Welcome To Christmas At The Little Yellow Cottage

Oh you better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why..........Christmas is coming and waaaaaay too soon.  Do you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?  Personally, we like to celebrate on both.  Why not?

This last week has seen Grandma and the Elves (minus the Elves) busily decorating for Christmas.  Dan put up the outside lights on a beautiful sunny Saturday right after Thanksgiving and my part of the bargain began last Monday and I am STILL tweaking things.  Hopefully everything will be done tomorrow, because I have to get on the gift making train immediately.

I promised my friend Debra that I would post pictures of the house so here we go.  I will begin as if you were walking to the front door and this is what you will see.  Frosty (who has been in the family for almost 20 years) sits on the front porch in his dapper top hat surrounded by beautiful white lights and snowflakes made by yours truly.  The snowflakes were spotted on Pinterest last Christmas season and I knew I would make them this year for the front porch.  They are super simple, inexpensive (my favorite word) and made from craft sticks - what we called popsicle sticks back in the day - then spray painted white.  They are hanging from monofilament line (better known as fishing line) and they look absolutely adorable.  I will give you a quick tutorial tomorrow night.

Here is Frosty in the daytime.

He's such a happy guy, I love to look at his smiling face and he never has to worry about melting.  ♥

On our front and back door, there are wreaths that I made from snowflakes found at my favorite Dollar Tree.  Talk about easy and inexpensive!  I wish the pictures showed how they sparkle in the light  (they probably would if I was a photographer, but alas I'm not).

This is the front door and the next picture is the back door.  The main difference is the color of the door which makes them look slightly different.

Here is a close up so you can see the detail better.

Here is how I made these wreaths.  I just happened to be at  the Dollar Tree (my home away from home) and they had a really nice display of all kinds of snowflakes.  I couldn't choose a particular one I liked so I got some of all of them.  For the base,  I used one of the biggest snowflakes which is about 12 inches across and is clear and icy looking.  They were $1.00 each.  There are 2 large acrylic flakes on each wreath, one of which you can see on the bottom right side in the picture above, the other is at the top left.  They were 2 for $1.00.  The rest of the snowflakes came in packages of 3 - 6 per package for $1.00 per package.  The really white glittered foam snowflakes were 12 in a package for just $1.00

I laid the largest flake on the bottom and placed the others around until I got a look I liked.  Then I went back and hot glued them all in place which is what took the longest.  I made both wreaths in under an hour.  Now, how easy is that?  The finished wreath is 20 inches in diameter and is great because it's flat and fits between the door and the storm door.  It is so hard to find things that will fit between the doors.  I can use these winter wonderland wreaths all the way until Valentine's day.  Yippeee!  I also tied a long piece of sheer white ribbon to each wreath and looped it over the hanger on the door.  That was just for effect, but not necessary.

The total cost for both wreaths was $12.00 making them $6.00 each.  That is a great price for two beautiful wreaths.  These would also work nicely indoors because they are so lightweight and have a crystalline, frosty, winter look which can work after the holidays in that blah time of year before Valentine's Day.  You know that time - when everything is grey and yucky.  Yeah, that time.

It's that time of year when you need decorations and gifts for all kinds of people.  This wreath is a beauty and takes little time and little money and you can put your own spin on it.  Our budget is limited, so I am always trying to come up with things that look great and cost little.  I hope you will give this project a try.

Tomorrow, we will continue our house tour.  Come back and join me.  Who knows?  By tomorrow I may have changed a dozen things or made something new and interesting.    See you then.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” 
― Bob Hope