Last year I made all new ornaments for our tree - and then left them in Haiti. We came home, started unloading our belongings out of the container that had housed them for two years, and I went a little crazy. Fresh home from a third world country will make a person hate all their belongings. I had an epic garage sale a few weeks later. I remember looking at our Christmas stuff and thinking, "Why? Why did I keep these things? Get it all away from me - now." A few weeks ago it dawned on me that it's almost Christmas - and once again, we don't have any ornaments. The idea of an upcycled or reusable Christmas sounded like a fun idea (minus the part where I actually had to physically make stuff). I broke out the glue gun and got busy burning the flesh right off my hands. And arms. And shin.
I loved our wonky stick ornaments last year. I got the idea from Shannan over at Flower Patch Farmgirl. I dig her for so many reasons. The boys were happy to help me paint.
Aren't they cute? You should seriously check out Shannan's tree. It's double dreamy.
I also stole her idea for my garland. I think she uses newspaper - I cut up an old book. Gasp! It was a book about politics, so it's funny to see names like McCain, Clinton, Obama, and Romney circling our tree.
They were simple to reproduce.
Rosette with real chicken feathers
Blue and white striped fabric wrapped around an ugly Santa Claus ornament? Yes. Please.
Is "put a nest on it" the new "put a bird on it?" I hope so.
I'm loving these nests in our tree. They probably have diseases, but whatev.
My sister-in-law found this candelabra (that word has bra in it, hee!) at a resale shop last year. Hello Advent candle holder.
For the mantle, I wanted something simple. I swiped my garage-sale scale and the two white bowls from the kitchen. The middle container is a utensil holder. Don't tell anyone. The bird and white bird house thing, were already on the mantle. The plants - mini fir trees and rosemary. I love the idea of planting them in the ground after Christmas. And - the living room smells like Rosemary. It makes me want potatoes.
The books in the fireplace? This grouping is mostly made up of my enormo college literature books. Aaron has loved - I mean loved - moving those books from house to house over the years. He hasn't complained about that at all. Not at all.
I made the stockings two summers ago from burlap bags. These stockings feel extra special because I made them while staying at our family's farm. When I look at them, I can't help but remember my nieces and boys all up in my business, asking me 100 questions. They all decided to learn to sew pillows that summer. I loved finishing up a stocking and running barefoot across the yard to show my sister-in-law the finished product. Our boys will never forget those sweet times with their cousins.
I bought the burlap bags at a garage sale. The lady sold me about 20 huge, REAL burlap coffee sacks for $1 TOTAL. I could not believe it. I handed her a dollar and have never run faster down a driveway.
It's very simple, but looks so pretty at night. Our boys love being outside, so bringing pieces of the outside in makes this tree feel extra special to them. Besides, when Christmas gets flashy, it starts making very little sense to me.
Having this extra week after Thanksgiving feels so weird. Do you like the extra week or do you wish December would hurry and get here?
Whether you put your tree up early or wait until a week before Christmas - I hope you have a sweet time decorating it with the ones you love most.
17 comments:
That's really beautiful. Looks professional! You could sell those ornaments.
i think it sounds like you have a great tree, but i can't say for sure since you didn't post a picture of the finished product. was that on purpose?
Last year we skipped Christmas and went to Cambodia. This year I can't bring myself to pull out a single Christmasy thing (I got rid of most of it after we got back). Secretly hoping to skip Christmas and PRETEND I'm in Cambodia this year.
I love your homespun tree and upcycled decor! My favorite is the stockings. I cannot believe you got all those feed bags for $1 - what a blessing!
I added a picture of the whole tree!
Sorry. Didn't think about that.
Marla - I know. I feel ya.
$1 for all those burlap bags? Cuh-razy! God Bless Garage Sales!
I love it! The burlap is awesome, and I'm digging the chain. I've never had a chain on my tree, but perhaps it is time. Did you staple, glue, or tape the ends?
I hot glued that baby.
Which explains all the band-aids.
Heather
Super impressed! Great ideas & you have the talent to pull it off. When I make things it looks like a kindergarten art project gone awry.
i STILL love the stockings. so so cute!
and i might have to copy the paper garland since i hate all of my decor this year.....Thanks Pinterest.
this so resonates with me, as do so many of your posts. my husband and i used to live in africa and when we came home, i was so overwhelmed and disgusted by how much STUFF we owned. i am learning, especially through the holidays, how to make our own traditions that are fun and memorable, without putting too much emphasis back on STUFF. there's a fine line somewhere in there...
I love Christmas and went a little crazy over it last year by buying a bunch of stuff that I don't need just so that there are present under the tree. But this year, I feel so bad for doing all that that we decide to skip most the giving/ receiving part (most of the give exchange here can get pretty meaningless). Christmas is really glitz and glitter here in Singapore and its hard to teach my girls the real meaning of it sometimes. Still working hard on instilling the spirit of Christmas to the girls and praying that one day they will understand that it is a celebration of thanksgiving for the birth of our savior.
