Dreaming of a Snowy Christmas!

Beautiful Snowy Christmas Decor and a 2017 Holiday Blogger Home Tour!

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas! Seriously! I need snow! I can’t wait much longer, so I’ve gotten out all of my Snowy Christmas Decor! Along with that, I’ve joined up with a whole bunch of amazing Home Decor and DIY Bloggers to help bring you the Holiday Home Tour 2017! Be sure to check it out, below!

Have I ever told you about how much I love the snow? Like, I love it! I would totally move to Alaska if the opportunity were ever to smack me in the face! (It hasn’t yet, but I’m still hoping!)… Oh but did I also mention that I live in South-Western Ontario?! Whomp-whomp! Total snow fail!

We have had a few really, really good snow seasons since I’ve lived here, and I am totally convinced that this winter is going to be another one! (It better be anyways, or I am seriously trucking up to Alaska for a vacay!)

Although we don’t have any snow on the ground yet, I decided that I would get into the spirit by creating a snowflake, snowball, snow flurry theme with my Christmas decor this year! Hopefully my snowy enthusiasm is enough to trigger that first real snow fall! Continue reading

Free Printable Burlap Set for Christmas!

Gorgeous Free Printable Burlap Set for Christmas!

Each year, I am trying to become more and more organised for every holiday season.

I am trying to set it up so that I have reusable decor that I can make look different, but still look great every year, without having to spend more money. Last year I got a really great start with purchasing my neutral Christmas decor…

[Psst! Read more about Why I decided to spend a little more money on my Christmas Decor!]

This season to add something new to my Christmas decor stash, I decided that I would create some printables… But not just any printables, smart printables! Continue reading

Easy DIY Decor Ideas to Take Your Home to the Next Level!

Easy DIY Decor Ideas to Take You Home to the Next Level

Guess what! Tonight we are trying something new on The Project Pile… We are featuring our very first guest post, ever — Easy DIY Decor Ideas to Take Your Home to the Next Level! I’m so excited to introduce Jennifer Beaner of Cosy For You!

Tonight Jennifer is sharing a round up of Easy DIY Decor Ideas to Take Your Home to the Next Level! Her commentary is not only fun and witty, but also clever too, as she gives us helpful DIY tips along the way! Enjoy! Continue reading

How to Plant a Seedling! (6 Steps for Success!)

For Earth Day, we decided to plant a tree! Our community came out with a program this year, where households could sign up to receive a free tree to plant. We signed up right away, and were lucky enough to get one!

They had several trees to choose from… Pin Oak, Ironwood, Kentucky Coffeetree or a Sugar Maple. We chose Sugar Maple, but my second choice definitely would have been the Kentucky Coffee tree! Continue reading

DIY Christmas Tree Garlands

01

Are you having trouble finding the perfect garland for your Christmas tree? Or perhaps you are just a little bit tired of the shiny tinsel garlands that just seem to be everywhere… Either way, the perfect garland can be hard to come by, and a garland can either make or break your Christmas tree!

If you’re having trouble finding the perfect garland, then why not make your own?! That’s why I’ve compiled this list of very easy DIY garlands that you can easily make yourself!

Whether your style is fancy, natural, rustic, classic, or just plain easy, there is something on this list just for you! And remember, you can take these different DIY garland ideas and apply your own color scheme to them or even put your own creative twist on them to make them just perfect for your tree!

Pretty Burlap Garland devised by Simply Notable

01-burlap-garland

DIY Deco Mesh Garland devised by The Bajan Texan

02-deco-mesh

DIY Cotton Ball Pom Pom Garland devised by Home Remedies

03-cotton-balls

The Easiest Tree Garland Ever devised by Scout & Nimble

04-easiest-garland

DIY White Feather Boa Garland devised by The Project Pile (This is what I came up with this year, and I just love it! Next year I’m thinking of maybe trying the same idea, only in either red or black… Can’t wait! Would you like to check out the rest of my Christmas tree decorations and ornaments?! You can read all about how I decided to spend a little more money on my Christmas decorations this year, and how I very carefully chose each ornament, and where exactly I found them, right here!)

02

Easy Cowboy Garland devised by North Pole West

05-cowboy

DIY Wine Cork Garland devised by Fun Holiday Crafts

06-wine-cork

DIY Dried Orange Garland devised by Garden Matter

07-dried-fruit

Paper Garland devised by A Cup of Thuy

08

Old Fashioned Popcorn Garland devised by For Rent.com

09-popcorn

DIY Feather Boa Garland

10

Last year during the end-of-the-season Christmas sales I happened upon this beautiful white feather Christmas tree… Even though Christmas was over, I decided to purchase it and save it for next year. So when Christmas rolled around this year, I was so excited for it! And I actually decided to use it as the inspiration piece for the rest of my Christmas décor… Light, white and airy!

01

I started thinking about how I would incorporate the tree into my décor and think about what other elements would go nicely with it. It hit me at about 2am in the morning… I woke up, and thought feather boa garland!

