There's nothing like Christmas to get a crafter's mojo going. However, as much as I love the excuse to create and decorate, I did refrain from getting too crazy. Since this could very well be our only Christmas here in London, we didn't want to do anything that would involve buying too much or have to store/sell later. Thankfully we're pretty simple when it comes to decor anyway so it wasn't too hard to do.
Other than fresh flowers and the tree, the only out-of-the-box decor we bought were a dozen fair trade glass ornaments and two strands of LED lights (we love them and will never go back to regular bulbs again!). Everything else was re-purposed from items in our home or bought for DYI-ing like the ribbon for the wreath, spray paint for the vases, and the oranges + cloves for the pomanders.
Here's a quick rundown of each little DIY project:
Orange pomanders: Not much explaining to do here as it really is a "what you see is what you get" type of project. Only tip would be to first poke the holes in the orange with a toothpick so that the cloves go in much easier (and don't break). As the cloves soak up the citrus from the orange - and ultimately dry it - it gives off an incredible fragrance.
Light wreath: I started by bending a white dry-cleaner hanger into a full circle and closed it using a twisty-tie (like the kind you tie your produce bags with). Then I wrapped a single strand of lights around the circle and then did the same with the ribbon. I used a net-like ribbon so that I could place strategic openings over the lights to secure the ribbon in place. I also just love how the shadows look against the wall when it's all lit.
Winter-white vases: We recycle our glass but this time I wanted to re-use some of them myself. First I cleaned and removed the labels off an instant-coffee jar, wine bottle, and olive oil bottle. Then I coated them with a fast-drying matte spray paint and in a matter of minutes we had some modern white vases!
As for our tree ...we can't bring ourselves to buy new ornaments and haven't gotten around to making anything else. But you know what, I'm really digging the simplicity of the tree with just a single strand of lights wrapped around the trunk. When else do I get to have a pretty tree inside the house? It's pretty cool on its own so I don't think I'll hate it if we never get around to decorating it (sorry, mom!).