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Cinnamon Owl Ornaments Tutorial

December 7, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey there!

Today I have a fun Christmas ornament DIY to share with you. These smell amazing, they’re fun to make, and they make for a cute addition to your tree. At the end of this post you’re also going to find a plethora of Holiday ideas as part of the Home for Christmas blog hop hosted by Hometalk.com and CountryLiving.com, so stay tuned and check them out!

If you’re new here, “hi!” I’m so happy you’re joining me here today. My name is Corinna and this space is my getaway from my day job as a Pharmacy Technician. I love design and décor. I chronicle my adventures in creating beautiful spaces meant for living in here. Everything from choosing pillows for the sofa to a thrifted buffet to full on renovation stories. My style is pretty boho encompassing global and eclectic decor. Best way to keep up with what’s happening here is by subscribing to the newsletter, but Facebook and Instagram are some of my favorite places to be!

Cinnamon Owl Ornaments Tutorial

Here’s how to make adorable and delicious smelling owl ornaments. Do you like dollar store crafts? I hope so! You’ll need applesauce ($1 for a pack of 4, you only need 1 pack!), ground cinnamon (I used about 1.5 bottles at $1 each), and craft glue ($1 for a pack of two, you’ll have nearly an entire bottle leftover!).

The Dough: Combine 1 pack of applesauce and 1 cup ground cinnamon. Mix in 1/2 cup craft glue. Let sit until dough starts to toughen (about an hour).

Start pulling small chunks off the dough and form into balls. Here’s where I show you how “innovative” I am. I don’t own a rolling pin, so I used a nearby Yankee candle to roll out my chunk of dough. I don’t own cookie cutters, so I used the rim of the candle holder to cut out circles.

Using the cap of a marker, or side of a spoon, press it into the dough to create indents to mimic feathers. Then fold over the two sides of the circle to create “wings” and fold the top of the circle over to create the “head.” Use the head of the marker to create the eyes and the tip of the marker to create the pupils. Then create a little triangle for the nose. I had to do some adjusting and smoothing to get them looking just right, so work with it until you’re satisfied.

Take metal ornament hangers, straighten one of the hooks into an “L,” and press them into the dough.

Set them on a cookie drying rack for 24 hours, flipping occasionally.

If you’ve enjoyed this tutorial, please give it a share. Your friends will probably enjoy making some, too! The dough works with cookie cutters, too. So have fun and create what works for the theme of your tree.

Home for Christmas #homeforchristmas

An InLinkz Link-up

Crushing On: Mexican Blankets aka Serape

December 4, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey guys!

It’s been a while since we’ve explored something I’m crushing on so I figured today would be a great day to do one. Right now I am crushing on Mexican blankets. The colors and the woven texture are a huge win in my book for decorating with. They’ve got a lot of the things I love about kilims without the hefty price tag.

Hung As Wall Art

51f850a774c5b6425400779c._w.1000_h.1000_s.fit_ — Lauren and Stiles’ Southwest Bohemian Colorado Homestead via Apartment Therapy

Lauren and Stiles' Southwest Bohemian Colorado Homestead via Apartment Therapy — Lauren and Stiles’ Southwest Bohemian Colorado Homestead via Apartment Therapy

Draped Over Furniture

Carrie & Hal's Modern Bohemian Home via Apartment Therapy — Carrie & Hal’s Modern Bohemian Home via Apartment Therapy

Sasha's Silver Lake Bohemian Bungalow via Apartment Therapy — Sasha’s Silver Lake Bohemian Bungalow via Apartment Therapy

On The Floor:

52e98c6d697ab079470050a3._w.1000_h.1000_s.fit_ — Esthera and Gus’s Bohemian Abode via Apartment Therapy

Get The Look:

Shop Mexican Blankets on Amazon

Shop Mexican Blankets on Etsy

I hope you’ve found these ideas helpful and inspiring. I sure want to throw a mexican blanket onto every surface of my home at this point. I would love to see how you’re using mexican blankets in your decor. I’m on Instagram, @adesignerathome, so tag me!

Kitchen Passthrough Update

December 3, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

As usual, I was perusing the basket section of one of my favorite thrift stores when I happened across an interesting woven tray. I’d seen these before and loved how they looked. So even though I had no real plan on how I was going to use it, I snatched it up for the $1 that it was.

It’s been sitting cast aside for a few weeks now as I try to decide where I’m going to display it. We don’t have an awful lot of wall space in our home so I have to be thoughtful about how I display pieces like this.

Turns out when I was doing some cleaning up of the passthrough between the kitchen and back room (den/dining room/whatever), I was inspired to switch out the old tired plates I’d doodled onto with sharpies with the woven tray. (PS, sorry the photos are so dull and fuzzy. It’s dark out now when I get home from work and my camera does not take pictures well in low light so I used my husband’s iPhone.)

I painted the space a right off the shelf bright white. With a little picture hanging wire and a small command hook, I have a brighter, simpler, more “me” feel in this space. You may just barely be able to make it out, but I painted the wall with a flat paint and use my mandala stencil and a high gloss bright white paint to add just a subtle detail on either side of the woven tray.

And our kitchen is still a wreck right now. Our pantry is all over our counters as we await our contractor to install our new Rheem hot water heater. I’ll finally have hot water this winter- but that’s another day and another post!

My favorite “fall back” gift

November 30, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Pictured Clockwise from top left: 1, 2, 3, 4

We all have to have a “fall back” gift sometimes. It’s a busy time of year and it’s easy to get fried out. So when that hits and I lose creativity juices and can’t quite get my brain to focus on yet another task, I have a “go to” gift that I can use for Holidays and Birthdays. For me it’s a photo gift. For the past few years I’ve explored a few different ways of doing this, essentially plastering my child’s face on anything a photo can be plastered onto. But there’s definitely a refined way of doing a photo gift so I thought I ought to pop in and share it; We are, after all, getting quite close to Christmas so I thought it might be helpful for those of you still shopping.

Especially for family that lives farther away and that we don’t see often, I like to give them a photo gift so they can be reminded of how much we love and think about them. My mother in law lives in New York and we live in Virginia. She makes the drive to visit us many times during the year and we try our best to send videos and pictures, but just like the busy holiday season, life in general gets busy. So gifting a professionally printed and framed portrait for her to display with her decor is our way of being there without being there.

Here are some elements I’m loving right now for photo art gifts:

Foil Pressed. It’s totally in right now and I hope it stays in trend forever because the glow of rose gold flashing in the light is dreamy. It gives the art an ethereal vibe and I love working a bit of ethereal into my home so it’s even more like giving a piece of us to our family.

Custom Framing. Frames make or break a piece of art. They either integrate it into a room or make it stick out like a sore thumb. I am pretty smitten with the antique filigree and natural french farmhouse frames. But I do have a print in the whitewashed herringbone frame and that’s beautifully crafted too.

Black and white and/or nature backdrops. A family photo in the woods just has that, I don’t know exactly how to put it, a “one with nature” feel to it. I love the ominous look of forestry and how it pairs with smiling faces. Kick that feel up with black and white and I’m googly eyed but even changing up a standard family photo to black and white really lets any foil design pop.

I’ve created two photo art gifts in partnership with minted this year. Putting my favorite photo art gift elements to use and taking into account where these pictures will end up hanging, here’s what I created.

For my mother in law, I still chose the rose gold for that sweet vibe, but I went with the distressed cottage white frame because I feel like it fits her style. She’s got a very hip style about here that always speaks to spring and summer. I’ve not had the chance to see her home yet so I based my frame choice on her style.

I also created one for our home. We serious lack at hanging photos of ourselves and our loved ones so this is the perfect catapult to starting a collection. I went with the antique filigree frame for the romantic boho feel and again the rose gold. It’ll suit our design aesthetic and I think it makes a great gift to “us” since we rarely get to focus on that.

Whether sourcing a gift for someone you’re stuck on, or you want to add a special touch to a gift you’ve already settled on, the personalized touch of a custom photo gift is heartfelt. It’s an easy “fall back” kind of gift if you already have a general idea of what you like and people love these things.

If you’re still working on cards for the holidays, I’ve also put together a guide on “Little Ways To Make Card Giving Extra Special.” I’ll be using the feather card stuffer idea from those ideas and I’m using it with the Fir Frame Foil-Pressed Holiday Cards. I’m sharing a look at the card’s design in that post so head on over, gather a few ideas, and check out our cards!

Get The Most Out Of a Cheap Christmas Tree

November 23, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

how I made my $40 cheap christmas tree look thicker, bushier and beautiful - budget savvy christmas decorating

Last week I decided it was finally time to upgrade from our $40 Christmas tree and while it’s too early to be thinking about this for some, I know some of you are on the same page. This time around I had a bigger budget thanks to some financial stability that came into our life this past year, but it still didn’t leave us room to buy the bushiest, realest looking tree available. So I thought it might be a good idea to reshare my tips for making a cheap Christmas tree look more expensive.

The price of a good fake Christmas tree is astonighingly high. Granted, I do want it to be prelit and flame retardant and safe and beautiful and it’s something that will last for many years. But, I do think you can achieve many of those qualities in a cheaper tree with a little ingenuity.

4 years ago now when I was pregnant with our Son, my husband ran out on Black Friday to pick me up a Christmas tree to decorate. It was $20 or $30 dollars, 6 feet, and frankly just cheap. The tree was pretty bare and transparent.

It needed TLC to look filled it and festive. And I think it looks many, many dollars more expensive than it was in the end so I have to share with you guys.

How To Get The Most Out Of A Cheap Christmas Tree
(and even if you buy real, some of these will work for you, too!)

Tip #1: Fluff, Fluff, Fluff

Fluff the mess out of your tree. Straighten every single branch. Then bend those branches to fill in gaps you’re noticing at this stage. Keep fluffing, straightening, and bending until you cannot fluff any more.

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Tip #2: Layer Cheap On Cheap…

Pick up a strand or two of cheap lighted garland. I always use a prelit tree, but these extra strands help to beef up the inner parts of the tree where there are no branches to fluff. Wrap it around the base to thicken it up. Zig Zag it around each of the branches, working your way as far up the tree as your garland will reach.

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Tip #3: Bling It Out!

Use your shiniest, most reflective ornaments (or buy some if you’ve got the funds) and hang them at the base of each branch. Hang one on each branch. If you run out, use your cheap glittery ones. Anything that will mirror the branches and bounce around more light.

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Tip #4: Let’s Get Real.

If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on real clipping from a pine, stick them around the tree much like you would with decorative picks. If you’re not, pick up garland with realistic features (mine were 60% off at Joann’s and I’ve seen Michaels do the same sale). There were more expensive ones than the ones I picked up that looked much more realistic, but the next step helps disguise the “cheapness” of mine. Lay them on the rows of branches. I picked up 3 rows that were 6 feet. This is obviously not enough to run along every branch. So I spaced them out and used cheap decorative picks that were similar in decorum from the dollar store. I used three of those to stick into the bare rows.

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Tip #5: It’s all about the layers.

If you’re using a decorative garland, this is the time to put it on. Lay it on each row of the branches but be sure to leave the branches free to put ornaments on. After the garland is on to your liking, put as many ornaments as you can possibly fit on your tree. I use approximately 300 ornaments on my tree. You can use as many as you own (so long as you like them all and they fit the theme you’re after) or you can pick some up if you’re tree is feeling incomplete. This step is purely about how you want your tree to look, go for what makes you happy!

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Tip #6 Plan Ahead

If you plan ahead, you can pick up not only all the pieces to make a dinky tree look majestic, but you can even get a great Christmas tree for incredibly cheap! I always scour Walmart in the days after the Holiday to pick up big containers of ornaments, string lights, gift sets and decor. If you can hang tough through this Christmas and get moving in those days after Christmas, you can have a more magical one next year sometimes at 50% of!

I hope these tips are helpful and interesting and that you’ve found something you can use this year.

(these pictures are actually of my tree from 2013!)

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A Beginner’s Photography

November 20, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

I’m not a photographer, even if I try really hard most days, it’s just not my passion. I’ve always dabbled here and there and because of this blog I’ve got a bit of equipment. Recently my son has taken an interest in the equipment laying about and he asked if he could take, “play with mommy’s camera.”

I said sure.

So I popped in my memory card, showed him how to turn live view on and where the “button that takes the picture is.”

The camera is on a tripod with the shutter release timer on. He was quite excited to find he was able to then jump in his photographs.

These are his pictures. I wanted to share them here because it’s his passion. I want to document the happenings in my home and this is what’s happening. Here we go.

I slightly bumped up the highlights, saturation and clarity on these ones.

Because he doesn’t have control over any element other than his subject matter, on these ones I’ve adjusted the brightness, contrast and clarity to enhance the subject matter. Some I’ve had to adjust the temperature because the television was casting a blue tint over everything.

These were taken the next night with similar edits made to enhance the subject matter.

I think more than just simply showing off my child’s latest infatuation, I hope this gives a little glimpse into what real life is like around here. My husband and I work real jobs during the day so our family time is when we are exhausted at the end of the day. We’ve lost all sunlight, our home is a wreck, but we just want to be together.

I’m behind on vlogs right now, but I do have the footage. The time change has really messed me up and I’m even more tired than usual in the evenings. I’m hoping to get one of those out this weekend as well as work on an update on the bathroom (we’re at a snail’s pace right now). Also, be on the look out for some Christmas related posts *yay*