diy painted gift wrap ribbon

 

faced with a creative challenge, i usually turn to paint as a solution.

unable to find THE ribbon i had envisioned in my mind, i made my own.

time consuming? yeah. but very inexpensive, and totally worth the effort.

and yes, you can do this, too - no advanced paint techniques needed.

continue reading to see how completely devoted to a theme i can be!

merry & bright gift wrap

half the fun of giving gifts at Christmas is wrapping them!

i've come up with some easy ways to make gift tags, bows, and even wrapping paper

that coordinate with my colorful 'merry and bright!' theme this year...

continue reading for some easy creative gift wrap ideas!

merry mantel paint chip decor

'merry', indeed!

in the first of three different mantel decor projects i'm sharing with you this week,

the element of paint chips in this years' holiday decor is at the fore...

both the framed art and the paper chains make use of a rainbow of colorful paint chips

(sourced from my local Sherwin Willimans dealer),

in simple art projects that both adults and kids will love.

continue reading for details! 

paint chip wreath, too!

this wreath is a makeover of a previous wreath project...

last spring, i covered a pool noodle circle with some green gingham fabric.

in about ten minutes, i recently reworked it to become something different
because that's what i do with my decor: rethink it, remake it, reuse it.

with the simple addition of paint chip strips, it brightens up the holiday season!

continue reading for an easy how-to....

rainbow colorized wreath

switching up my holiday decor themes each year is a lot of fun,
and it doesn't cost a lot to make a change...

this white wreath was just $6 at a local thrift shop four years ago,
and i've reworked it with colorful ornaments to match my colorful tree.

most of those ornaments i already had,
a few i grabbed at thrift shops and Dollar Tree to fill out my color palette.
( all told, i spent less than ten dollars on this)
attaching them to the wreath was a quick undertaking,
and the impact is uplifting - indoors or out!

continue reading for a few wreath decorating tips...

diy paint chip ornaments

nestled in with the brightly colored ornaments in my rainbow garlanded tree
are these ornaments that i made using paint chips.

a note about using paint chips, if i may....

i sauntered in to my local paint store and asked for old paint chips - 

and they handed me an armload of fan decks! FREE!

(i nearly skipped out the door...)

i highly recommend making this effort to procure paint chips responsibly.
i emphatically discourage raiding paint chip displays in home improvement stores.
just to be clear.

making these ornaments is pretty simple - it's a scissors & paste kinda' craft project!

continue reading for the easy tutorial for all three styles of ornaments... 

rainbow colorized Christmas tree

i really think Joanna and Cleo of The Home Edit would LOVE this Christmas tree!
a brilliant white tree with bright color ornaments, arranged in rainbow ROYGBIVP order 
("it's a SYSTEM!" - if you know, you know)

a place for everything and everything in its place, right?!

okay, so, yesssss, i've been watching The Home Edit on Netflix. a LOT.
and yessssss, it has indeed had an influence on my Christmas decor this year.
i was also inspired by an Insta photo of a huge garland made of balloons...
that spurred the idea to create a 'garland' of colorful ornaments
that were arranged in color order.

continue reading to hear more about where those ornaments CAME from
and see how easy this approach to tree decorating is!

creative Christmas tree skirts

i'm going to confess that i have never used a store-bought tree skirt

on any of my own Christmas trees. NEVER.

it's not that my trees go bare-legged, it's just that i use different things under them than most people:
vintage petticoats, silky satin formal skirts, my wedding dress!, rugs,
old wood crates, and more tablecloths than i can count. Oh, and a fuzzy blanket!.
i've even used.... wait for it... pine branches. simple, right?

this year's happy colorful theme called for some FUN under the tree,

and i've come up with two different ways to do that by repurposing other items.
one involves some crafting, and will work on any size tree.
the other is for a small tree,
and was so easy i could hardly believe i hadn't thought of it before.

i hope they both make you take a look at whatever tree skirt you've been using
and think twice... about maybe trying something different this year.
now, let's get creative!

continue reading for the easy diy tutorials...

merry and bright

anyone else agree with me that we really need a MERRY Christmas?!

2020 has been hard. we all know that.

as the holiday season approaches, we all seem to be

looking forward to decorating our homes and trees and front doors

to welcome the joy of the season - even if we can't welcome guests.

while the holidays might look different than usual this year,

we can all certainly make the best of them - and of us.

let's look to our childhood memories to fuel our imaginations,

and create a mood that brings a smile to the faces of those we love.

let's make it merry and bright!

continue reading to see what inspired me...

repurposed tiki signs

these signs appeared in my past two posts... one for each recent project.

do they look familiar to you? they should - you've seen them before!

  i shared them LAST YEAR as part of our Happy HULAdays theme - but they didn't look like this.

when i wanted signs to accompany recent tiki projects in our backyard,

i knew these pieces would work perfectly... and with a little paint, they did!

it's just one more way i can decorate using what i already have here at home.

if i can use summer tiki decor at Christmastime,

then i can re-purpose my Christmas decor as summer decor!

continue reading to see the before & after shots (and find out a secret about them)...

a tipsy tiki totem pole

you may have seen the sign that says 'Tipsy Tiki Bar' in my last post...

that's connected to another recent 'restyle' of an old project.

a week before the tiki bar came into being, Mom had an idea for something else in our backyard.

she shared her idea with me, and i liked the fact that it was basically a way to re-use items

from our Happy HULA-days theme last Christmas.

i started noodling the 'how' of the project... and remembered a favorite feature at Disneyland.

yup. there's something there that my grandpa Ward helped to build in 1963

that we enjoy to this day, and that inspired this project!

continue reading to see how i re-used our Christmas decor!

tiki style tablescape

our Hawaiian holiday style continues onto the dining table...

