Christmas Home Tour

Can you believe Christmas is only 6 days away?!

I think I have finally decorated all that I wanted to decorate, so it's time to show off my masterpiece. I really try to put a little sprinkle of Christmas into each room of the house, because every room deserves a little holiday spirit!

As I'm sure you'll notice throughout the tour, I have a little motto when decorating for Christmas: YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY ORNAMENTS! Seriously, If something looks too plain, I just throw some ornaments around and call it good. It has never failed me. Most of my favorite decorations this year are simply ornaments thrown in a vase or stuck in a bowl.

Alright, enough chatter, lets get this tour started!

I showed my Santa initial wreath (here) earlier this week, but felt that it was only fitting to start the tour at the front door. I'll say it again, I love how this turned out!

Next comes the living room. If you are lucky, you will be able to actually get in the door before Lucy plows you over in excitement. Despite the innocent look on her face in the picture, she almost never waits patiently by the window until she is greeted.

santa beard. christmas pillows.

ruffled tree skirt.

So remember when I mentioned that ornaments can be used to decorate anything? Perfect examples right here:

ruffled tree skirt. christmas pillows.

ornament wreath. ornament trees. christmas pillows.

Our kitchen got quite a bit of decoration as well. 

reindeer prolos. 

I love all the Christmas treats sitting out on the counter, but it is bad news! It makes it so much easier to snatch 1 or 2 (or 7) as you walk by.

christmas wreath frame. 

And, since we don't have a mantle, I had to get a little creative...

I used garland with lights to set on top of our ledge and put ribbon all around it. I added a few ornaments off the tree for a finishing touch. I eventually want to make new stocking for us as well. Next years project maybe?

The office and guest bedroom just got a simple dash of Christmas.

Up until yesterday, you couldn't even walk in the office. During my organization spree (to prepare for an upcoming paint job) I came across a whole bunch of ribbon strips. I just had to stuff them in mason jars to give this room a little holiday cheer.

The master bedroom got a simple Christmas makeover, but I think it might be one of my favorites. 

(I saved the best two rooms for last).

I enlisted hubby to hang a wreath on the mirror. I then threw some ornaments into our vase and filled mason jars with snow-like jewels. One start ornament for each jar did the trick!

(These mason jars are definitely one of my favorite decorations this year, and cost me nothing to make!)

And lastly, the bathroom. It may seem silly to decorate it, but our guests on Christmas morning will probably all have to use this room at least once, so we might as well make it a little festive!

This globe of ornaments, just like the mason jars above, is another one of my favorite decorations this year!

          

The shelf above the toilet was my last stop, and it got the largest mason jar of all! (can you tell how much I love them?) I also found these adorable printables from the Homecoming Blog. I thought the filthy animal quote was fitting for the toilet area, hehe. 

Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've done to my house this Christmas season. Maybe I've even inspired a few of you to decorate just a little more. 

Thanks for stopping by our home! Happy Holidays!

Christmas Pillows

Ever since I made my first set of pillow covers (here), I can't stop making pillow covers for each season/holiday. 

I started by using red and green chevron fabric to add some color to the living room. Then, I decided to make these fabulous gold and white pillow covers. I found it easiest to first make the pillow covers out of white duck canvas, and then add the gold lettering. I designed the pillows on photoshop, printed them out, and traced them onto the pillow using pencil. Then, I placed cardboard inside the pillow cover and used gold paint to fill it all in. It wasn't long before they were dry and I was throwing them on our couch.

I probably sat in my living room staring at the pillows for a good 10 minutes. I think it's my favorite project I've done in a while, and I could not stop admiring my work.

The biggest problem I've had with these pillows is keeping them clean. A certain four-legged friend of mine loves to lay right on top of them, leaving footprints in her tracks. White should not be allowed in my living room. 

Santa Initial Wreath

Tonight I am introducing the newest addition to my Christmas decor.

 Drum roll please....drum roll. Oh, ah ah bththththtthth.....JOY TO THE WORLD.....

Bam, Santa Initial Wreath!

In case you haven't noticed, I am a wee bit in love with the letter M! I just love adding in our initial to any decor to make it a little more personal. 

Every year, I manage to make a wreath that I deem inappropriate to hang on my front door. The first year Adam and I lived together, I made an ornament wreath. Turns out, I liked it better hanging on a mirror than I did hanging it on our apartment door. When we moved into our house and celebrated our first Christmas here, I quickly realized that the wreath was too large to fit between the front door and the glass door. So I obviously needed a new wreath...

I ended up making a Christmas Wreath Frame. I immediately decided it was too beautiful to hang on our front door to possibly get ruined. So this year, I think I finally came up with a "wreath" that fits perfectly. Not too bulky or fancy, but just right. 

I must admit, this idea came from Pinterest. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the original source so I am unable to give much deserved credit to whoever came up with this wonderful idea. My favorite part? I only needed to buy two things to make this whole thing come together, the "M" and the gold glitter stick.

what you'll need:

wooden "m," red spray paint, black acrylic paint, white felt, black ribbon, and gold glitter, glue gun

This is definitely a simple afternoon project. The longest part is waiting for the glue to dry. Now that's my kind of project: quick and easy.

