still decorating!

I am not a tree skirt person. I've tried to like them, but I just don't.

Last week, I ended up making one. Usually the ivory tree decorated with the Girls 'Hello Kitty' toys is put up in the husbands den. This year I can't put it in there. Husband has a new chair in there, but refuses to remove the old one. I've renamed his den 'the furniture warehouse', because there is so much in there! It's his den, he can do what he likes, so I just close the door and pretend I can't see how full it is. A tree had to go in there somehow, so I've put a small silver tinsel one on the windowsill.

The ivory tree has been put up on the landing upstairs. I told the girl she could add the HK toys herself, she loved doing that by herself. Now it looks nice and Christmassy when you walk through the front door.

Because the base of the tree is at eye level, every time I went up the stairs all I could see was the legs and wires from the lights. A tree skirt would cover things up nicely.

I like a challenge, and decided to make the skirt myself, and it had to fit in with my organza/tulle/frothy scheme.

I cut a rough circle from an old duvet cover, and then attached some net that I'd used as a hem on a tablecloth one Christmas. When I wanted to use the tablecloth fabric, I just cut the hem away and kept it. Sometimes I can be quite thrifty! I just stitched away until I had a few ruffly layers, then finished off with another layer of net and a final ruffle around the top. It wasn't as tricky as I expected it to be, I enjoyed making it.

It still hasn't made me like tree skirts, but I much prefer seeing a froth of fabric instead of feet and wires.

On Sunday I had the urge to make a garland for the mirror in the hall. I took a piece of cord, roughly cut pink organza rectangles, and just tied them tightly to the cord. I have made lots of garlands this way (including the tulle one you can see on the stair bannisters) No sewing, very quick to make, and a gorgeously girly end result.

The kitchen has been decked with lights. They are all over the place, up over the kitchen cupboards, and even draped either side of the fridge (happy accident. Left them there so they were untangled and handy when I decided where to put them, but then liked it so much I left them there). Two tiny silver tinsel trees sit on a shelf and work surface, but I still wanted more.

This evening I remembered that we have a real Christmas tree in a pot out in the back garden. I brought it in, placed it on a chair in the corner of the kitchen, and added a few lights.

Tomorrow I plan on baking some gingerbread men to put on there. But that's all I plan to decorate it with. Keeping it simple.

Took this photo from outside, to see how it looked from the garden.

I think this will finish off the deocorating for this year. 2012 is all about the lights!

Don't tell the husband, but earlier today I was standing outside, looking at the house, when a few new ideas fell into my head. Yep, that's right, I'm already working out the outdoor lights for Christmas 2013! Had I thought of these ideas early enough, I'd have done them this year, but it is too late and too cold for me to get my ladder out now!