Easy and Quick Festive Touches

I know, yet ANOTHER post about holiday decorating...sorry, but this time of year 100% consumes me. Always has, always will. Every day I'm adding some more touches, all the while, the dust is piling up (and the laundry as well), and the none of the lists are getting checked off. But it'll all get done, as it always does. Not sure how, but it will;) So instead of throwing another load in the washing machine, I took some pics and wanted to share some super fast, super inexpensive, and super easy ways to add some festive touches to your home. Because, you, fine reader, are more important to me than dusting:)

While out and about running our errands yesterday, I spotted some cute Christmas throw pillows. Year after year I've wanted to grab some, but it's one of those things that fall into that not expensive by themselves category, but when you want to pick up 5 or 6 of them, on TOP of your average Target trip list, and on TOP of it being Christmastime, when you're already forking out cash like it's growing on trees, I can never seem to justify it. But I went ahead and picked up a few and thought I'd try and "make" a couple - if you've been reading ND for a while, you know sewing and I do NOT go hand-in-hand. I will iron on hem tape with the best of them, but get me around a needle and thread and I start to sweat. (*this is my New Year's Resolution by the way. I'll be busting out pillows and curtains - all kinds of goodies next year at this time, just you wait and see...uh, that's the plan anyway;)...

Here are the cuties I picked up - the one on the left is from Target, and the cardinal one's from Kohls:

I also picked up a second red snowflake one. Now let me explain how I "made" my other 2 pillows. I have a couple extra pillows in my laundry room, just waiting for me to learn how to sew, so I can transform them. One is red. Plain red. I hated it as soon as I bought it - it was a twofer deal. One of those 2 pillows tied together with a pretty bow for something like $15 or $20. And I was in that wanting to fill space place when we moved in, so I grabbed them. They lasted on the couch for a few months before I stashed them away. One of them turned into my blessed pillow that I made a while back (you can see the post here).

And it dawned on me to take my used-to-death stencils and turn this:

Into this:

I just used my white acrylic paint and a foam brush, then went over it with a paint brush to make it darker. In hindsight, I should have used fabric paint, but I have next to zero patience when I get an idea in my head, and needed it done yesterday;). It looks fine though, a little stiff, but heck, it's only out for a few weeks out of the year, right? Plus, you can just flip it over it you want to lay your head on it!

Check out that pillow in the middle there. Now THIS is a pretty hilarious story. Keep in mind, this is a temporary solution, and again, I went in with the knowledge that we would be using these for just a few weeks out of the year. I took the other old pillow we had in storage, and some leftover cream colored fabric I had. I literally wrapped this pillow like a present, and sprayed tack upholstery spray to hold it together!!!! Hold your laughter to yourselves, my sewing expert friends, I know the ridiculousness of this all, but I kid you not, this worked like a flippin' CHARM!!

Then I wrapped some beautiful wide ribbon I picked up last week at Michaels (for 50% off - woohoo!). I cut 2 pieces - and secured both in the back, again with the fabric spray. Here's what it looks like from the back.

Not TOO bad, considering, right?? I was able to at least hide one of the seams with the ribbon. Here it is from the front:

And this stuff is STICKING people! I'm sure it won't last too long, but I'm hoping at least for the next few weeks it'll hold up. What's the worst that could happen though, right?! I didn't pay a single penny (other than the ribbon, but I had already bought that for another project), AND I have two additional pillows for Christmas! Now, if you don't want to spray stuff on your pretty pillows, take with you this idea: wrap some beautiful ribbon around it, maybe secure it in the back with a safety pin, and you've got yourself a decked out pillow for next to nothing. It's just a little something that adds a festive touch, you know? Simple and quick, and it really adds a lot of coziness to the room.

Don't forget to bust out your throw blankets! I'm a big fan, and they don't have to be neat - the messier, the cozier! At least that's what I say, when my kids all HAVE to jump around on the couch the second I neaten them up;)

Here's another quick tip. Swap Christmas paper anywhere you can. Takes seconds and pennies to do - check out my old tray. You may have read the post about my $2 yard sale tray (if you missed it, you can read about it here). It went from this:

to this:

after just some gold spray paint and a piece of scrapbook paper. Well, I simply swapped that paper out for some Christmas wrapping paper that I had, and got this:

I love that it even has gold in the plaid! So again, FREE transformation, and just adds some more holiday feel to the family room.

This time of year, the Dollar Store is your best friend. Grab a glass bowl, some ornaments, and you're set.

You really don't have to break the bank to make your home feel like the holidays, I firmly believe that!

I've got one more to leave with you, and then I MUST get to that to-do list before the kiddies wake up...

This little guy is just a plate with a glass topper that my mom found in her storage and gave to me. I filled it with some fake snow, and some little accessories from our Train Garden (shhh...don't tell my husband!! :), and tied a bow around it. The kids are so cute checking this out. It's just at their height on the table in our family room, and they think it's so fun to stare inside at the little Frosty. If you don't have a glass cover, you could probably head on over to the Dollar Store near you and find a glass bowl that would do the trick! While you're there, pick up a small white plate for the base, and you've got yourself a little cloche!

Ok, that about wraps it up for now. Hope this gives you some ideas on how to decorate your home for the holidays...in a quick and inexpensive way! We can all use some more quick and inexpensive in our lives these days, right? ;) Happy holidays!



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