Weekend Christmas projects

 I have never put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, but this year, I can't resist.
I found a super cute wreath project online and had to do it. I have been eyeing a rosewood wreath at Target from Smith and Hawken, but it is $40 bucks, and I just can't bring myself to buy it. I guess $40 bucks isn't a ton of money, but when you add it to everything else I am usually buying at Target, it adds up! So, I settled for a DIY ( which I actually like better), and it only cost me $15.

I got some cheap felt at Jo-Ann's with a coupon, plus the felt was 30% off. You can do any shape wreath, but I personally liked the one with a flat surface. I chose cream for my wreath color, but red, gray or even hot pink would be
gorgeous also!
layered the felt 3 times and made a circle template by tracing the bottom of a bread crumbs can, and started cutting :)

FYI: I did not cut perfect circles. I actually went as fast as I could. You are folding up the felt and making it look wavy so it is okay if some circles are different sizes slightly or not perfectly round.

Fold the circle in half

Then, fold it in half again

Then, start pinning. It maybe took me an hour total of actual pinning.
Totally worth it in my opinion.

There is no correct way to pin necessarily. Just don't over think it. The great thing about felt is that its totally "moldable". Pin your pieces, then go around and spread them out to get the final look you want!

I pinned a piece of leftover ribbon on the back to hang it with. If you don't like the plain felt, be creative and add some pinecones, berries or something that sparkles :)

Then, you will get a final product to be proud of.... TADAA!!

As for my second weekend project......I decided to add a color to my Christmas Tree and mantle decor (bronzey-silverish-gold)....yup, that is the name of the color. Changing out Christmas decorations can be expensive, and I didn't want to get rid of the stockings that I got on sale from West Elm, so I tried to think of something to add to them to incorporate my new color. I have never gotten our stockings monogrammed, but I thought this year it would be cute to personalize them a little bit....on a budget!

I picked up some ribbon from Jo-Ann's and a stamp set that was 40% off. I knew I wanted to stamp the names on my gift tags this year also. I got an opaque white chalk stamp pad and decided to stamp our names on the ribbons that I added to the stockings. Such a CHEAP way to personalize something. It was definitely time consuming, but only because each stamp had to be mounted onto the stamp handle. Other than that, it was a breeze and I am super thrilled that I had an idea in my own head ( not from a blog).