ORNAMENTS: STRING 'EM UP & A NEW TREE STAND

December 3?  Already?  We have a few Advent projects at our house that we must catch up on today.  This month arrived much too quickly!

Over the weekend I helped throw a baby shower, spent most of Sunday at church, watched our Children's Choir Christmas Concert, and hosted my youngest sister's birthday party.  A few hours before the party the house still looked like a disaster.  Most of the decorating (except the tree) was finished, but every table was covered and we could hardly walk through the living and dining room!  I threw everything I hadn't used yet back in tubs and moved it all out into the garage.  There are just a few more things that I want to bring back in, and the tree still needs to be done, so that's on the list for today.

One reason it takes so long for me to decorate is that I get sidetracked along the way making new things that I want to use.  This year, I bought in to the disco ball craze.  I like adding a little bit of sparkle to our big picture windows in the living room, so I strung some mini-mirrored balls together to hang in the windows.  They are so much fun when the sun hits them!

Hobby Lobby has these mirrored balls in three or four different sizes.  I bought lots of the little ones and a few of the biggest ones.  I may add a few more if they have some left when the Christmas decorations get discounted even more.  Hey, if one sparkly thing is great, aren't more even better?

All of the ornaments I used for this project have a styrofoam base.  To string them up I carefully pulled the top off and then poked a hole all the way through the middle with an ice pick.  Then I folded the end of a thin ribbon over a few times and forced it through the hole with the ice pick.  With a knot to secure the bottom, the ornaments easily slide to the desired position.  Brass cup hooks screwed into the top of the window frame made for easy hanging.

These would look great with more strung together for a garland, too.  I'll give you a better look when I show you all of the living room.  Scout was especially interested in what I was doing...

Our second weekend project was to prepare a garden urn to hold our Christmas tree.  Kristin of The Hunted Interior showed this project on her blog, and I knew right away that I wanted to try it.  FIVE Home Depots later (most of the time perseverance pays off), I found the perfect pot (although I did paint it).  I wanted one that was a bit wider but not too tall.  This one is concrete and HEAVY.  

We basically followed Kristin's tutorial, except the base of our tree was tapered to a point and not hollow like hers was.  So, we had to adapt ours a bit.  We ended up using a 2 inch PVC pipe to slide the base into and it fit perfectly.  

With the cement to secure it, it is solid and heavy and I'm not worried at all about anything tipping over.  I still plan to paint the pipe so it's not as noticeable.

Alright, I'm off to finish up everything today. Happy Monday everybody! 

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Hyphen Interiors