DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath

It is officially December. Let the Christmas games begin!
Truth be told, I have been listening to Christmas music since November 8th. That morning it was chilly, Biceps suggested we turn on “the Christmas cheer” and we haven’t looked back.
I love creating new wreaths each year for Christmas. Last year, I made two wreaths for Christmas-”Silver Twig Wreath” and a “Whimsical Silver Wreath“ that I dismantled this year and re-used for parts.

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, right? Here is this year’s DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath that took just a few minutes and a few pennies to create. It’s so purty.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own DIY Vintage Aluminum Wreath:
A large dinner plate, charger or lid to a popcorn tin
Coffee can lid or something similar
Scissors
Cardboard
Aluminum Foil
Leftover ornaments-plastic, glass, fabric-whatever floats your boat
2′ + of Ribbon
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Using your dinner plate/charger/lid, trace a large circle onto the cardboard.

As Uncle Joey would say, “Cut it out.”
If you don’t know what that reference was, I apologize. It’s a little Gen X humor, I suppose. Or is it Gen Y? If I had my choice, I’d rather be a Gen Z because it rhymes with Ginseng and just sounds so much cooler. But, I digress.

Trace a smaller circle smack dab in the center of your large circle using a coffee can lid. Cut out the smaller circle. The cardboard will now resemble a large donut. Yum.

Wrap the front and back or the cardboard “donut” with aluminum foil.

Tear off 2-3′ sections of aluminum foil, fold in half lengthwise. Place an end of the foil on the aluminum donut and hot glue that sucker down.

Make 3″ loops of the folded foil, hot glueing each loop down to the aluminum donut an inch or so away from the last loop. Continue doing so until you are out of foil. Start over with another 2-3′ piece of folded foil until the entire wreath is covered in looped foil.

Cut a slit in the top of each loop with your scissors (this simultaneously sharpens your scissors and makes a killer wreath, by the way).
“Poof out” each loop randomly. “Poof out” is the technical term for “fluffing”.

Loop the ribbon in half, hot glueing the ends to the backside of the wreath.

Hot glue the chosen ornaments on the front side of the wreath, interspersing them willy nilly between the “poofs”.

One DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath is now ready for your front door. Hang it up and call it a day. Grab a glass of wine and realize just how awesome you are with your hot glueing skillz.

Magical Mantel Decor

Truthfully, my ‘Magical Mantel Decor’ isn’t really magical.
It can’t grant you three wishes.
It cannot get rid of that zit before the big holiday party.
It can’t make you lose ten pounds.
But, it is pretty and shiny and oh, so very easy to do.

And that, to me, is a recipe for ‘Magic’. Plus, this decor is inexpensive. Therefore, Biceps thinks our Mantel Decor is magic to our budget.

All that you need for your own Magical Mantel Decor is:
Metallic Spray Paint and a drop cloth/plastic sheet
Desired Christmas Ornaments
Tinsel (not pictured)
Felled tree limbs-or go and cut them off of your living tree, while apologizing to it. That’s what I did.

Spray the tree limbs with the metallic spray paint. I recommend doing this out of doors, unless you like that fuzzy headed feeling. Let the limbs dry.

Place tinsel on the mantel before arranging the silvery tree limbs. Hang glittery Christmas bulbs from the limbs and intersperse them on the mantel itself.

And try not to drop any of them.

Stand back and take in the amazing thing you just created. Smile at your geniusness, laugh at your dusty pocketbook, scoff at stores selling ‘mantel decor’. You, my friend, have conquered your mantel.
Be proud-or humble. Whatever you think Baby Jesus would recommend.
(PS-I have had several peeps asking me about the MIRROR above my mantel. Here’s the link, if you would like to see a tutorial on how to make it for yourself!)

Sparkly, Silver, Vintage Christmas Decor

From the music to the decorating…our Christmas is pretty vintagy. Anything sparkly and old typically catches my eye. And anything cheap typically catches Biceps’ eye. This year, I pumped up the sparkly, adding vintage accents here and there.

We found our snazzy aluminum tree for dirt cheap years ago-and it came with blue and silver ornaments to boot.
Our living room has become a sparkly, shimmery wonderland. Rebekah likey.

We’ve collected vintage ornaments over the years-with a hard and fast rule of never paying more than a dollar for each one. I don’t know why we have this rule-probably because we are cheap.

This lucite tree was a gift from Grandma’s stash ‘o Christmas goodies last year. I Christmas-fy the tree with dainty green ornaments during the holidays. And yes, ‘Christmas-fy’ is a word.

This centerpiece on my dining room table spreads its cutesy flair during dinner.

I created this four foot silver twiggy tree for our breakfast nook. I just can’t seem to get enough of the twigs, lately.

Trust me, there’s more to share-but I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much sparkly.
I heard too much exposure to ‘sparkly’ can be bad for the brain…Check back soon to see what else I have up my sparkly sleeve.