Tis the Season to be Decorating

I've said this before, but I'll say it again... there is less than a month till Christmas! Am I the only one intimidated by that?!? I'm not sure about you but I seem to spend my whole year longing for it to be Christmas and then finally when it comes around time gets away from me and I don't have much time to handcraft all the gifts like I want to or do as much Christmas baking as I would like.

That's why I am so thankful to have got a start on the decorating side of things by creating a cute Christmas display near the front entrance.

I was inspired by Christmas chalkboard art/quotes so I recreated my own version. Here are some of the ideas that I pinned on Pinterest...

Source: etsy.com via Sophie on Pinterest

Source: papercrave.com via Sophie on Pinterest

And here is my version...



It's nowhere as intricate as the ones I pinned, but I still love it!

The display in the front of the chalkboard art was easy peasy to create but makes such a great Christmas atmosphere, especially when the candles are lit. The best thing is I used items that I had on hand so the total cost for the whole project (chalkboard art, tray display and the framed art) was zero dollars.

To make the display on the tray, firstly, I found my tray. It was a simple white one that normally holds biscuits or something. I think a mirrored silver tray would have created a great effect but I used only what I had on hand. Then I began with 3 candles in the centre. The red ones are identical and then there is a slighty bigger white one. I really didn't like that the red ones were the same height and when they were put together it didn't wow me at all. By using a (I'm not really sure of the name but it is a bowl you eat desserts from) to mount one of the red candles, the display fell together a lot better because all of the candles were at different heights.

 

Around the candles all I did was put some random Christmas baubles in silver, gold and red as well as some silver tinsel. I took some time working out how to make it balanced and look good, but the end result is really nice considering how little effort it took to put together.

The last element of my easy peasy Christmas display was a print that I saw in a magazine last year. For a lot of money. Waaaay out of my budget. But I still loved the print so that didn't stop me. I decided to make my own version. All I needed was Microsoft Word, a printer, a cutter, white cardstock and a frame. Thankfully, we had all of that on hand so it was a matter of minutes before I had whipped up my own version.

I love it. It is so simple but so great that yes, I did have it for last Christmas as well, and yes, I did make another one because I somehow lost the one I did last year. Last year, the display was in a black frame instead. I can't decide which one I like best though. If you love the printable too, just chuck me an email (sophietelfer@westnet.com.au) and I will most certainly send you a PDF version so that it can bring as much joy to your home as it does to mine!

Here is the whole thing together....

Not bad for something that took 15 minutes, hey? ;) So tell me, are you getting into the Christmas spirit too? We put our Christmas tree up tomorrow which is very exciting but also a reminder of how close Christmas is! Oh yes, and the 1st December also marks the first day of summer down here!

Tis' definitely the season to be jolly...