Easy DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath (AKA - You're Totally Gonna Do This)

The flu (or whatever this is) appears to have hit casa Lee pretty hard.  We’re allllllllll feelin’ it.  However, Christmas decoratin’ don’t stop for no dang illness round here.  In the midst of one of my Tylenol/Advil/Nyquil dazes, I was perusing Pinterest and came across this bit of gorgeousness:

{via}

Umm, hello!?  Where have you been all my life?  When I was decorating our tree this year, I totally overbought in the gold and silver ornament department and felt bad taking half a box of pretty ornaments back down to the basement.  I simply didn’t have any place to put them.  Until now, baby.

So, I dug around in the garage and found one of my wood (is it wood? grapevine? some other material?) wreath forms and took that sucker out of retirement.  I followed pretty much everyone else’s tutorial, so I’m definitely not inventing the wheel here.  I began by setting my outer layer of larger ornaments upside down. 

All of the tutorials say to take off the little metal hook-holder at the top before hot gluing.  That was an extra step that I just didn’t feel like doing.  Was I going to reuse them?  Would I see them?  Both of my answers came back as a resounding ‘no’.  I don’t know if that makes my end product less awesome or if I’ll regret it sometime in the future.  If I do, I’ll be sure to report back to ya.  (No, I won’t.  Let’s be honest.  My last post prior to this was October 22^nd, guys.)

Then, I flipped it over and just started fillin’ things in!  There really wasn’t any rhyme or reason to the whole shebang, just glue ornaments into all the gaps so that I don’t see the wreath in the end.  I filled things in with smaller ornaments and tried to make sure the finishes were evenly spaced out because I have OCD like that. 

 

To hang it, I just grabbed a cheap-o piece of ribbon that I’ll probably change out next year when I buy all of my millions of spools of ribbon during the after-holiday sales.  I think it’s safe to say that I’m pretty pleased with the result.

Tell me about your holiday decorating!  Any great projects I should check out?  

Fall Mantel (and a tip for scaring your mailman)

If you've been with me, you'll remember I built our fireplace mantel just before Christmas last year.  And when I say "just before", I really mean it.  I was practically touching up paint and wrapping presents at the same time.



See?

Once I built the mirror to go above it not long after, it kinda just sat like that up until this past weekend.

Certainly nothing wrong with it.  I prefer the clean, stark lines for sure.  However, not that most of the BIG renovations are wrapping up, it feels really, really good to putter and decorate and tweak things.  I haven't had a chance to fuss over little details for almost a year.  I've been too busy laying flooring or trimming out rooms or tiling showers or, or, or....

I hit up a local greenhouse/farm stand and scooped up a few gourds and pulled out my awesome black crows.



No, not those Black Crowes.

I'm talking about this little guy:

How great is he, right?  I think I paid a dollar for him at a Dollarama.  Totally worth every penny for his cool, aloof presence all up in my mantel.

The candles were an awesome find in a Target clearance aisle a million years ago.  They're battery-operated with timers and have a lovely, low glow at night.  I think I paid about four bucks for each of them.  Not bad considering a single, similar candle at Pottery Barn goes for $29.50.  Come on now...

The creamy, white gourds (are they really just mini pumpkins?), white beans and candles contrast perfectly against the dark wood of the mirror and our little feathered friend.  I also scored some free succulents at that same greenhouse and teamed them up with a simple, white pot.

<Insert attempt at dynamic photography here>

Nailed it.

Now, let me get back to that crow for a minute.

He seems harmless enough, right?  Well, he has a bigger, badder brother.

<Insert dramatic high-contrast photo editing here>

In an attempt to Halloween-ify the front porch, I stuck his big brother in my oh-so-sad boxwood next to my front door.  I had intentions of getting some sparkly bats or spiders added to the wreath on the front door, but, somehow I got sidetracked (shiny things!) and my outdoor decorating stopped after I put the crow in the boxwood.  

I had completely forgotten about it and was doing the dishes in the kitchen when I noticed the mailman come to a dead stop before he got to my porch.  His entire body was motionless, except for his legs.  He crept up to the mailbox (also next to the front door), and extended his arm just enough to quietly and carefully slip the mail into the box.  He stepped gently off of the step with his eyes fixed on something and backed slowly away.  The entire time, I'm standing there, water running and dish-in-hand, confused.

And then it hit me.

You guys, he thought it was real.  He thought it was a real crow.  It must have been the absence of anything else even remotely resembling Halloween decorations.  Just this lone, menacing bird staring him down.

Since then, he has scared 100% of the visitors on my porch.  Including my husband and children.

He's a keeper.