My Metallic Mantle

Pandora has been on the Mariah Carey Christmas station, peppermint lattes have been consumed, and decor has made its way down from the attic, folks. Tis' the season around our house, and I'm excited to show you what I've been working on lately.

I got the idea for metallic "snow" on canvas from this pin on Pinterest.

Here she is all lit up.

 

I'm going to be honest; my "merry & bright" art did not turn out like I had envisioned. Instead, it looks more like an eight year-old could've made it. This would be fine if indeed an eight year-old really had made it. (It was also inspired via Pinterest.) I was so disappointed. I had high hopes and took pictures of the whole process, planning on posting a tutorial for you guys. Turns out, it was not as easy as I thought and just didn't "wow me" once finished. Sadly, I was truly bummed about it for a while. After this immature reaction, the husband gave me some good feedback and a new idea. I might be changing it out this weekend...we'll see.

I was pretty pleased, however, with those amazing ornaments I scored for $3 each at (get ready for this) Wal-Mart, of all places. I snatched up every last one. The snowflakes below were also a WM find: $2 a piece.

 

 

Ok, the little wooden village is one of my most precious possessions. My mother bought this on a family vacation in Germany when my brother and I were very little. For as long as I can remember, our part in helping "decorate for Christmas" was always to set up the village. We would arrange and rearrange everything until we were positive it was the "best ever". We had a lot more wooden toys from Germany, but somehow they've gotten lost over the years. This was my first year to set the village up at my house; it was the highlight of  decorating. The memory of carefully placing each familiar piece made me feel like a kid again (and made me miss my brother terribly.) Isn't the Volkswagen genius?!?

I made this last year at a craft party after seeing all the gorgeous paper wreaths blog land had to offer during holiday season. It held up pretty well in storage.

Next week, I'll be posting gift wrap ideas, a DIY stocking stuffer, and my trees (yep, that's plural. No worries, I only have two.) How's your decorating going? Any speedbumps to make me feel better about my own mishap? (Ha! Really, please someone tell me.) Any holiday traditions that bring back a flood of memories for you?

 

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