DIY chalkboard Christmas tree

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Today I am showing my last DIY Christmas tree, made with chalkboard paint, on Rdeco. Many thanks to Marianna of 365 Days of Bliss for her photos. Click here to see more.

Another non traditional Chrismtas tree

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It 's Friday again, and it 's time for the third Christmas tree I am making for Rdeco. I decided this one to be a Christmas tree just for girls, romantic and elegant, made of jewelry and lace. Click here to learn more about it.

Have you seen my other handmade Christmas trees, here and here?  

This post links to: 
Shine on Fridays 
Happy hour link party 
French country cottage 
Frugal Friday 
Friday flair link party 
Delicately consturcted 
Whatever you want Wednesday

Favorites from the internet: Holiday vignettes

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Even if you don't have a fireplace, a table top or a shelf can host a small holiday vignette that can enhance the festive atmosphere in your space. There are lots of inspiration around the internet, here are a few of my favorites.

Shabby gipsy 

Christmas decoration: sequin stars

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Shiny, sparkly things go hand in hand with the holiday season so I decided to make a couple of silver stars to go with my dressed bottles and use them together to decorate my mantel.
Here's how I made them:

I chose a star pattern I liked from the internet and used it to cut two stars on thick cardboard.

An alternative handmade Christmas tree

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Today is a good day for A few pretty things. First of all I discovered that my rustic Christmas star was chosen by Ruche to be included in their Homemade Holiday 2012. You should read it, it 's full of lovely ideas for beautiful handmade holidays.

Second, I am guest posting at my favorite greek blog, Rdeco, about this handmade alternative Christmas tree.

Follow me here for more pictures and a how-to (needs to be translated).

This post links to: 
Shine on Fridays 
Weekend bloggy reading 
Lovely crafty weekend 
The humble brag 
Seasonal inspiration 
Sweet Saturday
Thrifty decor chick

Christmas decoration: a frame

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Today I will show you a Christmas project that is rather traditional in style. The ribbon I used was sent to me by Abakhan Fabrics, to make a special tutorial with it, and the exchange was arranged via Totally Tutorials blog. 

Easy holiday garland

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I have to admit that this year I haven't made anything for Christmas yet. Luckily I had made some things last year so I have something to post. There's still time to make this garland, it's easy and quick. 

I had three vintage cards reproductions with wishes for the new year. I wanted to make something with them without destroying them. 

So I took 3 red wood pegs and some red faux suede cord.

I cut four hearts from red gingham paper. To tell you the truth I didn't have any gingham paper but I had some fabric which I scanned and printed. 

I punched the hearts and attached a ring to each of them. 

 I tied the hearts and hang the cards with the pegs alternately on the cord 

and voilà! 

Holiday crafting with sweaters

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What did I tell you the other time about the weather? It was a false alarm. The cold didn't last and despite the weather forecast for  the upcoming very low temperatures,  I took the decision to get reed of most of my woolen sweaters and knits which take up so much place in my closet. I wear them so rarely so I 'd rather make a wreath like this one on ReadyMade

οr maybe these lovely thrifted holiday trees

found on The long thread


If  I have a couple of sleeves left afterwards I may dress one or two candles the way Sweet Paul shows:

All three crafts give a warm, cosy feeling which are what we seek these days and are easy to make.

Decorate with snowflakes

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Finally some cold! After a warm and humid autumn and the first days of December hiting temperatures of 20 to 25˚C, for the first time yesterday  I felt the need to wear warmer clothes. As far as it concerns the weather in Greece (I suppose elsewhere too) things are not exactly normal. Our winters used to be mild, but now we tend to have no winter at all. Snow was never a regular visitor to Athens, but once in a few years it snowed and those times are some of my most pleasant memories. Sometimes I fear that my children will never know what the snow is. 
I want some snow please! 


I strongly doubt that my wish will be heard so I will have to be satisfied with some paper snowflakes I will make. At least I will have a lovely, cheap and relatively easy to make decoration for Christmas. 
I have a few options after some searching on the web. 


Wouldn't this beautiful paper snowflake look lovely hanging from the chandelier? 

Cut out + keep has all the info you need to make it.


Martha Stewart also has a step by step tutorial on how to make paper snowflakes which would look lovely on your window.

Are you looking for some inexpensive table decor? Use the paper snowflakes you made as a table runner, the way shelterpop shows:  

Another idea is to make with them a delicate, airy curtain like the one on Ohdeedoh

If you want to try another material, apart from paper, you could use craft sticks the way Craftynest shows:

or make snowflakes with the tones of buttons you have collected so far following the steps on Shanty2Chic:

 

Have you ever made any snowflakes using some of the above methods or another one? Feel free to share a link in the comments.

A small handmade Christmas tree

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At first I made this tree as a display for some Christmas ornaments I had made. I needed something inexpensive and quick to make. So I opened the closet where I keep the "maybe I 'll need this some day" things and found a piece of wood 70 cm long where I opened holes from one side to the other, with 0,7 cm diameter with a drill. Each one has a 5cm distance from the others.

Then I found a piece of melamine where I opened a hole with diameter equal to the diameter of the stick.

Two coats of white paint to unify the look of the different materials and because I like it.

Then I pressed the stick into the hole of the base and started adding to each hole of the stick a used color pencil, the longer ones on the bottom and the shorter as I moved to the top. 

And here it is decorated:

This post links to: 

Funky Junk Interiors

Alternative Christmas trees

If you are fed up with decorating the same old traditional Christmas tree year after year and need a change here are some interesting ideas to inspire you to make your own alternative Christmas tree. Any other ideas of yours are welcome to post here.

David McHugh

Joy to the planet

Apartment Therapy Chicago

Elsewares

Curbly

neatorama

Hippyshopper

Akilea

The Christmas light

I really liked this idea for a Christmas Ball Light. Click here to see how to make one. In fact I would like to make a colorful one to have it permanently in my living room, so here 's another thing that goes in the "to do" list. Don't forget to click on photos from everywhere link to see more amazing light balls.

Handmade christmas ornaments

December is here already, time to get into the festive mood. Do you want to see some of the most beautiful handmade christmas ornaments?

Tanya Mac

the spotted sparrow

Oh my buttons!

natural home

Windy Designs

haru

BossysFeltworks

lusitania

paloma's nest

Pamela Angus

How to make christmas ornaments using your old cds

It's already time for christmas crafting so here 's one from my sister. She used old cds /dvds, glue and knitting left overs.




She glued two cds together so that she had two shiny surfaces and then she wrapped wool in two or three colors around the cds not covering them totally so that the shining shows through the gaps.






And here's another idea, you make a coil with wool in the center of the cd which you secure with glue, and also make a circle with wool on the perimeter of the cd using glue again.





They're simple and beautiful and most importantly you recycle some useless objects.