While this looks I'm betting I'll decide by next year that I just need another one. 

Does anyone else change out their wreaths every year until they find the perfect one? 

Letter Photo Art

Looking for last minute gift ideas? 

Check out these fun letter art photos!

A few years ago, I made some of these as gifts and they were a huge hit! I love that you can pick whatever word you want, pick your letter design, and pick the size you want the letters to be!

In order to make this, you will need:

piece of wood, pictures frames (I got mine at Dollar Tree), spray paint, hot glue gun, letter pictures.

First, I picked my letters be clicking HERE. There are a ton of letters to choose from, and they are absolutely free!

Next, I spray painted both the wood and the picture frames. Then, I popped the pictures in the frames and pulled the support piece off the backing of frame, and hot glued the frames to the board.

Not only was this project simple, it was also pretty inexpensive. I bought the frames from the dollar store, making the spray paint the most expensive part.

I love making my gifts, not only to save money, but to make them a bit more personal as well. You can personalize these make them great gifts for anyone, and even if you have completed your Christmas shopping, you can always make one for yourself!

Happy Homemade Gifting!

Santa's Beard and Mustache

Ahhh, the semester has ended and that is a HUGE sense of relief for me! 

I have an entire month with absolutely no homework. What ever will I do with myself?! Well, don't worry about me! I have quite a few projects up my sleeve that I can't wait to do and then share with you all. 

With only 12 days left until Christmas, I am finally finding the time to create some wonderful new Christmas decor. I showed off my ruffled tree skirt earlier this week, and tonight, I present to you my new wall hanging for over the couch.

This project was inspired by some wrapping paper I've seen in multiple stores now that just has Santa's beard and mustache all over it. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, but hubby reminded my of the thousands of rolls of wrapping paper I already had. So I came up with a better idea instead...

I used a very thin piece of tempered hard board, and covered it in green chevron fabric. To make the mustache and beard, I traced the mustache and beard onto felt, cut it out, and hot glued it on. We were able to hang it on the wall using 3M strips, which work perfect for this kind of thing. 

Here's a few close-ups:

I think this is one of my favorite projects I've done in a long time! I get so giddy walking into my living room these days, surrounded by Christmas festiveness. 

And in true Muszynski fashion, my first night homework-free is being spent watching Home Alone. I swear I can recite the whole first movie, and probably even the second one as well. I don't know what it is about these movies, but I've loved them ever since I was a kid.

Merry Christmas ya flithly animal!

DIY Ruffled Tree Skirt

I would like to start off by announcing the winner of the Holiday Giveaway: CONGRATULATIONS to Kiara Ficklin on winning a free set of serving spoons from Melanie's Marketplace!

This project is very easy, and only requires three supplies: 

old tree skirt, fabric, and hot glue.

You see, I was tired of my ugly, boring old tree skirt from WalMart, so I decided to jazz it up a bit with some new fabric and some ruffles. 

I picked up my favorite fabric (duck canvas), and my favorite pattern (chevron) from Hobby Lobby. I bought four yards of the fabric, but still had plenty leftover to make pillow cases.

I cut my fabric into three inch wide strips and began gluing it, starting at the bottom of the tree skirt. I folded the fabric over a little bit for every ruffle and just kept on gluing. I went around and around and around until the whole thing was covered! 

 Notice the ribbon falling off the tree? That would be from Lucy's tail. I readjust it at least 10 times a day.

Although simple, this project was pretty time consuming, but totally worth every minute!

I love the way it looks in our living room under or green red and silver tree. 

Ahhh... Christmas time is here at last. 

Has anyone else ever attempted one of these ruffled tree skirt beauties? 

I would love to see them!

Keeping checking back for more Christmas Projects! I have a whole slew of projects in the works and in my noggin. We'll see how much I can get done after finals this week! 

A Holiday GIVEAWAY! and a Cyber Monday Coupon Code!

Happy December 1st, everyone!

With the holiday season here at last, and landing my first order (and then some) from my Etsy shop this weekend, I decided to do a giveaway! Who doesn't love giveaways?!

But first, Cyber Monday is tomorrow, and that calls for a Cyber Monday Sale! At checkout, type in the discount code "CYBERMONDAY" to receive 25% off your entire purchase!!

And now for the giveaway! The WINNER will receive one set of serving spoons with their choice of colors from Melanie's Marketplace absolutely FREE! Just in time for the holidays, you can give them as a gift or keep them for yourself!

Stop by Melanie's Marketplace on Etsy to start getting color ideas!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MelaniesMarketplace

You must use the Rafflecopter widget to enter.

Giveaway will be open until December 8 at 12AM. Winner will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter and notified by email. You will have 48 hours to respond before you lose your prize and a new winner will be chosen. Contest open to US Residents only. And of course, if you choose to take advantage of the Cyber Monday Sale and end up winning, you will get a full refund.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!