Santa hat craft

Hey there! Have you checked out the Holiday Home Mantel Party at Layla’s yet? Some serious inspiration going on!! (You can see ours here.) Even if you don’t have a mantel, you’ll be sure to find some great ideas for your holiday decorating. :)

Late in the season last year I did a Christmas craft that I absolutely LOVE – I wanted to show it to you again in case you wanted to try it out yourself.

I had seen some Santa hats at Stein Mart one day, and just thought they were adorable!:

Killing me. So fun! But I knew I could recreate them myself for less cash, so that I did.

Now I think mine are actually cuter, if I do say so myself:

And making them was way cheaper than buying them – score!!

Since I made them so close to Christmas last year, I just threw them in a tray I had laying around. But this week I found the most adorable tray at Hob Lob and it is just perfect for my cutie hats:

It was only $5 on sale! SCORE again. :)

I filled in around them with some extra Dollar Tree ornaments:

Well hello there!:

HA!

My Santa hats are one of my very favorite Christmas decorations. Partly because I made them myself. Partly because they are stinkin’ cauute!:

I’ve heard that some of you have made them with your kids, students and with friends – I LOVE that!! Makes me so happy. :)

For all of the details of how I made these (they were SO simple), check out last year’s post here. If you’ve made them, I’d love to see pictures!

So are you done decorating? It takes me a few days…or maybe a week. :) But I’m trying to take my time and enjoy it, especially since the Bub loves Christmas decor as much as me this year. I have a partner in crime and I love it!

 

P.S. I can’t believe how much our family room has changed since the pictures in that Santa hat post last year – all because of a $100 Craigslist dresser. ;) Love.

 

Thank you to my sponsor!:

Let the magic begin! (The mantels.)

Well hello there!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We had such a fantastic time, but there wasn’t much resting, shopping or decorating going on.

Just a lot of this:

And this:

And this!

And watching our sweet Bub experience many firsts – first subway ride, first musical, first trip on an airplane:

That’s him watching our plane pull up to the gate. Giddy. Adorable. :)

Since we’ve returned, I’ve finally done a bit of resting (cause NYC kicks my booty!), way too much shopping and some Christmas decorating. I started with the mantels to kick off our Holiday Home linky parties!:

The first one goes up Tuesday at noon over at Layla’s place. :)

I’ve discovered the perfect recipe for Christmas decor that I luuuurve. It’s so simple – greenery, red stuff and a few touches of nature. That’s it. I mix up those three and I’m one happy chick.

I’ve also discovered I love fluffy greenery so much it’s just sick. I need someone to stop me from adding and adding and fluffing and fluffing…big fat greenery makes me HAPPY. :)

My mantels haven’t changed much since last year, I just added a little more greenery (shocking) and some HomeGoods finds. The base started with some basic greenery I’ve had used for years. But it needed some poofing, so last year I found some fantastic greenery at Big Lots of all places, and I’m kind of obsessed with it. I got a few more this week:

I just snip it apart and stick it in here and there in the basic, cheap greenery. It works GREAT and makes it look so much more expensive! In my opinion full and fluffy equals expensive looking.

After that, it’s just more fluffing and adding – sticks:

Beady stuff, dollar store ornaments and pinecones:

And there. you. go. I would stuff a cat in there if it would stay, seriously. I just can’t stop. :)

A few weeks ago while shopping for my Mom Cave, I found an adorable (big! lighted!) reindeer for $20, so I paired him with my little red adorable reindeer I found at HomeGoods last year:

   

By the way, I saw that exact same large reindeer at Pier 1 for I think $60? It’s identical! Whoohoo!

My dollar store stars (from last year) hang from the ironwork, and it’s done:

Ugh, that fluffy garland just rocks my world. I love it!

Upstairs, I did almost exactly what I have in years past, but couldn’t resist a bit more fluff, of course.

Because I try to use what I have as much as possible in Christmas decor, I wanted to keep the current stuff up there, but the garland kept falling off around it. I picked up some Command Strips at True Value and laid a couple right on the top of the mantel:

I just hooked the greenery to it and it worked perfectly!

Here’s a shot of the difference some fluffing can do – on the left, I’ve started stuffing my Big Lots good stuff in. On the right, it’s just the basic garland:

Here it is again, with a bunch o’ stuff thrown in:

Again, I just add till it looks right – ornaments, pinecones, the cat, whatever!

A few years ago, I got some cheap wood letters from the craft store, painted them red and then hung them from ribbon. I hang them from my wallpaper art every year and it’s such a big impact for so cheap!

Instead of hot gluing them like usual, I picked up some tacks from True Value and used those to secure the ribbon to the backs of the canvases:

And that’s it!

I just love the bright red against the black!:

RED makes me SMILE. :)

Our bedroom mantel, transformed with some greenery and a few changes to what we already have:

YES, I know…the cord. It’s giving me hives. But I have two more trees to get up and ten more bins to empty, umkay? Priorities people. But OH YES, it will be covered…

The candles are fake, no worries. :)

And of course, I love them best at night:

Ahhhh…that’s the magic!! :) LOVE. Be sure to link up tomorrow at Layla’s. I can’t wait to see what you’ve created!

