wishing you everything merry and bright

Mike and I are headed to the barn to sit in front of a big roaring fire and eat and drink and make merry – so I’m powering down next week to savor all those big and small moments. Winter walks and hot chocolate with marshmallows and being in the cozy company of family and friends.

If you want to get a sense of what it might be like, you can read some of my childhood memories over here. Including the annual Wilkinson Family Nativity Play. I am not kidding about that one – here’s proof.

Those are my sisters in the front and I’m in the back as the angel – please note the 1970s bathroom towels standing in as wings.

I’ll be back in the New Year to catch up with you all. In the meantime, I wish you everything merry and bright. xoxo

doorknob decorations

When dressing up our apartment for the holidays, we do the typical tree, stockings and wreath to snazz up the front door. But I also love dressing up small, unassuming areas like the doors. I don’t know what it is about hanging pretty things from doorknobs, but I get a little burst of satisfaction as I walk down the hall past these cheery decorations.

For this project, I went for simple birds cut out of felt in two different sizes, along with beads and yarn pom-poms. There is something so retro-ski-hat-wintery about these plush little balls. I know there are pom-pom makers on the market, but I went with the lo-fi option of my two hands. The pom-poms are easy and quick to make. And if you get addicted to making them (ahem), you can create a snappy garland, or use the extras on presents, or string a few together for a soft and lightweight necklace. The pom-pom'ing is endless!

You’ll Need:

Card stock

Pen or pencil and chalk

Scissors

Felt (I used plain red and a glittery red)

Yarn

Beads

Needle

Embroidery floss

How To:

1. Create your bird template by drawing two different size, simple bird shapes onto card stock (or use my template right here). Cut out.

2. Place template on felt and trace outline onto felt. I like to use chalk on felt, but you can use a pen or pencil, as long as you can see the markings. Trace and cut out as many birds as you want (I double up the felt and pin inside the bird outline so I can cut two pieces at a time).

3. Create the yarn pom-poms by wrapping yarn around the fingers of your left hand (if you’re right-handed) until you have a substantial thickness of yarn. There is no set rule as to how thick you should make your yarn, but the thicker you wrap the yarn around your fingers, the more full the pom-pom will be. For these size pom-poms, I wrapped the yarn around my first two fingers. You can make them larger if you want (the larger the pom-pom, the easier they are to create).

4. Carefully pull the yarn off your fingers and place it on your work surface, trying as best you can to keep its shape. Cut a 6” piece of yarn, pinch the center of the wound yarn, and tie the piece of yarn around the center.

5. Insert the blade of your scissors into the loops of one end of the pom-pom and cut to open. Repeat until all loops are cut open, being careful not to snip the central piece of yarn that you just tied in the previous step. Repeat with the other side of pom-pom, and fluff into a round ball. Trim to shape if needed.

6. To create the ornament, thread your needle with an 18” length of embroidery floss. Create the ornament from the bottom up, so if you want a bead at the bottom, add it first. Leave a long enough tail to make a double knot at the bottom of the bead.

7. Work your way up, adding elements as you want. To attach the birds, pass the needle from the front side of the bottom of the bird to the back, and bring it to the front at the top of the bird, in a straight line. This keeps the bird in place with the floss on the backside of the bird. Pass the needle straight through the center of the pom-poms.

8. When you’ve created your ornament, cut the floss, leaving enough room to tie a loop at the top to fit over the doorknob. Trim ends and hang anywhere that could use some cheer.

Again, I want to offer big, merry, crafty thanks to Michaels for the support (and most of the supplies) for these lo-fi DIY projects.

so long, decorations

The decorations are coming down, and honestly, I’m not that sad to see them go. I love putting them up and basking in the glow of the lights when they’re up. But then it feels equally right to pack everything up after the hoopla winds down, and move into the new year feeling a little more unencumbered. Plus, we do get a last hoorah: we push our tree out the front window of our apartment and then drag it to the corner, which always provides a final little burst of joy.

You may have noticed I have a thing for hauling branches and fallen bits of trees inside. This one came home with me on a morning dog walk, and I set up it in a neglected little corner to arch over a doorway. The only other thing to do was hang some simple straw ornaments from Ikea.

And while I’ve been getting antsy to put everything else away, this is one that might linger (or not, I still haven’t decided). The bare, wintry branches are lovely to see when you come into the front hallway.

In this last photo, you might just make out the fuzzy silhouettes of paper decorations I made and hung to create a kind of curtain effect above the stairs. They added a clean, wintry touch and were super quick and satisfying to slice up one evening.

So long, holidays. It’s been nice spending time together.