DIY: Pottery Barn Noel sign (and some yarn wrapped trees)

Linking this post up to the Inspire Me Please link party over at House of Rose.  For those of you stopping by, I will have a new post coming out about how I made this sign very soon, so please stay tuned!!

Ahhhh- my favorite decorating time of the year is here!!  I typically don’t do a lot of seasonal decor, except for Christmas (and a little bit for fall).  Christmas I go all out- we have 4 giant Rubbermaid tubs devoted to Christmas decor.  This year we’ve been a little behind on the decorating because I was out of town and then sick.  But this past weekend I got a good start!  And I’m linking up a couple of crafts to Kim’s Dare to DIY party as well as Centsational Girl’s craft party- unfortunately these decorations were done last year, not this year.  But I haven’t blogged about them before, so that counts, right?

We haven’t put up our tree yet, but here’s our mantle:

I start with a simple lighted garland and then add a ton of other stuff- in the garland are Christmas ornaments, pine cones and decorated floral picks. The 4 stuffed creatures above each stocking (the stockings are mine, my husband’s, one for the dogs and one for the cats) were made by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law- they are (from left to right) a santa holding a snowman, a skiing snowman, a large snowman holding a “Merry Christmas” wreath and a penguin holding an “I love snow days” sign.  Everything else was made by me.  Let’s take a closer look:

These trees were pretty simple- I bought styrofoam cones at Hobby Lobby** and then wrapped them with twine and yarn (hot gluing the ends down as I went).  The white yarn at the top has sequins in it, which kind of makes it look like snow- right?  Then I got cardboard stars and painted them with gold craft paint, hot glued a straight pin to the back and stuck them into the styrofoam.  Easy!  A secret- the trees are sitting on soup cans which makes them appear to be floating above the garland- there wasn’t enough room on the mantle otherwise!

This wreath was another easy craft- I just wrapped a styrofoam wreath form with some red ribbon I already had on hand, hot glued some ornaments on and hung it with another ribbon from the mirror.

Finally, the Pottery Barn inspired Noel sign.  I saw this on Frugal with a Flourish’s blog last year (see link here) and had to re-create it.  It’s cost at Pottery Barn? $149!  My cost? Right around $20.  I bought press-board letters at Hobby Lobby and stapled/hot glued them together (seriously, the back is a hot mess- you don’t want to see it).  Then I painted them with a combination of gold, burgundy and brown craft paint.  It’s propped up on a piece of wood so that it doesn’t disappear behind the garland- garland is great, it hides everything!!

There you have it- my Christmas decor so far.  What do you think?  Stay tuned for a peak at our outside decor!!

**Disclosure:  I was not paid or compensated in any way by this company for this post.