P.S. I think I said “fluff” 89 times. Or so.

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

Thank you to my sponsor!:

Silhouette discount code and a winner!

Well…WOW! What a fantastic response to the Silhouette giveaway!! I so wish I could give one to all of you!! (Really, I do.)

The LUCKY DUCK winner of the Silhouette and accessories is…

JEN from GARAGE SALE DIARIES!

Yay Jen! Please send me an email at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you hooked up!

Sooooo…for you other 5,402 entries that didn’t win, today only you can get a steal of a deal at the Silhouette site! You’ll get all of the following for only $199:

- Silhouette craft cutter machine
- One roll of Cream vinyl ($7.99)
- One roll of transfer paper ($7.99)
- Home decor CD (value $55)

The machine alone is usually $299, so that’s a fantastic deal!

**To order your Silhouette, visit their site here and make sure to enter discount code TDC123 when you check out.**

Remember you can only get this deal today from 4 a.m. to midnight.

Have fun with your Cyber Monday shopping and I’ll be back this evening! :)

Eight more hours!

Well HELLO!

The Silhouette giveaway is open till tonight at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) -- and I had no idea Blogger limits comments to 5,000. Probably because I never thought I'd hit 5,000 ever. :)

So if you haven't entered yet, please do so on this post, and I'll include you in the giveaway! Good luck!

1. Leave a comment here.

2. Visit the Silhouette site here, take a look at what it can make, and pick one of your favorite ideas that you’d like to try. Come back and leave a comment telling me what that is. 

3. Tweet about the giveaway with a link to this post.

4. Write about it on Facebook and link to this post.

5. Blog about it and link back to this post.

**The winner has to be in the US, due to customs and shipping. And a winner may only win one Silhouette, even if it's from a different host.

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there! How early did you get up this morning? Can you believe I have NEVER gotten up early to shop on Black Friday? Have I mentioned how much I love sleep? ;)

The week of giveaways continues on this Black Friday with another great giveaway from Wuslu.com!

Yasmin, the owner of Wuslu, is a buyer in the interior design industry, and is able to negotiate with manufacturers to get accessories and furniture at deep discounts -- well below retail prices!

The Wuslu site offers a fantastic variety of products, and you don’t know what you’ll find on her site each day till you check it out. FUN!

There’s one little thing that makes Wuslu unique -- to get the fantastic prices they offer, there is only one item for sale each day. Once the item is sold out or by 10 a.m. Eastern time the next day, it’s gone! Sometimes the product is sold again at a later date, sometimes not.

I have a few Wuslu favorites I wanted to show you…

These lamps are FAB people:

And where have you seen lanterns just like these?:

 

Yeah…that would be Pottery Barn. :)

LOVE these funky mirrors/art:

  

That sunburst mirror is only $21.95 plus $5 shipping – crazy good!

One of my all time favorite Wuslu products is this coffee table:

Isn’t that fantastic?

To celebrate WUSLU’s one year anniversary, this weekend (November 26, 27 and 28) the Wuslu daily deal will be a SURPRISE “box” for only $7 plus $5 shipping. It will contain anything from a chair, lamp, pot rack, candle holders, vases, picture frames and everything in between!

AND, on Cyber Monday – Yasmin is having Wuslu sell-off, which is a selling marathon so empty out inventory and clear space for great new finds. It starts at 10:00 a.m Eastern on Monday and lasts 24 hours. Be sure to check in -- WUSLU will be relisting a lot of its older inventory.

Whew! So many deals, so little time! :)

Yasmin is graciously offering one of you $50 to spend as you wish at Wuslu! Will you spend it on yourself or to buy a gift? I won’t tell if you get yourself a little somethin’ somethin’.  ;)

You know the deal peeps:

1. Leave a comment here for your first entry.

2. For your second entry, visit the Wuslu site, and browse around the history tab to check out the past deal of the day items. Come back here and let us know one of your favorites in a second comment.

3. For a third chance to win, follow Wuslu on Twitter or like them on Facebook, then come back here and let me know in another comment. 

The giveaway will be open until noon (Eastern time) this coming Monday.

Have fun and happy shopping!! :)

Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway!

Yep…you read that right. I get to give away another Silhouette Craft Cutter machine.

Please say it with me…

WHOO. HOO!!!

If you’ve read TDC for a while, you know how I’ve fallen in love with this machine:

We’re likethis. LOVE.

This giveaway is full of so much good news, you may just pass out from the greatness. Not only is one of you going to WIN one…but the folks at Silhouette are going to have a crazy, wild, amazing deal on these beauties next Monday – now affectionately known as Cyber Monday. :)

This deal is only valid on Monday, November 29, starting at 4 a.m. (Eastern time) and ending at midnight that day. 

Get ready…the Silhouette, that’s normally sold for $299, will be sold for $199!

Aww yeah! Awesome!

