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Holiday

A Little Christmas

I’m realizing that Christmas is creeping up and I had better get the last pictures of my Christmas decor and projects posted before they will have to wait until next year. The woman who owns the shop that sells my stuff gave me these ornaments. They were for sale in her shop and I loved them so much, she let me have them for free. This has got to be my very favorite ornament. We bought it when we lived in Germany and it was always the one I would hunt for when we were decorating our tree. I purchased this sweater tree skirt on a 75% off after Christmas sale for $10. I love the puffy white balls on it (and so do my cats, unfortunately.) And here’s my last Christmas project for you. I used to have a Dresden angel from Germany as my tree topper and somehow

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Decorating a Tree Without “Ornaments”

When I pulled my Christmas decor out of storage a couple of weeks ago, I found this sad looking table top tree. I purchased it a few years ago on sale at Tuesday morning to use in our 1000 square foot condo that was too small for a full size tree. I wanted to decorate it in a fun way this year, but I didn’t want to spend money on ornaments. I also didn’t want to steal any from my full size tree in our family room. It was already dressed in a berry garland and white lights, so I kept those. I had some upholstery webbing that I purchased at Wal-Mart a couple of months ago, so I thought that would make a nice garland. It was a little too overwhelming for my little tree, so I cut it in half length-wise and wrapped it around the tree. I

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“Joy” Banner Tutorial

Here’s my tutorial on how to make this cute and easy “Joy” banner for the holidays. It was the kind of project I made up as I went along and I really like how it turned out. (Don’t you love it when that happens?) 1.) First, you need some chipboard letters to spell out whatever word you want on the banner. You can buy them, cut them yourself with an exact-o knife, or with a Cricut or other personal cutting machine. I purchased this package of 26 pages for $10.00 at AC Moore. One cool thing about this package is that once I use all of the letters, I can use what’s left as a stencil. 2.) I decided on the word Joy and picked three letters that were the same size, but different fonts to make it more interesting. 3.) Using a foam brush, apply Elmer’s glue onto the

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Decking the Halls

Most years my Christmas decor goes up in an afternoon, but this year (with two toddlers, travel, a business, and did I mention I’m directing, acting, and singing in our church Christmas play…?) it’s taking me a while to get it all out. And it’s not done, yet! I just wanted to share some of what I’ve done. This gorgeous Santa is from Germany and is also a music box. I put him on my mantle, so little hands wouldn’t break him. Due to the two toddlers I mentioned above, I couldn’t hang our stockings on the mantle this year. I was very nervous about one of them yanking on a stocking and getting hit in the head with the weighted holder. So, I kept them in a stack for a few days while I thought about where I could put them. Genius finally struck (not sure where that came

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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