Magical Mantel Decor

Truthfully, my ‘Magical Mantel Decor’ isn’t really magical.
It can’t grant you three wishes.
It cannot get rid of that zit before the big holiday party.
It can’t make you lose ten pounds.
But, it is pretty and shiny and oh, so very easy to do.

And that, to me, is a recipe for ‘Magic’. Plus, this decor is inexpensive. Therefore, Biceps thinks our Mantel Decor is magic to our budget.

All that you need for your own Magical Mantel Decor is:
Metallic Spray Paint and a drop cloth/plastic sheet
Desired Christmas Ornaments
Tinsel (not pictured)
Felled tree limbs-or go and cut them off of your living tree, while apologizing to it. That’s what I did.

Spray the tree limbs with the metallic spray paint. I recommend doing this out of doors, unless you like that fuzzy headed feeling. Let the limbs dry.

Place tinsel on the mantel before arranging the silvery tree limbs. Hang glittery Christmas bulbs from the limbs and intersperse them on the mantel itself.

And try not to drop any of them.

Stand back and take in the amazing thing you just created. Smile at your geniusness, laugh at your dusty pocketbook, scoff at stores selling ‘mantel decor’. You, my friend, have conquered your mantel.
Be proud-or humble. Whatever you think Baby Jesus would recommend.
(PS-I have had several peeps asking me about the MIRROR above my mantel. Here’s the link, if you would like to see a tutorial on how to make it for yourself!)

Super Sparkly Snowflakes

In one corner of my living room stands a silver tree, adorned with vintage ornaments of blue, black and silver. In the other corner was….nothing. Who will save this corner from boredom and shame?
-(insert trumpet call)-
Super Sparkly Snowflakes will!

That was a bit dramatic-I know. I have a tendency to lean that way…
I am just so excited how the Super Sparkly Snowflakes enrich an otherwise boring old corner of the room.

Here’s a close up of the snowflakes as they sparkle away. They’re pretty good at that. These Super Sparkly Snowflakes were also super cheap and super easy to make with super sparkly results.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Super Sparkly Snowflakes:
Hot glue gun & Sticks
Wire cutter
12 & 16 gauge silver wire
Sequins, jewels, etc
Silver Spray Paint
3”-ish foam discs, orbs, or whatever shape you desire
Toothpicks or shish-ka-bob skewers

Poke the skewers or toothpicks into the desired pattern on your foam piece.

Spray both sides of the snowflake and the skewers with the silver spray paint.

If desired, use the 12 gauge silver wire as accents on the snowflakes. I curled one end around a pencil and stuck the other end into the foam piece.

Use a hot glue gun to attach the sequins or jewels to the tips of the skewers. I integrated a pair of needle nosed pliers to this operation because I was tired of burning my flesh. Genius, right? It only took me several ‘dang-its’ before I figured this out.

I added more jewels to the center of my snowflake

Thread the 16 gauge wire through your snowflakes. I interspersed black and blue Christmas balls between the snowflakes for a little bit of color.

Here are the snowflakes against a green wall so that you can see some of their definition.

And this is where they eventually ended up-livening up the very un-Christmasy corner of my living room.
Super Sparkly Snowflakes saved the day again! Super!

Whimsical Christmas Wreath

My two naked front doors forced me to do it. (Yes, we like to buy houses with two front doors, rather if we own them or to rent them). The front doors had basically been ignored during the decorating process for years. So, they locked me in until I came up with something cute, modern and above all, ‘Christmasy’.

I made two different types of wreaths-this being the first in a two-part intense wreath series I will be sharing with you.
Ok, truth be told, it’s not intense. It’s rather easy.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:
Styrofoam wreath
Metallic Spray Paint-I used silver, but you can go gold, red, whatever!
Hot Glue gun
Scissors
Brown Paper bags, drop cloth, etc
(ignore the rest of the stuff in the photo. I didn’t end up using it.)

Also:
Beads (these were from Mardi Gras)
Handful of small twigs
Metallic discs (found in the hobby section)
-OR-Any other decor you have laying around-tiny feathers, bells, sequins, gems, etc

Lay out the brown paper sacks or some sort of a drop cloth. Spray the styrofoam wreath and the twigs with the metallic spray paint. Don’t inhale…

Shove the twigs into the wreath until they fit snuggly. Show those suckers who’s boss. Hot glue the metallic discs (or the decor you have on hand) to the wreath with a bit of whimsy on your side.

Lay the beads around the wreath, intertwining them with the twigs. Hot glue the beads at various points around the wreath, so that they are secure but still have the capability of movement.

Proudly display your one of a kind ‘Whimsical Christmas Wreath’ on the door of your choosing-if you have more than one, like we do. ‘Cuz, we’re weird. And we buy weird houses.

But watch out-the neighbor’s with the boring old evergreen wreath might be jealous.