One of the reasons why I started this gig is to clear my head of all of the ideas floating around up there.  Mike compares my thoughts to a hamster running on its little wheel… I just keep going and going.  I lay in bed and I’m thinking “weeeell what if we do printed curtains!” then I’m eating dinner and I’m randomly like “I’ll spray paint that frame!” Everyday I’m obsessed with something in the house, sometimes I have more than one obsession.  Today it was family room curtains and… Christmas trees.

Yes it is mid-December and we don’t have a tree.  I guess I didn’t realize that the blog world starts linking up their Christmas posts in November.  In my head, I penciled in this past weekend for decorating and tree getting.  Then it rained all day Sunday 🙁  I also have a final exam on Thursday which is like a giant elephant on my back.  Once that is over, it will feel like Christmas and like I can enjoy myself.

I am a real tree person.  It’s not even necessarily the smell, it’s just the cats love it and well, it’s all I’ve ever really known.  Cleaning up needles comes with Christmas and anything otherwise seems… unnatural.  But today, more than before, I felt compelled to get a fake tree.  Not just because of the time issues I have, but because of our entryway.

The entryway was a requirement on our house hunting list.  I’ve always wanted a beautiful staircase to wrap with garland.  I also thought it would be pretty awesome to put a ginormous tree here.

One of my concerns with a fake tree is, of course, the cats.  Macky is a terror and will more than likely eat/climb said tree.  We always used a big, solid tree base for our real tree, so that he couldn’t knock it over.  My dad actually took a standard tree stand and poured concrete around it for their cats.  True story.  So my family has pretty much cat-proofed the real tree.  But fake ones? I have no clue.  Mike had the brilliant suggestion that we could use thin twine to tie the tree to the spindles so if Macky at least attempted a jump, the tree would be anchored.  Pretty smart, if I do say so myself, since my suggestion was sticking sandbags on the bottom….

We shopped around a bit tonight and we just don’t know enough about them.  We know we want around a 10 foot tree and many of them are on sale already. What do we look for in a fake tree?  Which do you think is more environmentally friendly, chopping down a biodegradable tree each year or reusing a plastic tree? Humpf.

You’ve already seen my outdoor wreath and since it didn’t satisfy my wreath craving, I decided to make an indoor one.  I love very simple wreaths made out of interesting elements, so when I saw that The Nester and Decor Chick! made wreaths out of coffee filters(!!) I just had to try!

The ingredients…

Wreath form, coffee filters, glue gun (mine’s a cheap-o $2 one)

The method…

Fold in half

Then in half again

Stick a dab of hot glue on the bottom corner

Then add it in!

Keep adding until it’s nice and full

I didn’t have much of a pattern going, except that I tried to keep most of the lines following the shape of the wreath form. I really just filled in until it was big and fluffy.

Now my new buddy needed a serious haircut.

So I kept him hanging to give him a trim, since it was a better view than laying him flat.

Um please excuse my hair in these pictures, I didn’t leave the house today….

Hair cut complete! Now I had to figure out how to hang this thing.  I decided to use a sash I had worn as a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding.  Thank you David’s Bridal for this pretty blue!

So I wrapped it around the wreath, marked off the length I needed with a rubberband, oh and I ironed it using my hair straightener…

I wanted to hang it on our dining room mirror, but I had no clue how to go about it.  Then I remembered we had some silver command hooks I bought for my side of the closet but hadn’t used yet.  So I stuck one to the mirror and hung my wreath on there.  Tada!

The finished product!

The best part of this? It is the cheapest thing you could ever make.  I used just under 100 coffee filters- I bought a pack of 200 just to be safe and paid about $2 for them.  The wreath form was a couple of bucks at Joann fabrics but I’ve seen people use cardboard cut into a circle or any other bendable foam.  So if you get your wreath form from something you have hanging around the house and your coffee filters at the dollar store, you could make one of these for a single dollar. Cheaper than a bag of chips in a vending machine these days!

I’m not going to lie, I love this thing.  It reminds me of hydrangeas.  Okay another confession, I made a tree with the remaining coffee filters, but I’m not sure if I like it or what I’m going to do to embellish it.  I ran out of glue sticks for the night 🙁

We’ll save that one for another day. I have to get ready for Dexter!

Another item on my Christmas to-do list was to make some crafts, including a wreath.  So last night, I gathered my supplies.

Yes, I am crafting on my kitchen countertops.  Take one guess why that is.  Mhmm, because of Macky.  For some reason he doesn’t acknowledge anything we do on the countertops. The last thing I needed was a glitter covered cat!

I had no plan of attack.  Actually I did, I wanted to make a full-out ornament wreath.  But then I saw this woodsy wreath at Michael’s and I bought it.  I wanted some of it to show through, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.  So I attached some floral wire to some ornaments and started adding them in bunches…

(Please ignore my reflection… I am wearing a giant shirt that is even too big for Mike)

I remembered I had some silver ribbon upstairs that I got to decorate our staircase.  I grabbed that and wrapped it around the wreath.  I wanted to make the ornaments into a sort of wrap around pattern and I figured I could follow the lines of the ribbon to do so.

After I attached the ornaments with wire, I hot glued them to one another to give the tight cluster effect.

Then I just continued to make clusters around the pattern of the ribbon, wiring and gluing!

