holiday Archives - Two Twenty One

8 Comments · Filed Under: christmas, holiday, vignette, wreath ·

Silver & Blue Christmas Centerpiece

December 18, 2012

Hey friends! I thought I’d share some more Christmas decor with you this week. Today I’m showing off my silver and blue centerpiece. It’s very similar to last year’s green and blue centerpiece because, well, I didn’t really have the time to switch it up this year. On the plus side, the centerpiece took me less than 15 minutes to put together and cost only a few bucks since I already had most of the stuff.

silver and blue centerpiece

I used the silver Home Goods serving tray as the base. The sassy silver deer ornaments were purchased on sale at Kohls last year. I scored the pretty vintage blue ornaments and silver tinsel at Goodwill Outlet a few months ago. The little silver ornaments are from Hobby Lobby. And I think the clear containers are from Home Goods.

I must say that I love taking a clear container, throwing in some tinsel, and topping it off with ornaments. It’s easy. It’s inexpensive. It’s pretty.

blue and silver centerpiece

I love my spray painted manzanita branch. I wish I would have kept some of the branches I sold (after buying them off Craigslist with intentions of using them for our wedding), but it is what it is I guess. You can’t go wrong with a manzanita branch in your decor arsenal. Write that down.

silver and blue centerpiece 1

The silver snowflakes are from Target circa a few years ago. They’ve been chillin’ in a Christmas storage container, waiting patiently to make their debut. I love how they look on the manzanita branch.

silver snowflake ornaments

And here’s a lovely bokeh photo for your viewing pleasure.

snowflake ornament

Stop by tomorrow and check out my foyer Christmas decorations.

What are your thoughts on the silver and blue centerpiece?
Do you have a manzanita branch in your decor arsenal?
Aren’t vintage ornaments the best?

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tidy Mom, Liz Marie Blog, Craftomaniac, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Live Laugh Rowe, Miss Mustard Seed, I Heart Nap Time, A Thoughtful Place, and Serenity Now.

Check out my other Christmas projects!

16 Comments · Filed Under: centerpiece, christmas, holiday ·

Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

December 14, 2012

Back in March I made these exact same cookies, but the filling was dyed with green coloring and I left off the candy cane pieces. It’s amazing the things you can do with a simple, 3 ingredient cake mix cookie recipe.

The candy cane pieces were pretty easy to make. I threw 4-5 candy canes in my food processor and chopped those suckers to pieces. Then I used a wire colander to separate the pieces from the candy cane dust. The pieces I used on the cookies were about the size of coarse kosher salt. I didn’t want them too big because I wasn’t about to have people chipping their teeth. I did find that the icing softened up the candy canes a little so they weren’t too crunchy.

Here’s a printable 4×6 recipe card for you. Another Christmas gift from me. Man, am I on fire with all the giving this year or what? Click on the image to head to the download page.

Are you a big peppermint fan? Yeah, me too.
Have you made cake mix cookies before?
Any big weekend plans?

Check out my other delicious recipes!

16 Comments · Filed Under: christmas, holiday, recipes ·

Our Big Christmas Tree 2012

December 11, 2012

If you’ve been around these parts for a while you’ll notice that our jewel tone Christmas tree didn’t change much from last year to this year. I can’t justify buying new ornaments every year, so I changed a couple things this year to change the look a little.

OK, so what did I change? Well, I used different ribbon (from JoAnn). I also bought a new tree skirt. The tree skirt was on sale at Target for $25 right after Thanksgiving. I went to two Targets but no aqua tree skirts were to be found. Desperate, I called the Target over by Brad’s work (he had already visited Target earlier that day). The guy I spoke to said there were two left. I asked if they could hold one, but he said they can’t hold sale items. Then he told me that they were in the very back, behind all the other colored tree skirts. I told him to keep it that way. He laughed and said he would. Well, my Target man and my main man came through for me because I scored my aqua sequin tree skirt for $25. Nothing gets between this girl and a sequin tree skirt.

The jewel tone glass ornaments are from Target circa 2007. I scored 9 boxes (15 ornaments per box) for $2.50 each (originally $9.99) at their day-after-Christmas sale. To this day I regret not grabbing a couple more boxes. I absolutely love these ornaments. I’m still pushing for a white Christmas tree because I think the ornaments would really pop against a white tree. I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for one when I go out the day after Christmas. Then I’ll attempt to sneak the tree past Brad, who keeps vetoing the white tree idea.

The light up star tree topper is from Kohls circa 2008 (I think).

Here’s a shot of the Christmas tree at night with all the other lights off. I had fun shooting it at night and getting the lights to make the little stars.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a photo of Jack in front of the tree. This is his ‘I’m over this, mom, fork over the treat’ look.

Do you completely change the look of your Christmas tree every year?
Have you ever gone a wild goose chase to score a Christmas item?
Are you going day-after-Christmas shopping this year?

