Christmas Décor: Fill Your Home With Your Favorite Flowers This Holiday Season
January 3rd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Christmas is a time for joy and family reunions. Never mind if the economy is not doing well and that you cannot afford to buy expensive gifts for everyone this year. Christmas can still be very enjoyable even if you do not have a lot of money to spend. To get home ready for the holiday season, you should start working on your Christmas décor as early as possible. No, you do not have to buy any expensive Christmas decors. You can always use the Christmas decors that you used last year and then add plenty of poinsettia flowers to make your home really lovely.
Poinsettias are very colorful that it can make your home alive. Moreover, using poinsettias as outdoor Christmas décor is better than buying those Christmas lights. Christmas lights look great at night, they do not really look so good during the day. On the other hand, poinsettias will always look colorful and lovely anytime. Besides, using Christmas lights for decoration can be quite costly. Just imagine how much energy you will consume if you fill your large front lawn with lots of lights.
Christmas Décor: Working With Flowers
If you happen to live in the countryside and you have space for gardening, it should not be difficult for you to grow your own poinsettias in time for the holiday season. They key here is to buy some of those plants with think and stocky stems. These plants usually thrive better than those with smaller stems. When it comes to colors, you should go for those plants that display deep and intense colors. Plants with deep and intense colors will make good Christmas decors. To make your plants look better, you should put them in beautiful decorative pots. Terracotta pots with nice designs will do fine.
What if you cannot afford to grow your own poinsettias, what should you do? If you happen to live in one of those windowless apartments in the city and you cannot grow your own plants even if you want to, you might as well buy some of those artificial Christmas decors. There are plenty of artificial Christmas decors that you can choose from. Christmas wreaths that are made of a combination of paper, clothe and plastic can be a good choice. Just add some flowers and Christmas lights into your Christmas wreath and then hang the wreath on your front door. That should give your home a festive look.
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The Joys of Making Engraved Christmas Ornaments
January 3rd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Buying a nice holiday decoration as a gift this year is a great idea but getting an engraved Christmas ornament that will be treasured as a keepsake is a fantastic idea. Why not go the extra mile and make the present personal? For about the same price as a regular decoration you can have an engraved Christmas ornament specially made.
Adding a personal sentiment to any holiday decoration makes it extra special. You are certain that the person who receives this personalized holiday gift will always remember the moment that it was opened. An engraved Christmas ornament is a wonderful present for any number of special holiday occasions.
Baby’s first Christmas calls for a special commemorative item that will be treasured by the entire family. You can make the occasion extraordinary if you have an engraved Christmas ornament made with the child’s name and date. A little personal note to welcome the baby’s first holiday celebration is the perfect finishing touch.
I received an engraved Christmas ornament to commemorate my early graduation from high school. I earned enough credits to gain my diploma an entire semester earlier than my classmates. This head start was a great holiday gift in itself but the personalized ornament with the details of my experience is a present that I will cherish always.
Another great holiday decoration that carried a personalized tone was presented to me by my husband with his groomsmen gifts before we were married. He simply gave me an engraved Christmas ornament that said nothing except, “Will you marry me?” This romantic gesture was followed by a winter wedding the following holiday season.
Of course, among the many thoughtful gifts and notes of good will was one that stood out above them all. This was an engraved Christmas ornament that had a message that wished us well as well as wishing us some fantastic groomsmen gifts. The wish was followed by my grandparent’s names and the sentimental gesture is one that remains a favorite of ours.
I’m sure that the coming holiday season will be filled with many ideas for a personalized note to commemorate special events and groomsmen gifts throughout the year. Every Christmas is special. An engraved Christmas ornament helps us remember what made that year stand out from all of the rest.
When you have a little wish for a family or just a witty note of joy you might want to have it permanently etched into their future holidays. An engraved Christmas ornament is the perfect way to do this.
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Recycled Christmas Decorations
January 3rd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
We all want our homes to look nice for Christmas. But, we envision that the only way that we can do this is to buy new stuff each year. New items are not the only ones that shine and make an impression on visitors. Learn how you can create recycled decorations from things lying around the house.