They have also sweetened the deal with a few other goodies with purchase that day:

- One roll of Cream vinyl ($7.99)
- One roll of transfer paper ($7.99)
-  Home decor CD (value $55)

That’s more than $70 in FREE stuff! All for only $199!! (If you’re doing the math, that's almost $200 in savings!)

You will have to use a discount code to get this saaahweet deal – I’ll be announcing that code first thing Cyber Monday morning so you can get the great discount!

This is the newest version with more capabilities and newest technology, (Silhouette is now available to MAC users too!) and they have NEVER sold them for this cheap.

The possibilities with this machine are endless – your gift budget could be cut in half with a little imagination and the Silhouette!

Here’s the different ways I’ve used it (click on the picture to get to the post):

Big. Fat. Sigh. It’s awesome. :)

And one of YOU will win one a Silhouette of your very own!

The winner of this giveaway gets ALL of the following:

A Silhouette Machine (a $299.99 value)

It will include...

- Software for Windows XP/Vista, Mac
- Power cable, USB cable
- Two cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)
- One cutting blade
- $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store

Get ready…there’s a bunch of ways to enter!

1. Leave a comment here.

2. Visit the Silhouette site here, take a look at what it can make, and pick one of your favorite ideas that you’d like to try. Come back and leave a comment telling me what that is. 

3. Tweet about the giveaway with a link to this post.

4. Write about it on Facebook and link to this post.

5. Blog about it and link back to this post.

That’s FIVE ways to win, if you’re counting. ;)

**The winner has to be in the US, due to customs and shipping. And a winner may only win one Silhouette, even if it's from a different host.

So there you go! Enter to win a Silhouette here this week -- the giveaway will end Sunday evening at 8 p.m.

I’ll announce the winner in the wee hours of Monday morning, and if you don’t win, you can order your own at 4 a.m. Cyber Monday – don’t forget to watch for the code on Monday’s post! 

Have fun and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Giveaway weekend!

Whoooeee…welcome to the week of giveaways! I’ve got some great one’s coming up, and who better to kick it off than my friends at Modern Bird Studios?

First of all –  Megan and Gregg have to be the most patient people I’ve ever met. We first started talking about doing this giveaway about eight months ago. I was so psyched when they offered us our own piece of art, but I wanted to find the perfect picture…and evidently that takes me eight months. :)

And for all that is good – those two are FUNNY. I follow them on Twitter and laugh daily. And when I met Megan in September, she was as awesome in real life as she is in blog-life.

I’m so excited to share their amazing work with you this weekend! Modern Bird creates truly unique art from of your photographs. They use a combination of digital, hand, and painting processes on an oak composite. And it is STUNNING.

Gregg takes your photograph and breaks it down into a two, three, four or five-color image which creates abstract shapes that make up the art. The result is a beautiful two-color or multi-color piece of modern art that would fit into any home:

    

Isn’t it fantastic? I love that their process takes a cherished photo and amps it up to a whole new level – into a truly one of a kind piece of art.

Their is a crazy selection of colors to work with, so you can make it work for any room in your home:

So…you want to see ours? Ack…it’s pretty fantastic. :)

I caught a picture of our son last marching band season that we absolutely treasure. He has always “conducted” Daddy’s band, just like Daddy. It’s actually kind of freaky, because its obvious he’s got some genetic talent from my hubby…he really conducts.  It’s amazing.

And CUTE. Adorable. Makes me want to burst with happiness.

And Gregg turned it into beautiful art:

Beautiful art I had to photograph in the Bub’s bathroom, because I didn’t have enough daylight left. ;)

I love how it emphasizes one of the two cowlicks on the back of his sweet, sweet head:

And my very favorite part – his upturned left foot:

Like, yeah…this is nothin’. Put me up on the podium peeps. I got this.

UGH. I love that boy!!!

Now, we just have to figure out where to hang it! For now, it sits on a ledge in the playroom:

We LOVE it.

So guess WHAT?? I have an amazing giveaway from Modern Bird Studios for you! One of you will win a $250 gift certificate to purchase personalized art just for you and your family.

WHOOHOO!!

There’s a few ways to enter this one, so you’ll have more chances to win.:

1. Leave a comment here!

2. Visit the Modern Bird Studios portfolio here and take a look around. Then come back and tell me if you would chose the two or multi-color process for your art. Don’t worry -- if you win you’ll be able to change your mind. :)

3. Follow Modern Bird Studios on Twitter or like them on Facebook, then come back here to leave another comment letting me know!

A couple things – it’s only open to those in the US and Canada, and no previous winners are eligible to enter.

The giveaway will be open until Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

**If you’d like to purchase your own art, Megan and Gregg are offering a GREAT discount -- 15% off your order using the code THRIFTYDECOR. This code will expire one week after the giveaway ENDS – so till Monday the 29th. Which is perfect timing, because all Christmas orders must be placed by December 1st!**

I’m taking some time away from blogging this coming week to spend LOTS of time with my sweet family, but keep an eye out for more great giveaways this week. You may want to check in Monday afternoon. Just sayin’. :)

Have a GREAT weekend and a incredible Thanksgiving!!