My name is Kate i want to share my testimonies to people in this forum When I married my husband I was already pregnant and so I didn't have a job. He had a really good job though so I was able to stay home and take care of our son when it was born. When we had our second child we moved to a bigger house, but then strange things started to happen. Things would fly off the walls and doors would slam at night. Our oldest son talked about seeing figures and hearing voices. We consulted a medium and they said the house was haunted. After living there about a year more with only minor occurrences we moved out. That was when the bad luck started to happen. Everything started to fail, with my husband's job, our money and our luck in general. I went back to the same medium and they told me that a spirit had followed me and placed a curse upon me for disturbing it and not being respectful in the previous house. He tried to remove it but was unable. The misfortune kept going on and getting more severe as I tried to search out someone to break the curse. But when I found Dr Shiva at HINDU spell he finally did it. Things started turning around almost immediately after he cast the spell and have been great from there my husband is back to me and also find a good job! This was really a miracle for us, thank you DR Shiva at HINDU SPELL TEMPLE you are the best from the bottom of my heart!CONTACT HINDU TEMPLE VIA THIS EMAIL:hinduspelltemple@yahoo.com...CAN NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT YOU SIR HIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS hinduspelltemple@yahoo.com CONTACT HIM NOW FOR SOLUTION TO ALL YOUR PROBLEMS Posted by. MISS KATE MOORE
Am giving this testimony because someone out there may have similar problem My Husband doesn’t think polygamy is wrong. He has been seeing another girl for about four months now. I told him that he needs to stop, but he says he is in love with her. They’ve talked about being together “forever” and eventually her moving in with us. My husband still loves me. He regrets getting into this in the first place, but is not willing to just break up with her. He says if they so break up then thy will be it and he will not pursue another relationship. I contacted DR ANUNU a spell caster who cast a 24 hour spell for me surprisingly my husband came home on his knees begging me to forgive him that he has broke up with his mistress all thanks to DR ANUNU I pray that God will continue to use you to help people. Friends don’t die in silent because someone like DR ANUNU has a solution to your problem is living happily with my family. Contact him via anunuspelltemple@ymail.com
My name is cheney from uk. I never believed in love spells or magic until i met this spell caster once when i went to Africa in February this year on a business summit. I meant a man who’s name is DR.EGOGO he is really powerful and could help cast spells to bring back one’s gone, lost, misbehaving lover and magic money spell or spell for a good job or luck spell .I’m now happy & a living testimony cos the man i had wanted to marry left me 3 weeks before our wedding and my life was upside down cos our relationship has been on for 3years. I really loved him, but his mother was against us and he had no good paying job. So when i met this spell caster, i told him what happened and explained the situation of things to him. At first i was undecided, skeptical and doubtful, but i just gave it a try. And in 7 days when i returned to Canada, my boyfriend (now husband) called me by himself and came to me apologizing that everything had been settled with his mom and family and he got a new job interview so we should get married. I didn’t believe it cos the spell caster only asked for my name and my boyfriends name and all i wanted him to do. Well we are happily married now and we are expecting our little kid, and my husband also got the new job and our lives became much better. His email is egogotemple@yahoo.com
bringing joy and happiness to my relationship and my family. I want to inform you all that there is a spell caster that is real and genuine. I never believed in any of these things until i loosed my boyfriend, I required help until i found drmarkrobbinspelltemple@yahoo.com a grate spell caster, And he cast a love spell for me, and he assured me that I will get my boyfriend back in two days after the spell has been cast. two days later, my phone rang, and so shockingly, it was my boyfriend who has not called me for past 10 years now, and made an apology for the heart break, and told me that he is ready to be my back bone till the rest of his life with me. DRMARKROBBIN released him up to know how much i loved and wanted him. And opened his eyes to picture how much we have share together. As I'm writing this testimony right now I'm the most happiest girl on earth and me and my boyfriend is living a happy life and our love is now stronger than how it were even before our break up. So that's why I promised to share my testimony all over the universe.All thanks goes to DRMARKROBBIN for the excessive work that he has done for me. Below is the email address in situation you are undergoing a heart break, and I assure you that as she has done mine for me, she will definitely help you too. drmarkrobbinspelltemple@yahoo.com
i am basically happy for what has happen in my life through a man that God really sent to bring joy to someones life,i saw a man that post about this Dr.Orissa a spell caster last week and ignore seeing the post and another lady again post about him as well so i contact Dr.Orissa for help to bring my Ex love that has gone for 3 years back,i thought it can’t be possible but my mind said i should give Dr.Orissa a Trial because i have meet many fake spell caster over here and nothing happen,i am using this opportunity to tell everybody or any one that read my post to please contact this man because he is different among them and the way he emailed and talk to me i really like it because he always tell what next to make your lover come back to you and it happen to me that i listen to everything he told me to do and i thank God that my lover emailed me 3 night ago and now we are planning to get married am so so so happy and thank you so much Dr.Orissa. you can reach him with; (orissatemple@yahoo.com)
my name’s Cynthia i want every one on this site or forum to join me thank this DRcafaispiritualtemple@gmail.com for what he just did for me and my kids . my story goes like this i was married to my husband for 5 years we were living happily together for this years and not until he traveled to Italy for a business trip where he met this prostitute who be witched he to hate me and the kids and love her only so when my husband came back from the trip he said he does not want to see me and my kids again so he drove us out of the house and he was now going to Italy for to see that other woman. so i and my kids were now so frustrated and i was just staying with my mum and i was not be treating good because my mama got married to another man when my after my daddy death so the man she got married to was not treating i and my kids well so i was so confuse and i was searching for a way to get my husband back to me and my kids so one day as i was browsing on my computer i saw a testimony about this MAN DR CAFAI of cafaispiritualtemple@gmail.com shared on the internet by a lady and it impress me too so i also think of give it a try at first a was scared by when i think of what me and my kids are passing through so i contact him and he told me to stay calm for just two days that my husband shall be restored to me and to my best surprise i received a call from my husband on the second day asking after the kids and i called Dr CAFAI and he said your problems are solved my child so this was how i get my family back after a long stress of brake up by an evil lady so with all this help from DR CAFAI of cafaispiritualtemple@gmail.com i want you all on this forum to join me to say a huge thanks to DR CAFAI and i will also advice for any one in such or similar problems or any kind of problems should also contact him for help Good bye
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