Holiday Highlights #3

 
Welcome to the 3rd DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights party!

Link up your holiday projects, decor or check out the links for great ideas & inspiration!

I decorated my Christmas tree tonight! In yesterday’s post (here), I shared how I gave my tree some height and covered the ugly tree stand. Today, I swapped out the tablecloth for a burlap cover (using the round tablecloth as a pattern and sewing 2 half circles together). I love it! Here it is with the burlap “root ball” look that I was going for.

This is our main Christmas tree in the livingroom which is a little more formal at the moment. I love the glow and could sit and enjoy a Christmas tree for hours, listening to Christmas music. (Pictures make the ornaments and decorations look pink, but they’re actually pretty shades of gold.)







More Pretty Projects

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Look at these spool ornaments! I love them – so unique and so pretty!


DIY instructions at Make Mine Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing your creativity, Polly!

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I love this ornament tree that Courtney made!
More details at her blog, RedHeads Craft More Fun.


Isn’t it pretty? I love the different sizes and pretty blues.
Beautiful job, Courtney!

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You know how much I love mercury glass. Using the technique I shared on my pumpkins, Jodi made these pretty vases and ornaments. Great job, Jodi! I’m definitely going to do some too!


HERE are the painting instructions. But, for the ornaments, Jodi put on a rubber glove, removed the hanging neck piece, held it by the neck and sprayed. Then she put a screwdriver in the hole used clamps to hold the screwdriver.



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D
aily reminder. Shop the vendor links for awesome gift ideas and

 

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Now…link up your inspiration. I love seeing your ideas and DIY holiday projects!

I’m also linking up to

If you’d like to link YOUR DIY holiday project or even holiday decor for inspiration post to the party:
  1. You must use the button above (or html code on left side bar) and link to this post to share the linky love.
  2. Add your permalink (not your blog url, but your holiday project post url which is the web address that goes directly to your holiday project blog post, not your blog address). Feel free to link a Past Post, just invite your readers in a current post with a quick note.
  3. Or email your link to thediyshowoff@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
  4. If you notice your link has disappeared please add the link back to The DIY Show Off to your post today with a quick note to your readers about the party and try again! I love when everyone participates and readers check out everyone’s links, but I think the return favor of linking back is the nice thing to do so everyone plays fair and enjoys all of the projects and links. Links not related to DIY holiday projects or holiday decor for inspiration will be deleted.

Christmas Tree Stand Cover


I
managed to put up the tree today. It’s not decorated yet. I do prefer a real tree (love the smell) but with the hardwood floors and potential water damage and the fact that Mr. DIY prefers not to search for and transport a real one, we have a really nice artificial tree. It’s older, before the time of pre-lit but we do have another pre-lit one for the family room. Anyway…back to why I’m writing. I wanted to share this incase you’re putting your artificial tree up this weekend and like this look. Oh – and if you ever need to know where your artificial tree needs ‘fluffed’…take some pictures. All of the “holes” between branches really shows up!

This may not work for everyone’s taste and style, but I don’t like the look of the artificial tree stand and don’t want to argue with the dog over the tree skirt. So this year, I decided to attempt something different. A ‘faux root-ball look’. Mr. DIY thinks I’ve created more of a ‘cupcake look’ but I really love how it turned out. It also gives the tree more height. Luckily we have 9′ ceilings.


This is all from things I had around the house. I love when a new look is free!

Edit: I swapped out the table cloth for a burlap cover by using sewing 2 half circles together (using the table cloth as a pattern). Now it looks less like a cupcake.

Materials: Round table cloth, 2 pieces of twine, beverage tub and a few twist ties.

First I laid out the table cloth. I may pick up some burlap this week and sew a big enough circle to swap out for the table cloth.
Then I set the beverage tub in the middle and put the tree stand on top.
I secured two of the tree stand “legs” to the beverage tub handles with twist ties (I twisted around the handle first, then up through the hole on the “leg”).
Next, I gathered the table cloth up and Mr. DIY held it while I tied a piece of twine around it, just below the “eye screws” for tightening/straightening the tree ‘trunk’.