There are a lot of items that can be reused for creative decorations. Think of your Christmas cards. We get them and after the holiday is over we throw them away. Instead of throwing them away, use them to make new decorations for the house.
Christmas cards can be used to create a collage for wall hangings or table decorations. For a wooden coffee table, have a piece of glass cut to match the dimensions of the table top. Underneath the glass, place a piece of thin cardboard the same size and cover it with the fronts of various Christmas cards.
Old ornaments can be given a new look with some non-toxic paint and some string. The color comes off of bulbs all the time. Instead of throwing them away, come up with other ideas to save them like covering them with ribbons, colored buttons, sea shells or other collectibles. Color them with holiday paint and create ornaments, candle holders, and wreath accessories.
Local artisans use soda cans, bottles, and cardboard boxes to make ornaments for Christmas. Around the holidays, several local artisans will showcase their crafts at venues around your area. You’ll be amazed at the wonderful things they can come up with from items most people have thrown away.
Even used light bulbs can be turned into ornaments. Cover a light bulb with a brown sock or stretchy material. Fashion ears out of felt and use felt pieces for eyes, nose, and mouth and you’ve got a reindeer ornament. Tie a string around the top to secure the brown fabric and make a second loop to hang the ornament on the tree.
Besides recycling items around the house and creating ornaments, try using decorations that are friendly to the environment. Collecting these items can start at any time during the year. Like we said before, sea shells provide a wealth of ideas for decorations. Scratched CDs can be turned into Christmas tree ornaments.
Collect pine cones, nuts, sand, and broken tree branches. The tree branches can be weaved together to form a natural wreath. Pieces of discarded wood from household projects can be fashioned into nativity scene figures, crosses, wooden angels, and toys by someone who is skilled in woodworking. Websites like Nigelsecostore.com use recycled Christmas trees to create wooden ornaments.
Before you throw out what appears to be useless ornaments and Christmas cards, think about how they can be reused for another year of celebration. Get the kids involved and turn the quest for recycled materials into a treasure hunt through the house. This Christmas you can teach your children what it means to be eco-friendly.
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Real or Fake Christmas Tree?
December 19th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
The centerpiece of the living room during the Christmas holiday is the Christmas tree. The tree is where we place our presents for others. The twinkling lights reflect the light in our heart for others during the season. Some people choose to decorate a real tree and others opt for fake trees. But which is best?
Opinions differ on the subject. But, real trees are environmentally sound. They are grown on tree farms and harvested around the holidays in time for Christmas. People keep the tree watered throughout the Christmas holiday so the tree stays green and lush. In fact, one mistake that real tree buyers make is forgetting to water their tree once they get home. The tree needs water even after it is cut down. The warm air in the house can dry it out.
Once it dries out, the pine needles begin to fall off. There is no wakeup call quite like stepping on a pile of sharp, brittle pine needles in your bare feet. A dried out Christmas tree is also a fire hazard. Those warm lights or a spark of some kind can send it up in a blaze of glory.
On the other hand, artificial trees are made of metal and plastic. Plastic, as we know, does not break down in the landfill. Little pieces may flake off and contaminate the water table and it is highly unlikely that you will break down your tree for recycling.
Artificial trees have one great thing going for them; they can be reused each Christmas. As long as they are in use, they are out of the landfill. It also saves money in the long run. Many artificial trees come pre-lit so there is no need to buy strings of lights.
Many families like buying a new live Christmas tree each year. Finding the perfect one is a tradition. It does require some work. There is the job of securing it to the top of the car. Some tree farms let you cut down your own tree. That requires a chainsaw and some know how.
At home, the tree has to be carried in the house and perched in the waiting stand. Underestimating the height of your ceiling or the size of the tree could mean removing the tree again and trimming it. On a positive note, after Christmas, the tree can be chopped up for mulch in the yard. But, the gas and elbow grease involved in getting and disposing of the tree is enough for some people to switch to a fake tree.
