I've been bad. I know, but as prepared as I was for the holidays I somehow didn't find the time to post these great decoration ideas. Both wreaths that I will show you are from Pinterest (of course), but the Christmas card hanging is a family tradition (although definitely not exclusive to my family, I'm sure).
I love Pinterest, as I'm sure a lot of you do. It makes me really excited for Christmas going through all of the Christmas crafts and ways to decorate and DIY presents. I found a picture of ribbon wreath, and I loved it. I thought it was a lot of fun, so I decided to give it a try. Now is actually the perfect time to do it because all of the Christmas wrapping supplies are super cheap right now and you'll be all set for next year!
Ribbon wreath:
What you need:
Wire coat hanger
2 Pipe cleaners
Ribbon (LOTS of ribbon) of your choosing
Scissors
What you do:
1) Undo the hanger so that it is in a straight line.
2) Make it into a circle twisting the ends (be careful not to pinch your fingers...feel free to wear gloves during this step although they aren't really necessary). Make sure the ends are as tucked in as possible.
3) Wrap the pipe cleaner around the wire hanger it can be spread out curls they don't have to be right next to each other, really it is to prevent the ribbon from moving around a lot while you are working/when it is hung up.
4) Cut a piece of ribbon (it is different for each type of ribbon because some thicker ribbons need to be longer to be tied in a knot, but about 8 inches should be a good place to start then make them longer or shorter accordingly), and tie it in a bow around the hanger/pipe cleaner.
5) Repeat in a pattern or randomly with other types of ribbon.
6) Make sure that the ribbons are being tied one right after the other so that there are no gaps.
7) Repeat until entire wreath is filled.
8) Hang (I used a command hook) wherever you'd like.
This is sort of cheating because I saw this under Easter decorations on Pinterest, but it works for Christmas too. Again, this only came with a picture, so I sort of made up my own way of doing it.
Ornament wreath:
What you will need:
Cardboard (enough for the size wreath you want)
Scissors or exacto knife (exacto knife is easier to use)
Ornaments (I bought mine at Duane Reade two big boxes for 10 bucks)
Hot glue gun and glue refills (you will need about 4 cartridges)*
*I used a hot glue gun...I'm sure some kind of super glue or gorilla glue would work as well.
What you do:
1) Cut an O shape out of a piece of cardboard in whatever size you want it to be. Make sure that the O is thick, but not too thick, and try and make it circular...although a little irregularity isn't bad.
2) PREP YOUR AREA... glue is extremely messy to work with and you do not want a huge clean up, either put newspaper down or left over cardboard.
3) Plug in your hot glue gun.
4) Start gluing your ornaments. I did them sort of randomly, but you could also make it into a pattern. Make sure that you are hiding the glue parts (at least for the most part) and that there isn't too much string from the glue showing. Also make sure that you give the glue about 15-30 seconds to harden between each ornament or else they will slide all over the place. Make at least two layers of ornaments.
5) Hang and enjoy!
Christmas card hanging is an art. Everything has to look festive and good so that it can bring holiday cheer to your home.
Christmas card hanging:
What you will need:
Bakers twine (red or green is best you can buy
here or on Amazon)
Tape
Christmas cards
What you do:
1) Find a nice bare wall (the back of the door is sort of perfect for this because if you are anything like me and Chris your walls are already completely covered).
2) Tape one end of the bakers twine to the wall, and unravel in a diagonal line downward.
3) Tape again, before moving in the opposite direction, but still diagonal and downward.
4) Tape in place, and cut the bakers twine (if you are REALLY popular you may have to do another string downward).
5) Hang the cards up on the string.
Game of Thrones cut out snowflakes:
What you will need:
Printer
White paper
Scissors
These designs
What you do:
1) Open the PDF on your computer and print each of the house snow flake patterns that you want. I did all of them and I recommend Lannister, Targaryen, and Martell they might not be your favorites, but they came out the best and are the easiest to start with.
2) Cut out the square.
3) Fold the paper accordingly.
4) Cut where told.
5) Unfold.
6) Hang everywhere.
