While on our summer roadtrip we visited a store called The Christmas Place. My husband found the cutest little CD of old music box Christmas songs. He knows how I love that vintage stuff. And he likes thinking about all the parts and cogs and whatnot that made the old music boxes work. So we agreed we would go with a musical Christmas theme when December rolled around. Yes, this discussion was taking place in July. How else does one plan for the holidays!?!?! At The Christmas Place we also found two beautiful gold trumpet ornaments. And two white and gold large clock ornaments. So the brainstorming began in my head. Music boxes, musical clocks, white, gold, black, silver... the ideas swirled. I noticed a song on the CD was entitled "It's Christmas Time All Over the World". The perfect tie together. "It's Christmas Time" became our theme: music notes, music boxes, clocks, elegant and simple.So the search online and through dollar stores and Michael's and Target and Christmas Tree stores and our closets began. Oh My! Who knew how expensive music boxes have become. I guess everything old is new again. Although very few places carry them. So those that do can name a higher price. So off to Michael's we went. In my mind, a box + Christmas scene + insert of a musical Christmas card = inexpensive music box. So yes, I made my own for the table during our upcoming annual Cookie Party (photos to come).
On Shindigz.com I found a great big clock cardboard cutout. You could personalize it with any saying of your choosing. So I chose, "It's Christmas Time". The perfect beginning for decoration plans for the hallway. From our past holiday totes I found our old green garlands. These wrap around the banister. My mother had an old broken kitchen clock. I reclaimed it and set the hands (since it won't tick) to 12:25. Yes, I'm that cheesy. But Christmas time - Dec 25th - 12/25 became 12:25 in my head.
I found online a picture of a table decorated like a clock for a Mad Hatter themed bridal party. What a cute idea. I had to borrow. I decorated a table with red sparkly stickers from the dollar store. And black tissue ball pieces that look like clock hands. The original idea was sparked by: http://mindmybeeswax.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-bride-in-wonderland-bridal-shower.html in case you need the same inspiration.
We bought inexpensive white and gold ornaments at Kmart. I had black ones from previous Halloweens. And silver ones left over from last Christmas. We placed the varying colors sporadically on the tree. Several years ago I bought these adorable black and faux diamond studded frames. I have never used them. But kept them. I drew a clock set at 12:25 on them. And hung them on the tree.
I had an idea to write the words of our theme on white ribbon. I also learned from a DEN friend this summer that FAIL stands for First Attempt in Learning (love that). Boy was it true. My first attempt was a complete failure. If you write with black marker on a gauzy white ribbon, the black writing will pass right through the ribbon. Second attempt a success! If you use a more opaque ribbon, then it works just fine. So now there is a ribbon in the hallway proclaiming, "It's Christmas Time" and another ribbon on our tree with the same message.
I'll have more to share after our annual Christmas Cookie Party. But now that I decorated for Christmas (have to already the cookie party is in a few days - need to be decorated), I wanted to share the photos in case these ideas spark anyone else's ideas flowing. I hope you have enjoyed these ideas. And I hope they bring you a little inspiration for things to create for your own space. Merry Christmas!
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