michelle paige blogs: Christmas Decorating

Showing posts with label Christmas Decorating. Show all posts

Thursday

Easy Lettered Christmas Ornaments with Stickers

Easy Lettered Ornaments with Stickers
Make these easy ornaments with no fancy cutting machines...just stickers!
Seriously! You wouldn't believe how easy it is to make custom ornaments for your tree with just a few simple supplies.
Take a look.

Supplies:
-A box of solid colored round ornaments. (I used glass, but this could easily work on plastic ornaments as well. I bought mine at Michaels 50% off.)

-2-3 packages of letter stickers (Choose narrow letters for best results. I used this brand.)

-Beacon 3 in 1 Crystal-Clear Craft Glue (affiliate link)
-coordinating ribbon
-ornament hangers (these are my favorite!) (affiliate link)

DIRECTIONS:
Are you ready for the easiest directions I've ever posted?

1) Stick the letter stickers on the ornament and press firmly.

Spell out words like LOVE...

I spelled out:
PEACE, JOY, NOEL, CHRIST, HOPE, MERRY, BLESSED, LOVE.

You could even spell out names for place settings.

2) Once the stickers are firmly pressed onto the ornaments, let them sit for a few hours, then look at them closely. You will notice that certain letters will have edges that have peeled up. This is where the glue comes in.
Using the Beacon 3 in 1 Crystal-Clear Craft Glue (affiliate link) and a small paint brush, brush on some glue under the raised edges. Press firmly and let dry.

3) Tie on coordinating ribbon, add an ornament hook and hang on your tree. These could be packaged up as a gift set as well.

The simplicity of these ornaments stand out on the tree. They remind us all what we should be focused on this Christmas season.

Black and white Christmas tree with handmade ornaments.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

Wednesday

Snow Themed Baby Boy Shower

It's time for a Baby Shower!
When the whole family enjoys skiing and the baby is due in January, you MUST have a snow shower, right? Of course! Take a look.
(This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.)

The shower took place at our church. I used long folding tables and placed dividers covered with gray tablecloths behind them.
Light blue and gray balloons as well as a snowy garland was hung near the top.White foam snowflakes (affiliate link) were added to the tablecloth background with stick pins. No tape needed!

(This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.)
Mini silver tinsel trees and mini flocked trees (affiliate links) lined the tables. Silver cake stands elevated the trees. A few glittery snowflakes on stands were set about, as well as fluffy snow, blue, white & silver ornaments and sparkly ribbon.
I also added these amazing soft snowballs. They are so fun for decorating and for playing with!

I did add a bit of real cedar greenery that was cut off from our tree. I LOVE having a cedar tree in our front yard!

Some ladies in the church helped with fruit platters and treats. A few of the items were labeled to go with the theme, such as...

I was really hoping to find some white cotton candy, but never did. I thought cups of it would have been the cutest 'snow drifts'! Next time!
If you've read my blog before, you'll recognize the donut hole tree.
I've made them for a few parties (like my brother's donut party and my daughter's Favorite Things party.) A stryofoam cone (aff link), covered in plastic wrap and donut holes stuck in the cone with toothpicks. It's always a showstopper!

On one side of the room I set up a 'diaper writing table'. This was a great activity for guests to do as they arrived.

Large galvanized buckets (affiliate links) held the diapers. One bucket labeled, Diapers, the other bucket labeled, Finished Diapers.
Guests were to take a marker and write an encouraging or humorous note on the front of a diaper, for the mom to read as she changes her baby.

After the ladies had wrote on diapers and had treats and drinks, we had a short devotion from our Youth and Family Pastor. She prayed over the mom and talked about what a joy it is to be a 'boy mom'. She also brought out an interesting scripture found in 2 Timothy 1:5 which encourages all moms and grandmas to pass on our 'sincere faith' to our children, just like Timothy's mom and grandmother did for him.

After the devotion we played the Left Right Game.
A paper sack filled with 4 chocolate kisses was stapled closed and given to each woman in the circle. Three of those bags had a winner ticket in them.

I wrote this Left Right Story last Mother's Day. I tweaked it just a bit, so it would work well with the shower.
Every time I said the word, 'Right', the ladies would pass their sacks to the right. Every time I said the word, 'Left', they passed their sacks to the left.
Lots of laughing and fun. When the story was over, the ladies opened their bags. Winners received blue gloves.

On the other side of the room was the gift table. Some church ladies donated money towards a group gift of diapers.

I made a diaper cake to go on the gift table--it's a 'cheater version' of a diaper cake. It's made with no rolled diapers...because no one has time for that! I may add a post with directions later, we'll see?
Everyone thought the cake was adorable. The puppy on top is a little gift for the baby's big sister.

And of course, every party has to have a photo shoot! For the backdrop I used a white sheet and light blue foam snowflakes. Skiing props made the pictures extra fun! I found these chalkboard speech bubbles at Target last year, but here is a similar one.

Congratulations, Leslie!

Here's another shower...
FROG Shower

Saturday

Favorite Things Birthday Party

...these are a few of my favorite things.
It's a Favorite Things Birthday Party.

My daughter recently turned 14 and we decided to have a little Favorite Things Party with a few of her 'favorite' friends.

Have you ever heard of a Favorite Things Party?
Instead of bringing a present for the birthday person, all the guests bring multiples of their favorite things to give to each other.

We kept the party small with 3 friends. (Perfect size for no feelings to get hurt!)Each friend brought 2 of their favorite things in multiples of 3. We asked that the gifts stay under $5. a piece. The gifts could be wrapped or not. Each party guest handed out their gift explaining why it was one of their favorite things.
(You can do this on a bigger scale with many friends, by drawing names to see who gets each gift.)

The girls oohed and ahhed and were so excited to receive their friends' favorite things. And in case you were wondering, here's what 14 year olds like in the $5. or less category: fuzzy socks, hand lotion, lip gloss, eos, necklaces, Bath & Bodyworks hand sanitizer, scarves and stretchy gloves.

I kept the décor of the party simple with golds, whites, brown paper, burlap and sparkle. These wrapping paper cones are simple to make.

Use styrofoam cones of various heights and roll wrapping paper diagonally onto the cones, securing with straight pins.

The table was decorated with a white tablecloth covered with a runner...which was just a sheet of brown wrapping paper with gold polka dots. White tulle and gold ribbon ran down the center of the table.

Having a December birthday means the Christmas tree must match the birthday décor, right? Of course! White lights, burlap and a star garland made out of old sheet music helped to decorate the tree. Many gold and white ornaments along with a few rustic balls and metals cones completed the look. I also just happen to have a huge amount of angel ornaments that have been gifted to me over the years.

Mini trees decorated with white and gold ribbons flanked the buffet table. Gold tablecloths covered every surface including the wall. Sheet music star garland was hung as well.

For dinner we served my daughter's favorite meal. Lasagna, salad and garlic bread. My daughter's favorite cake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I baked up mini sizes for each guest and displayed them in these beautiful Christmas bowls.

Each cake was sprinkled with the 'snow' effect...aka powdered sugar. The guests were thrilled to have their own little cake to themselves.

Snow pails filled with white stretchy gloves were put at each place setting as well.

At a Favorite Things Party you must do the guest of honor's 'favorite things'. My daughter made a list of every activity she wanted to do with her friends. One by one they tackled the list.

Creating gingerbread houses was #1 on the list!

Other activities included:

-ornament making (The girls painted glass ornaments with their own designs.)
-ping pong tournament
-making s'mores
-making hot chocolate
-board games
-making marshmallow stirrers-- click here.
-flashlight walk around the neighborhood
-movie watching with popcorn
-and Christmas karaoke!