homemade decorating! (or what to do on a snowy day)

 

*spicy hot cocoa of my own recipe topped with homemade cinnamon whipped cream & sprinkled with cayenne pepper & nutmeg! mmmmmm!

    it's snowing today. big wet flakes started this morning & have fallen all day in varying intensities. the christmas music is playing and i have been trying to decide what to do about my tree situation. this year when i started thinking about my christmas decorations i was contemplating doing something a little different. i had seen some wonderful decorations, consisting mostly of greenery with some low key ribbon and eucalyptus tucked in here and there, candles in plain glass jars &  sturdy garden cloches full of a single color of pretty glass balls... i really liked the almost rustic simplicity of the look. and when josh reminded me that we have a frisky kitten as well as a two year old, the thought of putting up the 6 foot tree with all those breakable ornaments was just intolerable to me.                 

                so.....  i decided to do a charlie brown or maybe a topiary type tree this year. and for the sake of still having some lovely decorations, i'm thinking paper (and maybe some felt?) ornaments in white & kraft, white twinkle lights, cinnamon scented pinecones. i bombed out at the store looking for a tree in the size and shape i was after, so back to the drawing board i went with that. then, today, i found this one today and got inspired!  so... i made a tree this afternoon! ta da! lol

 it still needs some finishing touches..(aka greenery!) and to get all dressed up but i'm happy with the shape & size of it so far! i took pics of the process and put them up in my picasa gallery. don't know if it will continue to live in that pot or if i will get a chunk of wood drilled for a base?  hmmmmmm. anyways, after all that, i set out on an online fact finding mission to find some fun & beautiful patterns for paper ornaments. here's some of the great links i found....

.......on the wonderful design blog howaboutorange.blogspot.com i found these delightfully

       modern yet elegant ornaments... she also has a bunch of great links for paper ornaments!

.......found a tutorial for an amazing lacy (and easy!) star here 

.......your basic puffed star template & instructions here

.......template for dodecahedron that makes a beautiful ornament here

.......hp.com also has quite a few ornament projects here