This past weekend we had the pleasure of heading up to our family cottage in the French River to spend some Holiday time with my family. I love a cottage Christmas! Continue reading “Cottage Christmas”
Tag: christmas
Dreaming of a Scandinavian Christmas
I got REALLY inspired after my trip to Denmark this year. You can see a more streamlined Scandinavian style slipping into my home (hello, the powder room!). My trip fell over the Easter holiday. All of the stores were decked out for the holidays, and there were candles everywhere. As I am starting to plan for the Christmas season, my mind keeps drifting back to Denmark and to Scandinavian Christmas decor consisting of candelabras, fresh greenery and wood.
I have a few DIY ideas in mind, but have also been sourcing some awesome holiday decor from great European sources. Here are some of my picks.
Ferm Living Christmas Calendar:
Granit Wooden Tree:
Lassen Kubis Candle Holder:
Granit Candelabra:
Ferm Living Christmas Tree Blanket:
Trip Trap Teak & Brass Tree Stand:
Kahler Urban Lanterns:
Ferm Living Brass Ornament:
Also check out my Holiday Decor board on Pinterest for more inspiration.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from our family to yours! Wishing you all the best this holiday season!
xox Kristen, El Granto & Odin Continue reading “Happy Holidays!”
Last Minute Man Gifts
It’s days before Christmas and you have nothing under the tree for the men in your life. Why are men always so hard to buy for? It’s because when they want something, they go out and buy it for themselves. New smartphone? They have it the day it comes out. So what do we do? Buy them socks or blindly guess what they want. So here are my fail-safe last minute gifts for men. Continue reading “Last Minute Man Gifts”
DIY Holiday – Chrismas Carol Art
I have taken to decorating the little shelf over our front hall coat rack as a would-be mantle. It got decorated for Halloween, Thanksgiving and now its getting a little Christmas cheer. My local dollar store sells 12×16 stretched artist canvases for the low price of $2. They also sell $1 acrylic paint. I figured this was an excellent excuse to make some inexpensive holiday art.
While singing Christmas carols at my desk one day (yep I’m one of those holiday spirit kinda people) I decided that my art project should revolve around Christmas carols. I promptly went home and laid down some type in Illustrator of the lyrics “Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more”. Hopefully our visiting friends and family will feel welcome this holiday season!
After I was happy with my type layout and font selection, I cut out the type using my Silhouette SD onto adhesive vinyl. If you don’t have a silhouette, you can pick up alphabet stickers from craft stores, or you can cut your own out of adhesive material. After my stickers were cut, I removed the excess vinyl (called weeding) and transferred my stickers using transfer paper (it’s sticky paper which pulls off the vinyl from their backing, then you place it where you want your stickers and apply using a credit card.)
After my stickers were adhered I took a look and loved it just the way it was! I know, lazy me! If you want to do it right, paint around the edges of the stickers with some white acrylic paint. You do this so that if any of the paint bleeds under the stickers, its white like the canvas so it wont be visible. After it dries, coat the whole canvas in 2 coats of black, red or green paint.
After the paint dries, remove your stickers, and reveal the white canvas below. Or be lazy like me and just put stickers on canvas, then go drink some rum laced eggnog instead.
Where was I? Eggnog? Oops. Right. Project…
Then I placed it up on my mini mantle with a small artificial tree, candles, fresh greenery and a ceramic pear.
SOURCE LIST:
Materials:
12×16 Art Canvas
Adhesive Vinyl
White & Black Acrylic PaintEggnog for extra holiday cheer
Tools Used:
Silhouette SD
Paint Brush
Difficulty Level (on a scale of 1-5):
One out of five
Total Cost: $2 ($4 if you paint it)