Then I added a silver bow off to the side to finish it off.

And tada! All finished!! I hung it inside until we decorate the outside of the house this weekend.

For good measure, I took some pictures in the partial daylight this morning.

The dining room gets the most light in the morning, so I brought the wreath in there for a few shots.

I usually prefer cleaner, simpler wreaths, but I decided to step outside of my comfort zone.  I was unsure at first, but now I like my little creation. The different sizes of ornaments have a bubble-like effect and the wooden wreath still shows to add a rustic element.  As I said earlier, this will be going on our front door which is covered by our porch.  To feed my need for a simple wreath, I am planning on making one for the inside too! 🙂

I have the attention span of a gnat tonight.  Here are my random thoughts…

A rare daytime photo snapped before work this morning.  I just had to show you the new shades in the light!

All you need in life….

I picked up a can of brown and white spray paint.  I am tempted to run around the house and find things to paint but it’s 10:30 and….

I am tired from playing with these all night…

I figured December 6th is late enough to at least start making some holiday decorations.  We’re planning on getting a tree this weekend.

A sneak peek of my ornament creation…

I’ll tell you aaaall about it tomorrow since I’m tired, cranky and I have glitter all over my face.  Have I ever mentioned that I hate glitter?? Hate it. All you need is one piece on your nose and it annoys you all day.  And I currently have it all over my pajamas…..

‘Til tomorrow kids 🙂

Lil House has been a very good house this year, minus the whole our-hardwood-floors-downstairs-may-be-buckling thing.  But that’s okay (we hope), they’re under warranty.  If there was a Santa for homes, we’re pretty sure this is what our house would ask for.

1. Delta Pilar Touch 2O Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet

I thought this faucet was the coolest thing ever before we even had the house, when that commercial came out with the song that was stuck in my head for, well, months.  Yooooour hands can do so many many thiiiings! Okay here it is…

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But we imagined Macky would figure out how to turn it on and flood the house. Fast forward to when we have a house, move in, get a backsplash, pendant lights and…builder grade faucet.  We did pay the extra 50 bucks to have the builder install a faucet that requires only 2 holes.  So when the backsplash was done, we wanted to get a faucet that required 2 holes, was stainless, had a pull down sprayer and was sleek… no strange braiding or trim around the edges.  We went to Home Depot and I was immediately drawn to a particular faucet.  Little did I know it was this one.  THE FAUCET FROM MY FAVORITE COMMERCIAL!  We checked to see if it was made without the touch feature but it’s not.  It’s not even a big deal to us now, since Macky doesn’t go on our counters at all ::knock on wood:: I just love the way it looks and it fits the criteria!

2. Nail gun

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No that’s not me, but I did a google image search and this picture was too appropriate to pass up.  But I do have dreams of installing molding and building things.  We got a circular saw for Christmas last year and now we just need a nail gun!

3. Dash & Albert area rug

Remember my area rug plea? Well one of you left this link in a comment…

Thank you melarse! I want!

4. A king sized mattress

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Okay that’s the world’s largest mattress, but that’s what I would feel like if I had one.  It’s just something we keep putting off buying because well, mattresses aren’t cheap.

5. Large White Drum Pendant Light

This is the Large Finley Off-White Pendant light from Crate & Barrel. I’ve loved drum pendants forever, but never knew where to put one.  I think I want this for our entryway because, well, why not!

6. Tool bench/storage

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As I mentioned earlier, we have a circular saw, but we have no where to use it! And there are tools scattered all over our house…

ps- You have no clue how tempted I was to use this image instead. Google image searches are fun 🙂

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7. Some Apple Art

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Mike is an Apple fanatic (Macky’s full name is Macintosh….) He bought one of these posters years ago and I loved it.  And all along he thought I wouldn’t let him hang it up.  Psssh he forgets that I am the coolest wife ever 😉 It was the Lucy and Desi one and we had it framed, matted and hung in our old office.  We’d like to keep it and maybe add to the collection.  These are some of my favorite ones (so hard to choose!). Clockwise from top left, Jane Goodall, Ghandi, Jim Henson and John Lennon/Yoko Ono.  I love the Apple connection, but I also love the message. Thinking different is something we try to do everyday, almost to a fault. Plus we love these particular people.

8.  Snowblower (!!!)

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This one is actually quite urgent and probably should have been first.  We’ll probably pick one of these bad boys up soon, though the price tag gives me the creeps.  Since we’re cheap, the last time we walked into Sears to check them out we left with a shovel.  A SHOVEL, not even two.  So if it snows tomorrow, only one of us can go dig out our long driveway.  We’re very smart.

9. Ikea Mongstad Mirror

I have wanted this mirror for years.  Many, many years.  We had no place for it in the condo, so when we got this house I knew I wanted it.  I still want it and I know exactly where it will go in our bedroom.  Plus it’s an affordable $99!  The problem? It doesn’t fit in our car. I’m sure Santa’s sleigh could accommodate.

10. Custom paintings from Dog House Pet Portraits

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I have wanted one (okay 4) of these since I saw that the artist, Kristen, painted Dooce’s dogs.  How cute would Macky’s mug look on one of those? We would need 4 of them (Macky, Mowie, Darwin and of course, Sunny) so they would be way too pricey.  But if there is a Santa….