Blue, Green, White and Silver Christmas Decorating Ideas

I know, I know.  We haven't even gotten to Thanksgiving yet... and I have Christmas up!

Maybe I should move to Canada... I hear that after Halloween, Christmas is the next big holiday :)

But let's get real... it's EVERYWHERE you turn now.

Christmas decorations, music, and toy catalogs galore!

So I thought... yup!  It's about that time!

Christmas, Here I come :)

I've had some of you ask... "Where do you even start, when decorating!?"

It can be a bit overwhelming, I'll admit.  Especially when you have LOTS of different ideas floating around in your head.

So I start with a REALLY BAD sketch of what I THINK I might do.

Looks a little something like this...lol

And ends up like this! :)

We're not putting up a tree this time around... 

so I wanted to make the best out of what I AM decorating, this year!

I really wanted to follow suit with my Halloween idea of NOT using the most obvious color for these big holidays.  So for Christmas, I naturally opted out of using "red".

Shock!  I know. LOL.
I really DO love red for Christmas, but thought it would be a bit more challenging to see what I could do WITHOUT  using red at all!
Um... and Challenging was right. ha!
Believe me, there was more then once when I would be somewhere and would just want to grab some red berries, or a pretty red wreath for my door... but nope! I didn't give in.  lol.
I stayed true to my original plan and tried to get creative, using just a handful of winter-y colors, in a classy way :)

So I thought I would give you a little breakdown of everything I used, and where I got it from, and such :)

First off, the antique window.
Tausha gifted this cute little chippy window to me a few months back, and I KNEW I wanted to use it somewhere for Christmas... so I just hung it directly from the wall, from two screws.
That way I had less "shelf decorating" to do... which was nice, because shelves can sometimes be tricky.
To me, they tend to look "cluttered" if you get too MUCH going on.

When I was stumped with what to use, or where to place things... I made sure to call on my amazing neighbors :)

These great dinner napkin "snowballs" on these silver IKEA candlesticks were ALL Keily's idea.
Genius I tell ya!  And SO ADORABLE, and inexpensive!
I decided to put my own little twist on them, by scalloping the edges a bit... and I LOVE the way they turned out!
See Full Tutorial, HERE

I knew that using a large phrase on my window would be the "easy" way out, so I decided to try and come up with something different.
Ronda helped me decide on these cute paintable, unfinished wood numbers at Joann's, to place on top of my window... to give it some dimension.
(We just slapped some tape on the back, and pressed them to the window)
Ronda also let me barrow that cute little standing finial next to the berries that she found at the DI.
It was the perfect "space filler" :)

Thanks ladies!

Neighbors are great :)

These silver berries were purchased at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.. making them .50 cents each...along with the "joy" ornament, that ended up being $1.20.
And I found the white pitcher at Tai Pan Trading, for $2.97.

Like I said before... using a word or phrase on the window was just too predictable... so I designed this Christmas Tree out of a bunch of different scrolls.
You can buy it HERE



The Bottom Shelf :
A couple of these pieces might look a bit familiar to you.
I'm all about reusing what you already have, if you can :)

Remember this plate I used for my fun Halloween saying?



Well... I decided to use the same plate,  because I loved the slight scallop, and just added a Vintage looking Santa Silhouette, instead!
I opted to make him in silver, instead of black... for a more subtle look.
And then just added some spray painted green pip berries around the bottom of the stand.

Originally I wanted to try and fill the space on the bottom shelf, with LOTS of hanging ornaments, but once I got them all up... there was just... too much going on. LOL.  So I narrowed it down to just a few, and went lurking around my own little "store" in my house

aka: A room full to the brim of previously used home decor that I either need to sell,

or use before I buy ONE MORE THING!... as they Hubby says. LOL

And found this plaque!

Here's what it looked like before...

picture from a few years ago

And here it is after :)

I just gave it a few coats of semi-gloss white paint, distressed it a bit, using the same technique as I did here, and here... added some olive green vinyl and ta-da!  A totally different look! 

I set it under the 5 silver hanging ornaments that have letters spelling out "MERRY"

(sorry, those are kind of hard to see, from the picture, because of the reflection)

These ornaments were just pulled out of our "Christmas Tree Decorating Box"

I bought them at Kirkland's Home in California a few years back.

picture of our tree last year

For the other side of the shelf I visited my local Pier 1 Imports, and snagged this adorably chic silver reindeer.

I just LOVE him :)  They had SO MUCH cute stuff this year for Christmas.

More on that later :)

I loved being able to incorporate a "sophisticated" reindeer into the mix...I thought he was kind of whimsical looking too! :)

Since we aren't doing a Christmas Tree this year... I thought it would still be fun to have a "Christmas tree type look"... by doing a branch centerpiece.

I've seen this idea in Pottery Barn, and it always catches my eye.

SO, here is how I did my version.

I pulled some branches from a friends apple tree, and spray painted them white.

Then I just attached some small rhinestones to random parts of the branches...to give it some sparkle...

without all the mess of glitter.

Then I used different ornaments, to decorate the tree.

And put the leftovers in jars around the bottom, on the white tray, to add color!

$1.00 at Michaels Crafts

Box of blue ornaments from Tai Pan $2.97

Sparkly green Foam ball vase filler $4.99 Hobby Lobby

Tinsel filled clear ornaments IKEA, I think $4.99?

Small bells with star ornament from Hobby Lobby

I also found these little picture frames at Hobby Lobby, for about $1.50.

Used photo shop elements to shrink a photo of the girls down, and then just printed it on photo paper, on my printer.

Here are some other items I have place around the house.

Yes!  The long awaited Christmas Subway art decal. LOL

I had lots of emails about this baby, after my Halloween one :)

If you want to purchase one of your own, go HERE

For the background, I just used a fat quarter piece of polk-a-dot fabric, to back the frame, and give it some color.

There ya go!  Thats my Christmas, without the red!
It might have taken a few neighbors and their fabulous ideas to get it done, but it's done!
:)

Again, if you're interested in purchasing any of the vinyl decals, you can get them in our design shop,
THE HOUSE OF SMITHS DESIGNS.