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tidy Mom, Liz Marie Blog, Craftomaniac, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Live Laugh Rowe, Miss Mustard Seed, I Heart Nap Time, Thrifty Decor Chick, Honey We’re Home, and Serenity Now.

Check out my other Christmas projects!

13 Comments · Filed Under: christmas, holiday ·

Sweater Presents {DIY}

December 8, 2012

Yesterday I showed you guys my card catalog Christmas vignette. And today I’m back to show you how I made the sweater presents. Get. Excited.

It’s kind of crazy the things you can do with old sweaters. I’ve seen people cover different objects with sweaters: vases, wreaths, pillows, candle holders, furniture, lampshades, cuffs, trees. The possibilities are endless. When I was putting together my card catalog Christmas vignette I realized that I needed something tall to put on top of the card catalog in the back for some height. Light bulb. Cover the canvases that have been sitting in my home office for months with sweaters and make them look like presents. I have a genius thought every now and then.

Here’s what you’ll need:
• sweater
• canvas or a rectangular object (piece of wood, picture frame, etc.)
• hot glue
• ribbon

I picked up the cable knit sweaters at Goodwill on half off Saturday so they were $2.25 each. To save money I would have used pieces of wood, but I already had two canvases collecting dust so I just went with them. This could easily be a $5 or less project.

I started by cutting off the arms of the sweater, and then separating the front from the back. I laid the back of the sweater on the canvas and centered it so there was about an inch of overhang on all four sides.

Then, I flipped the canvas over and started hot gluing the sweater to the canvas frame.

Now, on to the ribbon. I cut two pieces of ribbon, centered them, flipped over the canvas, and hot glued the ribbons into place.

I made a bow with the ribbon and hot glued it where the ribbons intersect. It’s as simple as that.

This whole project took about 15-20 minutes. In case you’re wondering, my canvas sizes are 16×20 and 11×14.

Don’t throw away your sweater scraps! I saved the front of the sweater so I can cover something else with it. I saved the arms, cut them down to about 8 inches, and attempted to turn them into faux riding boot socks but I ended up looking like Santa Claus from the knees down. Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me.

I’m sort of in love with my sweater creations but I’m biased. Now I find myself thinking of other things I can cover with sweaters. Nothing is safe.

What do you think of the sweater presents?
Have you covered anything with a sweater, other than your body?
Don’t you love cable knit? It’s my favorite.

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tidy Mom, Liz Marie Blog, Craftomaniac, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Live Laugh Rowe, Miss Mustard Seed, I Heart Nap Time, and Serenity Now.

Check out my other Christmas projects!

35 Comments · Filed Under: christmas, DIY, holiday, home decor ·

Card Catalog Christmas Vignette

December 7, 2012

When it comes to Christmas decor, I don’t typically decorate with the traditional Christmas colors. But when I found three vintage stockings at the Goodwill Outlet, I decided to mix things up this year. It was obvious to me that the card catalog was the perfect place to hang the stockings. I’m pretty sure I’m going to love decorating the card catalog for every holiday.

The vignette was created with some old things, some new things, and some DIY’ed things.

I used a cake stand, cloche, pine cones, and berries I already had on hand. The slice of wood was purchased at JoAnn for about $6. I know it’s silly to buy wood, but I didn’t want to scour Craigslist for free wood and make Brad get out the chainsaw. Sometimes it’s just easier to pay a little money than to deal with a headache. But if any of you in the Indianapolis are cutting down a tree anytime soon, cut a handful of slices for your dear friend Chelsea, will ya?

The red and white sweater presents were made by yours truly. I still don’t know what to call them. Suggestions welcome. I’m posting the tutorial on how I made them tomorrow. Can I get a “heck yeah!” for a Saturday blog post? (Please stop by tomorrow. I barely ever do Saturday posts because I feel like no one will read them.)

UPDATE: Here’s the sweater present tutorial.

The books are from my thrifted collection. I used leftover scrapbook paper from my ‘JOY’ letters on the middle book. I used double sided tape to secure the scrapbook paper to the book. Beyond easy.

Like I said, the stockings were Goodwill Outlet finds. I was probably a little too excited when I found them. But then again, I’m excited when I find anything awesome at the Goodwill Outlet (see: here and here). $1.50 for three vintage Christmas stockings FTW.

I kept my great-grandma’s quilt and the blanket my great aunt knitted for Brad and me in the wire basket. I did flip around the quilt so the red and green squares were showing.

I’m happy with how my traditional Christmas color vignette turned out. This is the only spot in our house where I used the red, white, and green color combo. Make sure you come back next week to see the rest of my Christmas decor.

Will you dare to deck the halls on Monday morning for Dare to DIY? Need some extra inspiration? See how Kim, Michelle, and Rachel decked their halls.

Curious about the card catalog? Read about it here.
Do you decorate with traditional Christmas colors?
What are you doing tomorrow? Your answer: Coming back here to read the sweater presents tutorial. (I’m still taking name suggestions.)

Check out my other Christmas projects!