My Holiday Decor...& a Very Sparkly Tree

Earlier in the week I promised I would share some of my decorating DIYs so here goes - I didn't do very many. I stuck to 2 or 3 and did lots of those ones. I can't stress enough how much of an impact having a tree has made. I carved and bought one, my original plan was to do small vignettes, but nothing says Christmas like a sparkly well lit tree - so no regrets.

I picked out J-O-Y wood letters at Walmart (craft section) for $1.47 each (though I later saw them at the dollar store for...$1 each) and painted them white (leftover paint).

Then casually propped it on my bookcase. Total cost = $4.41. I think I'll be picking up 4 more letters spelling NOEL for the bathroom.

I also found these thin wooden words at the dollar store. It came in a package of 4 for $1 and I picked up the packs Hope, Peace, and Noel (total 12 pieces). I didn't know what I was going to use them for but decided I'd find SOMEWHERE to use them.

Again, I painted them white and used 2 to dress up my potted plant.

Then after I bought my tree I decided to use the remainder as ornaments. I bought gold ornament balls for the tree and in the pack was gold thread so I just used those on the words.

Next, the feather boa. I planned to buy a foam wreath from the craft store but it was something like $16. Uh, I'm super frugal on some stuff so I kept looking. In another aisle I found hay wreaths for $6 that had a bigger circumference. I figured I was going to wrap it anyways so who cares if it was hay? When it scanned it was 50% off. So I grabbed another one and got 2 for $6. Score! (sorry no pic but it looks like this one)

Then I bought 4 feather boas from the dollar store ($2 each) and wrapped one wreath (using straight pins to make them stay in place). The end result....

The picture doesn't do it justice. Really, it's quite 'wow.' I didn't know where to hang it so I put it behind my door and tied a white bow on the top. Easy peasy. Seriously, anyone can do it.

I put some of the gold ornament balls and small sparkly pine cones in my anthropologie bowl and put it on my coffee table. Very pretty (sorry, forgot to take a picture but you can see the small pine cones above with the painted words).

Next the tree. I wanted to use hot pink balls but when I went back to the store they were all sold out :( so I used gold. Very simple and kinda glam. Now for a gazillion photos of my tree because I love it.

Ooohhh sparkly!

Flat coloured gold balls...

Glittery gold balls...

Sequined gold balls...

Shiny gold balls...

I picked up a hot pink feather ball ornament and decided to use it as a temporary tree topper (whoops! gotta take the tag of it since I think it'll be a keeper)...

The entire tree...Please ignore the temporary drapes. I got the fabric at Ikea to test out how I would like it as curtains but I've since decided I'll be going with plain grey curtains. Now to find some!

I draped a piece of zebra print fabric I have (still gotta make a floor cushion with it) around the base of the tree as a tree skirt...

Howard looked very unimpressed by all my picture taking....

But he quickly got over it. Within minutes of this photo he began sniffing the ornaments balls within reach. So that is the majority of what I've done. It sure doesn't sound like a lot but along with the white ceramic reindeer on my bookshelf, twine cones, big sparkly cones, lights hung at the window, and the other things seen in the first post - it's just enough.

So what do you think? And how's YOUR decorating coming along?