Thursday, December 11, 2014

My Fresh Christmas Fireplace


I'm back!
Just like I promised with the fresh cedar mantel.
It's simple and stunning.


I gave you a little peek in last week's post about my paper rose trees.
In case you missed them...go check 'em out!


I'm not doing a whole house tour...
like I said during last year's tour...most of my decor stays the same.


The main thing that changes is the mantel...
and apparently now the little dresser. :)


Home Depot had some fresh cedar garland in their ad for Black Friday.
Since I'm not nearly crazy enough to do the whole
Black Friday thing, and besides, I have to work...
we were out shopping Friday evening.


Well, of course, by the time we got there, the garland in the ad was gone.
The sales clerk was awesome enough to give us this other garland for the same sale price.
She totally rocks!


I love the drapey look of it...and so carefree.
Getting it to hang on my not real mantel was anything but!


I paired it with different size red and white poinsettias,
some fabulous angel wings, a couple of my handmade stockings,
along with a few I got from Decor Steals.


I love these glitter metal stars I picked up on clearance this summer.


I've spritzed it and spritzed it and it's still completely dry.
Welcome to Colorado.
It still looks beautiful and it might just be my absolute favorite thing this year.

I hope your Christmas season finds you enjoying family and
friends and remembering the reason for the season.

We are heading to OKC to see Sara perform in the
university's Christmas shows and can NOT wait!!!
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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Paper Rose Christmas Trees


It's beginning to look a lot like...
CHRISTMAS!

And I am so excited!
Really.
Because I love Christmas!
And I love love love these paper rose trees I made...
that I'm going to share with you!


See them there...on the left?
And below?
Oh.My.Goodness.

Tons of paper roses all happy together.
Wanna make one, too?  Or two, too?
Or tutus.
But that would be a different post.


If you've never made a paper rose before...
never fear...I am here to help!

Cut a circle out of paper.
Very complicated, I know.

I used an image I found online somewhere...
and for the life of me I can't figure out where I got it.
Possibly the Graphics Fairy, but I can't find it anymore.
It's old sheet music...I printed it double sided on a draft setting so it was light.


Once you have your circle,
begin cutting a spiral to the center...
not too thick or too thin...
and make sure you leave a small "base" in the center.


Now, ignore my dry cuticles and start rolling the paper
rather tightly from the outside edge all the way to the center.
It will seem tight at first, but will end up looser at the end.


See? Once you let it go, it unravels slightly.


Now is when the center base is important...
using a good tacky glue...add a good blob to your base and
press the scrolls into the glue and let them dry.


I painstakingly glued them to some paper mache cone
trees that I painted with a creamy base color.
These trees are from Hobby Lobby and have a base that is
smaller than the tree and I like that it makes it sit above the surface.


You can adjust the size of your roses by making your
original paper circles smaller or larger.
I used about 3 different sizes on my trees.

From one sheet of regular paper, fold it to get either 4 or 6 circles...
if you do 4 even squares for your 4 circles, that leaves a
section that allows you a couple smaller circles...
that work great at the top of your tree.




I knew all along that I wanted to display them on
the little painted dresser in the living room.
I had fun looking for some pretty things to get the look I wanted.



I found the gorgeous velvet ribbon at TJMaxx and had
intended to use it on my little trees in the loft, but it just
seemed to work so well to tie together the little birdie and
the red mercury glass candlestick.



I think I'm going to leave it just like that!



Or I was...
until I threw in a few clippings from the fresh
cedar I got for the fireplace mantel.
Which I've decided to share separately,
so I didn't make this post extremely long.

Ugh.


This process was rather time consuming.
By rather, I mean very.
I cut, rolled, and glued roses in my spare time and while watching TV.
Then I glued the roses to the trees also while watching TV.

It takes longer than you'd think because you have to wait
for one row to dry before adding the next so they
don't shift when you get them close to each other.


I don't know exactly how long it took...but a good chunk of time.
As for me, I think it was totally worth it.
I love the way they look, they are perfect with my traditional
colors for red and white plus green,
and I really only had to purchase the tree bases.
Awesome.

So, what do you think?
Would you love to sit for hours and play with paper and glue?

December is always crazy busy for us...
but I will make sure you get to see my whole mantel...
and I've got a yummy treat to share if I don't run out of time!
Make sure you come back and see me soon!


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