwill for 50 cents.

I love how the three trees are all different sizes.

and the last thing in my room to get some Christmas love was my bookshelf:

This plaque came from homegoods for less than $5.

(it's my favorite Christmas song!)

and below that I added these cute little guys from Pier one a few years ago.

and I also brought out this book my mom gave me when I was little. 

I love to re-read it every winter.

and now on to our living space!

You've already seen our tree.

and our snow globes

but see that little guy peeking on the left?

Here he is up close!

We got him at homegoods a few years ago.

and finally, our back door.

We purchased the candy cane last year on the day after Christmas, at our local Kroger.

They were trying to get rid of it and we scored it for $3!

I'll show you our front door tomorrow (god-willing)

Until then enjoy your monday!

Christmas House Tour Part One: Oh, Christmas Tree!

So you know I love christmas right?

Well, I really, really do.

So much so that our one car garage is stacked floor to ceiling with just Christmas decor.

Even though we have so many decorations, we aren't putting them up this year.

You see, we literally just moved in November.

We hardly have our house put together, and just the thought of bringing more boxes in makes me dizzy.

But....

It wouldn't be christmas without a tree. 

So, we picked the smallest out of the 3(!!!) trees we own and put it up. 

{1 is for all our childhood ornaments and is over 15 feet tall, and the other two are just decorative, smaller ones.}

It  was simple.

It was pre-lit, and all of it's ornaments were in its own container.

It took my mom and I about an hour to throw together.

and I love it.

Christmas just wouldn't feel right without a tree. 

So, without further adieu,

I introduce,

Our Family Christmas tree for 2012:

So, what do you think?

We purchased the tree, ornaments and ribbon all from hobby lobby years ago. The tree skirt was given to us.

And obviously, we haven't done hardly any christmas shopping, if you can't tell from the lack of presents under the tree

...next weekend hopefully!

By the way, with the tree up, a few decorations out, and the 20*temps (Highly unusual for Texas), it's finally beginning to feel like Christmas!

So, this week, I am going to share more christmas posts.

(think more house tour and some DIY decorations)

Halloween House Tour Part 2!

Wow! I can't believe it's Monday! I feel like the weekend just flew by. It was a busy, but relaxing weekend for me, and I am so sad it's over. 

but...

I am very excited to share the next part of my house's halloween decor!

Today, we are going to see our entertainment center. It is opposite our fireplace, and contains mainly our TV. 

Here is an overview of the entertainment center!

Most of the decorations were found from around the house, or from the dollar store. Which means, we spent less than $5 for the entire space!

That is crazy

Let's start with the center shelf!
I got my ideas for the center shelf from this pin:

                                                Source: bedifferentactnormal.com via Amber on Pinterest

I loved the idea of making a witches apothecary, and I had the perfect bottles to do the job!

We had the bottles leftover from my brother's rehearsal dinner, and using this same method, I spray-painted them black to make them fit in with Halloween. Then we just printed out the labels using the Printable from this site. I didn't use sitckers, like the site suggests, but I still love how they turned out! 

Then, We added the creepy victorian-style pictures from the Dollar store. They change faces depending on which angle you look at.

Then, using the inspiration from the pin, 

we added some vintage lace (from the Rehearsal dinner) , and gothic, black roses from the dollar store.

Here is a second shot from a different angle. 

You cant really see in this picture, but we hung black spray-painted (supposed to be christmas) angels/cherubs to make it extra creepy.

Next is the left-side shelves:

Like I said, everything here is originally for another purpose, but we re-did them to fit with halloween!

The candle sticks were from the rehearsal dinner (spray-painted black). 

The mask was from an old costume, and the goblets are from this post.

and now, the right side!

For some continuity, I added the matching candlesticks up top, and wrapped some spider web around both. 

Then, using this same Printable from this site, and painting more vases and knicknacks, I added more "poison" bottles to the second shelf. 

Since our entertainment center is all black, I needed something to make the decorations pop. I found some old sheet music and taped it to the back. It did just the trick! I used this idea on every shelf to create unity. 

On the last shelf, I added this peacock feather wreath from goodwill, and added a skull with some baker's twine. Then I added the bat found at a garage sale for $1. 

and that's it! Here is the overall view again:

I'm so happy with how it turned out! 

and for less than $5, I think it looks amazing.

Let me know what you think! I'd love some feedback!

Pinned it and Tried it: easy & cheap Halloween Decor!

It's no secret that my family loves decorating for Holidays.

It's also no secret that we are cheap. super cheap.

I was looking for some easy and affordable decorations for our annual halloween party, and stumbled across this:

Source: bhg.com via Amber on Pinterest

I fell in love with the gothic feel of the goblets, 

but what really sold me was the fact that I had everything on hand already,

which made these decorations 

completely free.

Here is what you'll need:

A can of black spray paint (I had the .97cent can from Lowes)

-any assortment of goblets.

(We had so many of these left over from my brother's rehearsal dinner)

-candles (once again left over from the rehearsal dinner)

and you just spray paint till your fingers feel like they are going to fall off!

The key to this is NOT perfection.

I just did one sloppy coat and called it quits.

and you know what?

they still turned out fabulous!

I just added a gold tray from goodwill, and spider web from the dollar store.

It looks so gothic and creepy! I love it!

I also did this trick to other pieces, but you'll have to wait to see that until tomorrow's Halloween decor part 2!

I believe that this was a successful pinned it and tried it!

D.I.Y. Lampshade!

Got this fabulous idea from here (see I told you I love her site!) 

I found this blue lamp at goodwill for two bucks. It had this hideous feather shade on it but I loved the base. So, It sat in my garage for a while until I finally found something I liked to do with it. 

 (Sorry I forgot to take a before picture.)

First I started by ripping of the fabric on the original shade.

Then I took these scraps of fabric and tied them all around the frame of the shade. It's a long process, but you will know when you have enough

 and viola! You have the cutest lamp around! 

Coming soon:

 The details of this tutorial!