Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tasteful Decorations Can Be Cheap

Today's project started from cleaning out my cupboards. I was looking for a old platter that my Grandmother gave me before she passed away. This platter is special to me because it was used by my Granny every CHRISTmas. Well, while on the hunt for the platter, I found a collection of clear glass vessels. I thought I might be able to use them in some way so I gathered them up and set them aside. As I began to wonder what I could do with them I remembered a candy store that I used to go to when I was a child. We didn't get to go very often so it was a real treat when we were allowed to go and buy penny-candy. The store was filled with every type of candy you can imagine and on top of the glass cases that housed the cookies and fudge and brownies, sat these big glass vessels filled with hard candy - peppermint sticks, butterscotch, cinnamon rounds, lemon drops and on and on. So my inspiration formed - why not fill these vessels with CANDY!
With that mission in mind I set off yesterday in search of hard CANDY. I knew I would need a lot of candy and I wanted to play off of a PEPPERMINT TWIST theme. What better place to find loads of candy all for a great price than a SUPER WALMART? I stood in the aisle and was amazed at the amounts of candy stocked on the shelves. I came away with bags of Cinnamon Discs, Soft Peppermint Sticks, Candy Canes, and Peppermint Puffs and Peppermint Rounds. I spent about $9 - the boxes of candy canes were only 88 cents each!

I filled the various glass containers with the candy. Royal Prince Luke hung the CANDY CANES on the edge of one of the plain, round containers without a lid. Then we filled it with PEPPERMINT PUFFS and topped it off with CINNAMON DISCS. One of the vessels was actually a Hurricane style candle holder. What I love about this piece is that the candle is contained inside a glass holder positioned in the center. I filled the area around the inner candle holder with more cinnamon discs and placed a Cinnamon Apple scented candle in the center.

I wanted to use these pieces as a center piece or focal point in my kitchen so I decided to jazz them up a bit with added color. I tucked some HOLLY LEAF floral picks around the Hurricane, then I added a two velvet POINSETTIAS on either side of the holly for extra color. I really like the way this quick and easy project turned out. Now the key will be keeping Prince Charming and the Royal Princes from eating all the candy before the OPEN HOUSE.

Here is a shot of the finished project. A real sweet and tasteful decoration! The best thing of all is that it only cost me $9 bucks to assemble. Festive and fun holiday decor doesn't have to cost a fortune. Some of the best decorations are things you already have in your home but just re-purposed for CHRISTmas. Later this week I will show you what I was able to do with a grouping of old urns. I thought about putting them away until next spring but inspiration hit so they will make up part of our holiday decor this Winter. Take a look around your house and think outside of tradition. You might be surprised at what you come up with. I'd love to hear any ideas you have on using ordinary household things to make extraordinary CHRISTmas decorations. Until tomorrow...





1 comment:

  1. Another fabulous idea! And, hey...I think I can handle this one.
    'Lovin' your playlist.

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