Christmas Tour 2015

Tour my home this Christmas holiday. I used items found at my local Walmart and craft store to create a holiday scene on a budget.

The lights are up, the trees are up and the smell of pine is in the air. I love love love this time of year. Would you believe I watch 1 to 2 Christmas movies a day between November 1 to December 25th on Hallmark, Lifetime, ABC Family…I can’t get enough. I think the bulk of my storage space consists primarily of Christmas decorations.  Every year I have a new theme that I plan a year in advance.  This year my color focus is gold and cream. I’m calling it a Cashmere Gold Christmas.  I know, fancy, right? Hahaha.  Well fancy or not decorating every year with a different theme and color choice can get expensive.  So I always set a max budget of $100, including the cost of my tree to limit my purchases.  I start out by accessing what I have because my motto is ‘use what you’ve got and like Tim Gunn says, ‘make it work.’

You’d be surprised what you can accomplish on a very small budget. It’s actually rather simple, explore your elements.  The items I used to decorate my home primarily came from what I already had in storage, nature, Walmart, the Dollar Tree and Lowe’s.  That being said, I found the paper star ornament, I used as a tree topper, from Target for $3.

So what did I get on my shopping trip to Walmart and Dollar Tree?

Well at Walmart I found theses great paper mache reindeer and Hohoho signage, each for $2.88.  I found the perfect burlap ribbon, in which I used to make garlands for the tree and as ribbons for my over the couch Christmas Swag for about$3 a roll.  I bought 5 rolls. And I bought 2 Ornament 41 piece shatter-proof ornament sets for $8.98 each. 

   

From the Dollar Tree, I’ve gotta admit, I surprised myself.  I would have never guessed to find really cute and interesting ornaments.  But I did.  I found the most adorable golden reindeer, white bells with mini pine-cones and really cool sparkly stars in 2 different shades.  I spent $10. And would you believe some of the ornaments were 2 in a packet, so 2 ornaments for $1 (Can you hear me scream with glee?).

   

And ladies and gentlemen that’s it…. O wait I had to purchase a large sewing needle from Micheal’s to make the burlap garland for about $1.98.

How did Nature and Lowe’s contribute? Well I bought my Christmas tree from Lowe’s and did you know, if you ask the garden center, they will give you the branches that they trim from the bottom of your tree and any other branches they have on hand. The tree branches were free. I could and did use it as garland and other Christmas swag.  Nature provided all the sticks and pines cones I could use.

So without further delay, welcome to A Cashmere Christmas.

My home doesn’t have a traditional foyer.  When you walk in, you walk into a big great room with a stairway in the middle.  So I have a small nook that I utilize like an entry.  In this area,  I took branches from a fallen tree in my backyard and spray painted half a cream color and the other bright sparkling shiny gold.  I placed the branches in a vase.

 

 

  I strung the burlap ribbon together using jute to create the garland.    

 

 

 I made these using the pinecones,  tree branches I got from Lowe’s and the burlap ribbon.

 

I hope you enjoy and my decorations provide inspiration for you and your home.  You don’t have to spend a lot to achieve the look that you did.  Use what you have and make it work.

  I just love the decorations even more as the sun goes down.  My living room turns into a romantic den……… Time for eggnog and sugar cookies 😉

Till next time Divas, Happy Holidays! ~T.