02

And where is the best place to get white feather boas from? Why, the dollar store – of course!

03

(Notice that there aren’t any white boas in this pic… that’s because I already bought them all!)

And that’s how my white feather boa idea was born!

The next day I headed out to the dollar store, and purchased 8 white feather boas. I brought them home and was so excited to add them to my tree!

All I did was add them to my tree…

04

And then tie the ends together! Yes – it was that simple!

05

I found that it was actually easier to add them to the tree before tying them together. Then I fluffed up the feathers to hide the knots.

06

I really love how this DIY garland worked out… It certainly is light, white and airy! When the lights are turned on it kind of looks like a nice fresh snow has just fallen onto my Christmas tree!

08

Next year, I’m thinking of doing the same thing, only maybe trying a different color… like black, or red, or even purple! (Psst! Do you like my tree? Check out why I decided to spend a little more money on my Christmas Décor, this year!)

07

Just to summarize, I ended up using 8 boas on my seven and a half-foot tree, although next year I would probably add a couple more to the total… So if you try this yourself, just keep the size of your tree in mind!

Merry Christmas & Happy Decorating!

Why I decided to spend a little more money on my Christmas Decor!

10

Now, don’t get me wrong here, everything that I try to do is always on a budget… but this year, I made the decision to finally spend a little bit of money on my Christmas tree decorations.

Last year I did my tree in 100% Dollar Store decorations, and I completely loved it! Every year, I pick a theme or color that I would like for my tree, and then go out and buy a whole bunch of really cheap décor. It seems like I’m saving money at the time, but when I tally up the total cost of the past years, it really isn’t very great at all! It actually seems a little outrageous and ridiculous… therefore, I decided to put a stop to it this year.
After thinking about it long and hard, I figured out that if I spent a little more money on decorations that I actually love, that I would actually want to reuse them for years to come. This epiphany sent me on a new mission!
My mission was simple:
1. Find tree ornaments that are pretty neutral and can be used with different color schemes throughout the years to come.
2. Find tree ornaments that I really love, and that I would never get tired of looking at!

My mission started in the little, tiny village of Stirling, Ontario where I grew up. Although I no longer reside there, my parents still do and over the last couple of years Stirling has put on an “Over the hills for Christmas” tour. The tour for this year featured 15 different little shops that all get dressed up for Christmas and offer beautiful Christmas décor for purchase!

Unfortunately, with our busy schedule I only had time to make it to two of the shops this year. I actually had to sneak away and tell my husband and children that I was going grocery shopping… Oops!

02

The first shop that I visited is one of my most favorite shops ever, The Vintage Junction! It is here where I found these beautiful ornaments! I instantly fell in love with them and purchased all that they had in stock!

03

04

05

Just down the road from The Vintage Junction, there is another one of my favorite shops to visit called Rustic Routes & Hi Country. This is where I found these decorations. I carefully selected them because they are neutral and will work with other colors in the future. They are also super sparkly and super pretty!!

06

I also decided to spend a little money on my garlands… I chose this beautiful silver, sparkly garland for my tree, to add a little shine! I also bought lots of burlap because, let’s face it – burlap is just classic, and it’s never going out of style! And then I made this DIY White Feather Garland!

07

Another thing that I finally decided to purchase for my tree this year, is a tree skirt! For years and years I have been using table cloths under my tree… slightly embarrassing, or maybe super thrifty! Either way, I tossed in the towel and decided to buy this faux fur tree skirt. Again, it’s super neutral and should be able to work nicely with any future decor schemes!

So there you have it! Even though I spent a little more on my decorations this year, I am actually going to be saving money! A lot of money!

EDIT: Silly me… It was brought to my attention that I forgot to put a picture of my entire Christmas tree in here! Oops!

Here you go!

07

09

My Dollar Store Christmas Tree! Wait….. What??!

8
This year I decided that I was going to make all of the decorations for my Christmas tree — yes, make…. and well, how did that go, you ask…. HA!

So umm…. scratch that!

Welcome to my new post…. about how to decorate your Christmas tree with Dollar Store decorations! Yes, it is possible…. and yes — I am SO in love with the results!

Before I get to far into my post, I would like to point out that my inspiration for this tree, my burlap garland, did not come from the dollar store…. but it was the perfect foundation for me to build my dollar store decorations upon!

The colors that I selected to go with my burlap garland were 1. Silver, 2. White, and 3. Red. The reason why I chose these colors is because I knew that they would be easy to find… plus they are just like, so pretty!

I was able to find the cutest (and sparkly-est!) Silver ornaments at the dollar store…. pine-cones, sparkly stars, snowflakes, angels, bells, and my star-tree-topper, (also sparkly!). Then I found glittery, wispy fake-flower-thingies that came in both silver and red! To add white into the mixture, I found these other snow-ball fake-flower-thingies…. perfect!

Now I must say, my tree does look a million times better in person…. but I still had to share. Maybe I’ll find that shiny new camera under the tree, Christmas morning?! (Hint, hint Matt!) 😉