a handmade christmas.

A ThanksgiChristmaNewYears post is forthcoming, but in the mean time, I thought I'd share our handmade Christmas.  This is our first year in a home we foresee ourselves staying in for the foreseeable future, so I thought it was high time to invest myself in some handmade Christmas decor.

Yarn was the medium of choice. 1) because it's inexpensive.  2) because I love it.  3) because I won't feel bad if I go a completely different direction two years from now.  :)  I'm a commitment phobe.

Check it out:

First up: yarn wrapped wreaths.  The wreath forms are from Hobby Lobby, as well as all the yarn for the different projects.  The pine cones and ever green branches are from Wal Mart's bargain bins.  Total time for four wreaths: about 1 hour.

Take a closer look:

Next up: yarn wrapped trees.  Only, those darn little craft cones are pricey!  So, out came a poster board and some packing tape for make myself some cones.  They are FAR from perfect, but I love even more because of that fact.  Total time for seven wrapped trees: 90 minutes. 

They were one of my favorite additions to my front room.

Tree Decor: yarn pom poms + homemade picture globes:

The pom poms are incredibly simple.  I chose to use them on all my wrapping as well, so next year I'll have double the pom poms for my tree.  Best part?  My 19 month old couldn't break them!  Time spent making 25 pom poms: 25 minutes.

The picture globes were a little more tricky.  If you're interested in knowing the process, shoot me an email.  I was so happy with them.  They added such a personal and quirky touch to our tree.  Time spent making 30 picture globes: 3 hours.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the full tree with all decor on (blasphemy!), so you'll have to let your imagination do the walking.

This is a picture of my MIL's beautiful tree on Christmas Eve, with everyone's gifts for each other stacked beneath.  Isn't that a whole lot of love just packaged up beneath that tree?  I include this, because this is the only photo I have of my packaging for the year.  Darn my forgetfulness.  Anyway, ours are the brown paper packages tied up with... yarn, of course.  


I couldn't resist doing my own knock off of the Anthropologie Snow Globes.  They were just too sweet & easy to pass up.  I made WAY too many.  We're talking almost 20 of these babies on my front room shelves.  Jars + trees + glitter on the "ground" are from Hobby Lobby.  Spray Adhesive: Home Depot.  German Glitter for flocking trees: small boutique that has since gone out of business.  Total time for 18 snow globes: one hour.  Really.  They were so simple. 

And, my favorite handmade item of the season.  Our Christmas cards.  The amazing talented Hillary Joyce created them for us.  She talked with me for a few minutes, took a peak at my pinterest inspiration boards, and went to work.  She blew my expectations out of the water.  She hand drew all of the illustrations, came up with a beautiful lay-out, and truly made me cry when I saw the finished product.  I love her.  Take a look:

Don't you just love her too? 

Photos of our holiday season are nearly here.  Woot!

Happy 2013!