Oh Christmas Tree

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.. at least in my house it is. The Christmas decorations are officially up and glowing. I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Well, it's close enough and I have a hard time waiting. I. Love. Christmas. This year I was even more excited to get things started as I finally bought the white tree I've always wanted. I know some people don' t like white trees, and that's o.k. I happen to love them.

Each year I decorate my tree and people oooh and ahhh over it. I'm then asked to decorate their tree's. Seriously, I have no idea why. I'm not some professional tree decorator. I don't do anything special, or try extra hard. I'm not following some designers directions or mapping out where each decoration is going to go. I just put them on the tree. I don't know what it is people like about my trees, I've certainly seen much better. So here is how I decorate my tree, and how I've changed things up from year to year.

When my husband and I first moved into our own house I was so excited to have my own tree and decorations. I quickly decided I would have a color themed tree. Red and silver. I love, love, love red. Red and gold are very popular and I found many more things in red and gold than I did in red and silver, but I'm not a fan of gold. Through the years I collected ornaments and eventually ended up with this..

Some time later I ended up in some store with decorated trees and decided to try and copy one of their decorating ideas. They didn't have a regular tree topper, instead they made it look like the top of the tree was exploding with color and glitter. This was when I also decided to quit wrapping my ribbon around the tree and instead let it trail down the tree. 

I really liked this one.

While I liked the exploding tree top, I missed my star. Last year I tried to make some hybrid exploding star creation. I can't say I was too happy with the outcome. 

Forward to the current year. I got my beautiful white tree. While I would love to change all the ornaments to red and black I'm sticking with the red and sliver, for now. 

Really the only thing I can think to show you how I might decorate a tree different is how I do my ribbon on the tree. I usually use 2 to 3 different ribbons. I just buy regular ribbon that is normally used for present wrapping. I also have been using some of that mesh ribbon that has been popping up everywhere lately. I like how it looks, you can see through it and it's sparkly, but it's not easy to work with. The mesh I have is probably 4- 5 inches in width. I layer thinner ribbon on top of that, maybe 2 inches in width. The thinner ribbon also matches my tree skirt. I start at the top of the tree and tuck in the ribbon under a branch. It sticks to the tree pretty well. I then twist it lightly like you would streamers. Every so often down the length of the tree I wrap one of the branches around the ribbon to anchor it instead of it just hanging loosely down. 

I anchor it this way around 3 times down the tree and just let the bottom hang loose. This new tree is a bit taller so my ribbon doesn't quite come all the way to the bottom, but it's close.  I have 5 different lines of ribbon around the tree. I might do them a bit closer and use more but I don't have anymore of the ribbon with the bows on it, which matches my tree skirt. 

Next, add ornaments. There, you're done. Seriously, I don't have any secret to doing this. I do tend to buy the more unique ornaments instead of the round ball ones. I do have some of those, but I like the ones that are different looking. 

I also try and put a few ornaments further into the tree instead of just hanging on the tips of the branches. This is something that really works well with a white tree because the ornaments stand out so much better. 

Another little secret I have is trying to make my fake tree smell like a real tree. I really love the scent of a real tree and besides having my Christmas candles each year I hang scent sticks in the tree. If you can't find these sticks look for special Christmas car air fresheners and hang them somewhere in the back or inside of the tree. 

Now we are done. Sit back, grab some Eggnog, turn on the Christmas music and enjoy. It's going to be over before you know it. 

Halloween Round Up!

Not long ago it seemed like Halloween was so far off. I had plenty of time to plan and decorate. I started carving pumpkins early, started planning and making my costume, still plenty of time. I even felt kind of silly that I was starting so early. Then BAM! it was here! The last week before the big night I was frantically carving, gluing, stitching and even still decorating! The day itself was rushed and stressful, but it came together nicely and everything went smoothly.

My husband and I still dress up each year. Sure, we aren't kids anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun. We still go Trick or Treating, even though it's with our niece and nephews. There is always a house or two that gives one of us candy because we are in costume.

This year I wanted to be a witch. It took me awhile to decide on a classic green skinned witch or some other non green version. I chose what I call a Gothic Witch. I went with purple and black makeup and clothing, those just seemed like Gothic colors to me.

I started with a hat, which is a must for any witch. If there was any confusion to what I might be, the hat totally gave it away. I found a couple of hats that I liked and decided to combine the two. A lot of cutting and gluing later I created frankenhat.

Side view.

A broom is also a required witch prop. I found a black broom with black feathers on the bottom. I decided it needed a bit of bling, so I added purple LED lights. Sorry for the horrible pic, but I'm not going to take another one. 

The lighted broom proved to be a great idea. Not only did I get a ton of compliments on it because people couldn't help but notice it, but it made it easy for the kids to find us within all the chaos. 

Although I was not dressing as the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, I wanted to wear my ruby slippers. They just look great, and they SPARKLE! 

Yes, those are my legs.. 

Awesome, right? Problem is they are slightly too big which causes them to rub on the back of my heel and give me blisters and they have a heel. We walk a long way, so heels are just not practical. I still wanted red sparkly shoes so I made my own, well sorta. I took regular red shoes and blinged them up. Sequins, a glittery bow and sparkly shoelaces. The bow easily comes off so I can wear them throughout the year, and those who know me know I will wear them. 

My nails also matched. They look horrible right now, all that pumpkin carving really ruined them. Despite that fact I made sure they were purple with black bats. 

The rest of my costume consisted of a black skirt with a handkerchief hem and a black lace up corset top. I also had a black velvet cape with purple lining that matched the purple of my hat. I was grateful for it since it was COLD that night. My purple and black stripped socks helped keep my legs warm and I never really got too cold. 

My makeup was of course my favorite part. I ordered violet contact lenses which really set things off. 

Sunlight pic where you can see my black, purple and green wig. 

Jonathan went with the same costume as last year. A shadow. I think of him as a reaper, but we tell everyone he is a shadow. His size and being in all black with no face is very imposing and creepy. 

My niece and nephews of course dressed up. My niece, Karin, was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She made an excellent Dorothy! The boys went as characters from their current favorite game, Minecraft. Jacob (on the left) was a Creeper from the game, Jax (on the right) was Steve from the game. 

And of course I carved pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins! 

I blogged already about a few of the carvings I did, but I will show you them again with the group. 

First was a carve that I did because I won a book of patterns from Pumpkin WoW. I felt I really should try out their "pumpkin tattoo's" and I was curious as to how they would work. My review is in a previous blog. Here is the pattern I chose from them. 

After that I went back to my beloved Zombie Pumpkins! 

Frankensteins Monster and his Bride! 

Sparky from the movie Frankenweenie. The movie is in black and white. 

In color. Special thanks to my husband for the use of his lab equipment. 

I actually went to a cemetery to take this pic. The Grim Reaper.

Close up

Of course I need a witch 'kin since I was going as a witch. 

O.K. If you have not seen the movie Friday the 13th. the psycho killer is Jason Voorhees who kills at Camp Crystal Lake. He died in the lake and comes back for revenge on the campers and camp counselors. He wears a hockey mask and carries a large machete. 

Here he is rising from Crystal Lake.

And here he has found his first victim, a camp counselor. 

 American Werewolf in London.

Close up. 

Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows.  

Imhotep from the original movie The Mummy.  

Jack Torrance from The Shining.

Haunted Manor 

The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz.

Me and Twilight Flight

Karin with the Wicked Witch

And lets not forget Marley. He went as a shark this year, but he tried on a few costumes before deciding on the shark. 

Marley the witch dog.

Marley the pumpkin dog.

 The final costume, SHARKDOG! 

I hope everyone had a spooktacular and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!