Bitten

I have been bitten by the Christmas bug. Could you tell from my last 5 or 6 posts? I'm trying so hard to suppress it, but I just can't! It's a little bit different now that I'm married and have a home of my own. Growing up, Mom would always plan everything and we were just along for the ride. But now I get to plan and decorate for my own family Christmas and we get to start our own family traditions. So Christmas planning is all I have been thinking about and doing lately.

I have a number of crafty projects that I want to work on before Thanksgiving. That way, they will be all set to be put out and enjoyed for the entire Christmas season! I have been scouring the internet and stores for ideas that I can cheaply recreate. Today I thought I'd share a few of my ideas, because I'm just bursting with excitement!

1. I mentioned last night that my mom is going to help me make a tree skirt this year. I do not want share my inspiration picture, because I don't want you to see it until the big reveal of our project :-) But I'll just tell you that it will involve red felt, lots of ribbon, ric rac, and buttons.

The rest of my ideas came from Pottery Barn

2. I thought these picture frames and black and white Christmas pictures looked so simple and beautiful. I've picked out 3 photos, and switched them to bright black and white like in the pictures shown. I plan on buying some cheap silver frames, and putting some red ribbon around the border like in the pictures below. The frames won't be engraved like Pottery Barn's, but I think it will still be lovely :-)3. I think this will be completely easy to recreate! I'll hang it in the entryway somewhere...maybe I'll even attach a tiny bit of mistletoe to it ;-)
4. I'm loving the bright ornaments in the next pictures. I'm hoping to snag a wreath somewhere, and then decorate with some ornaments...I'll do the same with some garland. This shouldn't be too hard, either! (Just a little side note...I have found that garage sales are EXCELLENT places to find CHEAP, beautiful Christmas ornaments. So keep your eyes peeled next time ;-)).
5. A friend from church gave me a bunch of Christmas decorations for FREE last year for Christmas!! Among them were dozens of tall candles and candle holders. the candle holders are all mismatched and different sizes, but I'm thinking about spray painting them all the silver and placing them on my table. The result will hopefully look something like this! (I bought a red tablecloth at Dollar General today for $6 to go with them!)
6. And I'm loving the whole pine cone thing for Christmas this year for some reason! I will definitely have lots of these in nooks and crannys in my house :-)
Okay, I think that's enough for now! I have a folder on my desktop completely full of so many more ideas. I know there will never be enough time or money to implement them all, but I'm so excited to try :-)

What have you done to prepare for Christmas this year? Am I the only crazy one? ;-)