Christmas Crafts—Pinecones, Cinnamon Sticks, Mini Sleighs, Oh My!

We have been getting crafty around the Horvath and Guthrie households lately.  Christmas is coming soon and there’s not much time left for DIY decorations and ornaments and gifts!  But even though time is short and we’re all busy, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without some family crafting fun! 

After perusing the December Country Living, my mom and I got together to craft a couple of pinecone trees like those featured here.  We had a few giant pinecones already so we only had to buy styrofoam cones for our project.  After taking all the scales off the pinecone, we cut the end curved part off so it would stick to the styrofoam form easier.  Then we simply glued them to the foam in rows and overlapped them slightly.  The size of the scales decreases as you go up the tree and we saved the tiny ones for the top.  The top scales were flipped over so the curved part was flipping out instead of in so it would give a better pointy shaped at the tip.  It took several hours (maybe two?) to make these two trees with two people working—one destructing the pinecone, and one gluing.  It was time-consuming, but so worth it! 

We put the completed trees in our “rustic winter” vignette that we created on top of Mama’s desk.  We left our cone trees au natural, but you could also add gold paint on the tips or glitter as you desire.  We arranged our trees with a scattering of pinecones, cedar sprigs and red berries.  But our little vignette was not complete until we did an extensive local search for suitable reindeer to live in our pinecone forest.  We finally found said deer at World Market.  Mama deer and Baby deer… baby deer was an ornament but perfectly matched, so we removed the hanging loop and stood it up beside Mama.  I LOVE IT!  I love it so much that we went back the next day to get another reindeer family for my house!

  Mine are hanging out on the living room cabinet with Santa.  Best part, even Michael thought they were cute.  I kind of imagine them having a conversation… Baby says to Mama:  “Is it Christmas yet?”  Hopefully we’ll get a chance to make two pinecone trees for my deer sometime this season, too! 

Another pinecone craft we worked on was a hemlock pinecone ornament.  We saw these for sale at Michael’s and decided we could make some with supplies we already had on hand.  We used satin covered styrofoam ornaments and mini hemlock pinecones which we harvested from my grandparent’s farm.  You can also get them at craft stores.  Simply hot glue the pinecones to the foam making sure they are pointing out and squished tightly together.  Then we sprayed them with gold paint followed by spray adhesive and a dusting of gold glitter.  We did leave some plain for our pinecone forest (above).  Aren’t they cute?

And easy, too.  I think mine needs a bow to hide the paperclip hook.  :)

We also made another ornament inspired by Michael’s.  Theirs was made from sticks in the shape of a snowflake.  But my version is made from cinnamon sticks instead.

I broke the cinnamon sticks into smaller pieces and arranged them in a snowflake shape.  The whole thing is held together with hot glue.  After the basic form was assembled, we added tiny pine pieces, baby pinecones, and glittering berries.  A gold string makes it ready for the tree!  These are really inexpensive and easy—they would be perfect embellishments for packages or as a gift itself, and they smell great! 

Our final Christmas craft is a wooden sleigh centerpiece.  My dad has been building these sleighs non-stop since November.  We ordered the plans from The Winfield Collection.  The sleighs we made are slightly larger than the tiny pattern.  They are the perfect size for gift baskets full of baked goods or a centerpiece filled with greenery!

We made several centerpieces to give as gifts this year.  We put a container of wet floral foam in the inside and stuffed it with fir trimmings, cedar sprigs, hemlock, pinecones and glittery goodness.  This one featured gold braid around the edges of the sleigh:

Some were filled with shiny ornaments and bells…

This one had gold pears and ornaments…

And this one had a glittery bow and red berries…

We had so much fun going through our stash of Christmas picks and berries and glittery ornaments deciding what to put in each centerpiece.  The best part is once the greenery dies and the season is over, you get to keep the cute sleigh.  I envision them filled with shiny ornaments or even a tiny Santa next time around.

That is not the end of my Christmas crafting, so I’ll try to stop in again and share some more projects with you.  In the meantime, there are some Christmas projects of the sewing kind that are awaiting my attention!  Only 10 days to go!

A Silver and Gold Christmas Mantel

Our next stop on the Christmas tour is the den.  The focal point in this room is the fireplace.  Our Christmas mantel returned to the silver and gold theme of last year but with a couple of tweaks.

I left the floral prints above the mantel since the gold tones tied into the color scheme.  Then I layered the mantel with a frosted pine garland, glittered pinecones, gold sprigs and candles.  My beautiful faux mercury glass pillar holders are joined by a couple of candlesticks topped with fluted votive cups.  I bought these for our wedding table and never used them.  When I unearthed them at my parent’s house, I decided to use them on the mantel.  They are so cute!

Under the mantel I draped a fir garland twined with gold ribbon and beads and silvery gold sprigs.  Twinkling lights add to the sparkle.  And over the whole scene, gold and silver snowflakes are fluttering from the ceiling.  To complete the hearth, I put my little tree in the center and topped it with a gold star.  And the stockings are hung on either end, ready for Santa!

After everything was set and the NOEL letters secured to the mantel (the garland kept knocking them over) I sprinkled everything with a bit of sparkling snow!  The garland and tree have a snowy look and you can see the dusting of snow on the mantel ledge.  I love it!

