Dwell + Inspired: Working With What You've Got: Christmas Decor On A Dime

Merry Christmas! December is here and the holiday spirit is sweeping through our home right along with our normal toddler tantrums, sibling bickering, and family squabbles. This is the stuff life is made of, right? Quality character building opportunities all. day. long. At least we have Christmas music to help set our minds and hearts aright.

I am reminded daily just how grateful I am that a little baby named Jesus--God's own Son--came to earth to live the perfect life I could never live. Because of Him, God the Father is able to extend forgiveness to me. Hallelujah!

Speaking of perfection, my home definitely isn't. But I love working with what I've got to create home decor that inspires.

What did I have to work with this year? A dollar tree garland that I've had for nine years.

When the Christmas bin was carried up from the basement and the skimpy plastic greens emerged, my visions of Pinterest-worthy mantles and elegant banisters were replaced with cold, hard reality. I almost decided this was the year to upgrade our Christmas decor, but then a fighting spirit rose up in me that said, "No! We will work with what we've got."

Dressing The Mantle

I was picking up some pictures at Walgreens and happened to see a 24 ft. roll of wired burlap ribbon for $4.99. Sweet! This would be the perfect thing to use to embellish my sparse and lifeless garland. I tried my hand at wrapping and tucking the ribbon around the garland, but it just looked awful.

Thank goodness for Youtube! A quick search of "how to use ribbon on garland" revealed more than enough tutorials to get me on my way. These are the two that I watched:

For the basics, this video from ehow is great: https://youtu.be/nucjMrRaEy0

For a more fanciful style, this one from Robeson Design provides great inspiration. My favorite part is just watching her work bc she is an expert: https://youtu.be/vDQ72o4rh94

After watching the videos I went to work imitating what I had seen on a very simple scale. I attached my ribbon using the "twist tie" trick I learned, and the garland was back on the mantle in less than ten minutes. It was super simple once I knew what I was doing.

I used the foundation pieces from my fall mantle for my Christmas mantle. I exchanged my autumn art for a family photo and added lights and burlap bows (using my ribbon from Walgreens) to the boxwood topiaries I picked up during our neighborhood yard sale earlier this year. I simply rearranged the brass candle stick holders filled with dollar tree candles.

Goodbye, fall.

Hello, Christmas!

Several years ago, my Grandad gave me some Christmas accent decor: clusters of berries, greenery, and pinecones. I used the accent pieces to bulk up my Dollar Tree garland a bit. I just stuck them down into the garland and they stayed just fine.

Create What You Love

This goes back to what I've talked about before--looking through to "the bones" of a piece to see if it could become something you could love in your home.

My Grandad also gave me a very ornate Christmas wreath when he gave me the other decor. I hung it on my door one year, but couldn't ignore the fact that it just wasn't me. This year, I finally decided to strip it down to just the greenery. All of the pinecones, berries, gold leaves, bronze pears, and floral ribbon came off relatively easily with a good yank here and tug there.

After stripping the wreath bare I added leftover red ribbon I had on hand to create a simple, classic look...much more me. I still get to enjoy the sentimentality of knowing the wreath is from my Grandad, but also get to look at decor I really love. And I saved the embellishments to use for other projects. Score.

Actually, I had already removed some of the ornamentals from my Grandad's wreath last year and used them to create this holiday wreath. Remember this? This year, I hung this inside and put my Grandad's larger wreath on the front door.

Use Word Art To Inspire

I love sprinkling my home with inspiring quotes and scripture from the Bible. If you aren't the artsy type you can always print off quotes in fun fonts from your computer and cut them to size for whatever frame you are working with. In my case, I simply grabbed an index card, a sharpie, and some leftover gold wrapping paper to create my word art. I used frames that were already displayed in my home to turn them into inspiring Christmas decor.

When framing index cards or photos that don't fit your frame, just create a border using decorative paper or wrapping paper cut to the size of the glass and center your photo or card on top of your paper. The finished result is oh, so pretty. Below is a frame I made for the holidays that simply says "believe". Ya'll seriously a five minute project!

Remember those hydrangeas I dried several weeks ago? They're still as beautiful as ever in the picture below. In the 5x7 frame, I added gold wrapping paper behind a 4x6 photo. The gold chevron print reads "Glory to the newborn King". It was an online printable gifted to me two years ago. The banner is made from burlap and black sharpie for the letters. It was also a gift. You can read about how to make a banner here. I picked up the gold mirror for $8 while at a cute shop in Bardstown, KY learning how to chalk paint with my mom.

Front door entry feeling the Christmas spirit.

Remember my spray painted lamps from a yard sale this summer? I'm still loving them in our family room. I decided to hang a wreath I grabbed at the Peddler's Mall a few years back over my gold mirror from my Grandma. The frame on the buffet is holding "Joy to the World" word art I created on an index card. The candle stand is actually a mini $1 black planter from Goodwill that I painted with brown and gold acrylic paint and turned upside down.