Bottom line, the choice is purely personal. Once you have made your choice, it is time for the decorations. Instead of using glass and plastic ornaments, opt for edible ornaments. Even if you don’t eat them, they can be thrown down the garbage disposal after Christmas.
For real trees that come unlit, use strings of LED lights. They use less energy and last a lot longer than the current light sets. Natural ornaments made out of pine cones and berries reflect a hint of Christmases past and reduce your holiday carbon footprint.
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7 Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas
December 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
If you have been making an effort to be more ecofriendly this year, why should Christmas be any different?
It is possible to wrap your gifts beautifully without adding more waste to our planet. Try these ideas out for size this year and see if you can start an earth-friendly trend with your friends and family.
1. If you have several tubes of wrapping paper on hand already, you can be eco-friendly without having to buy anything new. You can simply make a point to save the paper after everyone unwraps their presents and re-use it again next year. Of course, this isn’t always possible with kids who like to tear open packages. When everyone is finished opening their gifts, take the large sections of paper and save them for gifts next year. You might be able to use the same piece for several years if you store it in a flat, dry place.
2. Try using gift bags instead of paper. This isn’t practical with all gifts but if you can place something in a bag with tissue paper, you should. You can use the bag and the tissue paper for next season.)
3. Or use reusable cloth gift bags. You can make your own from velour or another elegant fabric. Make small, medium and large sizes. (Check for discount fabric and craft coupons here) Children love seeing custom sewn gift bags with their names on them. The best part is that you can use these year after year and make them part of your holiday tradition.
4. If you need to buy wrapping material, there are several different ways you can go. There are eco-friendly, recycled wrapping papers available online. These can be very elegant, but you’re often paying a high price for being environmentally friendly.
5. You can make your own recycled paper by using newsprint, magazine pages and catalog pages to wrap your gifts. These colorful pages normally go to waste anyway and they make great wrapping paper. Newspaper works best if there are color pictures on the pages. For a different look, try finding foreign papers. Look for foreign languages with unique looking characters, such as Chinese or Farsi.
6. Coordinate magazine or catalog pages with your presents. Wrap a book in photos of bookcases from a home store catalog. Or find the Christmas tree or Christmas decoration pages in home décor catalogs and use these as wrapping.
7. You can also create your own recycled patterned paper. Find a supplier of rolls of recycled brown paper, such as the kind used for mailing packages. Roll out sections of the paper and use paint, stamps and other craft tools to decorate the pages. Decorate each package in a different way - or do the entire roll in the same pattern.
Creating paper this way is fun and economical. You can decorate the plain paper for a variety of other gift giving occasions, too.
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Send Someone a Personalized Holiday Smile
December 5th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Some of us dread it and most of us love it, and it’s just around the bend. It’s the Holiday Season (gasp!). The holidays are just around the bend, so you’ll need to start thinking about holiday cards. And for holiday cards, you need brightly decorated personalized address labels.
When That Season rolls around, most of us end up spending a lot of time on our holiday card lists — and no, we’re not talking about the politics of who to send to or not to send to, based on who sent you cards last year. Even sending as few as a dozen cards can seem like a big time-waster — just another of those social obligations you’re obliged to perform. But it doesn’t have to be. Why not sit down with the whole family, and use this as an opportunity to have a little fun?
Enjoy some Christmas cookies and slap those pretty winter address labels on your cards, crumbs and all. Make it something you and your family will remember for years to come. This is the perfect time to practice your stamping and scrapbooking efforts. This isn’t something you’ll have to drag your kids into — most kids love making imaginative little presents like personalized cards. Think of your personalized cards as big hugs and kisses sent out via the U.S. Mail!
Incidentally, you don’t have to limit this activity to the holidays only. You can get nifty return address labels and similar supplies very inexpensively and quickly just by purchasing them online. So why not order right now? If you do, they’ll be in your hands in about a week! And don’t worry about scarcity, when it comes to formats, designs, colors, and even label materials — the selection is so immense that your real problem will be narrowing down the choices. So…isn’t it about time you started clicking?
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