Then I put in the bottom of the tree and the other pieces and straightened out the branches. Once I could tell that the tree was straight (after some adjusting of the ‘eye screws’ in the bottom), I used another piece of string to tie above the ‘eye screws’. Fluff the excess table cloth around.< img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409312549635374434" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ydn4kd0aaEY/SxG9GqgUPWI/AAAAAAAAB7o/bBILpAHJGTg/s400/treecupcake1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" />I added some burlap ribbon to finish it off.

You could also use any fabric or decorative round table cloth. I really love the burlap:

What do you think? Here is my tree decorated:



Beatiful Kitchen Backsplash Makeover

First, THANK YOU for saving the day! The number of votes was amazing and definitely eased my True Value DIY Drama panic attack. Please keep them coming. Just click the badge above, vote and come right back. Easy! You can vote once daily until 12/4 which is when the winner will be announced and it’s coming up fast! Your help is SO appreciated and I hope you’ll continue to click the badge above and vote everyday!

If you’re shopping online this weekend and want to get some cash back, click HERE to use my referral and check it out. I use ebates.com nearly every time I shop online and I’ve earned $187 back from my purchases!

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I love detail and when I saw what Kristalyn from The Gathering Place Design did in her kitchen, it was no exception. I think it’ s a beautiful addition to her already awesome kitchen. Here is her blog post:

Kitchen Backsplash Makeover

I love my kitchen, but it did not have a back splash. That is something I always wanted to change. I really like tin tiles and I had looked into a couple different places to purchase them and they were kind of pricey and I would have to hire someone to install them. I found these faux tin tiles at Lowe’s and they are awesome! At $18 per panel, you can’t beat it! I bought them seriously about 9 months ago and they have been sitting ever since. (Gotta love it!) Well, I said I was now ready to do some updating, so here you go. Oh, and this won’t be the last of it!

Before.

Before.

And… AFTER!
These were way easy to work with. The hardest part was the measuring and making sure the lines matched up. (I will say, measure twice, cut once 😉 ) They come in 18″x 24″ sheets and I just used utility scissors to cut them. You could use a utility knife as well. They really look so much like real tin! Everyone who I have shown can’t believe they aren’t.

I used liquid nails to attach them to the wall. It didn’t take much because the tension between the cabinets and the granite helps to hold them in place. Easy breezy! 🙂

The color and design adds so much warmth and character to our kitchen. I am sooooo excited with how it turned out! And even more that I did it all by myself…woo hoo 🙂 Also, don’t be afraid to mix finishes and types of wood. You might feel like everything needs to be the same. I’m not a huge fan of matchy matchy. In our kitchen, I have two different stains on my cabinets along with black painted pieces. As well as stainless steel and oil rubbed bronze finishes. Mixing different finishes just adds interest and gives your home it’s own unique feel. Do want feels good to you!

I had some scraps left over so the bread box could not escape my embellishing! Don’t you worry there will be more projects to come with the other trimmings. 😉 I hope this ispires ya’ll to get going with things you have always wanted to change or update in your home. I’m not gonna lie, I was intimidated to take on this project, but the end result is worth it for
sure!


Kristalyn – it’s beautiful and adds so much warmth to your gorgeous kitchen. Fantastic job! I’m about to embark on a scary project too, so thank you for the encouragement!

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Speaking of tin! Have you entered the DIY Show Off Appreciation giveaway?

One special friend and sponsor, Christy, from Embellished Bayou has some beautiful hand painted/hand made tin tiles in her etsy shop. She has generously donated an antique 6″x6″ tin ceiling tile that will be handpainted in your choice of color and finished off with coordinating rhinestones, bow and beaded wire hanger. Choose to personalize with your initial, monogram, name or short phrase.

Here are some of the tiles she has in her shop:


Visit Embellished Bayou to check out all of her pretty items…perfect and affordable gift ideas! What’s your favorite?

She’s also offering a December special! Become an Embellished Bayou fan on Facebook or follow on Twitter for updated infomation on special sales and discounts. Here are the links:

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Have a great weekend everyone! I’ll see you Sunday evening when I post for the next DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights. Now that holiday decorating and gift ideas are on the priority list, I’d love to see your projects, decoration and ideas!

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