Simpatico

I hated putting away all of the Christmas decor. I love the lights of the tree, the ornaments that bring back memories of Christmas' past, and the little treasures I have collected or made during the years. But, it was time to put them away for another year, so I brought out my meager collection of Winter item and got to work.

I wanted to post a few pictures and links to where I got the ideas!

This is the coffee table in my family room. Please ignore the frame lying in the floor, I need to buy a new hanging mechanism to put my $6.00 Goodwill Mirror find in my living room.

The trees are merely old Reader's Digests which I folded and painted with silver metallic spray paint.

The stuffed snowman I found at Goodwill last year for $1. The snowflake picture frame was a gift with purchase from Dillards many moons ago.

Its a bit boring, but we are rarely in this room to be honest.

This little area is between my messy kitchen and the back family room. It was, at one time, a window looking out into the backyard. When the house was remodeled, they drywalled it in and made a ledge between the rooms.

The snowman was another Goodwill fine for $1.50. It even came with the candles inside. It was from Kohls, I know, as the price tag was still on the bottom!

The little trees I picked up a while ago for $1.00 each at Kmart. I spray painted them all with a new coat of silver this year to bring the shine back to them.

This is my kitchen. Sorry about the lighting, there was not much I could do to help out with that. I have one window and its giving the ugly backwash to everything in my pictures.

The tree I bought after Christmas at Kroger a few years back for $2.00.

The tree sits on a silver charger plate, which my snowflake stoneware are also resting on. There are pinecones, snowflakes and silvery sleds under the tree.

I found the New Year Subway art and just had to add to my tablescape. I simply painted a cheap Dollar Tree picture frame with the same silver metallic on the other things around my house. The subway art can be found here to print.

The cards on the tree show our wishes for the new year. We put down one thing we wish to stop doing or give up and the other is a wish for us or our family. Even the dogs get into the act. Although Milo has already broken his wish of not peeing in the family room during bad rainy days!

This is the front of the tv in the living room. I picked up the greenery at JoAnns after the holidays with a 40% off coupon, with their 50% off discount prices. Needless to say it was cheap.

The candles rest on blue plastic and glittery ornaments from Walmart. They were a quarter after Christmas, so was the little dove resting in the middle of the greenery.

It adds just a splash of color without taking away from the picture on the screen.

This is the top of my piano in my front living room. I wanted to do something special, but had no money to spend. I believe the whole area cost less than $15.00 to make.

Lets see. Feather tree: Joann's. It was the most expensive part of the whole area. It was $5.94 on clearance, then another 40% off with my coupon. I wanted it so bad. I love the pretty soft feathers. It adds some height to the area without being another candle or vase.

Ornaments (pinecones, acorns, blue present, and bird) 50 cents each at Walmart. I waited until after Christmas and just bought what I wanted. No one seemed interested in silver and blue ornaments!! Win for me.

I filled the glass candle holders and the large canister with Epsom salt to give the illusion of snow. Also, when the candles are lit the light will reflect off the salt.

The Subway Art in the spray painted Dollar Tree frame can be found here.

I adore the addition of the glitter trees. I found the candle sticks at goodwill for $1 for both and spray painted them with the silver spray paint I had been using. I will admit making the glitter trees was a mess, but its a lovely look. I couldn't find light blue glitter, so I went with silver and white mixed together. Instructions on how to make the glitter cone trees can be found here.

But my favorite thing is my coffee filter wreath. Ok, I burnt the heck outta my fingers putting all 600 of those filters onto the straw wreath, but it was so worth it. The picture does not do it justice. I had originally made it with my front door in mind, but after seeing it complete, I wanted to add it to my snowy piano scene. And the coffee filter wreath can be found here.

This is a picture of it at night!! I love candles!! :) Oh, yeah. I even got the candles at JoAnns after Christmas with a deep discount. I love to decorate, but I hate to spend money on it.

Even on a budget, I believe it makes a lovely impression when you first walk into the room.

Lastly, as I used my planned front door wreath in another area, I made this for the front door. This cost me nothing. I had silver ribbon in my craft stuff. The paper is just scrapbook paper. I attached it all onto a foamcore sheet I cut into a wreath. I got my inspiration from this tutorial. It turned out rather well, don't you think?