Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #6

This was one of my favorites! It was not one that I thought of before hand, but so glad that it came to mind!

Just simple and makes your twinkle lights shine!

Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #5

Got to love Anthropologie for starting the book page loving decor!

Easy, easy, easy!

Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #4

The next few ornaments over the next few days involve clear glass ornaments and simple embellishments.

This one was one of our wedding invitations that I cut up and placed inside the glass ornament.

Love this!

Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #3

Of course, I had to throw in some bird ornaments!

I took some of the sheet music to make some cute little birds for the tree.

I did the following:

I just made me two different kinds of templates and traced them on the sheet music. The fun thing about using book pages or sheet music is that the paper is double sided, so I was able to flip the birds to look in different directions.

Glue the wings on ...

Add some glue ...

and some glitter ...

Blinging birdies for the tree!

Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #2

In keeping with the snowflake theme, my next ornament, I got from Pinterest.

Source: creationsbykara.com via Haven on Pinterest

I realized halfway in that I did not follow directions at the beginning nor have steady hands enough to get it right.

So what is a girl to do when she realized that her project is not so pretty? Well, use the skills she learned from Pre-K and let the gluing and glittering begin!

If you would like to make the one in the picture above, you can find the tutorial here.

Otherwise, trudge on my friends.

 Add glue to the edges of the flower ...

 Turn it glue side down and get ready to glitter it up!

Place it on some aluminum foil to dry.

I added a circle that I cut out on my Cricut and of course a faux rhinestone ...

Simply Christmas ... Handmade ornament #1

For some crazy reason, I decided to change up my tree this year. I am so glad I did, because I love it. It is unique. I also decided to make my own ornaments as well. Crazy I know.

Here is the first one. I was already thinking about glamorous snowflakes when I saw some very similar in Pottery Barn. Well, if you find it in Pottery Barn, then you must carry on.

I got the big tub of big faux rhinestones, some skewers, hot glue, and fishing line to make several of these beauties.

Basically I cut the skewers with wire cutters and just make sure that the lengths were about right.

Then you got glue the skewers together to make wooden snowflakes.

Next, you hot glue the faux rhinestones on top of the skewers. I worked from the center out and then added a big rhinestone in the center. This project was very forgiving in that if you had more beads on one end and not the other, just add one and it looks fine.

Reinforce the back with more hot glue and then add fishing line to the top. I found that it worked better to hot glue the line on than to tie it. Tying it made the snowflakes to fall forward.

And yes, I used a lot of hot glue. Why do you ask?

I love how they give an extra twinkle to my vintage glamorous tree!

Simply Wrapping

Since my theme is "Simply Christmas," I decided to even wrap my gifts in a simple style of contractor's paper and jute with a stamped tag.

I love wrapping in plain paper! As a teenager, I would get packing paper, paint, and cookie cutters to create my own wrapping paper. What fun it was to design your own paper. These days, however, I will stick to the more simple of the two.

What are your wrapping your gifts with?

Santa Stops

Back in October, I had no desire to put up any Christmas decorations. No one, except us, got to enjoy them, so I didn't want to go all out.

I was telling this to a friend when she said that I had to put up my tree because she was already inviting herself over for Christmas.

With this little comment, I was ready to come up with a plan. I also realized that Christmas is about giving whether that is a gift or a meal. Or both. It is also about giving times to others and enjoy each other's company.

Ok, back to the plan!

I had so many ideas! Some I found on Pinterest. The others just popped in my head right before I went to sleep. You know those kind that you hope to remember when you wake up because they are that awesome!

Here was one indeed.

It started with a world map that I found online. I loved the colors!

I just added some burlap to a frame that I have had forever.

I found some scrapbook paper at the Hobby Lobby and mod podged it to the mat.

I added some push pins to special areas to us on the map along with the words "Santa Stops" to get this ...

I love this little vignette!

I am linking up with: