Holidays

Thrifted Christmas Ornaments

December 10, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey Guys!

It’s Christmas week here at A Designer At Home so if you’ve missed any of the posts, I’ll leave the links below so you can check them out. Today I’m popping in with a #thriftscorethursday post sharing all of my vintage/second hand ornaments that I’ve picked up from thrift stores and secondhand shops. There’s nothing like a good vintage ornament to bring some originality to your tree. So if you haven’t yet given the thrift store a chance for your holiday décor, definitely swing by before all the good stuff is out.

Christmas Week Line Up

My tree this year is a sight to see. I’ve really thrown in all my personality and flavor. In past years I’ve always aimed to emulate what I’ve seen on Pinterest, but this year I did me. The pickings for vintage ornaments were pretty slim this year, but I did find a couple of ornaments to add to my tree this year.

The first and most exciting is this maroon colored ball with an oil slick look to it. I’m not sure what causes this and I came up quite empty handed searching the internet. I’m probably missing that one keyword that would bring it up. I did find this ornament on etsy with a similar effect, but even that didn’t tell me why or what causes the unique finish.

The only other ornament I thrifted this year were these maroon colored tassels. They were still on their very old cardboard tags and the tag told me these are in fact ornaments (how cool!) and that they’re old as heck.

Unfortunately that is it for ornaments, but I did find one more great fine! I scored this set of 5 wine bottle ties. The maker says Gorham 1831. And the original Kohl’s sticker says it retailed for $19.99. I scooped it up for $4 🙂

And that wraps up this week’s holiday treasures for me. I love seeing what everyone else scores! The #ThriftScoreThursday feed is always full of fantastic treasures. Here are my favorites from the feed recently:

@thoughtsfromalice Sweet, vintage tray from my mom. (More from my living room on the blog and a $500 gift card giveaway! Link in profile.) here’s the link to her blog

@miriams_memories A treasure made by my own grandmother. #thriftscorethursday #crewel # stitchery #crewelembroidery #needlework

@maggieoverbystudios Thrift store ornaments totally don't count as buying "New" ornaments because technically they are old ornaments. Scored these brass deer, wooden bead garlands, and about 50 gold and white ornaments for $9 not feeling guilty at all! #thriftscorethursday #christmasdecor #brassdeer #colddeadfingers #bloggingyourway #finditstyleit #jmholidaystyle #completehappyhome#westgermanpottery — @maggieoverbystudios Thrift store ornaments totally don’t count as buying “New” ornaments because technically they are old ornaments. Scored these brass deer, wooden bead garlands, and about 50 gold and white ornaments for $9 not feeling guilty at all! #thriftscorethursday #christmasdecor #brassdeer #colddeadfingers #bloggingyourway #finditstyleit #jmholidaystyle #completehappyhome#westgermanpottery

@boxycolonial Christmas home tour on the blog today! (Link in profile)….I found this white tree just in time at the thrift store last weekend #thriftscorethursday #christmas #christmastree

And because the holidays aren’t everything right now, I just had to include these two, too!

12346166_1646998185551776_729211903_n — @mariaski63 Mother, macrame I? ? It’s hard to tell but these are: 8 ft, 6.5 ft & 3 ft! The owner of the estate that I bought them from made them as well as doilies galore! I’m so envious of those who are skilled at handmade, old school crafts. ?

12292771_561115067373158_1276339044_n — @suite22antiques Cutest desk accessory ever. Vintage hand carved and hand painted mushroom pencil sharpener. Heavy enough to double as a paperweight! ? Now available in my etsy shop! **here’s the link** *(I have purchased many items from Jenn, you’re in good hands purchasing with her!)*

And that long wind of things will be the end of my chatter today. I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look at my recent thrift finds and I hope you’ll share yours with us using #thriftscorethursday on Instagram. Be sure to catch up with the other lovely hosts by clicking the pictures below!

Want To Join In? Here’s The Rules!

Want to host? Got an Instagram and Blog? We want to hear from you! Fill out this form for details.
We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
Don’t feel like you need to save those finds for Thursdays! Yes, features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it!
Each week, Trisha from Black and White Obsession, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home, Myself (A Designer At Home) and occassionally a guest co-host will pick a favorite thrift score or two to feature! So please note that by linking up with #thriftscorethursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.
Please remember that we can only share love for photos shared on public accounts. If your profile is private, we can’t see your finds.

Glittered Woodland Creatures & Burlap Garland

December 9, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey guys! Continuing with Christmas week, I wanted to share this tutorial for a rustic burlap and twine garland. Last year I actually used in on my Christmas tree, but this year I draped it around the window behind my tree to make it the centerpiece of the vignette. I’m really excited to share with you how I made the garland. It’s so pretty and looks great anywhere you could use it.

Rustic Burlap and Twine Garland

If you’d like to make your own burlap and twine garland, I’m going to show you how I made it from scrap burlap material. But you could substitute the burlap for a roll of burlap ribbon (isn’t it awesome that stuff is so readily avaiable nowadays?). I also embellished mine with glittery woodland animals, too. But you could skip that part and make this a quick one.

Materials:

Burlap
Scissors
Hot Glue
Animal Stencils
Glitter Glue
Roll of hemp or jute twine

To make thick burlap ribbon, cut about 4 inch wide strips as long as you can.

Use your hot glue gun to glue the ends together.

Once you have enough to wrap around your tree (every tree is different), roll it into a roll to make the next steps easier to work it with.

Here’s where to start if you bought burlap ribbon– I was very, very neglectful and did not take pictures of this pictures. Rather, I swear I did but cannot find them! I simply printed out an owl, deer head, and squirrel silhouette and cut them out with scissors. Center your stencils onto the burlap. Using glitter glue in a squeeze tube, trace the stencils.

Here’s where you start if you’re skipping the animal silhouettes- Leave a bit of space and use some jute or hemp twice to tie a bow around a pinched section of burlap. Then trace another stencil, pinch your burlap, and tie a bow. Repeat these steps until you’ve reached the end of your garland.

Pretty simple, right? It looks beautiful when paired with other woodsy Christmas Tree decor!

And looks great hung around a Christmas vignette!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and that it inspired an idea or two! Please give it a share and leave a comment below letting me know what you think!

A Globally Boho Christmas Tree

December 8, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey There! Welcome to the Christmas Tree edition of My Home Style Blog Hop organized by Steph of Casa Watkins. All week long, loads of fabulous bloggers are sharing their Christmas tree style all week long. And that’s exactly what I’m doing today. And all week it’s about Christmas here at A Designer At Home. Keep up with Christmas Week here. Not only is this the first time revealing my Christmas tree this holiday season, but I’m sharing the style and idea behind it: Vintage Global with a splash of whimsy (essentially how I’d describe bohemian ;))

If you’re landed here from Pocketful of Posies, welcome! Naturally, I’m so happy you’re here. If we’ve never met before, I’m Corinna and you’re at A Designer At Home. My passion is creating beautiful spaces meant for living in and this is where I share that passion. Everything from my latest decor obsessions to full on renovations, I share it all here. My style is Boho, but more specifically it entails vintage elements, global decor, and a lot of whimsy. Best way to keep up with it all is my newsletter, but I also love to be on Facebook and Instagram!

Before I dive into the details of my tree, here’s my Global Vintage with Whimsy tree this year!

The first element of my style I’ll cover is Vintage. Vintage brings character, history and soul to my home. I love the untold stories a dinged up dresser adds. Same with ornaments. I love the imperfections of time. Styles of the past. And I just love giving new life to castaway items.

Global decor is something I grew up with. My dad was in the navy and my mom loved asian and southwestern decor. This stuff runs in my blood. Our home was always filled with treasures around the world. I don’t get the opportunity to do much travel myself, but that’s why I’m so thankful for those that do and the internet. You bring the world to those of us stuck in one spot.

colorful, whimsical, bohemian Christmas Tree

I tried to pay homage to as many cultures as I could. There’s the sugar skull for Mexico’s celebration of dia de los muertos. The hamsa with the third eye has origins in middle eastern culture. Many of the big box store bought ornaments have shapes and styles similar to moroccan and middle eastern designs. The tree skirt is a tapestry I bought from a man who says it was handmade in India. There are a few ornaments with swedish/nordic inspired birds, a couple stuffed animal ornaments that would remind most of Africa, an ornate beetle that immediately reminded me of egypt, the Fabergé inspired egg ornaments are a tribute to Russian history, and even the star topper is a moroccan inspired punched metal.

And finally the whimsy. I like to add a touch of whimsy everywhere I decorate. It’s what brings the soul of vintage and global pieces to life. It’s fun and creates interest. The “conversation starters” of my tree are first and foremost the bright pink pom pom garland. I couldn’t resist when I spotted these are target. I put 3 strands just to break up the existing color scheme of metallics, royal blue and cranberry.

I keep several totes of Christmas decorations because I stock up on clearance items after the holiday. This year I finally pulled out the royal blue spiral picks. They’re quite fun and fill in the gaps nicely. I think the birds make a nice whimsical touch, too.

I really love everything that has gone into creating this year’s Christmas tree. Many of these pieces actually sit out year round because they make me happy. Carefree draped strands of beads, mix matched ornament styles and ornaments that bring to mind thoughts of the world. This is what I want from my decor.

The only thing I wish I could’ve done this year are more vintage ornaments. I didn’t thrift nearly as many as I had hoped. Pickings were just slim this year, I suppose. I still have a few to share this Thursday, though!

I encourage you to have fun with your tree, let it tell your story, choose pieces with meaning and throw in a little second hand. Here are some of my favorite elements of a Global + Vintage + Whimsical Christmas Tree. And remember, it’s Christmas Week here at A Designer At Home which, spoiler alert, means tutorials are coming for the garland/agate ornaments/twig ornaments- yay!

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my Christmas tree style. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ll be back. It’s Christmas Week here on A Designer At Home, so there’s loads of Christmas posts coming your way. Stay tuned!

The next stop on this blog hop is The Happy Housie. Surely you’ve heard of her! She’s incredible so I know you’ll love the Christmas Tree she’s created this year. Head there next!

Eager for more Christmas Tree styles?

Check out the other Christmas Tree stylings by these amazing bloggers.

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Monday:

Casa Watkins

Up To Date Interiors

Pretty Practical
Home

Domicile 37

Elizabeth Joan
Design

Tuesday:

Roots North and South

Wednesday:

Around the Watts House

Thursday:

Southern
State of Mind

Vintage Romance Style

Designing Vibes

Friday:

Little Red Brick
House

Lovely Etc.

Farmhouse 40

A House Full of Sunshine

Organize Nashville

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

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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