Deck The Halls - Holly Pom Pom Arrangement

In the spirit of all things 'Fa la la la la, la la la la" I grabbed and few bunches of Holly from the market this week and set about decking the halls. It's summer here so there were no red berries on the branches but I decided to add a bit of whimsy and crafty fun with the addition of bright pink felt pom poms.

If you happen to try making pom pom holly at home I'd definitely suggest wearing gloves as the leaves are quite spikey and the pom poms can either be glued to the branches or simply placed on one of the thorny points of the leaves as I did.

xx

Merry Christmas

DIY Ombre Glitter Champagne Bottle - How To Guide

I fell head over heels in love with the idea of covering champagne bottles in glitter when I laid eyes on the various visuals circling around Pinterest. My favorite version was originally crafted by 100 Layer Cake for their Glitter Themed Valentines Day Party and I wanted to try my hand at replicating and also sharing my "how to ombre glitter" champagne bottles with you today. This is perfect for festive season entertaining, new years eve parties, birthdays, weddings, engagements, hens nights, christenings, cocktail or tea parties etc etc!. It also looks super cute on little champagne piccolos.

You will need:

-Champagne bottles (you could also use vases or glasses)

-Glitter in three shades (I chose Gold, Pink and Silver/Hologram)

-Glue (I used PVA but most glues will work)

-Brush 

-Bowl

Start by preparing your glitters for sprinkling. To achieve a graduating ombre pattern we need to take our three colours and use them to mix together three transition shades. This is the best way to achieve a smooth and blended appearance (see above image). As you will see the first and last shades are just straight pink and silver hologram and the middle three colours are the mixed transition shades.

To make transition shades/colours:

-Take about 1 tsp of the darkest shade, in my case the pink glitter, and add about 1/2 tsp of the gold

-On another plate mix 1 tsp of the middle colour (gold for me) and add 1/2 tsp of the darkest shade

- Again on another plate mix the 1 tsp of the lightest colour (silver hologram) with 1/2 tsp of the middle shade

You will need more then this amount to cover the bottle but you can mix as you go and layer on top of the already applied glitter. If you feel you need a bit more of one colour added to your transition mix feel free to do so. Once you have your glitters ready you are ready to start encrusting your bottle.

Step 1. Soak and remove the label

Step 2. Paint with glue

Step 3.Starting with the darkest shade at the base start sprinkling on your glitter right around

Step 4. Once the darkest shade is applied add the next (transition) shade 

Step 5. Then add the third transition shade, brush the top part of the bottle with glue and add the 4th and 5th shades and leave to dry!. 

I used a very rough 1.5-2" space per colour as a guide with the largest space dedicated to the 2nd and 3rd colours.

xx

Cheers!

Sharing with

The Girl Creative

Honeycomb Paper Fan Decoration Haul - Christmas Decor

Lately I've been drooling over the amazing range of boutique vintage style paper products and decorations available in store and online. Last year I shared my honeycomb paper bell haul and this year I found a few more paper decorations to share with you and best of all they were bargains!.

I found these paper fans at The Reject Shop and Coles for the princely sum of $7 - total!. The large white fan was $4 at Coles and the set of 5 multi coloured fans were a bargain at $3 from The Reject Shop. For any local shoppers - both stores are also now selling ready made tissue pom poms for around $2 or $3 each, which takes the hassle out of folding and trimming, for time poor decorators - lovely!. For international shoppers I have found a few paper balls and bells on Ebay at great prices let me know if you need some tips finding them.

Also I was thinking, for those less camera shy than myself, a display like this would make a fab background for your festive season family snaps.

xx

happy decorating!