Happy New Year friends!
Have
you taken your Christmas decor down yet? I'm only partially there, in large part because I've been out of town over the weekend.
I love that fresh start to the new year, but I MISS all the WARMTH my
holiday decor adds to my home, so I've come up with ways to easily transition
from Christmas decor to Winter (which will last even longer than the Christmas
season).
My biggest strategy is to incorporate Winter White elements in my Christmas decor, then switch out anything that looks Christmasy (red, green, poinsettias, Santas, etc...) and replace with more Winter Whites, metallics and naturals.
I picked up this lighted wooden village at Sams club this year and created a little Christmas scene on an end table. After removing the red & green, I wrapped each home with some plush swiss dot white material and my 3-D snowflakes & Winter trees. See tutorial for them below.
The inspiration for these 3D sparkle snowflakes came from something similar I had purchased at a boutique years ago. I've always used them in my downstairs family room (my winter white, Metallic with pops of red room).
I actually like these better, and they are very easy and inexpensive to make!
You'll need
- 1" foam ball
- 7 white pipe cleaners
- 5 fancy white pipe cleaners
- Spray adhesive
- White glitter (chunky & fine)
There are several different kinds of balls in craft stores. I went for the more condensed foam) because it held the pipe cleaners better. Some, however, were so hard that I had to puncture a hole first. My favorite was one that I could puncture just with the end of the pipe cleaner, without making a hole.
Cut your fancy pipe cleaners (look at picture of supplies to see what I mean by 'fancy'. I bought them at Hobby Lobby but it didn't indicate on the package anything different, it just said pipe cleaners. Cut these in fourths, between each puffy part. You'll end up with 20 fluffy sections that taper off at each end.
Cut your regular pipe cleaners in half so you'll have 14 of these. bend each one in half, then twist the top folded part a few times to create a little loop. Use your fingers to create a slight bend on the bottom ends of these pieces.
Start by inserting the looped pieces around the Styrofoam ball in each corner and then again on each end. Add 4 more looped pieces on one side, in between the one's you've already placed and repeat on the other side.
Now add the fancy pieces in between the looped pieces until you have a full 3-D snowflake.
To add the sparkle, place snowflake into a box and spray with adhesive and sprinkle with glitter. Repeat until covered. If it feels tacky, you'll want to continue sprinkling over those parts and pressing in with your fingers until it's covered. After it's dried, shake in box to remove excess glitter.
You can hang these snowflakes with fishing line from windows, doorways or under lights, or add to decor for added winter sparkle.
Another one of my Winter White items was some simple shaped white trees. Replicating these was even easier!
Purchase foam tree shapes, spray with adhesive and cover in glitter. Let dry.
Spray more on top and mound & cover with small snowflake rounds (all purchased at Hobby Lobby). To finish off, I had some white snowflakes I sandwiched between a stick pin and inserted into the top of each tree.
As a side note, our grown up family had so much fun this Christmas, we really didn't want it to end. We decided to carry some of that fun family time into January with a mid month PJ & Game all day party! Can't wait!
Here's hoping your home continues to sparkle this winter season and is filled with warmth, love & joy! ~ Sue
