Guest post by Lynda Redding
When decorating for Christmas, I love to mix in homemade items and antique ornaments that have been collected over time to our Christmas decor. This can be a fun and inexpensive way to add sentiment and traditions to the season. Plus, it’s fun to get the kids involved too. So to get ready for this Christmas season, and hopefully inspire you to start some fun projects for your family, I’m going to share some tips and ideas of things we have made or done to make our Family Christmas Celebrations memorable.
Be sure to read Part 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas for more fun decorating tips for the holiday season.
7. Wreath with Cardboard Gingerbread Houses
To make a wreath for the front door I used a large embroidery hoop, 1 wooden dowel rod, cardboard, computer paper, and white slicker paint. Using white computer paper, I cut out various shaped house patterns until I had enough to go across the front of the embroidery hoop. Next, I traced and cut out the patterns out of the cardboard, and then painted gingerbread styled decorations on the cardboard with the white slick paint. To attach the cardboard houses to the embroidery hoop I tied each end of a wooden dowel rod to the hoop, and glued each house to the dowel rod. Then I added greenery and berry picks by tying them on with string, and added ribbon and string to hang it from the front door.
8. Barbie House Christmas
Years ago we built this Barbie house for our daughters. Last year we redecorated the interior by painting some of the old furniture, adding wallpaper, curtains, and accessories. Now it’s a favorite with our grandchildren. So for Christmas, we added some white glitter Christmas trees that reflect the light in each of the rooms.
9. Gift Wrapping Ideas -Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String, These are a Few of my Favorite Things!
My favorite wrapping paper to use for Christmas gifts is brown packaging paper. There’s something nostalgic about it, plus it makes the perfect background for embellishing, and it’s cheap. (I also like solid white wrapping paper for the same reasons.) To add some interest, add wide strips of contrasting paper (black and white checked paper) and wrap it around the center of the package. Then use wide ribbon (satin and grosgrain ribbon work great because they can be ironed and used year after year) wrapped in both directions around the package, and tied in a bow. Then tuck a postcard, family photo, alphabet flashcard, or other special memento under the bow, and add greenery with a small clothespin to the front of the package.
10. Steps to Decorating a Christmas Tree
It probably seems counter productive, but when decorating the tree I always start with the top first, next I add all of the ribbon, and then the ornaments. For the top of the tree I like to add picks of berries, cotton, twigs, or even sticks. I also make two large bows out of wide ribbon, attaching one to the front of the tree and one to the back of the tree. Then I add ribbon around the tree (horizontally) by allowing it to swag every couple of feet, going around a 9′ tree about 7x’s. Then I add two long lengths of ribbon (each length of ribbon is twice the height of the tree
so it goes from the bottom and across the top and back down to the bottom of the tree on the other side) criss crossed at the top of the tree, so that 4 lengths hang down spaced evenly around the tree. Then tuck each of these strands between every few branches as it cascades down the tree. After all of the ribbon is hung, I add picks made out of berries, eucalyptus, cotton, pine, or branches with pinecones, all spaced evenly around the tree. Lastly, I hang all of the ornaments, and this year after the ornaments, I hung tinsel.
11. 2022 Christmas Decorating Trends
Here are some trends that are big this year. I like to add elements of these to keep my decor current, but I only add things that will compliment what I already have.
- This year velvet is big! You can add velvet ribbon to your tree and/or packages. I’ve seen small velvet trees used on tables, velvet stockings, etc.
- Paper honeycomb trees and ornaments are also popular this year. They’re a comeback from when I was a kid. And they’re easy to store because they collapse down flat.
- Gold/Burnished metal bells are also big this year. My favorite is to hang them on a pine wreath with velvet ribbon, but they can also be hung on a tree or on a package.
- Natural elements in neutral colors are still everywhere this year. Wooden ornaments, pinecones, pine branches, natural colored berries, birch, ornaments made out of twigs etc.
- Bottle Brush Trees are still big this year too. But now we’re seeing them in natural tones.
Note: the color red isn’t super popular this year, at least not in big doses. So you can still use red in your decor, but just try to tone it down a bit by adding a contrasting color, like mustard yellow, or brown to soften the red.
12. Paper Christmas (brown paper packages tied up with bows)
One year we made an entire 7′ Christmas tree out of paper, along with a contrasting paper chain that went around the tree, a paper woven rug, paper snowflakes, and paper stockings. We made it for a window display at a bakery, and it was a big hit. To make the paper tree, we made over 100 large paper cones, cut from a roll of white craft paper. Then glued each of the cones around a cardboard column, starting at the bottom of the tree so it would be the widest, and then gradually overlapping and gluing them up the column to the narrowest part at the top. The cardboard column was attached to a heavy cardboard base for stability. Instead of ornaments, we added a contrasting paper chain and wrapped it around the tree from the top all the way around until it was near the bottom edge of the tree. To make the rug we cut long strips of brown and white craft paper and then wove them like a checkerboard until we had the size we wanted, similar to the way you might have made a paper placemat as a child. To finish off the display we hung paper snowflakes from the ceiling, and paper stockings from a fireplace mantle.
Lynda Redding is a Licensed Real Estate Agent with United Brokers Group and is also a Designer & Professional Home Stager.
If you are interested in buying or selling your home, Lynda can make it happen. Contact her to learn more by calling 480-242-5370 or emailing lyndaredding@gmail.com.
Follow Lynda on Instagram at @lyndaredding.
