Decorating sans Tree!

Image courtesy of Martha Stewart

Bring on Christmas! I love this time of year, but boy has it snuck up on me!! I cannot believe how quickly the year has flown, so much so that there are no weekends left for me to go to our other home in St.Pete to pick up the Christmas tree, so this year I am decorating WITHOUT a Christmas Tree...this is a first!! This is also a first for my blog, but I have already made all the things I am blogging about, so I have photos of my actual hand made decorations...feeling very organized!

Ok, so I decided to cut snowflakes out of paper and then I realized that I could also make a Christmas tree out of paper. I stumbled upon a great Christmas tree design which you can find HERE ! You can use the instructions on their website or you can follow what I did.

1. First take 4 large pieces of paper and fold them in half lengthwise

2. Glue the outside half of one of the pieces of paper to the outside half of another

3. Continue this until you have glued all of the pieces together and you can open this structure up so that it stands on its own as below

4. Fold all of the pieces so that they all collapse down into a half piece, then sketch your desired design onto the paper, the design below is from the website I mentioned above

5. Once you have cut out the desired design,open up the tree so it stands up...voila!

This design has a more traditional look, if you prefer a more simple look, you can try this tree which has more basic lines.


Popcorn and cranberry garland

This year is my first try at making this great decoration. Since I don't have a tree, I have to create more imaginative decorations for this year. I was so excited to try this, and now that I have eaten a mountain of popcorn, and it's all finished, I am super excited!

1. Pop some plain white popcorn (no butter toping) and leave this out overnight. Fresh popcorn is too brittle, day old popcorn is softer and easier to work with.

2. Buy some fresh cranberries


3. Once you are ready to work, make sure you are wearing clothes that you do not mind getting dirty as cranberries can leak red juice all over you, and work on a surface that is non-porous

4. Use thick string (thread) long enough for your garland and begin by threading the string (thread) onto a needle, double the string over and tie the end in a knot.

5. Thread a cranberry onto the string and ensure the knot can hold it in place. Thread popcorn, then alternate these in the pattern you desire.

6. When you have reached the desired length, tie the end then hang on your tree!
As I mentioned, I don't have a tree this year, so I am placing mine on my wreath!

Pretty easy huh?

I wanted to include one more picture. I bought these gloves in a gift shop at the "Lodge" in Unicoi State Park, Georgia. They go so well with my red/white Christmas decorations this year!

Happy Christmas decorating!!