using what we had on hand already, along with a few simple and inexpensive additions,
i was able to create a table that reflected the island style of our 'Happy HULAdays' Christmas decor theme!

as always, i try to keep the decor simple and easily removed, so we can play games or craft here.
'continue reading' to see the details...

totally tiki-tastic holiday!

our Happy HULAdays theme begins at the front door, 

with a totally terrific tiki welcome...

i made these guys by simply painting faces on planks of pine wood from our garage.

if you look closely, you can see that i used the grain of the wood as part of each face design.

the 'Happy HULA days' sign is a piece of plywood washed with brown paint, then hand-lettered.

the HULA letters were painted onto a few of my giant letter tiles, and glued onto the plywood.

you might recognize a few of those tiki faces... 

on the left: Olaf from Frozen (complete with twig arms and hair), a stylized Small World clock face, and a completely doe-like face that just came outta' my paintbrush that way!

on the right: a sun-like face inspired by Small World, a tiki face discovered online, 

Santiki - also discovered online - and finally, Baymax from Big Hero 6. that's for my Dad <3

the 'enter with the spirit of Aloha' sign is one my Mom bought in Hawaii and has had for years

(it was in the tropical backyard weekend makeover i did for my Mom)

... and the fun is just beginning!

continue reading to see MORE of the tikis that i gathered and created for our decor this year!

nativitiki - times two!

my thinking is: if you're going to do a Christmas theme, do it all the way.
the TIKI tree in my last post was just the beginning of our 'happy HULA days' theme...

i also created TWO incredibly cute nativity scenes with a tiki vibe.

(oh, and that name? well, as i was painting them, 

i thought to myself 'a tiki nativity. wait! nativi-tiki!' ... and it stuck!) 

i laugh out loud every time i look at this nativiTIKI in our living room! it's so happy!

grab a handful of macadamia nuts and continue reading to see all the tropical details...

happy hula days!

 nope, this is NOT your ordinary Christmas tree...

THIS, my friends, is what our tree looks like THIS year: it's a TIKI TREE!

our 'Happy HULAdays' celebration theme has been a very BIG secret,
because my daughter and her hubby were coming to visit this past weekend.
and this whoooooole thing was a surprise for them!

now that they've seen it all, i can finally share what creative mayhem i've been up to!
(and OH my goodness, what FUN things i've made... there are SEVERAL posts coming this week)

so grab a nice mai tai or other rum drink, and click through to see the TIKI tree details...

diy wire lampshade frame Christmas tree

i created this tree last year, from lampshades and wire lampshade frames & a wire waste basket.

that was after i had stepped away from blogging, so i never shared it here... 

with a 'tree' theme running through all of my December posts, 

i thought it was fitting to include it now!

'continue reading' for the details...

rustic holiday tablescape

designed to coordinate with the contemporary rustic style of our 'tree' theme,
as seen in the faux wood junk trees in the background,
this tablescape is a study in simplicity...

wood tones & textures, clear glass, and mixed hues stand out amongst minimal foliage/greenery.

the bonus? this style is REALLY easy and fast to create!

'continue reading' to see the details up close...

ornaments... not just for trees

so usually, the BIG DEAL in a post on holiday decor is the Christmas tree.
sorry to disappoint, friends, but THIS is the tree that we ended up with.
my severe back pain limited my mobility and strength to the point where i knew
that i couldn't wrestle our normal 9' tree into the house and set it up. no way.

instead, i grabbed my little 4' white pre-lit tree that usually goes in my office/studio,
and a bar-height round table served to elevate it up to a decent height in the living room.
a vintage chenille bedspread served as a combination tablecloth/tree skirt,
and a slight few ornaments filled in the branches. and that was fine.
(it can't always be a big reveal, especially when one's health is at stake!)

but what was i supposed to do with ALL of the other ornaments
that normally fill our regular 9' tree?!

'continue reading' to see how i used some of them...

more sweet sweater trees!

today i was moving some things around my studio/office, and discovered some 'forgotten' trees!
i made them awhile back.... and loved them, 

but they don't go with the current brightly colorful scheme in this room.

so, i came up with a quick idea to CAMOUFLAGE them - with sweaters! 

continue reading to see the before & after...

copper 'junk' trees

paper trees aren't enough for the 'tree' Christmas decor theme i dreamed up, oh noooo...
i had to go rummaging through the kitchen cabinets (and, i admit, a few thrift stores)
to find MORE STUFF to make trees out of!
and THIS is where my crazy imagination took me:

stacking copper kitchen molds (usually used for gelatin, ice cream, cakes, even meatloaf)
into tree shapes.
although there was one that didn't need to be stacked... it already looks like a tree.
so i topped it with a snowflake cookie cutter.

i call 'em 'copper junk trees', even though this isn't really JUNKY junk.  

from the bottom of this stack, we have:
a copper cookie tin (from Costco, two years ago)
a large copper fluted ring mold
the LID from the copper cookie tin, flipped upside down
two medium-sized copper fluted molds
a copper funnel

i admit to gluing the funnel on with a dot of hot glue
because it just would NOT stay on there!!

on glass cake stands on the kitchen island,
they add the perfect bit of whimsy to the room.
(that wood fencing is just there for the photos)

OH! here's a thought... if your style is totally kitsch,
you could make these with shaped Tupperware pieces, too!
or use tiny little tart pans & containers to create small versions of these,
and hang the lil' trees ON your real Christmas trees.

yup. deb's really gone over the edge with this one, friends...
but hey, it's fun. and i think decorating should be fun.

shared online:

funky junk interiors | diy salvaged junk projects #505 

featured!

oh my goodness, thank you Miss Donna - TWO features!

diy salvaged junk projects #506