Christmas in Ohio 2011

Last Christmas was just like any other day for me.  The Arizona weather seemed to erase the magic and not being with my Ohio family was quite depressing.  

I'm thankful that the Husband and I were able to spend this Holiday in the Midwest!  Seeing all of the kids open their presents from Santa brought that magic back, making everything right again.  

No snow though! I guess I can't have everything ;)

 

I felt my photography skills were lacking so I don't have many pictures to share.

Let me start by saying that the younger half of Design DNA does her Holidays BIG!  This girl had 3 live trees (living room, dining room, basement), and 2 artificial trees (foyer and guest bedroom).  Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture all of the Christmas flair.

Dining Room:  Colors were white and silver.  The Brother-in-Law informed me that he used 17 strands of lights on this bad boy!

Living Room: Colors used were very rustic - brown, maroon and cream.  She did a lot of ornament clustering this year.

Going along with the rustic feel of the living room, sticks were grouped in a large vase and finished off with the same  coordinating ribbon from the Christmas Tree.

The stairs even got the Christmas treatment.  White lights and live garland were strung up the railing.

Thanks for taking the tour.

We wish you and your family a great new year!  

-Design DNA

DIY Candle Holders - Nature Meets Glam

Supplies: 

• Aluminum cans
• Sticks from the yard
• Candle sticks
• Hot glue
• Rope 
• Clear beads

Step 1:  

• Gather all the sticks you can find (well I had to because I don't have trees in my backyard - some how I had sticks though...)

Step 2:  

• Cover the can with a natural colored paper 
• On the first can I used scrapbook paper 
• On the second can I used a brown paper bag

Step 3:   

• Hot glue the sticks around the aluminum can (If I could go back, I wouldn't have used the aluminum cans for this project but maybe glass votive holders from the Dollar Store.  The can is much more visible through the sticks then I would have liked.)

Step 4:

• Adhere the cans to candle sticks (I had some glitzy looking taper holders I purchased from Hobby Lobby a few years back.)
• To help tie the natural look of the sticks  to the more glamorous look of the  candle stick, I strung clear beads on a thin rope and draped it around each can.

Confession Sunday

We hoard Christmas cards!! 

Reasons why...

1. They are too pretty to throw away
2. The guilt of throwing away overly priced cards from loved ones eats us up in side
3. We are determined to recycle them and reuse them in ways unimaginable (unimaginable may be a bit dramatic)

They all seem true but # 3 makes me feel less like the lady who finds dead cats in her garbage filled living room....

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Big sister - I like to break down the greeting cards from years past and turn them into new Holiday cards.

Greeting Cards Pre-op

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The patient is prepped for surgery 

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Creating a new base for the card (folded card stock in half)

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I used double stick tape to adhere the 

old greeting card image to the new folded card stock

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New cards made from old - mission accomplished!

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Little sister - She recycles her old greeting cards into gift tags.  

 Cut your desired shape, use a hole punch in one of the corners and put a ribbon or piece of yarn through the hole.  Attach your gift tag to whatever your hearts desires!