Why Should Mantles Have All the Fun?!?

December has flown by!!  I knew it would, but I can't believe Christmas is this week already!  I always have this long list of things to do during December it seems -- shopping, wrapping gifts, decorating, work, blog posts, baking, entertaining, shopping, wrapping!  :)

So I am crossing a few things off my list!  Not because I finished them, but  because I am not going to finish them!  I think my sanity is a little more important than a DIY wreath tutorial post that I didn't get to!!  Thanks for understanding!

DIY Front Door Wreath 
Decorating my Office
Christmas Decorating {Part 3}
DIY Christmas Artwork

But maybe I can get a few more Christmas posts out....before Christmas.............

I don't know about you, but I don't have a mantle.  Or a fireplace for that matter!  So, during the holidays, especially for Christmas, I kind of treat my entry way table as my "mantle" because you can style it in kind of the same way!

I start with something tall in the middle -- for me it's a tall antique, gold mirror from the den.  Then I layer in a table runner, an artificial garland of greenery, add in some pine cones and some Christmas decor.

{sources}

"December 25" sign is from end of the year 2013 discount at Meijer

Silver Deer Head also end of year discount at Meijer

Red & Black Buffalo Check table runner is actually a scarf from Goodwill

Red Yarn Tree is a DIY from a couple years back

Paper Tree is DIY a couple years back from dictionary pages

I will be entertaining and hosting family on Christmas Eve at my house.  I love having a decorated entry way to greet my guests.

Only 3 more days till Christmas!!!

Dictionary Page Vase Filler

Threshold Brass Hurricane

 I found these perfectly simple yet beautiful little brass hurricanes at Target for a client's home office I am working on.  My initial thought was to just put a candle in each of them, put them on the bookshelves and call it a day!  Boring!  I'm tired of just sticking a candle or those decorative garden balls in a vase or hurricane.  I wanted to do something a little more interesting. 

So, since it is an office I thought I would do something easy and a little more interesting with dictionary pages.  Now when I say easy, I mean super easy.  However, I still included a little step-by-step tutorial for those of you who like those.

I picked up my Dictionary from Goodwill a couple of years ago and use the pages for lots of different craft projects.  

For this project I tore out about 12 pages in the dictionary to make 6 bundles.

Now just roll them up!  I doubled the pages as I rolled them so they were a bit heavier.  The single page by itself had a tendency to just crunch with I started to tie it.

I used a short piece of jute string that I already had to tie each one.  This is where you can get festive for the holidays and change up your ribbon depending on Halloween or Christmas.

And, honestly, that's it!  It is just that quick and simple.  Continue that for each one and place them in the hurricane and you are finished!  You can do more than six for a larger vase or fewer for something smaller.

 

I love these!  I think they could be used with holiday decor, colored paper, and fit a lot of different sized decorative vases.  Just a quick little tip for a rainy day if you are trying to freshen up your home accessories!

Another fun idea for dictionary pages...

Inexpensive and easy artwork!  This is also going into the client's home office.  He has a thing for Abraham Lincoln, so their will be a lot of fun projects for the space including honest Abe!  All I did to create this is...

1.  Find an image on Google that I want to use 

(black and white look the best as well as a hand-drawn looking image)

2.  Copy and Paste into Powerpoint

3.  Load my printer with just one dictionary page sheet

4.  and Print! 

{sorry about the grainy photos - just a quick post with my iPhone today}