 

Over on the couch, the ivory velvet pillows from the bedroom join a couple of striped pillows.  And in the center is a new green felt pillow that I copied from BHG.  It’s the perfect complement to all the snowflakes on the mantel.

I have recently fallen in love with this antique toolbox and I keep bringing it out as a centerpiece.  I stuffed it with fir trimmings, cedar sprigs and glittering pinecones.  My mercury glass votives fill in the tray and everything is dusted with snow!  A couple of tiny white glitter trees flank the centerpiece. 

Another greenery filled basket joins a collection of wintry items on the cabinet.  A couple of snowmen, a pair of gold tapers, and a reindeer bring the spirit of the season to this side of the den. 

And here is the view that will greet Santa on Christmas Eve… 

Hope he doesn’t knock over the little tree when he comes down the chimney! :)

For more mantel inspiration… check these out:

Christmas Candy Kitchen

Today our holiday tour brings us into the kitchen where I’m creating a wonderland of bright colors and candy stripes!  Last year I showed you my colorful Christmas kitchen.  Well, since then I have added an array of colorful ornaments, tinsel and a candy themed table.  Come along and I’ll show you the sweet stuff…

Tinsel along the cabinets is paired with colorful glowing lights.  Over the sink, a medley of colorful glittery ornaments are suspended from the ceiling.  Beneath, a cedar wreath and my “wish” sign adorn the window. 

Snowflakes flutter over the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.  The snowflakes are double-sided with color on one side, but it seems they were all rebelling and decided to turn white-side out.  Hmmph…

Now for the piece de resistance… my sweet Christmas table!! 

It’s lacking the pretty red table runner (since it really lives in the dining room) so I guess I’ll have to make another one!  Once again, the peppermint dishes from Pier 1 are combined with a cupcake candle from Kohl’s.  I added a couple of vintage Santa mugs because I saw them at Pottery Barn and realized my Mama had very similar ones from the 80’s!!  I just noticed that PB’s version has winking and blinking Santas.  Color me jealous.

The cupcake candles actually smell like cupcakes…  You can imagine what that is doing for my self control. :)

For the centerpiece I found these peppermint stripe candles last year and thought they would be perfect!  I elevated the display on a cake stand.  The green placemat is from Michael’s.  I see these die cut placemats everywhere and I love them!

My dedication to the Christmas Candy theme lead me to pick up this cutie ribbon candy tree at Big Lots the other day.  It’s made from claydough (not PlayDough, right Abby?) which I think is retail speak for “incredibly fragile and likely to break within the first year”.  It is the perfect complement to my candy and sweets theme… and it was totally worth $10, right Hannah?

The supporting cast on the shelf is a vintage teddy bear bank and caroling kittens.  Have I mentioned lately that I love my tiny kitchen shelf?  The only thing that could make it better is if it were bigger.  :) :)

Pier 1 has a candy wreath that I must have to go on the opposite wall.  Either that, or I’m gonna DIY something like this evergreen one.

          

Pier 1                                                                       Other guys  

In the corner over the table, I hung my giant ornaments formerly of the dining room doorway.  Michael complained that they were hitting him in the head.  Oh well, at least it gave me an opportunity to try them in a new spot…

The kitchen is especially festive at night with just the colorful lights and everything glows pink! :)

 

Thanks for coming along on the Christmas tour… come back soon to see our silver and gold holiday mantel!

Christmas Tablescape in Red and Gold

The Christmas Tour continues in the dining room!     

The dining room got its traditional Christmas treatment with swirly gold and red placemats and runner.  Each place is set with red metallic chargers and Lenox Holiday china. 

I took the silver platter from my autumn centerpiece and filled it with real trimmings from my tree, cedar sprigs, glittery sprays and my beloved glitter poinsettias.  Every year it’s a delight to discover those flowers in the Christmas boxes, followed closely by the excitement of finding a special place to display them.  (They always end up in the dining room... hehe) 

I love my holiday china and table linens.  This year I put the red napkin on the outside and the swirly one on the inside for more contrast.  While looking over my past Christmas photos, I decided that I have been doing it wrong for the past two years.  Yes, I sit and think about this stuff… it’s serious business. :)

 

The chandelier got its Christmas spruce (get it, spruce? hehe) with greenery, pinecones, glitter sprigs and gold snowflakes. 

Over in the corner on the cherry cabinet I put the cute little china bowl of Christmas goodness.  I pulled it out of the box just like this!  It was hiding out in the master suite last year, but I thought it deserved some face time in the main house. :)

And I draped a red scarf over the chair to cozy up the corner a bit more.  Several years ago, I fell in love with this scarf from Victoria’s Secret and bought a clearance sweater just so I could get the scarf “free with sweater purchase”.  That is love, I tell you.  I have since worn the sweater and scarf each once.  The chair has worn it several times, though.  :)  The scarf, not the sweater… although that would be interesting.

And in the other corner, my Christmas birdcage perches on the flatware cabinet.  This year I filled my birdcage with greenery and a real nest!  I found the nest in the driveway this summer and I’ve been saving it for my tiny golden bird. :)  I think she likes it.

 

To finish the room, I brought out a couple of wreaths for the deck doors.  I added some real tree trimmings and a beautiful red and gold bow.  I love them so much that I made a similar one for the front door.  Stay tuned for that!